Starbucks Workers United officially calls boycott

The boycott of standalone, corporate stores has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO representing 65 international unions and nearly 15 million union members

NEW YORK, NY (August 26, 2026) — There’s big Starbucks news this week. No, not seasonal syrups — it’s a boycott, officially launched by Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) in response to the company’s multi-year failure to settle a fair contract with more than 12,000 union baristas.

Starbucks has gone scorched earth on union workers, becoming the most prolific labor law violator in modern history rather than negotiating in good faith (a dubious distinction that is no easy accomplishment, considering the competition).

As SBWU baristas wrote in announcing the boycott: “choosing to spend money at Starbucks is choosing a law-breaking corporation over the baristas who make your coffee everyday exactly as you ask for it.”

You can show your support for the workers by signing the boycott pledge and refusing to purchase Starbucks from any standalone, corporate store until the company stops breaking labor law and settles a fair contract with wages baristas can survive on.

Graphic: SBWU. Photo & design: The STAND

Here’s the full statement from Starbucks Workers United:

We, the 12,000 and growing members of Starbucks Workers United, call on everyone who stands with working people to boycott Starbucks until they finalize a contract with union baristas and stop union-busting.

What we’re fighting for is simple: a minimum $17 per hour wage, enough hours to live on, better staffing in our stores, and basic workplace protections. Every year, our living costs rise but our wages don’t keep up – a growing pressure many American workers are feeling as corporate greed accelerates unchecked in our country.

Starbucks is banking on customers’ blind loyalty to the integrity and values this company once stood for in order to keep squeezing them for profits. At a time when working-class people across the country are struggling in a challenging economy, it is no longer possible to be both a Starbucks customer and in support of workers; choosing to spend money at Starbucks is choosing a law-breaking corporation over the baristas who make your coffee everyday exactly as you ask for it.

Starbucks has violated U.S. labor law more than any other company in modern history—the NLRB and its judges have found that Starbucks committed hundreds of labor violations and there are currently more than 550 unresolved unfair labor practice charges still pending against the company. Instead of finalizing a fair and reasonable union contract, Starbucks has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of care for the workers who fuel the company’s profits by wasting millions of dollars on AI and technology that doesn’t work, launching countless gimmicky drinks designed to distract from real problems, and inventing pointless policies that do nothing but make our jobs harder.

This ongoing, irrational behavior by Starbucks and its refusal to settle a fair union contract with workers leaves us with no other choice than to call for a boycott. We know when working people stand up together, we win.