There was a line outside of the Starbucks on 7th Street and Redondo Avenue in Long Beach Thursday morning, but it wasn’t full of customers ordering their daily cup of coffee. The lively morning crowd was made up of Starbucks workers voicing their needs for fair pay, realistic hours and unionization.
Workers at 7th Street and Redondo Avenue unanimously voted to unionize in May of 2022, and have been waiting for months to meet with the company’s lawyers.
Workers at the location say that within five minutes of negotiations, the lawyers and executives walked out. This echoes the meeting on Oct. 27 between top Starbucks executives, their lawyer and national union organizers—where executives listened to union demands for six minutes before storming out of the meeting.
“We believe that Starbucks is not operating in good faith,” said Misha Spencer, barista at the 7th and Redondo Starbucks location. “They’re walking out on our negotiations en route. We love what we do, we love the community that we serve. But we want to be taken seriously and us walking out on them like they walked out on us, I believe sends the message.”
According to Mattew Vu of the Los Angeles County Workers Federation of Labor and People’s Project, it’s a method Starbucks has been using on a number of stores attempting to bargain for better benefits.
“This is indicative of what Starbucks has been doing nationwide,” Vu said. “They’re trying to stall, they’re trying to wait for us to lose steam, but we’re here in support of working people to let them know that we have their back and that as long as they’re going, we’re going.”
Thursday was also Red Cup Day for Starbucks branches throughout the nation, one of the chain’s busiest days of the year, where locations hand out free reusable holiday-themed cups with the purchase of a fall drink.
Multiple political leaders joined the picket line Thursday to show their support for Starbucks workers including Mayor-elect Rex Richardson and Los Angeles County Board Supervisor Janice Hahn.
Cameron Kude (right), and Juan Fernandez (left) of Cafablanca, a donation-based coffee cart rolled into the unionized Starbucks location on 7th Street and Redondo to help give strikers and customers coffee while the Starbucks location was closed on Nov. 17, 2022. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune) 
A sign informing customers that the store is closed is taped onto the window of the Starbucks location on 7th Street and Redondo Avenue in Long Beach on Nov. 17, 2022. The store is closed due to baristas at the unionized store going on strike during a holiday promotional period for the company. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune) 
“I’m striking today, along with my fellow baristas, because we believe that Starbucks is not operating in good faith,” said Misha Spencer, who began working as a barista for less than a month at the unionized Starbucks location on 7th Street and Redondo Avenue on Nov. 17, 2022. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune) 
Signs lay on the pavement while Starbucks baristas take a short break while on strike outside of the Starbucks location on 7th Street and Redondo Avenue in Long Beach on Nov. 17, 2022. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune)
Spencer has been a barista in Long Beach for five years, and wanted to work for Starbucks after hearing about their benefits, high pay and flexibility with students.
“But once you’re in it, you start seeing things for what they really are,” Spencer said. “[…] It is a bit misleading for them to say that we are partners and we care about our partners, but when we advocate for ourselves, they don’t want to listen.”
A story by the Washington Post claimed that over 100 stores participated in the strike, potentially costing the company millions of dollars in revenue.
“It shows that we really do carry Starbucks and we carry those values that they hold dear,” Spencer said.
Sarina Sity was among the unsuspecting customers who walked up to the store for a cold brew, and instead was met with closed doors. She was able to order a chai latte from local coffee cart Cafablanca, who was serving protestors to show their support.
“I knew a lot about what was going on with Starbucks in terms of how the organization as a whole treats their workers; underpaid, overworked, kind of apathetic to their personal lives,” Sity said. “So I’m here for their cause. I’m sad that I couldn’t get a coffee but overall, I think that’s wonderful.”
