Workers at two Seattle Starbucks take to picket lines on Friday over claims of union busting

Workers at a pair of Seattle Starbucks locations are on strike Friday, as they take to the picket lines over what they say has been “unfair retaliation” against efforts to unionize.

The strikes will run between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m., and will include workers from Starbucks stores on Fifth and Pike and Eastlake.

Employees at the Eastlake location assert that the company has engaged in “uneven and retaliatory enforcement of policies, fabrication of employment requirements, and slashing hours available to employees despite increased sales.”

Happening Now: ⁦@Starbucks⁩ workers fighting to unionize launch day-long strike demanding an end to what they see as union busting. ⁦@KIRONewsradio⁩ ⁦@Mynorthwest⁩ pic.twitter.com/lS5Pn9aWiD

— Hanna Scott (@HannaKIROFM) April 15, 2022

Fifth and Pike Starbucks workers further claim that that since they filed for a union election early in 2022, “they have faced intense union-busting from Starbucks corporate, including threatening, intimidating, and retaliating against union leaders.”

“Management has ignored deteriorating working conditions, leaving staff overworked and underpaid,” they said in a statement posted to Twitter.

This comes after employees at a Marysville Starbucks similarly went on strike last weekend, claiming they had been subjected to unfair working conditions and a lack of adequate staffing.

In late March, a Seattle Starbucks at Broadway and Denny became the West Coast’s first location to vote in favor of unionizing, with at least four others looking to follow suit.

Follow @NickNorthwest