Over 1,000 unionized Starbucks baristas nationwide launched a strike: the “Red Cup Rebellion,” in reference to Starbucks’ holiday event, Red Cup Day, in November 2025.
The strike, calling for a boycott of all Starbucks’ business and affiliated products, follows the company’s continued union-busting and failure to finalize a fair union contract, according to Starbucks Workers United. The open-ended strike began with 65 stores across over 40 cities.
The protest comes at a contentious time for the company, as new CEO Brian Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” initiative introduced a variety of changes, including a new uniform policy and a requirement that baristas write a message on every customer’s cup.
Controversial policies
“The new uniform policy was one that drastically affected our store,” said Natalie Werner, a barista with five years of experience across multiple Starbucks locations. “When this policy was introduced to us at our store meeting, it caused uproar and commotion.”
The new policy, implemented in May 2025, intended to create a “sense of familiarity,” according to Starbucks’ official announcement. But the changes have only exacerbated already difficult working conditions.
The policy states that employees are to dress in khaki, black or blue denim bottoms, and a solid black or company-branded shirt, of which each employee was given two. The guidelines also limit certain makeup and accessories, banning jewelry on hands and arms.
“I would say it is completely unacceptable that they only provide two shirts, and then even went as far to say if those two shirts fade, it is our responsibility to dye them black again,” said Hannah Robsinson, a barista of three years.
Robinson said she spent about $140 on new clothing to meet the dress code, a task that can be difficult as the average Starbucks barista makes just over $15 an hour.
Starbucks Workers United pointed out that Niccol currently holds the largest worker-to-CEO pay gap in the country, making 6,666 times more than the average Starbucks barista.
Workers in California, Colorado and Illinois filed a lawsuit against the company for not reimbursing employees for money spent on new clothing.
The policies especially impacted many of her LGBTQ+ coworkers by the changes that limited parts of their expression at work, Werner said. Multiple baristas also expressed frustration with having to adhere to uniform changes that proved to be expensive and hard to follow perfectly.
The clothing policies affect not only the baristas but also the customers, Werner said.
“This policy affects both barista livelihood and customer wait times,” Werner said. “When baristas are being sent home over not being in the correct dress code, it leaves our floor short-staffed.”
Several baristas have quit entirely, citing the rapid decline they saw in the company, Werner said.
The new policy also requires baristas to write personalized messages on each cup given to customers, which raised larger issues affecting both employees’ work experiences and customer wait times.
“The handwritten note policy is hard to achieve constantly,” said Layla Spencer, a barista of six months. “And it is hard to write super personal stuff because we do not know all of our customers that well. It is hard to know what may offend some people.”
A trend followed the death of conservative personality Charlie Kirk, where many Starbucks customers asked baristas to write the commentator’s name on his go-to order. This violated the company’s policy against political messaging in the baristas’ required writing, leading to conflict between baristas and customers.
One shift supervisor of two years, Brooklyn Dickerson, expressed frustration with the trend, claiming that it led to her being recorded and harassed.
These smaller-scale changes affect the work experiences of Starbucks employees and reflect larger frustrations between the company and its employees — something its union hopes to address.
Do the new policies affect the on-campus Starbucks?
The Starbucks on the campus of MTSU is a licensed store, meaning corporate Starbucks does not own it. Licensed stores still abide by most Starbucks rules, but this does not include the newly rolled-out policies. Licensed stores’ union presence also varies by location.
Licensed stores within grocery stores, for example, would be a part of the grocery store’s union, as Starbucks does not employ them.
Inside MTSU’s Starbucks, located within the James E. Walker Library, business is anything but slow.
While some student workers heard of the strikes, many felt they didn’t know enough to participate. Still, many students were empathetic to the cause.
“I would definitely agree with them going on strike and boycotting,” student Kiya Wilson said. “As a fast food worker myself, it is needed to have better wages for all the employees, especially if they have been working at the job for years.”
Another student, Kat Acosta, didn’t even know about the Starbucks strike or boycotts. In her eyes, Acosta said, Starbucks essentially had two options to handle the union strikers.
“[Starbucks can] either honor them or lose their loyal employees,” Acosta said. “Is it really worth losing a massive amount of customers due to them being stingy? I’d be concerned with reputation.”
No end in sight
The “Red Cup Rebellion” strike continued through the holiday season and has no set end date.
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