The longest Starbucks strike lasted 64 days, took place in Brookline, Massachusetts in September 2022 and resulted in the unionization of the employees at that location.

The Industrial Workers of the World led an organizing campaign in the mid-2000s based in New York City that did not result in union recognition.

Starbucks is the world's predominant multinational coffeehouse chain, selling specialty coffee, beverages, and assorted food in nearly 34,000 stores across 83 markets.

[10] Their contract, secured in 1986, brought health care coverage, paid vacation, and sick leave to Starbucks part-time workers in Seattle and its suburbs.

In new negotiations, Schultz wanted to expand the warehouse and roasting plant bargaining unit to include workers from the 11 Starbucks stores.

This approach intended for the larger, diluted unit to reject the union but backfired when the store workers did the opposite.

Schultz proposed reductions in medical benefits, work hours, just-cause termination protections established in the prior contract.

[11] In his 1997 memoir, Pour Your Heart Into It, Schultz defended his decisions saying, "If [Starbucks workers] had faith in me and my motives, they wouldn't need a union.

"[11] In 2014, Starbucks workers started two petitions on Coworker.org, one demanding the company overturn its "no-tattoo policy", and the other to better scheduling practices.

Schultz was asked by US Senator Bernie Sanders to respond to the ruling National Labor Relations Board Judge Michael Rosas had made regarding Starbucks unionization.

[10][18] The IWW, which works outside the mainstream American labor movement, intended to prove that unions could break into the fast food industry.

The campaigns led to a series of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) cases that uncovered how corporate executives coordinated to fill union-supporting stores with anti-union hires.

Starbucks denied any wrongdoing, and one charge that an employee was fired for organizing, to be rehired with back pay, was reversed on appeal.

[5] During the union drive, the company sent other managers and executives, including its North America retail president, to Buffalo to engage with employees about operational issues and participate in their work.

[14] Separately, workers filed a NLRB complaint of company intimidation and surveillance to discourage the union drive.

[32] Prior to the vote's scheduling, Starbucks announced a minimum wage increase to $15 per hour and pay raises for tenured workers.

[41] In early January 2022, the number of stores that had filed petitions extended outside of the Buffalo area and the state of New York increased to more than 10.

[42] By the end of that January, more than 50 company-owned Starbucks stores in locations across the United States had petitioned for union recognition.

[31][53] In September 2023, an NLRB judge found that Starbucks had violated labor law when it had announced pay raises only for non-union employees.

The largest strike action to date on the SBWU campaign was on March 22, 2023, where 117 union locations staged the "One Day Longer, One Day Stronger" strike to commemorate outlasting interim-CEO Howard Schultz, who resigned prior to the Senate HELP committee hearing on union-busting sanctioned by Schultz.

"[59] The longest Starbucks union strike lasted 64 days, beginning on July 11, 2022, and ending on September 15, 2022, at the 874 Commonwealth Avenue location in Brookline, Massachusetts, USA.

This particular strike was sparked by a new policy that would require workers to adjust their schedules to meet a minimum availability of hours.

[68] On June 26, Starbucks issued a press release promising to offer clearer guidelines surrounding the LGBT display policy.

[75][76][77][78] Baristas in Denver, Colorado, went on strike on March 11, 2022, due to what they alleged were threats to their job security and benefits if they petitioned to form a union.

[79] In the spring of 2022, Vice News obtained a leaked memo from Starbucks management telling baristas in Olympia, Washington, that "benefits and wages will essentially be frozen" during collective bargaining that could take a year or longer "if a contract is reached at all.

[84] In February 2022, seven Memphis, Tennessee employees known for their efforts at unionization were fired, ostensibly for violating security and safety policies by letting a TV crew enter a closed store.