Starbucks Says Pride Policy Hasn’t Changed. Workers Say It Depends on the Store.

Starbucks has long promoted itself as a global brand with strong local ties, fostered by allowing stores to reflect the members of their local community. Decorating stores for heritage months, such as Pride and other holidays, has traditionally been part of that strategy and has rarely been a cause for uproar. 

But this June, Pride décor became a lightning rod issue for the company’s unionized employees. Halfway through the month, Starbucks Workers United, the Starbucks union, claimed the company was not permitting workers to decorate for Pride month, changing policies that had previously allowed employees to do so. Since last Friday, more than 90 unionized stores in 28 states have gone on strike, saying Starbucks needed to bargain with members before changing its policies. Another 60 are expected to follow suit by the end of the weekend, according to the union.

Barron’s called workers at over a dozen stores across the country, asking if their locations had put up decorations for Pride this year. The answers varied. Six stores said they didn’t put any flags or décor up this June, even though they had in past years. Four stores said they didn’t decorate, but hadn’t done so before. Four stores said they had decorated this year as usual.

The company has repeatedly denied making any changes to policy over decorations, and on June 26 filed three complaints against the union with the National Labor Relations Board, saying the union’s claims were false. 

The company encourages regional and local store leaders to decorate for Pride and other heritage months, a Starbucks spokesman said, adding that the policy provides leeway for managers to adapt to local ordinances, fire codes, and needs of the broader community. 

Starbucks says that kind of local-level flexibility is “not new” and remains essential to making its stores feel like part of their community. But for the union and some of its members, that doesn’t change the fact that they see the company as making “unilateral changes” to policies. 

Collin Pollitt, a Starbucks employee and union organizer in Oklahoma City, sayshis store’s policies around Pride décor changed this year. In the past two years, employees at his location were allowed to put up flags and other decorations, including banners and streamers. That wasn’t the case this year, he said. First his manager said they would not be putting up any décor, to which the store’s union responded by mailing the company a demand to bargain. After discussing with employees over the course of several weeks, the store’s management then allowed a few decorations, including one Pride flag a message on a community board and an A-frame sign, Pollitt said.

Alisha Humphrey, an employee at a different unionized store in Oklahoma City, said the experience at her location was similar. Last year, the store put up a “giant Pride flag” and had other rainbow decorations across the cafe. This year, they were first told not to decorate, then, and after going back and forth with management, were able to decorate a community board and a small A-frame sign, she said.

A team communication from Pollitt’s manager reviewed by Barron’s says employees were allowed to put up Pride artwork on an A-frame chalk sign.

“I know that there has been some concerns around not decorating this year for Pride month,” reads the letter. “This decision was made last year on a regional level to create consistency from store to store.”

The union has used this communication as proof that Starbucks has changed policies despite the company’s assertions that it hasn’t done so. The company, in turn, pointed to the language about the sign to demonstrate that employees were not banned from decorating. 

Regional decisions like the one made by the Oklahoma City stores should not be considered Starbucks company policy, the spokesman said. Instead, the company sees such regional actions as falling with its policy of allowing for local flexibility. The company added that it had reviewed complaints from a number of stores, and found that most of the discrepancies happened when partners wanted to put decorations up in areas that violated safety or operational protocols.

In response to employee backlash, Starbucks said it would issue clearer guidance over how stores can decorate.

“There has been no change to any of our policies as it relates to our inclusive store environments, our company culture, and the benefits we offer our partners,” wrote Sara Trilling, executive vice president and president of Starbucks North America, in a memo to employees this week. 

Starbucks hasn’t issued the guideline clarification yet, the spokesman said, adding that the company isn’t looking to create new guidance or change policy, but rather provide additional clarity to create a broader level of consistency across stores. 

Union members aren’t convinced. 

“I don’t understand how they can still say there’s been no change to any guidelines, when they’re just allowing us to decorate into really small areas,” Humphrey said.

Unionized stores will continue to strike throughout the weekend, and have since broadened their requests to leadership to encompass more than just the ability to decorate stores, such as guaranteeing a minimum number of scheduled hours. The union has also renewed calls for the company to approach the bargaining table. Starbucks has said that the company is committed to negotiating with the union. 

“We are striking with pride because it is important for Starbucks to remember that the LGBTQIA+ community makes up a large part of their workforce and happens to a majority of those leading union efforts nationwide,” Jackie Zhou, an employee from the Astor Place, New York City store said in a statement. “On top of this, we are striking for a contract which encompasses protections not only for the LGBTQ+ community but for everyone.”

Write to Sabrina Escobar at sabrina.escobar@barrons.com