Workers at 150 unionized Starbucks locations across the United States are going on strike to show their anger at the company’s policy about Pride decorations in their stores. As reported by CNN, the workers are using their strike to dispute Starbucks’ systemic “hypocritical treatment of LGBTQIA+ workers.”
While Starbucks has denied all the allegations of its behavior, employees are showing solidarity on social media by standing with their fellow union workers affected by the restrictions.
According to company guidelines, store team leaders are permitted to decorate their respective stores any way they want, including in celebration of Pride, as long as they don’t violate certain safety guidelines. However, some of the Starbucks locations were indeed restricted from decorating for Pride.
In response, the Starbucks Workers United’s (SWU) official Twitter announced, “Over 150+ stores and 3,500 workers will be on strike over the course of the next week.”
They used the same platform to dispute the company’s claims that all the allegations were false. The coffeehouse chain released a statement saying, “We unwaveringly support the LGBTQIA2+ community. There has been no change to any policy on this matter, and we continue to encourage our store leaders to celebrate with their communities, including for US Pride month in June. We’re deeply concerned by false information that is being spread.”
The SWU responded with a series of tweets, beginning with, “Starbucks claims that pride decorations haven’t been banned – but according to internal documents and store manager testimonies, their own responses have not been consistent.”
The SWU pointed out that close to 100 Starbucks stores in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas banned Pride decorations.
The workers going on strike are doing so not only to draw attention to the Pride decor bans but also to show it as an example of Starbucks’ treatment and mentality toward folks who identify as LGBTQIA+.
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