New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday joined striking Starbucks baristas in Park Slope to push for a fair contract for workers.
This came as the coffee chain agreed to pay over $35 million to thousands of New York City workers after settling a charge that it violated workers' rights across 300 locations.
“These are not demands of grief. These are demands for decency. These are workers who are simply being asked to be treated with the respect that they deserve,” said Mamdani. “We must build a New York where our words do not ring hollow, as we say, that this is a union town, and we must build a New York where the workers who power it are able to afford to live in it.”
Sanders, who joined Mamadani at 476 4th Ave., also noted Starbucks' unfair treatment of its workers. “They are sick and tired of corporate greed and sick and tired of union busting,” he said.
The strike, known as the “Red Cup Rebellion,” started on Nov. 13. Workers have asked patrons and employees not to cross picket lines as they ask the company for better staffing and higher pay, among other things.
“Our union is willing to strike for however long it takes Starbucks to come to the table and negotiate with us on a deal that is not a joke,” said Noor Hayat, a Starbucks employee who has been with the company for two years.
Hayat said she has witnessed labor violations at the 4th Avenue location, including safety issues with carbon monoxide leaks and unfair scheduling practices.
Despite the carbon monoxide leaks, management scrutinized the workers' request to temporarily close the store, according to Hayat.
“Genuinely, every year I've experienced feeling stretched so thin, feeling burnt out. And I think that all of my baristas can relate to that,” said Sydney West, a Starbucks worker at a unionized store in Sheepshead Bay.
West, who has been with the company for five years, was previously at an non-unionized location before her current one. She told BK Reader that the company stifles the union with tactics like anti-union hires. “Starbucks management is still union-busting. Even though I am in a union store, there are still pushbacks with staffing," where a contract is needed, she said.
Strikes are set to continue indefinitely in hopes of a collective bargaining agreement with the company, workers said. Mamdani expressed support for the workers to continue to push for better pay and a better work environment.
“I am tired of walking into buildings in this city, meeting the workers there, asking them how long their commute was, and hearing that they, in fact, live in New Jersey, they live in Pennsylvania, they live in places that they can afford the rent, they can afford the mortgage," he said. "That place has to become New York City once again."
Hayat stated that the support from Mamdani could help mobilize the workers' effort on a larger scale.
“Now a lot of people know exactly what we were fighting for, and for him to show out today and support us gives us a lot of something to stand with," she said.
