BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Starbucks workers around the country are walking off the job starting Friday in what will be a three-day strike, it was confirmed to LehighValleyNews.com.
It's the latest action taken as part of an ongoing effort to unionize the chain's stores.
More than 1,000 baristas at 100 stores are planning to walk out, according to Starbucks Workers United (SWU), the labor group organizing the effort.
The strike will be the longest in the year-old unionization campaign, but no Lehigh Valley stores are participating.
A map shared by SWU shows strike locations in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas as part of the latest walkout.
On Nov. 29, local elected officials and labor leaders showed up at the MacArthur Road Starbucks in Whitehall Township to brew up solidarity with workers.
State Reps. Jeannie McNeil and Peter Schweyer, state Rep.-elect Joshua Siegel, all D-Lehigh, Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk and Whitehall Township Mayor Michael Harakal Jr. all swung by the store to offer support.
That came a little more than a week after workers at 110 Starbucks stores held a one-day walkout dubbed “The Red Cup Rebellion." It coincided with Starbucks’ annual Red Cup Day, when the company gives out reusable cups to customers who order a holiday beverage.
At locations where walkouts occurred, workers handed out red Starbucks Workers United union cups to customers instead.
More than 264 of Starbucks’ 9,000 company-run U.S. stores have voted to unionize since late last year.
Starbucks opposes the unionization effort, but said last month that it respects employees’ lawful right to protest. However, SWU noted that Starbucks recently closed the first store to unionize in Seattle. The company said the store was closed for safety reasons.
Starbucks and the union have begun contract talks in about 50 stores but no agreements have been reached.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
