AUSTIN, TX – University of Texas at Austin students will rally with the Texas AFL-CIO and campus allies on Thursday, November 12 at 2pm CST, as part of a student-led national day of action where students at 40+ college campuses will demand their college leadership hold Starbucks accountable for union busting and failing to finalize a fair contract with its more than 12,000 union baristas. Students are urging college administrations across the nation to showcase their support for the union barista-led nationwide boycott of the coffee giant by cutting ties with Starbucks.
Joining the growing movement of students standing in solidarity with Starbucks workers by boycotting the coffee chain, UT Austin students will gather with Leonard Aguilar, President of the Texas AFL-CIO, local baristas, allies and faculty members on campus to urge university leaders to stop sales of Starbucks coffee on their campuses until the company ends its historic union-busting campaign and finalizes a fair contract with its workers.
As Starbucks prepares to kick off its holiday drink season with Red Cup Day, one of the company’s busiest promotional days of the year, students and speakers will highlight union baristas’ demands, underscoring why their fight for a voice on the job is critical to building an economy that works for everyone. While baristas say their contract demands would cost Starbucks less than a single day of sales, CEO Brian Niccol has received tens of millions of dollars in compensation and uses a corporate jet to commute to work. At the same time, baristas say they’re struggling to get enough hours, afford basic necessities and keep understaffed stores running.
EVENT DETAILS
WHO: UT Austin students, union baristas, Texas AFL-CIO, campus allies; Staff and faculty at universities across the country
WHAT: Rally on UT Austin’s campus to urge university leadership to cut their ties with Starbucks on campus
WHEN + WHERE:
Thursday, November 12 at 2pm – 3pm CST
University of Texas at Austin
Guadalupe & 24th St, Austin TX 78705
The day of action comes as Starbucks Workers United baristas’ boycott gains steam across the nation, with dozens of elected officials, more than 130 labor unions and progressive organizations, and Starbucks customers pledging every week to stop buying Starbucks until the company finalizes a fair union contract with its baristas and ends its historic union-busting. As one of Starbucks’ key customer demographics and the future of the workforce, students are sending a powerful message that their hard-earned dollars and tuition shouldn’t support Starbucks’ backwards priorities and illegal union-busting campaign against its own workers.
Starbucks union baristas’ movement has taken the world by storm. In November 2025, they launched a nationwideunfair labor practice strike—which became the longest work stoppage in Starbucks history—protesting the company’s labor violations and refusal to finalize a fair union contract. The movement has galvanized massive solidarity, drawing support fromallies andelected officials across the country, and the campaign has powered forward amid ongoing, illegal union busting by the coffee giant. Starbucks is thebiggest violator of labor law in modern U.S. history as Administrative Law Judges at the National Labor Relations Board have found that Starbucks has committed more than 400 labor law violations.