Baristas at Starbucks are walking off the job to protest changes to the dress code

Starbucks workers staged walkouts at dozens of coffee shops in the United States this week to protest a policy change in their dress code that their union says should have been made through collective bargaining.

Since May 11, more than 2,000 baristas at more than 100 stores, including in Wisconsin, Florida and Pennsylvania, have walked out “to protest the company’s failure to prioritize real support for baristas,” the union said on Friday.

The protests were in response to an announcement by Starbucks in April that, starting on May 12, baristas would be required to wear solid black crew-neck, collared or button shirts with khaki, black or blue denim “bottoms,” referring to pants, shorts or skirts under their aprons.

The company said the “more simplified color options” would allow the traditional green aprons worn by baristas to “shine and create a sense of familiarity for our customers, no matter which store they visit across North America.”

But Workers United, which represents baristas at 570 of the more than 10,000 Starbucks stores in the United States, said the policy change without bargaining was “regressive.”

“Instead of fixing problems customers actually care about, like long wait times & high prices, Starbucks would rather focus on the colors workers wear,” the union said on social media this week.

The workers who participate in walkouts generally leave for the remainder of their shift but come back to work for their next scheduled shift. During the walkouts, some coffee shops have only enough workers to keep a drive-through window functioning while shutting down mobile orders and counter service.

Jasmine Leli, a union delegate and a barista at a Starbucks in Buffalo, said she was among half a dozen workers who walked out on Tuesday morning. A district manager showed up with another worker and kept drive-through service running for a few hours before closing, she said.

The walkouts are not expected to continue into next week, she said. The company, she said, should “focus on store issues,” including staffing shortages, guaranteed hours and wages, “instead of the dress code.”

The union said many workers had already purchased approved clothing from Starbucks that they were no longer allowed to wear on duty. Starbucks said it would provide two shirts to employees if needed.

Starbucks said in a statement that the disruption had been minimal over the past four days.

“There has been no significant impact on our store operations on a national scale,” it said. “The overwhelming majority of our 10,000 U.S. company-operated stores remain open and are serving customers as normal.”

“It would be more productive if the union would put the same effort into coming back to the table to finalize a reasonable contract,” it said.

Starbucks and the union had temporarily agreed to collective bargaining over dress code changes as part of ongoing negotiations for a new contract. In December, a bargaining session with the company failed to produce better wage gains.

The union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing Starbucks of engaging in bad faith bargaining.

After Starbucks announced in April that it was changing the dress code, the union updated that complaint, saying the company had undermined it by “improperly moving the goal posts for collective bargaining.”

Starbucks said it would continue to bargain in “good faith.”

“It would be more productive if the union would put the same effort” it put into the walkouts “into coming back to the table to finalize a reasonable contract,” it said.