Iowa City and Davenport Starbucks join national strike

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - Two Iowa Starbucks locations are joining in the national strike on its last day. The union, Starbucks Workers United, began the five-day strike after months of negotiations without a satisfactory economic package being presented.

There will be picket lines outside the Starbucks locations on Clinton street in Downtown Iowa City and 53rd street in Davenport.

”All workers deserve a living wage, they deserve respect,” Abigail Scheppmann, shift supervisor at the Clinton Street Starbucks in Iowa City, said. “I think people don’t understand how hard these jobs are.”

Starbucks recently gave out a company-wide raise, but union members say it isn’t enough.

“The national raise that they’ve given for all stores for the next year is about 2% to 3% for most partners,” Scheppmann said. “For a lot of people that comes out to like $0.20 or $0.30 of a raise and that’s just not acceptable.”

The union is also asking for Starbucks to address “hundreds of as-yet unsettled unfair labor practices remain unresolved.”

A Starbucks spokesperson told ABC News the union halted negotiation early; but, they haven’t seen any major impact on business as the vast majority of stores are operating normally.

Starbucks Workers United represents more than 500 locations.

Starbucks says it’s ready to return to the negotiating table.