Dee-Ann Durbin
More than 1,000 Starbucks baristas from 75 US stores have been on strike since Sunday to protest the new company’s dress code, according to a union representing the coffee giant’s workers.
Starbucks has put new restrictions on what its baristas can wear under a green apron starting Monday. Dress code requires employees in stores operated and licensed by US and Canadian companies to wear black shirts and khaki, black or blue denim bottoms.
Under the previous dress code, baristas were able to wear a wider range of darker colors and patterns. Starbucks said the new rules will create friendliness for customers as they try to highlight the green apron and establish a warmer, more welcoming feel in the store.
But Starbucks Workers Unite, a union representing 570 workers in Starbucks’ 10,000 company-owned U.S. store, said dress codes should be subject to collective bargaining.
“Starbucks has lost their way. Instead of hearing baristas that let Starbucks experience what it is, they focus on all the wrong things, including implementing a restrictive new dress code.” “Customers don’t care what colour our clothes are when they wait for a latte for 30 minutes.”
Summers and others criticized the company for selling styles of Starbucks branded clothing that employees are no longer allowed to wear to work on internal websites. When Starbucks announced its new dress code, they said they would give each employee two free black t-shirts.
Starbucks said Wednesday that the strike has had a limited impact on U.S. stores run by a company of 10,000 people.
“Thousands of Starbucks partners are ready to serve their customers and communities this week,” the company said in a statement. “If the union goes back to the table and makes the same effort to complete a reasonable contract, it’s more productive.”
Starbucks Workers United has been combining US stores since 2021. Starbucks and the union agreed to return to the negotiation table in February 2024, but have yet to reach the contract agreement.
The union said this week it filed a complaint with the National Labor Commission, which it alleges Starbucks did not negotiate over a new dress code.
Original issue: May 14th, 2025, 2:40pm EDT
