The strike at Starbucks SBUX.O in the United States will extend to more than 300 establishments and will affect 5,000 employees of the coffee chain, declared the baristas' union Workers United on Tuesday, the last day of a mobilization launched on Friday and due to end a few hours before Christmas Eve.
Starbucks Workers United, which represents employees at 525 coffee shops across the country, said more than 60 locations in 12 major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle, closed Monday.
Negotiations between Starbucks and the union were at an impasse due to unresolved issues over wages, staffing and hours.
Workers United announced that the mobilization for this last day of the strike, Christmas Eve, was expected to be the largest in Starbucks history.
Asked about this, a Starbucks spokesperson referred to a company statement released Monday.
The vast majority of the group's establishments will continue to serve customers and the impact on overall operations will be “very limited”, according to this press release.
Starbucks, which is headquartered in Seattle and has more than 10,000 cafes in the United States, says it is ready to continue negotiations and says Workers United ended the session prematurely.
Earlier this month, the union rejected an offer that included no immediate wage increase but guaranteed a 1.5 percent increase in coming years.
(Bipasha Dey, Shubham Kalia and Gursimran Kaur; French version Elena Smirnova, edited by Augustin Turpin)
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