New York City’s youngest mayor in almost a century announced on X that he wouldn’t be buying coffee from Starbucks and wanted all Americans to do the same.
“While workers are on strike, I won’t be buying any Starbucks, and I’m asking you to join us. Together, we can send a powerful message: No contract, no coffee,” he wrote on X on Friday.
“Starbucks workers across the country are on an Unfair Labor Practices strike, fighting for a fair contract”, he added.
The national strike involves nearly 10,000 baristas represented by Starbucks Workers United.
The union has urged customers to avoid Starbucks products until management returns to negotiations.
More than 1,000 workers walked out of 65 stores on Thursday.
The action was timed for Red Cup Day, one of Starbucks’ busiest annual promotions. Stores in at least 45 cities were expected to be affected, including New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Diego, Dallas, St. Louis, Columbus and Seattle.
Organisers said the strike was open-ended and that additional stores may join if contract talks remain stalled. Some stores closed as the walkouts began. Others reported delays and short staffing.
Starbucks downplayed the impact.
With roughly 10,000 company-owned stores and 7,000 licensed locations, the company said most outlets were operating normally. By midday, it said it was on track to meet or exceed its sales forecasts. “The day is off to an incredible start,” Starbucks said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.
For Mamdani however, the boycott call was the fulfilment of a pledge.
In October, he stood outside a Starbucks café in Lower Manhattan with striking baristas demanding better pay, job protections and improved working conditions. There, he criticised the company’s leadership and urged fast negotiation of a fair contract.
“We are talking about a CEO of a company [Brian Niccol] who made $96 million just last year – $96 million which is 6,666 times the median Starbucks worker salary,” Mamdani said at the demonstration.
“What these workers are asking for is the bare minimum,” he said. “They are asking for a salary that they can actually live off of. They are asking for hours they can actually build their life around. They are asking for the violations of labor law to finally be resolved.”
“They deserve a city that has their back, and I am here to say that that is what New York City will be,” he told the crowd.
At that October picket line, Mamdani made a promise. "My message to Starbucks management is that I stand here today to practice with these workers, and if you force these workers to go on strike, then I will be there with them on that strike as well," he said.
A month later, on the second day of the strike, the mayor-elect stood where he said he would with the workers.