USA: Starbucks' union negotiations break down, amid anger over CEO's $113m pay package while workers struggle to afford basic expenses

Maria Kray, Canva Pro
"A bargaining breakdown and strikes: the ongoing union fight at Starbucks"
Negotiations between Starbucks and its union have broken down with workers calling the company’s proposals “almost laughable” and highlighting the multi-million pay package of the coffee chain’s recently appointed CEO.
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Niccol’s pay package includes up to $113m in total compensation, 10,000 times the median salary of a Starbucks barista, with a $10m sign-on bonus, $75m in stock options plus a remote office in southern California and access to the company’s private jet to travel to Starbucks headquarters in Seattle, Washington.
“It’s almost laughable. It comes off as a joke almost. My annual raise is going to come out to about 30 cents an hour. The difference it makes in my paycheck from a month ago and now, it just would not be enough to cover a $7 Starbucks drink let alone gas, my bills, rent, anything else I have to worry about,” Diego Franco, a barista at a Starbucks in Chicago for five years and a bargaining representative for the union, told the Guardian.
“I would love to see this company being able to pay us a livable wage. I don’t think anybody should need to pick up multiple jobs to be able to make rent at the end of the month or be able to pay for groceries.”
Union contract negotiations at Starbucks broke down in December 2024, a few months after Niccol assumed the helm of CEO at Starbucks.
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A Starbucks spokesperson did not directly comment on Niccol’s compensation or the company’s economic proposal to the union that prompted the breakdown in contract negotiations, but noted the company pays an average of $18 an hour, including benefits such as health insurance, tuition through the Arizona State University online program, paid family leave and company stock grants.
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