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Roughly four dozen people—including three Portland City Councilors—gathered at the Oregon Convention Center’s northeastern amphitheater on Dec. 13 for a rally in support of striking Starbucks workers.
Saturday’s rally marked one month since the beginning of the strike, which now includes 10 Portland-area locations, a union source said.
Councilors Angelita Morillo and Jamie Dunphy attended the rally, which was organized by Starbucks Workers United (Tiffany Koyama Lane was scheduled to appear, but cancelled due to illness, according to a staff member). Also in attendance were representatives from sympathetic unions, including Service Employees International Union.
Morillo connected Starbucks workers’ struggles to those she saw her mother face at work during her childhood after the family immigrated from Paraguay.
“What people always told me growing up was, ‘Well, if your mom wants a better job, then she should just find a better job,’” Morillo told the crowd. “But what they didn’t understand was that those options weren’t always available to her. She was doing what she had to do to take care of her family, and when we concede that certain people should not be making a thriving wage, when certain people should not have health care, when certain people should not have the basic dignity afforded to them that all workers should have, then you are conceding that some people should suffer under the system.”
SWU’s Red Cup Rally, part of the larger Red Cup Rebellion movement, began Nov. 13 at the beginning of Starbucks’ rollout of holiday season specials and products, including seasonal red cups. The Portland-area SWU Starbucks locations that joined the strike last month include Cascade Station, Southeast 126th Avenue and Division Street, Southeast 102nd Avenue and Stark Street (which SWU touts as the state’s most profitable location), and cafes in Garden Home, Beaverton, Gresham and Damascus.
An SWU rep tells WW that since then, locations in Cornelius and Hillsboro have joined, as well as the Pioneer Courthouse Square store, which was locked Saturday afternoon when a WW reporter visited. (Starbucks has not responded to WW’s emails requesting comment on the strike or inquiring about the closure.)
Despite mediated efforts to get the two sides to talk, Starbucks and SWU have not met since April. Forbes reported that SWU asked for a 65% raise during its contract’s first year, with a 77% raise over three years, while Starbucks countered with a zero and 1% raise, respectively.
SWU is asking that consumers boycott all Starbucks products for the duration of the strike, In These Times reported in November.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Tiffany Koyama Lane was at the Starbucks Workers United rally, but her planned appearance was cancelled due to illness. WW regrets the error.
