Baristas at two Starbucks locations in Santa Cruz County are walking the picket lines this week as part of a national strike as contract negotiations at the coffee giant drag on.
Workers at Starbucks on Soquel Drive in Santa Cruz and Mount Hermon Road in Scotts Valley are among roughly 1,000 employees of the coffee chain who are striking this week at 65 locations in more than 40 cities across the country, according to estimates provided by Starbucks United, the employee’s union.
The workers began an “open-ended” job action last week as part of a push for better staffing and higher pay, Workers United said in a media release. The union, which represents employees at 500 Starbucks stores across the U.S., has also accused the coffee company of refusing to negotiate a new contract in good faith.
Workers “are prepared to continue escalating to make this the largest, longest strike in company history if Starbucks fails to deliver a fair union contract and resolve unfair labor practice charges,” the union said in a statement.
The company said it has worked with the union to reach agreements on more than 30 outstanding issues. In an email to Lookout, Starbucks disputed the union’s estimates on the current size of the strike, estimating that fewer than 1% of its stores had seen disruptions because of the job action.
Locally, the strike continues Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon at 1520 Soquel Dr. in Santa Cruz and 260 Mount Hermon Rd. in Scotts Valley.
Starbucks closed two of its local coffee shops, in Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley, earlier this year as part of a national restructuring.
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FOR THE RECORD: This story was updated with additional comment from Starbucks.
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