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Tag: Starbucks strike

  • 2025 Year in Review: 10 ways the City Beautiful stood up this year

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    A No Kings protest in Orlando, 2025 Credit: Matt Keller Lehman

    Amid a year filled with the chaos filtering down from the White House and our state government, Orlando once again proved that it’s possible to stand up, show up and send a message. Locals this year protested against fascism, organized to provide transparency for family members of those detained by ICE, and donated to food banks and other organizations this year to help those in need during the 43-day federal government shutdown.

    This is the energy we love to see in our friends and neighbors. Here’s to a lot more of it in 2026.

    Protesting the Trump administration under the slogan of ‘No Kings’
    Millions of Americans nationwide, including thousands in Central Florida, rallied against the Trump administration this year at sporadic “No Kings” protests organized by local activists fed up with the administration’s policies and funding cuts. Our reporter and photojournalist contributors documented Orlandoans who showed up across racial and generational lines, protesting proposed cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP, as well as the Trump administration’s immigration policy, billionaire Elon Musk’s ketamine-inspired “Department of Government Efficiency” and the generally hateful rhetoric coming from the White House. Several rallies were organized over the year at Orlando City Hall, but don’t worry, Kissimmee, we saw you, too.

    Protesting Trump’s immigrant crackdown in Waterford Lakes
    Nearly 200 Orlando residents came together near the Waterford Lakes Town Center over the first weekend of February to raise their voices loud and clear against policy decisions by Donald Trump, Stephen Miller and Elon Musk — particularly against immigration crackdowns and mass deportations. Protesters held signs with messages such as “U.S. Means All of Us,” “Hate never made America great,” and “I DRINK MY HORCHATA WARM BC FUCK ICE.”

    Rallying against the state’s erasure of Pulse’s rainbow-colored sidewalk
    Despite funding a paint job for it last year, the state Department of Transportation decided this year that the rainbow-colored crosswalk outside the former Pulse nightclub was too woke and painted over it in the dead of night. And Orlando wasn’t having it. After all, the rainbow colors were installed to honor the 49 people killed during a mass shooting at Pulse in 2016, and served as sort of a makeshift memorial while the OnePulse Foundation stumbled around for years not building one. Local officials said it served as a roadway safety strategy, too. Many community members here saw the state’s paint job as a targeted insult to the LGBTQ community — not the first we’ve seen, and it’s unlikely to be the last.

    Donating to food banks to help local families in need
    Protest actions aren’t the only way that Orlandoans stood up this year. Orlando also showed up by donating to food banks like Second Harvest and to the airport as thousands of federal workers in Central Florida were either furloughed during the government shutdown or forced to work without pay. 

    Standing up for immigrants detained in the county jail
    Dozens of civil rights, legal and labor groups organized a coalition this year to call on Orange County leaders to ensure greater transparency for families of individuals arrested and detained by ICE agents on federal immigration holds. In response, the county directed Orange County Corrections to make it easier for families to identify family members held in the local jail, which  has doubled as a temporary holding center for ICE detainees. Advocates regularly showed up to county commission meetings this year to keep the pressure on and organized press conferences to raise public awareness through media outlets (like Orlando Weekly), too. 

    Standing in solidarity with striking Starbucks workers
    As workers at a unionized Starbucks location in Oviedo joined a national strike against Starbucks this month, within the first week baristas began to see community members from groups like Central Florida Jobs With Justice and the Democratic Socialists of America show up on the picket line to support them, in addition to several candidates running for elected office (and, eventually, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost). Workers at the Oviedo store first voted to unionize in 2022 and have been fighting through their union — Starbucks Workers United — to negotiate a first contract with Starbucks that would cover them and more than 11,000 other Starbucks workers across more than 550 locations who are also unionized. Florida isn’t a state that’s known for being particularly friendly to unions. But unionized baristas locally have told our staff reporter they see their fight as one not just to benefit their own working conditions and livelihoods, but that of future generations.

