Local stores join nationwide Starbucks barista protests

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Cheyenne Starbucks employees joined a nationwide effort this week to put financial pressure on the company following a series of unsuccessful labor negotiations.

Wyoming stores joined the baristas’ fast-growing unfair labor practice strike, which hit historic levels Tuesday as hundreds of stores from coast to coast joined the walkouts, according to a union news release.

Wyoming union bargaining delegate Madi Oates works at the Starbucks on Central Avenue downtown, the first Starbucks to unionize in Wyoming. Oates has been a part of the negotiations for better wages and benefits, which have been slowly chugging along since April.

“Negotiations have really stalled on the company’s end in the last couple of months,” Oates said. “Last week, they offered us 34 cents (an hour) for yearly raises, which is nowhere near what we are offering in our proposal. We’re all out here to have a livable wage and fight for better health coverage (and) benefits.”

Oates joined a small, but vocal group of her peers Tuesday morning outside of the Starbucks at 5800 Yellowstone Road, greeting incoming customers with chants of “No contract? No coffee!” and “When we fight, we win.”

ULP strikes began last Friday after Starbucks “backtracked on the path forward agreed to with workers and their union over the future of organizing and collective bargaining,” according to the news release.

Cheyenne isn’t the only place where Starbucks baristas are feeling the impacts of poor wages and lacking benefits; more than 5,000 workers at more than 300 stores nationwide were expected to walk off the job Tuesday, according to Starbucks Workers United.

Tuesday marked the fifth and final day of the baristas’ strike over unfair labor practices and stalled negotiations, dubbed “The Strike Before Christmas.”

Starbucks employees in Cheyenne were on strike Tuesday and closed all but the one location on Yellowstone Road.

This story was published on December 26, 2024.