SEATTLEThe union that organizes Starbucks workers said Monday that the strike scheduled for LGBTQ+ Pride month closed 21 Starbucks stores over the weekend, including the company’s flagship Reserve Roastery in Seattle.
The strike will continue through this week and is expected to close or halt operations at more than 150 stores, according to the Starbucks workers union. The iconic Seattle store was closed all Friday and opened just five hours Sunday instead of the usual 3 hours, according to the union.
Workers protest against reports that some grocery stores Starbucks banned LGBTQ+ Pride displays this year after backlash against businesses like Target, where angry customers overturned Pride displays and confronted employees. The union also noted that Starbucks officials have warned workers that unionization could threaten their health benefits, including gender-affirming care for transgender workers.
But Starbucks insists there is no change in company policy regarding Pride displays or employee benefits. Starbucks extended full healthcare to same-sex couples in 1988 and added coverage for gender reassignment surgery in 2013.
In a letter to employees posted Friday on the Starbucks website, CEO Laxman Narasimhan noted that a Pride flag currently flies over the company’s Seattle headquarters, as it has in previous years.
“We want to be very clear: Starbucks has been and will continue to be at the forefront of supporting the LGBTQIA2+ community, and we will not waver in that commitment,” Narasimhan said. “As such, we strongly discourage any person, or group, who seeks to use our partners’ cultural and heritage celebrations to create harm or flagrantly promote disinformation for self-interested targets.”
