{"id":58434,"date":"2025-12-02T14:39:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T14:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/58434\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T14:39:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T14:39:05","slug":"mayor-elect-mamdani-sanders-join-starbucks-workers-on-picket-line-in-brooklyn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/58434\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor-elect Mamdani, Sanders join Starbucks workers on picket line in Brooklyn"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont joined dozens of striking Starbucks union baristas at a picket line in Gowanus on Dec. 1, calling on the company to return to the bargaining table and offer a fair contract.<\/p>\n

Union members have been on an open-ended unfair labor practice strike<\/a> since Nov. 13, making it the longest ULP strike in Starbucks history. Dubbed the \u201cRed Cup Rebellion,\u201d<\/a> the strike escalated on Black Friday, Nov. 28, when hundreds of additional union baristas from 26 stores in nearly 20 cities joined about 2,000 Starbucks workers already on strike at 95 stores in 65 cities.<\/p>\n

The 11,000-member Starbucks Workers United is protesting the company\u2019s failure to finalize a union contract, calling for improved staffing levels, higher take-home pay and a resolution to outstanding unfair labor practice charges related to union busting. Workers United has filed more than 1,000 ULPs, including more than 125 since January 2025. More than 700 charges remain unresolved, including national complaints alleging bad-faith bargaining and unilateral policy changes, as well as cases involving retaliatory firings and discipline.<\/p>\n

\"\"Starbucks union baristas protest stalled contract negotiations and alleged labor law violations as Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont join the picket on Dec. 1.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Union baristas continue a historic unfair labor practice strike, calling for fair scheduling, higher take-home pay and an end to retaliation.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Mamdani told the crowd he would continue to stand with workers on picket lines across the five boroughs after taking office on Jan. 1, 2026.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said this to many of the unions that are here today, many of the rank and file, which is that we want to build an administration that is characterized by being there for workers every single step of the way, and sometimes in the fight for decency and dignity that workers are waging, their voices are drowned out,\u201d Mamdani said. He added that, as mayor, he would use the office\u2019s platform to address labor violations, pointing to a city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection investigation that found Starbucks had violated the Fair Workweek Law.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, outgoing Mayor Eric Adams and the DCWP announced a $38.9 million settlement<\/a> with Starbucks over the company\u2019s failure to provide stable schedules to workers at more than 300 locations since 2021, among other violations. More than 15,000 hourly Starbucks workers are eligible for restitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe celebrate what DCWP was able to accomplish in the largest ever settlement that has been won in the city,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cWe will continue to commit funding, both of a fiscal kind and also of our own sustained commitment in terms of the political will necessary to ensure that we hold these kinds of corporations [accountable].\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani speaks to striking Starbucks union baristas.<\/p>\n

Mamdani was more evasive when asked whether his campaign pledge to make the city more affordable conflicted with a possible 16% pay raise for the mayor, City Council members, the public advocate and the city comptroller \u2014 legislation he would be required to sign and which would raise the mayor\u2019s salary from $258,000 to $300,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not worried about the hypotheticals at this time,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cWhat I can tell you is that every single day from now until I become the mayor, and then after that, is going to be focused on how we can improve the working conditions for workers across the city and the conditions for every person who calls the city [home].\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani also denied knowing Irfan Verjee, CEO of the renewable energy firm Shomax Energy and a member of the business advisory council for OneNYC, a super PAC supporting Mamdani\u2019s mayoral run.\n<\/p>\n

The New York Post reported<\/a> that Verjee allegedly offered Frank Garcia, chairman of the New York State Coalition of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, a role on Mamdani\u2019s transition team if he raised $1 million for OneNYC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not know this man,\u201d Mamdani said, adding that the era of pay-to-play politics was over. \u201cWe are an administration that will staff up on the basis of excellence, on the basis of outcomes, not on the basis of relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Council Member Tiffany Cab\u00e1n (center) joined striking Starbucks union baristas.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont speaks to striking Starbucks union baristas.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont stand with Starbucks workers striking over unfair labor practices and demands for a first union contract on Dec. 1.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Sanders, who earlier joined several congressional colleagues in a letter urging Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol<\/a> to negotiate a fair contract, told the crowd he shared Mamdani\u2019s commitment to building an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthiest Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are living in an economy where the people on top have never, ever had it so good,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cYou have one man owning more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households. The CEOs made unbelievable salaries, 60% of our people in Vermont, in New York City, all over this country are living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to pay the rent, struggling to pay for health care, struggling to put food on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders, who with Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and other progressive Democrats formed an alliance known as the \u201cFight Club\u201d<\/a> to challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and back progressive candidates, praised Mamdani\u2019s grassroots-driven campaign as unprecedented.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s campaign, Sanders said, has inspired candidates nationwide to oppose tax breaks for billionaires and push for a more just economy, livable wages and universal health care.\n<\/p>\n

\u201c[Mamdani] won because he put together 10s and 10s of 1000s of volunteers who knocked on doors. He won because he had the guts to talk about the oligarchs,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cWhat we are seeing in America right now, in congressional races, Senate races, you\u2019re seeing more and more candidates standing up exactly the same way that Zohran did.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont joined dozens of striking Starbucks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[5057,98,100,99,23004,464,2610,9,24,12,370,63,8005,23007,14094,23008,23009,22927,27267,23011,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-58434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-bernie-sanders","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","11":"tag-brooklyn-news","12":"tag-coffee-giant","13":"tag-gowanus","14":"tag-neighborhoods","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newsletter","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-park-slope","21":"tag-red-cup-rebellion","22":"tag-starbucks","23":"tag-starbucks-barista","24":"tag-starbucks-barista-strike","25":"tag-starbucks-workers-united","26":"tag-unfair-labor-practice-strike","27":"tag-union-baristas","28":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}