Employees at the 23rd and Ousdahl Starbucks location went on strike Tuesday, pushing the massive fast food corporation for better working conditions and the resolution of unresolved labor complaints.
Starbucks has hundreds of unresolved unfair labor practice complaints nationally, said RJ Davenport, a two-year employee as well as the strike captain and bargaining delegate for the 23rd Street and Ousdahl Road Starbucks.
It’s the only unionized Starbucks in Lawrence. The workers in June 2022 voted 19-3 to unionize their store. They are organizing with Workers United and Starbucks Workers United.
Davenport said they are negotiating a contract right now but have been met with “unserious” offers.
“Starbucks is very big on performative actions, and we just love to see some genuine change,” Davenport said.
The workers went on strike last year as well, and management tried to run the store for a few hours. This year, district management didn’t even try to open the store.
Starbucks is the second largest fast-food chain in the county with over 40,000 locations and billions in revenue annually. Davenport said they want all fast food workers to make a living wage.
“We know that anything we win in the contract is going to apply to every Starbucks store,” Davenport said. “Like this is not just what we want, it’s what’s best for everybody. Everyone deserves to make rent.”
Davenport said community support has been strong with a chorus of honks from supportive passersby continuing all morning. A representative from the Lawrence firefighters union stopped by, Davenport said, along with a regular customer who stopped by to give the employees holiday tips.
“I think that the class solidarity right now when everyone knows that everyone’s just trying to get by, it’s really important and encouraging to see,” Davenport said.
Reuters reported that more than 5,000 Starbucks workers at 300 stores nationwide were expected to join the strike Tuesday.
Representatives of Starbucks did not respond to a request for comment.
If our local journalism matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
Cuyler Dunn (he/him), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since April 2022, is a student at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. He is a graduate of Lawrence High School where he was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Budget, and was named the 2022 Kansas High School Journalist of the Year. Read his complete bio here. Read more of his work for the Times here.
Latest Lawrence news:
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
