Starbucks NYC Roastery Workers End 46-Day Strike After Winning Major Concessions

Workers at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery flagship on Manhattan’s 9th Avenue ended a seven-week strike and returned to work on Monday, after securing an agreement that commits the coffee chain to regularly scrub equipment at outposts nationwide. The workers, members of Starbucks Workers United/Workers United NY NJ, had filed complaints about moldy ice machines as well as bedbugs.

The workers decided to return to work after three meetings with Starbucks representatives and health and safety experts, reviewing dozens of inspection reports and a dog-led bedbug inspection that found the store free of pests. In order to further address the bedbug issues, the company also agreed to cover the cost of home pest inspections at workers’ requests. All three Starbucks Reserve Roastery stores, the company’s premium outlets, will also now get their ice machines cleaned regularly by a vendor.

“The work isn’t over. We need to continue to hold management accountable, and being back inside we will all do that as partners, together,” said Roastery workers in a statement. “We are excited to return to work, but we recognize that our fight as a unionized store has just begun.” Click here to read their full statement detailing several other important concessions they won, including a set date for bargaining, and read more of the story in THE CITY and Patch.