Starbucks Workers Rally Report

We demand Starbucks Bosses Rehire the Memphis 7!

Seattle DSA comrades joined Starbucks workers this past Tuesday, alongside other supportive workers in the community, Socialist Alternative, union members from SEA, UAW 4121, Elliot Bay Book Workers’ Union and others, to stand in solidarity against Starbucks’s ruthless union-busting activity. An energetic crowd of 50+ picketed at 8am on the doorstep of Starbucks’s corporate headquarters. Speakers—including two Starbucks workers from Seattle and two workers recently fired from a Memphis shop for union organizing—demanded the company commit to card check neutrality and reinstate the “Memphis 7.”

A Seattle Starbucks worker told the crowd about her and her coworkers enduring forced 3 on 1 meetings with management. The Memphis workers railed against the company’s unjust firings of them and their coworkers, terminated for trivial acts such as being behind the counter while off the clock. These tactics are union-busting plain and simple. All the workers spoke about the strength they gather from outpourings of support from their communities and working people across the country.

Seattle City Councilmember and Seattle DSA member Kshama Sawant spoke of the need for escalating actions to ensure the Memphis 7 are reinstated and win unionization efforts across the country, calling for Starbucks Workers United to build to a national day of action.

A striking concrete worker and Teamsters local 174 member walked to the rally from his picket line and gave an impromptu speech about his and his coworkers’ ongoing struggle and offered words of encouragement and solidarity to the Starbucks workers. 

After the speakers, the rally took the street and crowd marched to a nearby Starbucks store and back, receiving encouraging honks from cars and trucks driving past the picket.

What’s Next?

Seattle DSA must continue to stand in solidarity with Starbucks workers in this important fight against a corporate juggernaut that could help spark a new wave of labor action around the country. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to get involved!

• Sign our solidarity petition
• Tabling this upcoming Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday
• Postering in District 4 this Saturday
• Donate to the Memphis 7 solidarity fund
• Check out Starbucks Workers United’s solidarity tool kit
• Keep an eye on the Seattle DSA calendar for more opportunities to help build this movement!