Starbucks’ New dress code for Baristas Tidyed a strike in 75 American stores, with more than 1,000 Protestant workers against the new policy, a union representing the café giant workers said on Wednesday.
The new clothing code, which entered into force on Monday, obliges employees in operated stores and under license in the United States and Canada to wear a solid black shirt and black or blue jeans under their green apron.
Under the previous dress code, baristas could wear a wider range of dark colors and patterned shirts. Starbucks said the new rules would bring out its green aprons and create a feeling of familiarity for customers while trying to establish a warmer and more welcoming feeling in its stores.
The new dress code comes as the company works on its mission “Back to Starbucks”, aimed at revitalizing its cafes and stimulating sales. CEO Brian Niccol, who was brought from chipotle Direct the coffee chain Last year, said “there is a shared feeling that we derived from our heart”.
But Starbucks Workers United, the union which represents workers of 570 of the 10,000 American stores belonging to the Starbucks company, said that the dress code should be subject to collective negotiations.
“Starbucks has lost its way. Instead of listening to the baristas who make Starbucks the experience of what it is, they focus on all bad things, such as the implementation of a new restrictive dress code,” said Paige Summers, a Shift Starbucks supervisor from Hanover, Maryland. “Customers do not care about the color of our clothes when they wait 30 minutes for a latte.”
Most stores remain open
Summers and others have also criticized the company to sell Starbucks brand clothing styles that employees are no longer allowed to wear to work on an internal website. Starbucks said he would give two free black t-shirts to each employee when he announces the new dress code.
Starbucks said on Wednesday that the strike had a limited impact on its 10,000 American stores operated by the company.
“(B) their own measure, less than 1% of stores participated in their disruption attempts,” said a spokesperson for Starbucks in CBS News.
The company added that more than 99% of its stores are open and serve customers. In some cases, the strikes have closed the stores for less than an hour, the company noted.
“It would be more productive than the union puts the same effort to return to the table to finalize a reasonable contract,” added Starbucks.
Starbucks Workers United has been unionized from American stores since 2021. Starbucks and the union have not yet concluded a contract agreement, despite its acceptance to return to the negotiation table in February 2024.
The union said this week that he had filed a complaint with the National Council for Labor Relations alleging the non-negotiation of Starbucks to negotiate the new dress code.
