{"id":394363,"date":"2026-09-09T03:18:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T03:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/394363\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T03:18:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T03:18:21","slug":"orlando-starbucks-workers-call-for-boycott-over-union-contract-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/394363\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Starbucks workers call for boycott over union contract fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Credit: by McKenna Schueler<\/p>\n

Thousands of Starbucks workers across the U.S., including baristas in Central Florida, are calling for customers to boycott the multibillion-dollar coffee chain over its failure to meet baristas\u2019 demands for a first union contract.<\/p>\n

The workers, represented by the union Starbucks Workers United, are asking Starbucks for a $17 minimum wage, better hours, just-cause protections \u2014 so they can\u2019t get fired for no reason \u2014 an end to understaffing, a stronger non-discrimination policy, and the broader opportunity to have a real voice on the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are taking a stand with the people around us, looking at each other and saying, \u2018This is wrong.\u2019 We can\u2019t survive off of $15 an hour in this day and age, we can\u2019t survive off of the prices of groceries, off of the price of gas right now, and if it continues to get worse, we don\u2019t know where we\u2019ll end up,\u201d said Niko OrGolan, a barista at a unionized Starbucks location<\/a> in Oviedo. \u201cSo we\u2019re stopping it right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starbucks Workers United, a union representing more than 11,000 baristas, first released<\/a> its call for an official, open-ended boycott in late August. The union had previously asked the public to delete<\/a> the Starbucks app from their phones and to refuse to cross the picket line during temporary strikes and walkouts.<\/p>\n

The union represents baristas across more than 700 U.S. locations, including two locations<\/a> in the Orlando metro. The first corporate-owned Starbucks unionized in Buffalo, New York, in 2021 in an upset victory for the upstart union. <\/p>\n

Since 2021, however, Starbucks has been accused of violating federal labor law in hundreds of complaints filed with the National Labor Relations Board by the union, alleging unlawful retaliation<\/a> against pro-union workers, the unlawful withholding<\/a> of raises and benefits from unionized baristas, and a failure of Starbucks to bargain a union contract with unionized stores in good faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally joined [the union] because I want to give power to myself, to my fellow baristas, have a say in our workplace \u2014 just to be able to feel like when we\u2019re coming in, we\u2019re not under constant attack, to feel like \u2026 our voices are heard in our own workplace,\u201d said Avery Giunta, a former Starbucks barista who told the Weekly she was fired from her job after supporting an effort to unionize her nonunion Starbucks in east Orlando.<\/p>\n

Giunta, still actively supportive of the union, sees their fight for a union contract as a broader picture of what organized labor across industries can accomplish. Other organizing campaigns of workers employed by Trader Joe\u2019s, Chipotle, Amazon and other major corporations have named Starbucks Workers United as an inspiration to their own efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis won\u2019t be just a victory for Starbucks,\u201d said Giunta. \u201cThis will be a victory for everybody because if we can do it, then \u2026 Realistically, there\u2019s nothing stopping anybody else from organizing and getting better benefits for their job as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Starbucks spokesperson told Orlando Weekly in a statement that the company already offers competitive pay and \u201cindustry-leading benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we have always been, we\u2019re committed to engaging in productive bargaining,\u201d the spokesperson added, without commenting specifically on the union\u2019s demands or clarifying the company\u2019s counter-offers.<\/p>\n

\"\"Starbucks baristas Niko OrGolan (left) and Avery Giunta (right) are members of Starbucks Workers United. Credit: McKenna Schueler<\/p>\n

Although union density in the U.S. is about one-third of what it used to be from its peak in the mid-20th century \u2014 and even lower in Florida, compared to the national average \u2014 public support for unions is at a near-record high.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to new Gallup polling<\/a> released last week, 71 percent of Americans approve of labor unions, up from 68 percent in 2025. Unions are especially popular among younger people and Democrats, with 77 percent of respondents aged 18 to 34 touting support for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese companies are never, ever going to concede,\u201d said OrGolan, who \u2014 like Giunta \u2014 has never been a union member before, but found inspiration in the Starbucks organizing movement. \u201cThey\u2019re never going to give us the means to survive,\u201d he said of companies like Starbucks. \u201cWe have to do something about it ourselves. And I think this is where the fight to unionize these stores comes in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starbucks, a mass coffee chain headquartered in Seattle, has reportedly spent millions of dollars<\/a> on its own anti-union campaign, including an expensive cadre of \u201cunion avoidance\u201d lawyers. The coffee giant has also found the means to pay\u00a0its CEO, Brian Niccol \u2014 the former CEO of Chipotle \u2014 $31 million<\/a> in compensation in 2025, down from $95.8 million in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Niccol has faced flak<\/a> from workers over his use of a private jet, paid for on Starbucks\u2019 dime, for his expensive commute from California to Seattle and for personal travel. \u201cIt\u2019s well within the company\u2019s boundaries to be able to give us these things, right?\u201d said OrGolan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you as a customer don\u2019t want to go to Starbucks anymore because you support the union, that\u2019s just going to show the companies that\u2019s not just a barista thing \u2014 it\u2019s a community thing,\u201d said Giunta.<\/p>\n

Other coffee options around town, of course, include (but are not limited to) Lineage, Foxtail, Haan, Lucky Goat, Lobos, Drunken Monkey, Framework, Qreate, Bynx, Ligature, Prairie House, The Burrow, Deeply and Stardust, among others.<\/p>\n

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