    Orlando punks raised funds for Palestinian relief the DIY way
    Local DIY venue The S.P.O.T. (RIP) held a Palestine benefit this past February, hosting not just bands but food, clothing and jewelry vendors and a CFL Queers for Palestine booth for information on how to help locally. The lineup for the night comprised nine hardcore and punk bands from all around Florida: Right Effort, Andwhentheskywasopened, Noheartleft, AI Death Calculator, Unregistered Weapon, Bonus, Flowers for Emily, Gravess and Watts. Each band that night had a few words to say regarding Palestine and colonization, often taking the opportunity to remind the crowd of the roots of punk in its resistance to genocide. All told, the gig organizers managed to raise $3,020.68 in donations to be sent directly to Healing Our Homeland, a grassroots women-led organization that has been providing aid and resources to Palestinians since 2016.

    Postal service workers stood up against privatization
    The threat of privatization isn’t new for U.S. Postal Service workers — or the Department of Veterans Affairs, while we’re at it — but under Trump’s second term in the White House, the chance that threat could become reality has felt closer than ever. At least that’s what we heard from postal workers in Central Florida who believe USPS should remain a public service focused on serving communities indiscriminately, not padding the pockets of billionaires. Postal workers in Central Florida and across the country organized rallies this spring to say “HELL NO!” to privatizing America’s mail delivery. 

    Advocates called on Disney to investigate alleged use of low-wage prison labor to fold Disney balloons
    Local members of Central Florida Jobs With Justice stood side by side with formerly incarcerated workers outside Disney World this fall, calling on Disney to disclose that one of their subcontractors is paying Minnesota prisoners an average of 90 cents an hour to fold Disney character balloons. You know, the same balloons that cost customers $45 through a third-party vendor (or more, if you want it delivered to your Disney World Resort hotel room) that Disney promotes. According to the Minnesota Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, Anagram International — a manufacturer of Disney balloons — is one of the largest contractors for the Minnesota Corrections System. Local advocates called on Disney to disclose the pay rates for prisoners who fold these balloons and to publicly advocate in support of raising those prisoners’ wages.

    Local public school teachers defied DeSantis’ effort to dismantle their union
    When Gov. DeSantis signed into law a bill in 2023 that aimed to dismantle the state’s teachers unions, teachers across the state rose up to meet the challenge. And that continued this year, as teachers, school psychologists, librarians and other school staff in Central Florida school districts (including Orange and Osceola) voted in favor of keeping their unions certified, as they are now annually subject to a recertification process. For teachers, a union means they get a chance to negotiate higher salaries, duty-free lunches (so they can eat their lunch in peace), stronger paid maternity leave benefits, and generally have a voice on the job, collectively, that otherwise isn’t guaranteed. 

    Orlando’s daily dose of what matters. Subscribe to The Daily Weekly.

    Just a few extra scoops of serotonin for you

    Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings wrote a letter to the U.S. Marshals Service on Monday seeking full reimbursement for jailing ICE detainees

    SB 482 would ban minors from access artificial intelligence chatbot accounts

    This article appears in Dec. 24-30, 2025.



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    Orlando Weekly Staff
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  • Starbucks workers in Oviedo join national strike

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    Unionized Starbucks workers at the 305 E. Mitchell Hammock Road store in Oviedo join national strike (Dec. 11, 2025) Credit: Clay Blastic/Starbucks Workers United

    After voting overwhelmingly to go on strike if needed to secure a fair union contract, baristas at one of Central Florida’s only unionized Starbucks locations in Oviedo have joined a national strike that began last month, as part of a pressure campaign to get Starbucks to agree to their demands.

    Workers at other stores, unionized with Starbucks Workers United have gradually joined the strike, leveraging an escalation strategy used by the United Auto Workers union during their “Stand Up” strike against automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis in 2023.

    “If we get a good contract, that sets a standard that other stores can look at and go, ‘This is better than what the store — this company that says it’s progressive — is offering,’” said Clay Blastic, a local Starbucks barista of more than 10 years.  Blastic, a union leader at his store, told Orlando Weekly that they’re fighting for a union contract with Starbucks that not only lifts up the wages and working conditions of unionized baristas, but sets higher standards for others, too.

