River Ridge, LA – On October 4, 20 people, including Starbucks baristas and their supporters, picketed outside of their store demanding that Starbucks accept their union contract. Starbucks recently closed three stores in the New Orleans area, two union and one non-union shop.

Chants of “No contract, no coffee!” and “What’s outrageous? Starbucks wages!” kept the crowd energized and caught the attention of passersby who stopped to ask about the demonstration.

Baristas leading the practice picket say they think it is necessary to keep up their activity despite retaliation on union stores. “We’re doing a practice picket to show everyone that we mean business,” said Robin Dileo, a barista and Starbucks Workers United (SWU) organizer. “It’s really the first step in an escalation.”

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol released a statement on September 25 announcing the closure of about 1% of all North American locations. This included 59 unionized locations, about 10% of all union stores.

“I’ve been laid off from my job by corporate officials who nobody elected,” stated Nick Heard, a former barista from the now shuttered Maple Street shop, the first to unionize in Louisiana. “They can afford to spend millions on store shutdowns and on the CEO’s salary but can’t afford to pay us a decent wage.”

Among the crowd of supporters were union members from United Teachers of New Orleans, Tulane Workers United, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 270.

Baristas ended the practice picket with a call to action, asking attendees to support an upcoming national contract push around “Red Cup Season.” Starbucks’ infamous holiday marketing season means greatly increased workload for baristas while the company rakes in profit. SWU sees this season as a strategic pressure point to flex the muscle of organized labor.

#RiverRidgeLA #LA #Labor #Starbucks #SBWU

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