Austin union baristas demand Starbucks finalize fair union contract during UT rally
AUSTIN, Texas — Union baristas joined allies in a protest Wednesday outside of the University of Texas’ McCombs School of Business in Austin, where Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol was scheduled to speak as part of the school’s VIP speaker summit.
Through the heat and rain, Starbucks Workers United members and allies picketed and chanted, disrupting Niccol’s speaking event.
“Starbucks workers across our city, state, and country are fighting for a fair wage and safe working conditions,” said Trey Runyan, an Austin Starbucks barista and Starbucks Workers United member. “We demand that CEO Brian Niccol come to the table to negotiate a fair contract. We’re going to keep organizing, and we’re asking for every community member’s support to ensure we don’t continue being overworked and underpaid.”
The protest comes as Starbucks union baristas’ nationwide boycott gains steam across the nation, with dozens of elected officials, labor unions, progressive organizations, and Starbucks customers pledging every week to stop buying Starbucks until the company finalizes a fair union contract with its baristas and ends its historic union-busting.
Lambasting the over $125 million Niccol has made in the last two years alone as baristas struggle to survive, Austin union baristas united to demand the company listen to and invest in the baristas who are central to the Starbucks experience.
Starbucks workers – including those at the more than 30 unionized stores in Texas – are demanding the pay, hours, staffing and protections baristas need to succeed, locked into a union contract.
The members called on Starbucks to stop delaying a fair contract central to the company’s turnaround while continuing to face hundreds of unresolved labor law violations nationwide. Starbucks continues to be the biggest violator of labor law in modern U.S. history, with more than 1,100 unfair labor practice charges filed nationwide and hundreds still unresolved.
“Brian Niccol earns 1,700 times what the average barista makes, and he didn’t have the courage to face his own employees today," said Leonard Aguilar, president of the Texas AFL-CIO. "Starbucks is the biggest violator of U.S. labor law in modern history. They are refusing to finalize a fair union contract with reasonable pay, hours, staffing, and protections. And until they do, our Texas labor movement stands in strong solidarity with our union siblings across the state. No contract, no coffee!”
The reality of working at Starbucks is having to juggle chronic understaffing, low pay, and a lack of critical on-the-job protections. Starbucks wages start at $16/hr or less in 43 states, including Texas. Baristas have to rely on SNAP and Medicaid, often struggling to get enough hours to pay rent or qualify for healthcare.
Baristas’ movement has taken the world by storm. With over 700 union election victories, union baristas and allies across the country have united in the fight for better pay, stronger staffing, stable schedules, workplace protections, and an end to Starbucks’ union busting. In November 2025, they launched a nationwide unfair labor practice strike—which became the longest work stoppage in Starbucks history—protesting the company’s labor violations and refusal to finalize a fair union contract. The movement has galvanized massive solidarity, drawing support from allies and elected officials across the country as workers continue their unified demand for respect and a fair union contract.
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Partners with Starbucks Workers United are organizing to build a better Starbucks across America. Starbucks Workers United is affiliated with Workers United. To learn more, visit SBWorkersUnited.org.