‘No Contract, No Coffee’: Iowa City rally backs striking Starbucks workers

IOWA CITY — About 30 community members, labor leaders and university students gathered outside the Starbucks on South Clinton Street on Saturday to back striking baristas demanding that the coffee chain negotiate a first union contract — more than two and a half years after Iowa City workers voted unanimously to unionize.

Abigail Scheppmann, a striking Starbucks barista at the Iowa City store, told supporters that workers are committed to holding the line until Starbucks agrees to a fair first contract, citing the need for higher take-home pay, adequate staffing and a resolution to unfair labor practice charges tied to alleged union-busting and retaliation.

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Iowa City baristas voted unanimously to unionize in 2023, but the company has yet to settle a single contract with any of its unionized stores nationwide, Scheppmann said. The rally, hosted by the Iowa City Federation of Labor, is part of a national strike and expanding consumer boycott as part of the “No Contract, No Coffee” campaign led by Starbucks Workers United. According to the union, baristas at nearly 100 stores in more than 60 U.S. cities have joined the current strike wave, which began around Red Cup Day — one of the company’s busiest annual promotions — in November. Organizers say more stores may join if Starbucks does not move toward a first contract.

Workers say they are escalating pressure over what they describe as unfair labor practices and a breakdown in contract talks.

‘We’re not going anywhere’

Scheppmann told supporters that Starbucks workers across the country are determined to keep striking until they secure a contract that addresses pay, staffing and workplace conditions. She traced the movement back to Buffalo, N.Y., where baristas voted to unionize four years ago, and said that since then, the organizing wave has grown to “hundreds of stores strong,” including Iowa City.

Scheppmann described the strike as part of a broader push by workers and communities to “stand up against the billionaires and CEOs” whom baristas accuse of profiting from low wages and understaffing. She pointed to the Iowa City store’s three-day shutdown as proof of workers’ leverage and said community support — customers refusing to cross the picket line, unions turning out in force — is what makes the action possible.

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“We're all here because we believe there's a better world out there — one where workers are given their fair share, one where workers and communities come together to fight for their neighbors,” Scheppmann said. “ … The billionaires want us to believe that their view of the world is the only one that exists, that workers must suffer low wages and threats of unemployment or even deportation to keep them in line. But I know that another world exists.

“ … We're showing Starbucks that we are willing to take drastic action in order to get what we are owed,” she added. “It is time for the company to put an end to their unlawful union busting. It's time that they bargain a real contract with us. Until then, baristas are ready to stand on this picket line with our communities at our sides all across the country.”

Labor leaders amplify ‘No Contract, No Coffee’ boycott

The event opened with chants led by Scott Punteney, president of the Iowa City Federation of Labor AFL-CIO and a business agent with Teamsters Local 238, who told the crowd that local unions “stand with these workers” in their fight for a fair contract.

Scott Punteney voiced labor’s support for striking Starbucks Workers United baristas, criticizing the company’s refusal to bargain a first contract after more than two years of organizing and waves of unfair labor practice allegations. He urges community members to stand with workers by joining the national boycott, donating to strike funds, and signing up for solidarity pickets as the strike continues through the holiday season.

Punteney also told the crowd that Teamsters have pledged not to cross Starbucks picket lines, including by refusing deliveries to struck stores.

Other speakers included barista and organizer James Nordholm, who criticized corporate pay practices and executive perks.

Jamie Gulley, president of SEIU Healthcare Iowa Minnesota, announced a $10,000 donation to the Starbucks national strike fund. Jennifer Sherer, a labor economist with the Economic Policy Institute, framed the baristas’ struggle as part of a nationwide wave of worker organizing amid rising inequality.

Sherer pointed to polls showing especially strong union support among younger workers and cited research estimating that tens of millions of Americans would join a union if they could. She urged attendees to sign the “No Contract, No Coffee” pledge and refrain from buying Starbucks until workers win a contract.

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Workers’ demands: higher pay, sustainable staffing, enforceable protections

Organizers and speakers repeatedly returned to a central set of demands they say Starbucks can easily afford.

The striking Starbucks workers are demanding a fair union contract that delivers concrete economic gains: significantly higher wages so baristas can afford rent, groceries and basic living costs; better staffing levels to reduce overwork and make the store run sustainably; and enforceable contract terms that lock in these improvements. They frame their package of demands as costing roughly the equivalent of one day of Starbucks’ sales profits, arguing that instead of spending tens of millions on executive perks and corporate events, the company should redirect those resources to the frontline workers who generate its revenue.

Nordholm told the crowd that baristas are “tired of corporate greed” and said the strike is not only about one store in Iowa City, but about setting a standard for workers nationwide. He called on customers not to cross the picket line and to stand with baristas “until our demands are met.”

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Voice and email messages left with Starbucks ahead of Saturday’s rally seeking comment on the Iowa City strike and the national “No Contract, No Coffee” effort were not returned

In previous public statements, Starbucks has said the ongoing strike has caused limited disruption and that the “vast majority” of its U.S. locations remain open, while asserting that the company is prepared to return to negotiations when the union agrees to further bargaining sessions.

“We've made noise, and we will continue to make noise until our demands are met,” Nordholm said. “Thousands of employees stand together, and our contract is not a fight just for us, it's a fight for American workers and the corporations to show that the people have a voice and we deserve protections at every other single job. We simply ask for respect to be shown and simple rights to be given to the standard employee.”

Comments: tom.barton@thegazette.com