Durham’s Only Unionized Starbucks Holds Practice Picket
- Durham Dispatch
- 20 hours ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 4 minutes ago
On Oct. 27, Starbucks workers and union supporters gathered outside the Renaissance Center location for a practice picket. The store is one of three in the Triangle area represented by Starbucks Workers United (SBWU), which is negotiating a first contract and preparing to strike in the next few months if necessary.
Rallygoers chanted, “The workers united will never be defeated” and “Hey hey, ho ho, union busting has got to go” and held signs reading, “Just practicing for a just contract” and “No contract no coffee” [1].
About 20 people came to Monday’s event despite rainy conditions and workday timing. Attendees hailed from the NC AFL-CIO, Durham Association of Educators, Triangle Party for Socialism and Liberation, Union of Southern Service Workers, as well as Apex and Fayetteville Starbucks workers.
While the SBWU is pressing hard for a first contract, the corporation is stalling negotiations to avoid recognizing the union’s permanence and legitimacy. The Starbucks workers have noted that the company's CEO, Brian Nichol, made around 6,600 times more than the average barista in 2024.
In a social media statement, the SBWU said, “Over 12,000 Starbucks United members are fighting one of the biggest corporations on earth for a fair contract with higher pay, better staffing, and respect on the job. Workers also need the resolution of unfair labor practices!”
The practice picket went unnoticed in local media with the exception of Univision North Carolina [2]. In an interview, a former employee named Olivia said, “I liked my co-workers, but it was a place where we didn't know when we were going to have to come in to work. We worked overtime a lot. They didn't give us the things we needed to do the job properly, but they still punished us. This event is to say that we didn't deserve that.”
By showing the capacity to strike soon, workers are implicitly threatening to disrupt business during the profitable Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
In the Univision video, a supporter named Victor said, “There are many workers who are organizing to fight for better wages, better working conditions, for the smallest things. How is it possible that in the richest country in the world, in history, there are people here who cannot survive on these wages that they are given?”
Starbucks baristas earn around $16 per hour, according to Indeed.com. A living wage in Durham is about $29 per hour for a household of two working adults and two children [3].
The Renaissance Center store unionized in Dec. 2023 by a 16-2 vote. Management quickly retaliated by cutting hours for pro-union employees, according to workers, who responded by demanding a 20-hour minimum work week [4].
There are seven unionized Starbucks in North Carolina and three in the Triangle (one apiece in Durham, Apex, and Chapel Hill). Since 2021, SBWU has grown to represent more than 650 stores and 14,000 workers, a streak of success triggered a severe anti-union crackdown by the corporation. The NLRB has responded with almost 200 complaints against Starbucks labor practices [5].
---
The Renaissance Center is also home to a unionized REI. Workers at the outdoor retailer won their NLRB election in May 2023 and continue to work towards a first contract. In March 2025, REI Union Durham celebrated one of their leaders, Steven Pitts, winning a legal settlement against the company two years after being fired [6]. On the union’s second anniversary, REI workers rallied outside the Durham location to demand good faith negotiations towards a first contract. At the event, the Durham Labor Choir went semi-viral by singing pro-union lyrics to the tune of a Chappell Roan song [7]. In August 2025, REI Union reported a breakthrough in talks with the company that could be “tremendous step forward in negotiating a first contract”.
Trade unions have long been persecuted in North Carolina. The state has a unionization rate of 2.4 percent and Oxfam has designated it as the worst state for workers in 2025 [8]. A Jim Crow-era law, NC GS 95-98, still bans public sector unions while a ‘right-to-work’ law serves to weaken the finances of organized labor. North Carolina’s labor history is dotted with deadly events such as the Loray Mill Strike in 1929, the Greensboro Massacre in 1979, and the Imperial Foods Fire in 1991.
Work Cited
1. Union of Southern Service Workers. (2025, October 27). Practice Picket. Instagram.
2. Univision North Carolina. (2025, October 28). Trabajadores de Starbucks en Carolina
del Norte se preparan para huelga: esto es lo que exigen [Video]. YouTube.
3. Living Wage Calculator - Living wage calculation for Durham County, North Carolina.
4. Patrick, J., Coffey, K., & Olexik, M. (2024, February 22). Starbucks employees in
Durham report problems after decision to unionize. WRAL.
5. Walter, K., Madland, D. (2025). The Fight To Unionize Starbucks by the Numbers.
Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-fight-to-unionize-starbucks-by-the-numbers/
6. The Best States to Work in the US 2025. (August 28,
2025). Oxfam. https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/issues/economic-justice/workers-rights/best-states-to-work/
7. Two years after being fired, REI union organizer in Durham wins settlement. (2025, April
1). Durham Dispatch. https://www.durhamdispatch.com/post/two-years-after-being-fired-rei-union-organizer-in-durham-wins-settlement
8. REI Union Durham & Durham Labor Choir. (2025, May 21). Chappell Roan meets the REI union. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/reiunion/reel/DJ60BviNbqZ/