By Matthew H., Fisher, and William W.
In December 2025, Orlando DSA members participated in a Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) strike for multiple days in Oviedo on Mitchell Hammock Road to protest the corporation’s unfair labor practices. Less than three months prior, the company announced the closure of over 400 stores across the U.S. and Canada, many of which were unionized or in the bargaining process. While hundreds of thousands of Starbucks workers still struggle to afford basic necessities, the consistent delays in negotiations and increase in union busting efforts have prevented Starbucks partners from receiving a mere fraction of the value they provide. The official SBWU website states that although the two parties are close to the end of their negotiations, “the remaining dispute is over less than a single average day’s sales, less than 4 months of CEO Brian Niccol’s 2024 compensation, less than one quarter of one percent of the company’s annual revenue.” Orlando DSA firmly believes that every worker is entitled to a livable wage regardless of their industry or role, from auto workers to educators and coffee shop baristas. The following accounts from the 2025 SBWU strikes reflect our continued commitment towards our state, nation, and beyond.
Matthew H.
During my time with the Starbucks Workers Union on strike, I was impressed and inspired by their concern for their community as well as the next generation. As we stood together on the picket line, we struck up conversations about the motivations behind all their efforts.
Language was one of them. Common terms like “starter jobs” or “low-skill jobs” carry the gross implication that some jobs are expected to pay little, and that if you have a problem with the pay, then you should “just get a new job.”
Needless to say, the union members I heard from rejected that notion whole-heartedly. No one in their community should struggle to pay the bills or or feel forced to endure unfair treatment at work, they argued. They were not fine with moving on to a new job or getting a promotion because they knew that it only meant someone younger or more desperate would be pulled through the same revolving door of exploitation instead. More than anything, the SBWU wants a society where no one is exploited for a billionaire’s profit; not just for themselves, but also the next generations of workers who don’t yet know the fight that is being fought on their behalf!
Fisher
I joined the picket line for two days and was shocked by the intimacy of the strike. The striking Starbucks workers knew many of their customers by name and their orders by heart. They knew these customers were aware of the strike and were disappointed by the customer’s lack of support for the workers. One striking worker asked a regular:
“What matters more, your coffee this morning? Or my humanity?”
To which the customer replied:
“My coffee.”
Many strikes are not customer-facing. Those who cross a picket line are not often directly faced with a challenge to their actions. Consumers can buy an item and never have to think of the teamster who delivered it or the worker that made it. What made this strike different was the way it forced the consumer to confront how their actions, or rather, inaction directly hurt the person who they see and interact with regularly.
Most of the customers we saw went through the drive-thru. Every now and then, some would roll their windows down to ask what was going on. Many of those who did agreed to find another place for coffee that morning and commit to taking their business elsewhere while the workers were on strike.
The majority of customers, though, would refuse to engage. They would keep their windows up, avoid reading the protest signs or making direct eye contact. Their discomfort was obvious. When the striking workers did talk to some customers that crossed the picket, many customers would blame it on their caffeine addiction or that they had already ordered on mobile. It was possible to refund the mobile orders and some could be persuaded to not cross the picket line again when the customers and workers communicated this to them.
Often on the left, we think about how to build class consciousness in the working class, and I was amazed by how effective this strike was at reinforcing that connection for so many customers. When they asked why the workers were on strike, the workers would explain how Starbucks hadn’t signed a contract for four years, or discuss the many Unfair Labor Practices (or ULPs) they experienced daily. Upon hearing this, most customers understood. They’d commend the workers and say things like “Good for y’all” or, one of my personal favorites, “Get your money!”
In the two days I was there, negative interactions were thankfully rare, though not unheard-of. One customer mocked the striking workers after getting his coffee by yelling out of his car window and offering it to them. On one memorable occasion, another customer attempting to cross the picket line began to yell homophobic slurs at all of us. He got out of his vehicle to go inside the store before realizing the lobby was closed. The drive through was a long wait due to the strikebreakers struggling to fill the orders quickly. The man who yelled the homophobic slurs realized he wasn’t going to be able to get his coffee here and yelled for the striking workers to “Get a job.”
When I spoke with the workers after, they made the obvious point: that customer was here for the coffee that they made. Without their labor, he could not get his coffee, so their labor was obviously valuable to him. However, he lashed out at them because he viewed their position as inferior or subservient to his. Unfortunately for him, his behavior did not persuade the striking workers to reconsider. If anything, the inability of customers like him to recognize their dignity only further emphasized the importance of their goals; to force those who benefit from their labor to see them as people who need to earn to survive.
William W.
I was on the picket line for every day the SBWU was actively striking. For most of that time, a notable apprehension hung in the air. Politicians came and went, and a fistful of random organizations showed up at equally random intervals, but nothing was particularly consistent (which might have contributed to the overall atmosphere). Those who were running for office tended to treat the strike as a publicity stunt, appearing to profit in a different way from being seen with these “counter-culture” workers. There were a few that lingered, though, showing up most of the days with a smile, remembering names of individual union members with ease, bringing pets and needed attention to the struggle.
Around Day 3 was when the level of solidarity that surrounded the workers began to sink in. Going from the list of employees that were making demands, to people from Orlando DSA, PSL, and SAlt, alongside a few extra orgs, to seeing their GoFundMe get raised in a short period of time, the energy of the strike shifted from a fearful, worrying endeavor to one of near-levity.
While my own responsibilities usually meant I arrived late to the strike more days than not, I would pass around my camera to union members, kids, and anyone else who wanted to practice photography by documenting their time on the picket line. We’d pose, laugh, and talk about personal interests while they told me their stories about unionizing. A few of the members actually came from one of the stores that was closed for “cost-cutting measures,” and they explicitly sought out another store that had union members to get re-hired.
By the end of Day 4, everyone knew everyone else’s name. We were spending time together, sharing food, talking, laughing, giving henna tattoos, and dancing on the street corner. Every time I arrived, even though I was late, I was met with the excited smile of friends, experiencing a camaraderie I haven’t felt since I was a boy scout.
While the signs we held and the words we chanted reflected the air of lightness that emerged from the strike, the seriousness of their plight was never lost. The picketers were making sure that any passerby paying attention knew exactly what they were fighting for. From the “My Neck, My Back, My Paycheck Is Wack” chant to the “Yet David Slayed the Giant” picket sign designed like a medieval shield, the creativity cannot be overstated. Each of them had an individual flair, thanks to the incredible artistic talent of a few members who happened to be enrolled in art programs at UCF. The clever wordplay, the evocative chants, the ways they were able to express themselves all made it impossible to deny the humanity of these workers.
What originally started as shy, introverted chants, eventually became bolstered and practiced. The tone shifted from the meek voice of someone afraid to speak up, to a chorus of many people making the same demand. The skill, talent, and dedication of these union members, and the steep curve at which they learned to interact with people on the street and make their demands known is something that should be celebrated and studied by our comrades and community members alike. If we can replicate their creativity, unity, and kindness, then we will be that much closer towards a better reality for those who walk in our footsteps.