WORCESTER – The Starbucks location at 11 East Central St. was closed Monday after union workers there joined a nationwide strike to protest working conditions.
Eight employees, most of them part-time, held up signs in the biting cold asking for better wages and solutions to other personnel problems.
“We are at an impasse with the company over unfair labor practices,” said union representative Mbake Sarr, 23. “There are consistent one-sided labor practices that we have brought to the company that have not been addressed or followed. .
“It gives the impression that (those concerns) are not being taken seriously.”
The strike began Friday and initially closed Starbucks locations in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle. According to Starbucks Workers United, locations in New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Denver, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio subsequently joined the pickets.
Workers in Boston also left their jobs on Monday.
Union representatives have said that 98% of union partners recently voted to protest low wages, staffing issues and working conditions.
The baristas at the East Central Street location said the company recently offered a pay increase of about 25 cents an hour, which they said wasn’t enough.
“I’m a mother and all I want to do is take care of myself and my child,” said Nisa Saidati, 22, of Worcester. “We just want more pay for what we do, which is very fair.
“We feel that the small pay increase they tried to give us was very insulting.”
Starbucks operates more than 11,000 stores across the country and employs nearly 200,000 people, according to Reuters.
Late last week, Starbucks Workers United warned that the strike could reach “hundreds of stores” by Christmas Eve.
Sarr said the strike could end in time for Christmas Day, a very busy day for workers at 11 East Central St.
“I’ve seen the unfair labor practices and the unfair dismissals,” said Erica Alves, 24, of Worcester, who works full-time at the site. “We would like to see wages that reflect what we actually do.”
In a statement to USA TODAY, Starbucks spokesman Phil McGee said the strikes have not had a significant effect on the company’s operations because only a handful of locations have been affected.
“We respect our partners’ right to engage in lawful strike activity, and we appreciate the thousands of partners across the country who continue to support each other and deliver the Starbucks experience for our customers,” McGee said.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Starbucks workers in Worcester, MA join national strike
