Workers at 6 Chicago-area Starbucks plan walkouts through Sunday

Chicago Starbucks workers strike as part of nationwide work stoppage

Starbucks workers in Chicago are joining the picket line to protest union-busting activities by the coffee giant.

CHICAGO - Workers at six Chicago-area Starbucks plan strikes lasting several hours from Friday morning through Sunday.

The walkouts are planned at stores whose staffs have voted to unionize with Workers United, part of the Service Employees International Union. The baristas are protesting Starbucks’ closures of several stores around the country, including one in Chicago, whose workers elected to join the union.

They also said Starbucks has committed unfair labor practices, including firing some employees active in union organizing. A company representative could not immediately be reached for comment.

Hours for the planned walkouts vary, according to union leaders. They will occur at 620 Northwest Highway in Cary, 2760 Willow Road in Glenview, and at these Chicago sites: 5964 N. Ridge Ave.; 1601 W. Irving Park Road; 6350 N. Broadway and 6075 N. Lincoln Ave.

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Union leaders said the Chicago-area strikes will be similar to job actions planned at about 100 Starbucks nationwide. Workers previously have staged one-day walkouts at a few of the coffee shops.

"In the face of flagrant hour cuts and needlessly harsh crackdowns on dress coding union apparel, we are left with little other option to address these injustices but to strike," said Melissa Lee-Litowitz, a worker at the Glenview store, in a statement released by the union.

Workers United has conducted a national organizing drive targeting Starbucks. The National Labor Relations Board, which runs union elections, said that as of the end of November, workers at 264 stores have joined Workers United, while those at 58 stores voted against the union. The coffee chain has more than 9,000 stores in the U.S.

Skokie Starbucks workers take first step to form union

The announcement comes on the one-year anniversary of the Starbucks Workers United movement. The first Starbucks store won its union election in Buffalo, New York.

In the Chicago area, the union has won 7 store elections and lost 4. It won an election at an eighth store, at 1070 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., that the company subsequently closed.

Collective bargaining, done on a store-by-store basis, has started at some locations.

The union said the NLRB has issued at least 45 complaints against Starbucks alleging violations of federal labor law. In turn, the company has filed some complaints against the union.