Starbucks starts on Monday with new restrictions on what baristas wear under their green aprons. Dress requirements require employees operating and licensed stores in the U.S. and Canada to wear black shirts and khaki, black or blue denim bottoms.
Under previous dress codes, baristas can wear a wider range of dark and patterned shirts. Starbucks said the new regulations will make its green apron stand out and bring a sense of familiarity to customers when they try to build a warmer, more enthusiastic feeling in the store.
But the union of Starbucks Workers United, which represents 570 workers in the U.S. stores owned by 10,000 Starbucks companies, said dress codes should be negotiated collectively.
“Starbucks has lost its way. Instead of hearing the barista that Starbucks has experienced, they focus on all the wrong things, such as implementing restrictive new dress codes,” said Starbucks from Starbucks in Hanover, Maryland. “Customers don’t care what color our clothes are when they wait for 30 minutes.”
Summers and others have also criticized the company for selling the style of Starbucks-branded outfits that no longer allow employees to work on their internal websites. Starbucks said it will offer two free black T-shirts to each employee when each employee announces new dress codes. Starbucks said Wednesday that the strike had limited impact on U.S. stores operated by its 10,000 companies. The company said less than 1% of Starbucks workers participated in the strike based on the union’s own number, which in some cases closed stores for less than an hour. “If the union could put in the same effort to get back on the table, it would be more productive. “Today, more than 99% of our stores serve our customers and it’s been a full week.” ”
Starbucks workers Manchester United have been in the U.S. Store League since 2021. Despite agreeing to return to the negotiations in February 2024, Starbucks and the union have not reached a contract agreement.
The union said this week it filed a complaint with the National Labor and Industrial Relations Commission accusing Starbucks of failing to bargain.
