In response to corporate union-busting attempts, Starbucks workers from 874 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston went on strike over three weeks ago. It is the longest running strike in Starbucks history. Their efforts were joined by other Starbucks stores in Massachusetts. The Coolidge Corner, Cleveland Circle, Watertown, and Worcester stores picketed, and the Gardner and Reading stores held sip-ins.

Kylah Clay, NLG-Mass 2022 Annual Dinner Student Honoree, is an organizer in the Starbucks Workers Unite movement and has been instrumental to the unionizing of multiple stores in Massachusetts. Kylah spoke out against corporate’s rollout of benefits to only non-organizing and non-unionized stores. “There is absolutely no doubt that the looming threat of disqualification from new benefits like wage increases, career mobility programs, and higher bonuses played a heavy role in our recent elections. Schultz [Starbucks CEO]knows what he’s doing; he pays us poverty wages and then makes us choose between desperately needed benefits like credit card tips and the undeniable long-term benefits of unionizing.”

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