05-20-2025
In mid-May, workers from over 100 U.S. Starbucks stores walked off their jobs to protest changes the coffee company has made to its dress code. Starbucks has been struggling with its sales numbers for some time. As part of its plan to turn things around, the company has implemented a dress code that requires its retail employees to wear specific-colored clothing. Employees may wear any solid black short and long-sleeved crewneck, collared, or buttoned-up shirts and any shade of khaki, black, or blue denim bottoms. The company will offer branded t-shirts, providing each employee with two free ones. The chain asserted these changes allow it to “deliver a more consistent coffeehouse experience.”
Starbucks’ Workers United members are protesting the change. They allege that the new dress code “materially differed from both the status quo and what the parties had tentatively agreed to at the bargaining table.” The union believes the changes should have been part of the collective bargaining process and has thus added the dress change to its unfair labor practices charges.
Union members say the dress code changes will force employees to buy new clothes, something many of them cannot afford to do. In addition, the union stated, “Starbucks is a MASSIVE company without focus. They refuse to staff our stores properly, give guaranteed hours to workers, pay us a living wage, or provide stipends to pay for this arbitrary dress code.” The two sides have been engaged in protracted labor negotiations and still have not reached an agreement. According to Starbucks, the walkout had a limited impact on its operations, with the strikes closing just some stores for an hour.