Starbucks workers go on strike at Lakewood, Barstow stores
Starbucks customers in Lakewood and Barstow may have to find their morning fix at another coffee shop with workers at stores in those communities going on strike Monday.
More Starbucks workers are joining the growing movement to protest the company's alleged unfair labor practices. Today, workers are striking at two local shops — the Starbucks on Candlewood Street in Lakewood, and on Lenwood Road in Barstow.
Workers say the company has denied them improvements at stores that have not formed a union, and also changed employee hours.
"We are tired of the inconsistencies. We are tired of the gaslighting, the misrepresentation, the mistreatment," Tyler Keeling, a barista at the Lakewood store and a Starbucks Workers United Organizer, said in a statement. "Today we strike in solidarity with all unionized partners to say that we are SICK of being treated as lesser. We, the workers, the face of the company, will not be walked on."
So far, Starbucks workers have held more than 55 different strikes in at least 17 states. At one store in Santa Cruz, workers have been on strike since Saturday.
The National Labor Relations Board is processing more than 250 unfair labor practice accusations against Starbucks.
