Union baristas at the Starbucks at 5300 Capitol Blvd SE in Tumwater are striking on Thursday, November 16th from 7-8am. The reasons for the strike are 1. Understaffing and 2. Refusal to Bargain. Most recently, Starbucks has refused to bargain in good faith with Starbucks Workers United due to a pro-Palestine statement released by the union (for which the union is now being sued by Starbucks).

A union barista in the Olympia/Tumwater/Shelton Starbucks district 115 writes,

Those in opposition to our cause might say that we [Union Baristas] are waging class warfare, that we will never be happy with what we are given. Today, we are here to tell them that their supposition is correct. If we are to reflect on the national labor movement in the last 4 decades, we would see that we have been fighting a class war from the very beginning.

Billionaires enjoy the fruits of our labor, they enjoy the return that they get on our suffering. Billionaires take, and they take, and they take, until we [Laborers] are nothing but scraps of flesh and bone, but don’t worry, they will find a way to make a profit off of you then too. How is it that one class of people controls all of the wealth? How is it just that one class of people can elevate themselves to a place of total sovereignty? How is it that that one class of people can decide whether or not you can afford to feed yourself?

What does Laxman Narasimhan know of living paycheck to paycheck? What does Laxman Narasimhan know of deciding whether to buy food, or whether to keep his lights on? What does Laxman Narasimhan know of deciding whether to buy insulin or whether to pay rent? He will never know the teeth gnashing intricacies of our misery, and because of that we are deciding to stand up and fight back.

We are done with trying to adhere our lives to the status quo, and we are done trying to please a class of people who will never have to make decisions about their lives like we do. We are defining the world we want to live in, and we are defining the places we want to work in. We stand together united in our resolve, fueled by a fire to free ourselves of our own tyranny. Today we declare our defiance against the chains of capital and ask only one question to our fellow union baristas, are you ready to answer the call?