Around a dozen Starbucks baristas gathered on Friday to march in front of one of the chain’s locations in Aurora, kicking off a series of Illinois-based pickets in the coming days as unionized employees at stores across the country vote on whether to initiate a strike.

As customers at the coffee chain’s location near Kirk and Butterfield roads came in and out of the store — at least one wishing the baristas luck on securing a contract — chants of “Get up, get down, Aurora is a union town” and “Understaffing, lousy pay, that is how your coffee’s made” rang out from the sidewalk, accompanied by signs with messages like “No contract? No coffee!” and “Just practicing for a just contract!”

Friday’s rally in Aurora is part of a series of planned rallies across the state this month, according to a press release on behalf of Starbucks Workers United.

The national union represents more than 12,000 baristas at 650 stores nationwide, including more than 30 in the Chicago area, according to past reporting. The union formed in 2021 — the first Chicago Starbucks locations joined in May 2022 — but has yet to ratify its first contract with Starbucks.

The Starbucks location on Kirk Road at which Friday’s rally was held unionized in June, according to a spokesperson on behalf of Starbucks Workers United. A nearby Geneva location and one in Elgin have also unionized, as have numerous locations in the Chicago area and the suburbs, per Starbucks Workers United’s website.

The union has 70 pickets planned in 60 cities, per the press release, as baristas are making contract demands and considering whether to strike. In Illinois, Friday’s picket in Aurora is set to be followed by two rallies in Chicago, one in Champaign and another in Rockford later this month.

Among their demands are improved staffing, hours and pay, along with “on-the-job protections for baristas.” The union says the remaining contract dispute amounts to “less than a single average day’s sales.”

“Starbucks knows where we stand,” Starbucks Workers United spokesperson Michelle Eisen said in the press release. “They know our demands: more take-home pay, better hours, resolving legal issues. It’s time to finalize a contract this fall before the all-important holiday season.”

According to Starbucks Workers United, voting among the union on whether to strike opened on Friday, but the timeline for when a strike might occur is not yet decided, nor is which locations would participate.

The national union has long been in talks with the chain to secure a contract. Recently, in April, unionized baristas rejected a contract offer they deemed “insufficient.”

Starbucks said in April that the union presented “an incomplete framework for single-store contracts to their delegates to vote on, effectively undermining our collective progress,” saying these actions “only cause further delay in reaching a mutual agreement on the path forward.”

A spokesperson for the coffee chain said on Friday that Workers United “chose to walk away from the bargaining table,” and that Starbucks is “ready to talk,” saying that an agreement between the union and the company “needs to reflect the reality that Starbucks already offers the best job in retail, including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits for hourly partners.”

The Starbucks spokesperson also said that “turnover is nearly half the industry average,” and that “the facts show people like working at Starbucks.”

The chain says it has invested more than $500 million to improve staffing and support, and it has highlighted the benefits it offers employees who average at least 20 hours of work per week, such as health care, equity in the company, paid parental leave and payment of college tuition.

At Friday’s rally, baristas criticized things like staffing and scheduling for employees, as well as the company’s recent restructuring plan.

In addition to the ongoing contract negotiations, Starbucks employees have also been experiencing the effects of the company’s Back to Starbucks restructuring plan, which included the shuttering of hundreds of stores nationwide, according to past reporting.

The national union recently negotiated some conditions for union baristas at the stores that were slated to close, it said, like securing severance for those who turn down an offer to transfer to a different store and giving them two days to decide on whether to accept a transfer offer.

Local elected officials — Aurora Mayor John Laesch and Ald. Keith Larson, at large — also made an appearance at the Starbucks on Friday in support of its unionized workers.

“It’s not putting customers first, and it’s not putting workers first,” Laesch said of Starbucks at the rally. “And that’s what we want to see in the city of Aurora, is living-wage jobs.”

Laesch said he would “be there to support” the workers if they opt to strike.

Gilbert Cruz, 20, of Aurora, said the Aurora location’s employees are concerned about things like “stagnant wages,” understaffing and fluctuating schedules.

“Our outside lives are not … considered,” Cruz, who said he works part-time while attending college, said. “All of us are really, really burnt out.”

Cruz also criticized the company’s referring to its employees as “partners,” saying that isn’t how he thinks they’re being treated.

“To be called a partner is kind of like an insult to me, because we have no say over any decision,” Cruz said. “They just treat us like numbers.”

mmorrow@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/24/aurora-starbucks-rally/