    “A rising tide lifts all boats, as they say,” he said. Starbucks workers at the 305 E. Mitchell Hammock Road location in Oviedo joined the strike early Thursday morning, which has now spread across 180 locations in 34 cities, including two unionized Starbucks locations in West Palm Beach — the first in Florida to join the strike last week — and Clearwater. Baristas at the Oviedo location first voted to unionize in 2022. They were joined Thursday on the picket line by allies with labor union UNITE HERE and Central Florida Jobs with Justice.

    Unlike one-day strikes organized by Starbucks baristas in the past — a rarity in an industry where so few workers are actually unionized — this strike is an open-ended strike, meaning the end date for their work stoppage is yet to be determined. 

    “Baristas like me shouldn’t be worrying about making rent or whether we’ll qualify for healthcare coverage, especially in the holiday season,” Zarian Antonio Pouncy, a barista of 12 years from Las Vegas, said in a statement from his union. “We need Starbucks to end the illegal union busting, and we need a fair contract with fair pay, reliable hours, and on-the-job protections. Until then, the message from baristas and our allies across the U.S. and beyond is clear: No Contract, No Coffee!”

    Workers are asking for customers to boycott of all Starbucks locations and products for the duration of the strike

    Starbucks, despite is progressive branding, has been accused of hundreds of labor law violations since 2021, when baristas in Buffalo, New York, unionized the first corporate-owned location in the United States. Allegations range from Starbucks illegally firing workers for their union activity to cutting the hours of and otherwise retaliating against baristas who are organizing at their store.

    Earlier this month, Starbucks also reached a $38 million settlement with New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, according to The City NYC, over Starbucks “arbitrarily” cutting workers’ hours, in violation of the city’s “fair workweek” law. Fair workweek laws, which guarantee predictability in workers’ schedules, were banned by Florida lawmakers through legislation approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year.

    Blastic, the local barista, said that meeting baristas’ economic demands in a union contract — the primary sticking point in negotiations — would cost Starbucks less than just one average day of sales. Other union leaders have argued the same. “It’s just a question of priorities,” he said. 

    Starbucks, for instance, found the money to gift its new CEO Brian Niccol, the former head of burrito chain Chipotle, a nearly $100 million compensation package last year. According to an annual report from the AFL-CIO, Niccol made 6,666 times the pay of the average Starbucks barista in 2024.

    “They call us ‘partners,’ but I’d like to see them put their money where their mouth is when it comes to that,” Blastic said. While critics might argue that barista jobs are meant to be entry-level jobs for younger workers, Blastic argued, “All jobs deserve dignity.”

    Starbucks workers in Oviedo join national strike (Dec. 11, 2025) Credit: Clay Blastic/Starbucks Workers United

    “We used to see a lot more older people that were able to make a living with Starbucks, and that has changed over the years,” he said. The union last year sought a $20 minimum wage in their contract with Starbucks, plus annual 5 percent raises and cost-of-living adjustments. Starbucks, instead, offered a contract delivering no immediate pay raises — a deal soundly rejected by union baristas earlier this year.

    “This is a college store,” Blastic admitted of his location, referring to the fact that they see frequent turnover from students at the University of Central Florida who are looking for a job outside of their studies. Even if this is a student’s first job, he said, “They still deserve the basic dignity of being able to support themselves off the job and respect from their management and protections in the workplace.”

    According to Starbucks Workers United, nearly 4,000 unionized Starbucks workers are now on strike, as of Thursday morning, as part of the union’s latest expansion of the work stoppage. Workers are asking customers and their communities to boycott Starbucks for as long as they’re on strike — meaning, no gift cards, no coffee, no merch.

    “There are plenty of wonderful local coffee shops in the area, in Oviedo, that would love their business,” said Blastic. “But it’s time for the customers as well to say … ‘if there’s going to be no contract, there’s going to be no coffee.’”

    Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson, in response to the strike, told Orlando Weekly in a statement that 99 percent of their 17,000 U.S. locations are still open and welcoming customers, “including many the union publicly stated would strike but never closed or have since reopened.”

