Starbucks union rejects 2% annual raise offer as insufficient

Starbucks union delegates involved in contract bargaining voted to reject the coffee chain’s latest proposal that guaranteed annual raises of at least 2%, Workers United said.

Out of the 490 baristas representing the company’s more than 550 unionized U.S. stores, 81% rejected the proposal, which did not offer any changes to economic benefits such as healthcare or any immediate pay hike.

“Starbucks’ current offer is insufficient to finalize a deal,” the workers’ union said.

Starbucks said in a statement that the union presented an incomplete framework for single-store contracts to their delegates to vote on, adding that its actions were causing a delay in reaching a mutual agreement.

The company pays its baristas more than $19 an hour on average currently, which with benefits comes to about $30 an hour. It had proposed to the union that their annual raises would not fall below 2%.

The parties had been advancing contract negotiations in recent weeks after agreeing to bring in a mediator to help resume stalled negotiations in February.

Since then, they have reached tentative agreements on many key contract issues, such as health and safety measures, but the latest offer was “not good enough,” according to the memo shared by Workers United.

The union, representing over 10,000 baristas, and the company had recently agreed to withdraw lawsuits filed against each other.