How Starbucks’s red cup became a holiday icon and a symbol of its workers’ discontent

In a new holiday ad for Starbucks, set to the tune of I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers, two adorable animated figures traipse across Starbucks’s red holiday cups to reunite. It’s a sweet video that highlights Starbucks’s transition into the winter holidays, one of the biggest sales moments of the year for the company.

But while the iconic red cups are starring in Starbucks’s early holiday promotion, they’ve also become the center of an ongoing dispute with Starbucks Workers United—and a potential strike.

On November 6, Starbucks released its holiday menu in stores, including seasonal beverages, treats, and cups. The rollout heralds the arrival of Red Cup Day on November 13, an annual event when Starbucks offers free reusable cups to any customer who makes a holiday beverage purchase. Last year, an internal memo from Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, showed that Red Cup Day 2024 was the company’s best U.S. sales day of all time.

Meanwhile, on November 5, Workers United overwhelmingly voted to authorize a proposed strike, starting on November 13, if Starbucks “fails to finalize a fair contract” with the union by then. “Union baristas are prepared to turn Starbucks’ Red Cup Day into the Red Cup Rebellion,” a press release from the union reads. 

Today, it’s been nearly four years since Starbucks workers organized their first store, with no contract agreement in sight—and, as the holidays roll around, it’s becoming clear that while the red cup symbolizes a huge financial win for Starbucks, it’s become a symbol of frustration for the union.

What’s happened between Starbucks and its union?

Starbucks and its union have been embroiled in a dispute over the company’s contracts since 2021. In the broadest of terms, the union is looking to secure better wages, benefits, and guaranteed hours for its employees. Starbucks, meanwhile, claims that it already offers “the best overall wage and benefits package in retail.”

In April 2025, the union rejected a contract proposal from Starbucks, which it says “failed to improve wages or benefits in the first year of the contract and didn’t put forth proposals to address chronic understaffing.” Since then, negotiations between the two parties have broken down. Now, per a press release, Workers United says that union workers are prepared to strike in more than 25 cities as an “opening salvo,” if Starbucks does not offer new contract proposals which “address workers’ demands for better staffing, higher pay, and a resolution of unfair labor practice charges.” 

Jaci Anderson, Starbucks’s director of global communications, says that the union represents a small percent of Starbucks’s workforce, including 550 stores in total. Starbucks customers, she adds, should feel assured that the vast majority of the company’s more than 10,000 company operated and 7,000 licensed locations in the U.S. will be open on November 13, regardless of the union’s plans.

“We are disappointed that Workers United, who only represents around 4% of our partners, has voted to authorize a strike instead of returning to the bargaining table,” she says. “When they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk.”

In a letter published on Starbucks’s website on November 5 in response to Workers United’s strike authorization, chief partner officer Sara Kelly wrote, “Starbucks offers the best overall wage and benefits package in retail, worth on average $30 per hour for hourly partners,” going on to add, “Workers United proposes pay increases of 65% immediately and 77% over three years with additional payments on top of this for almost every aspect of the job, including for working within three hours of opening or closing, for working on the weekend, for receiving inventory, or on a day when Starbucks runs a promotion.”

A Workers United spokesperson told Fast Company that Kelly’s letter intentionally obfuscated the union barista’s goals. They pointed out that the $30 an hour figure includes both wages and benefits together—while, in 33 states, the starting wage for a barista is $15.25. Further, they added, the proposals that she attributes to the union are outdated and were never offered as a package deal, but rather as a variety of options available on the bargaining table.

“Our fight is about actually making Starbucks jobs the best jobs in retail,” Jasmine Leli, a three-year Starbucks barista and strike captain, said in the Workers United press release. “Right now, it’s only the best job in retail for Brian Niccol.”

Red Cup Rebellion 2.0

If the strike proceeds as planned, it won’t be the first Red Cup Rebellion in Starbucks history. 

Back in 2023, union baristas held a similar protest at more than 200 stores, which, at the time, was the largest strike in the union’s history. At the time, the union explained that, due to its popularity, Red Cup Day is one of the hardest days for Starbucks workers, due to an explosion in foot traffic and chronic understaffing.

For this Red Cup Rebellion, a Workers United spokesperson told Fast Company, union workers are prepared to make a potential strike bigger and longer than any strikes in years past.

As the dispute between Starbucks and Workers United continues with no clear end in sight, the red holiday cup has become the ultimate symbol of how the company’s corporate goals clash with union barista’s demands.

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