Starbucks Roastery Workers in New York City Are on Strike
Unionized workers at the Starbucks Roastery in Manhattan are on day eight of a strike protesting unsanitary conditions, including a bedbug infestation and moldy ice machines. Jacobin spoke with striking workers about their demands and Starbucks’s retaliation.
Baristas prepare specialty coffee drinks at an espresso bar at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in New York. (Mark Abramson / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On Tuesday, October 25, workers at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District walked out in protest of health and safety conditions at the store. Workers report a bedbug infestation that management has failed to address, as well as fruit flies and mold in the ice machines that has led to recurrent illness among employees. Workers at the location voted to unionize with Starbucks Workers United in April of this year, but, as at other stores across the country, Starbucks has refused to recognize the union or enter into bargaining for a contract.
The workers are now on day eight of their strike. On Friday, Jacobin’s Sara Wexler spoke with two workers, Athena Kosmopoulos and Alex Hall, about their union organizing efforts and the ongoing strike.
Sara Wexler
How did the union organizing start among all of you? What sparked the organizing and the strike?
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