    In response to the union’s economic demands, Anderson said that pay and benefits for Starbucks jobs average $30 per hour for hourly positions. “Regardless of the union’s plans, we do not anticipate any meaningful disruption,” she said. “When the union is ready to return to the bargaining table, we’re ready to talk.”

    Politicians like U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, and U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost (a former Starbucks barista) have shared support for the striking Starbucks workers — with the former two even joining a picket line with workers up in Brooklyn.

    “Right now, Starbucks workers are on strike,” Congressman Frost, a Democrat from Orlando, shared in a Nov. 25 social media reel. “As a former Starbucks barista myself, I’m proud of @sbworkersunited for organizing nationwide. They need our support and solidarity.”

    If you’re interested in showing your support for union baristas on strike, you can find a map of Starbucks Workers United public picket lines at NoContractNoCoffee.org.

    Starbucks workers in Oviedo have also set up a strike fund through GoFundMe, to help cover workers’ lost income while they’re on strike.

    Proceeds from merch on the union’s website, including shirts with messages like “Be Gay and Organize” and “Trans Rights Are Labor Rights,” are also currently going toward workers’ strike funds.

    Starbucks workers in Oviedo join national strike (Dec. 11, 2025) Credit: Clay Blastic/Starbucks Workers United

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    While some progress has been made in contract talks with Starbucks, the union is threatening a potential strike if they don’t reach a deal that workers approve.

    Union workers accuse the coffee company of violating federal labor law.

    The local workers could join more than 10,500 Starbucks workers across the U.S. who have already unionized



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    McKenna Schueler
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  • ‘Just practicing for a just contract’: Starbucks workers in Central Florida prepare for potential strike

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    Starbucks workers in Oviedo practice picket line in preparation for a potential strike. Credit: by McKenna Schueler

    Ahead of a vote on whether to authorize a national strike by unionized Starbucks workers, a group of off-shift baristas at one of Central Florida’s only unionized locations gathered outside their store Wednesday afternoon to practice their picket line.

    The action — posing little to no disruption to business inside the Oviedo location, with their fellow co-workers working as scheduled — was organized as part of a pressure campaign by their union, Starbucks Workers United.

    The union, which represents more than 12,000 Starbucks baristas and shift supervisors, has been fighting for a contract since 2021, when workers at a Starbucks in Buffalo, New York voted to form the first unionized Starbucks in the U.S.  

    That victory has been a beacon of inspiration for local baristas, spurring a flurry of organizing efforts at Starbucks locations across the U.S. The movement has been driven largely by a workforce of younger, queer workers initially drawn to work at Starbucks by the coffee giant’s competitive pay (compared to other entry-level jobs) and its progressive branding.

    Since the store in Buffalo unionized, Starbucks workers at more than 650 locations in 45 states —  including states like North Carolina, where unions are less common — have similarly voted to join the Workers United.

    For Kevin Beljan, a barista of seven years at the Oviedo store, the fight for a strong union contract is a noble cause he believes is worth the challenge.

    “I think that it has far-reaching implications,” he told Orlando Weekly Tuesday, as co-workers beside him flashed signs with messages like “No contract? No coffee!”

    Beljan’s not wrong. Workers for the burrito chain Chipotle (whose former CEO now leads Starbucks) and Trader Joe’s, for instance, have named Starbucks workers as inspiration for their own union drives, too.

    “After seeing the victories at Starbucks, it was like ‘Oh, my God, we can accomplish this,’” one Chipotle worker told the Washington Post in 2022 after workers at her Michigan restaurant voted to join the Teamsters. “A lot of young people are in favor of unionizing but thought it would never happen here,” the worker added. “That realism is what is keeping a lot of us down right now. Getting this far shows us we do have to try, because we can succeed.”

    Union workers accuse the coffee company of violating federal labor law.

    The local workers could join more than 10,500 Starbucks workers across the U.S. who have already unionized

    Securing an initial union contract, however, can take well over a year — an analysis by Bloomberg found this can take 465 days on average.

    Although progress has been made on finalizing a union contract — including tentative agreements on non-economic items, such as anti-discrimination protections — the union says the company has failed to meet their demands on economic issues, such as pay and scheduling.

