Starbucks announced Monday that the company is adding new benefits for hourly employees in 2024, including raises of at least 3% (or 4-5% depending on tenure), scheduling and PTO improvements, and career mobility opportunities. The Seattle-based coffee chain, clarified in the fine print, however, that these benefits improvements could be subject to collective bargaining for unionized stores.
“The company recognizes changes to wages, benefits, and/or terms and conditions may not be unilaterally implemented for partners in stores with organizing under way and may be subject to collective bargaining in good faith for partners in stores with certified union representation,” Starbucks said in the fine print of this breakdown.
Starbucks had record revenues in 2023, ending the fiscal year with an 11% revenue increase for the fourth quarter, as compared with last year. As the company continues to go head to head with Workers United in the court room, and simultaneously tries to improve the employee experience before stores unionize, these benefits changes have become more common, especially under the leadership of new CEO Laxman Narasimhan.
The extended benefits are being rolled out at different times of the year and include:
- 3% pay raises for all hourly employees- 4% pay raises for employees with 2-5 years of experience, and 5% pay raises for employees with more than five years of experience -Jan. 1, 2024
- The first-ever Starbucks Barista championships- Feb.-June 2024
- Vacation time can be accrued sooner—90 days after a barista is hired- Coming in February
- Announcement of new Siren credit card, which eligible U.S. employees can sign up for and safely build up their credit- Coming in January, with more in the spring
- Better digital partner hub- the employee app now has a personalized homepage, with a digital view of your benefits status via a web browser coming in December
- Scheduling improvements coming- Flexible and stable schedules are coming through new digital tools—the first step will be Starbucks asking employees for desired hours
- Expanded career and education opportunities- No details available but yet, but more will be shared in the spring
In response to these changes coming for Starbucks employees, Starbucks Workers United claimed that these were some of the very same benefits they had been fighting for, and that the union will be filing an unfair labor charge in response:
"Once again, Starbucks is responding to our bargaining demands, but they're implementing them in nonunion stores and denying these new benefits to workers in stores that are unionizing or already voted to join the union,” Starbucks Workers United member Alex Yeager said in a statement. “This is against the law, and there are already several consolidated charges from the National Labor Relations Board for benefit packages Starbucks has denied union workers--such as credit card tipping--since we started our campaign.”
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