Red Cup Rebellion: Starbucks employees protest their work conditions

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Starbucks employees scheduled to work at the Financial Plaza store on Thursday stood outside as part of a national one-day strike for better working conditions.

“No Contract, No Coffee” were the words of Starbucks employees striking on one of busiest days of the year for the company.

“They want us to work understaffed on days that they exceed their profits,” employee Juani Cantu said. “How is it okay for a multi-billion dollar company for us to be understaffed and working in terrible conditions while they don’t pay us enough for these holiday events?”

The location was expected to be closed Thursday but managers from other stores arrived to serve customers.

“It is actually really funny because I can see other managers from other stores,” Dalia Cerezo said. “Suddenly they have the staff for when they need it but never for when we need it.”

The national one-day strike demands better pay, staffing, and control for local stores, including the ability to turn off mobile ordering because of the influx of orders that come in on promotional sales days like Thursday’s Red Cup Day.

The Financial Plaza location workers became the first in the state to file to unionize earlier this week.

On Red Cup Day, decorative red cups are given away free with an order of a handcrafted holiday drink.

“We barely get by just getting dinner,” Cerezo said. “We are college students. We are young, we are twenty years old. We need more money. We need to be paid more because some of us have bills, families to take care of. It is not fair. I think this is what we need to do.”

In a statement, the Starbucks Corporation said, “We again call on Workers United to fulfill their obligations and engage in the work of negotiating.”

ABC 6 News tried speaking with Starbucks employees who came in for their shifts and they did not want to comment on the events of the strike.

The Starbucks on Westminster Street closed at 5 p.m.