Starbucks Employees (from website)
Starbucks employees at more than 150 of the coffee chain’s stores in the U.S. are striking in protest over what they say are “unfair labor practices” by the company due to its policy of not allowing them to put up decorations in support of Gay Pride in shops. June is Gay Pride Month. The Starbucks branches participating in the strike represent almost 3,500 employees.
The strike organizers alleged that members at Starbucks stores in 22 states were told they could not put up Gay Pride decorations. Starbucks allows its individual branches to set their own policies on these matters.
Their union, Starbucks Workers United, tweeted, “some clarification for those who have been following Strike with Pride. This is an UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE STRIKE over Starbucks’ refusal to bargain over changes in pride decoration policies in addition to their illegal union-busting campaign impacting queer workers.”
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Starbucks refutes the charge that the company is in any way anti LGBTQ.
“We want to be crystal clear – Starbucks has been and will continue to be at the forefront of supporting the LGBTQIA2+ community, and we will not waver in that commitment!” said the company’s CEO Laxman Narasimhan President North America Sara Trilling, in a statement. “Despite today’s public commentary, there has been no change to any of our policies as it relates to our inclusive store environments, our company culture and the benefits we offer our partners. We continue to encourage our store leaders to celebrate with their communities including for U.S. Pride month in June, as we always have.”
“We are proud of our legacy and nearly 40 years of strong allyship,” they added. “Throughout this journey, partners across the company, in particular our Pride Network, have played a critical role in shaping the decisions we make. At the heart of this work is ensuring we have inclusive benefits – like family expansion reimbursement for adoption and surrogacy, expanded health insurance options for transgender partners, and medical travel reimbursement when partners are legally unable to access gender affirming care.”
