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In a first, Starbucks Workers United and its 12,000 members are calling for a boycott of the coffee chain, after spending nearly 5 years pressuring the company to negotiate a first contract since the first location unionized in 2021.

“At a time when working-class people across the country are struggling in a challenging economy, it is no longer possible to be both a Starbucks customer and in support of workers,” the union said in a statement announcing the boycott. “[C]hoosing to spend money at Starbucks is choosing a law breaking corporation over the baristas who make your coffee everyday exactly as you ask for it.”

The union points to determinations that Starbucks has committed hundreds of violations of federal labor law, “more than any other company in modern history,” the group said.

The call for a boycott is an escalation of the union’s fight for a contract with the company. Starbucks workers have previously launched targeted strikes in hopes of forcing the company to the bargaining table.

But the company has refused to agree to a contract with reasonable pay and working conditions, the union has said. This is despite the fact that more than 700 Starbucks locations have unionized since 2021, now representing roughly 5 percent of the........

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