Starbucks baristas strike over dress code
The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
What happened
More than 1,000 Starbucks baristas across the U.S. have gone on strike since Sunday over the company's new dress code, the Starbucks Workers United union said Wednesday. The new policy, which took effect Monday, requires baristas to wear solid black shirts and khaki, black or blue denim bottoms under their green aprons.
Who said what
Starbucks Workers United, which represents employees at 570 of the company's 10,000 U.S. stores, said the new dress code should have been negotiated in ongoing collective bargaining talks. The new uniform "puts the burden on baristas" to "buy new clothes or risk being disciplined," union delegate Michelle Eisen told Bloomberg.
Starbucks said it offered all its workers two free black shirts and suggested the new dress code would "make its green aprons stand out and create a sense of familiarity for customers," The Associated Press said. Starbucks is "focused on all the wrong things," Paige Summers, a shift supervisor in Maryland, told AP. "Customers don't care what color our clothes are when they're waiting 30 minutes for a latte."
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What next?
The union predicted that "more walkouts by baristas are likely," said Restaurant Dive.