    After reaching a tentative deal with the coffee giant earlier this year, union members serving as delegates for their stores overwhelmingly rejected it, called Starbucks’ economic offer “insufficient.” The company, however, claims that the union has been the party unwilling to listen.

    “Workers United only represents around 4 percent of our partners but chose to walk away from the bargaining table. If they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk,” Jaci Anderson, a Starbucks spokesperson, told Orlando Weekly in a statement following initial publication of this story online.

    The tentative agreement reached between the two parties earlier this year guaranteed annual raises of at least 2 percent, according to Bloomberg, but did not offer any immediate pay raise guarantees.  On average, unionized workers earn 12.8 percent more than nonunion workers in comparable jobs, and the spillover effects of unionization can also force employers to raise standards for nonunion workers, too.

    Starting pay at the Oviedo location in Seminole County is currently listed by the company at $16.50 to $18.73. A living wage in Seminole is considered closer to $25 for a single, childless adult.

    The union has proposed a starting wage of at least $20 an hour, equal to $41,600 annually if one is working full time. Starbucks, on the other hand, says they already offer the “best job in retail, including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits” for hourly workers.

    But that pay, and job security, isn’t guaranteed either. In a major shakeup, Starbucks recently announced plans to close 1 percent of its U.S. stores by the end of 2025, including 59 locations that are unionized. The union has criticized this move, pointing in part to the generous compensation package of nearly $100 million gifted to CEO Brian Niccol last year.

    According to a report from the AFL-CIO, a national federation of labor unions, Niccol made 6,666 times the pay of the average Starbucks barista in 2024.

    “I think there’s a massive imbalance,” said Beljan, the Oviedo barista. The most important fight by the union, he believes, is to hold Starbucks accountable for their treatment of workers, to “stop this corporate greed,” and to give more power to the rank-and-file like him who “generate the profit for this company.”

    Beljan’s never been a union member before this experience and admitted that, compared to what he hears from baristas in places like Philadelphia and New York City — where the percentage of unionized workers is much higher — organizing a strong union in Florida is “an uphill battle.”

    “We’re in a deep red state, and it’s more of an uphill battle than in, say, a blue state. But again, for me, you know, it’s worth it to see this through.”

    His co-worker Regan Schneider, a barista who transferred to the union Starbucks about a year ago, has similarly been inspired by the union. She previously worked at a non-union Starbucks in Port Charlotte. Although she’s getting ready to leave Starbucks to work as a teacher, she said the experience has inspired her to be an advocate for unions moving forward. 

    “I think there is this idea that you are more protected if you are neutral, but the truth is, you’re not protected if you’re neutral,” she said. “You need to show your support, whether that’s for the union or against the union.”

    Starbucks has been accused of hundreds of unfair labor practices by the union over the years of the organizing drive — essentially, accusations of violating workers’ rights under federal labor law. That includes allegations of illegally firing, surveilling, or threatening the benefits of workers who are involved in union organizing activity.

    “I’ve basically been harassed and targeted because of my involvement,” Beljan admitted. Still, he added that, at least with the union, “there’s also mechanisms to fight that that wouldn’t normally be there. And there’s also mechanisms for, like, accountability for management and people above me.”

    Schneider said Starbucks, a multibillion dollar company with unionized workers in other countries such as Chile, should be prepared for a fight ahead. “They need to learn to either fight with us,” she paused. “Or, to just get ready for a bigger fight.”

    A strike by the union would require a majority of the union’s 500+ delegates to vote in favor of authorizing their union to call for a strike action. It’s not something that a union leader could call for, or force workers to engage in unilaterally. According to Beljan, the strike authorization vote is currently underway.

    This post has been updated to include comment from a Starbucks spokesperson that was provided over email after the initial publication of this story.

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    Most teachers will receive a 4 percent raise under their new collective bargaining agreement

    Florida Republican Ryan Chamberlin filed similar legislation for consideration earlier this year but it failed to pass

    Disney argued a strike by employees of one of its contractors would violate a separate union contract Disney has that covers its own employees



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    McKenna Schueler
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