Petition To Kick Starbucks Off The UC Riverside Campus Gains Traction

RIVERSIDE, CA — Students at the University of California Riverside campus are seeking to end the school's ties with the coffee mega-chain. On Wednesday, UC Riverside students plan to share a petition to put Starbucks on notice for behavior related to "union busting ," according to reports from The Press-Enterprise.

Starbucks has allegedly been running a campaign against baristas who want to unionize, according to the PE. The Starbucks corporate offices disagreed with that assertion in a recently released statement.

The quest for higher pay and better working conditions has already seen successful unionization for 9,500 employees and over 385 storesacross the nation, a website dedicated to the union project says.

At the University of California Riverside Campus, students have signed a petition that will cross Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox's desk Wednesday, they announced. "Wilcox and top decision-makers at the university" will be asked to review the petition in the hopes that they will not renew the university's Starbucks contract.

The quest hits all of the marks for students like Eren Whitfield, a member of the UCR Students Against Starbucks, they told the PE.

“When we graduate, we want to enter a workforce where workers have a real voice on the job with their employers,” Whitfield said. “Bringing people together for a common purpose has been our main goal.”

Andrew Trull, a Starbucks spokesperson, addressed the union concerns in a statement he released Monday.

"As a company, we respect our partners’ right to organize, freely associate, engage in lawful union activities and bargain collectively without fear of reprisal or retaliation," Trull said. "We remain committed to our stated aim of reaching ratified contracts for union-represented stores in 2024."

Read the full report here.