San Antonio workers said they were on strike over steep cuts to their hours that threatened their benefits, allegedly unlawful changes to their working conditions, and to support striking workers in Seattle who are making a big push to get the coffee company to bargain with its unionized workers.
The strike is one of several national actions San Antonio stores have joined in the past six months. The three San Antonio stores are the only ones in the state participating in the strike, according to a map created by Starbucks Workers United.
Seiya Wayment, a lead organizer at the Starbucks on East Houston and St. Mary’s, outlined what their fellow workers are facing. Wayment uses the "they/them" pronouns.
“Basically, Starbucks has been cutting our labor — the amount of people who are working on the floor — while also adding additional workload,” Wayment said. “Like they gave us DoorDash deliveries without bargaining with us. They’re not supposed to be changing our working conditions as a unionized store without bargaining with us.”
Wayment added that hours available to shift supervisors like themself and hours available to all baristas had been reduced. Coupled with the increased workload from the addition of DoorDash, Wayment said it was leading to more difficult conditions for workers and a worse experience for customers.
BREAKING: Workers at over 100+
— Starbucks Workers United (@SBWorkersUnited) March 22, 2023
Starbucks stores across the country are striking to demand an end to Starbucks' illegal union-busting campaign. While the company keeps a metaphorical 'empty chair' for us in the boardroom, we're demanding a real seat at the table! #StarbucksStrike
A Starbucks spokesperson has said in the past that worker hours change seasonally and that changes to hours are not part of any effort to attack the unions.
At the Shavano Park Starbucks, Arturo Villarreal explained why they were on strike for the first time.
“I think it’s just really important for us to stand up for better wages and better respect, for people to realize we’re very important individuals within the working class and that we have just as much power as the people ordering the coffee,” they said.
Several other workers and supporters from the Party for Socialism and Liberation joined Villarreal in holding signs and chanting at drivers that continued to order their morning coffee in the drive thru despite the strike.
At the Starbucks on Wurzbach and Blanco, just two workers stood on the picket line outside the front door in the morning. Parker Davis, one of the picketers, said despite the conditions, he was proud to be on strike.
“I think that it’s really important, not just for Starbucks workers, but really for all workers that suffer from jobs that simply don’t pay enough or don’t have proper benefits, I really think that this is the start of something that could blossom into a movement that affects not just Starbucks workers but other service workers, so we can truly benefit other people as well,” Davis said.
The fact that business continued at both stores points to the difficulties Starbucks workers face even when they do win a union vote, especially when managers are able to bring in workers from other stores or when union votes aren’t unanimous.
Wayment, whose store was shut down due to unanimous support among workers for the strike, said part of why it was harder for other stores to strike was because of intentional decisions by management.
“People aren’t getting the hours they’re expecting to qualify for health care and then they’re having to really scrounge for hours,” they said. “It makes it a lot easier to scab a store when they’re on strike because even the partners at that store may be desperate for hours, and then the partners at other stores are desperate.”
To “scab a store” is an organized labor term for when employees either continue to work at their company or are brought in from the outside to work at a company during strikes. This weakens strikes’ ability to inflict economic pain on those companies, which is the leverage striking workers use in order to gain concessions.
Wayment said they wished struggling baristas would demonstrate solidarity with their fellow workers by forming unions or supporting their strikes but understood that people are doing their best to survive and rely on company benefits like health care and education. Those benefits are contingent on baristas and shift supervisors working a minimum average number of hours over a certain period of time.
The nationwide strike comes days after former interim CEO Howard Schutlz’s decision to step down from the role nearly two weeks earlier than anticipated, and just over a week until Schultz is scheduled to appear before a Senate committee investigating federal labor law violations by major corporations.
