Starbucks strike comes to Iowa: How you can help

“The pressure keeps rising.”

That’s what Jacob Scroggins told me recently. (If you don’t remember him from my earlier article on it, he’s a shift supervisor at the Merle Hay Road Starbucks in Des Moines who helped organize workers to form the fourth unionized Starbucks in Iowa.)

Scroggins spoke with me about the national Starbucks Workers United escalating strike. The strike, intended to bring the company back to the bargaining table, began with several stores across the country on Nov. 13, and two of Iowa’s four union Starbucks stores joined Dec. 4—Iowa City and Des Moines.

Jacob Scroggins, a shift supervisor at the Des Moines Starbucks and a strike captain at his store, appears in a screenshot from a video call with Iowa Starting Line’s Amie Rivers. (Amie Rivers/Iowa Starting Line)

Scroggins said the biggest worry Des Moines Starbucks workers had about striking was how they’d get paid in the meantime. He said talking about the Starbucks Workers United strike fund helped allay those fears, as did making sure people knew why the strike was important.

“For some of us, this may mean a slight pay cut,” he told me. “But, on the other end of this, this could mean coming back to the bargaining table, fighting for better pay, fighting for resolving all these unfair labor practices, and fair treatment in the workplace.”

Workers on strike are asking the community to join them in picketing—they’re out there daily from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Food and hot beverages, or hand warmers, are appreciated.

“Talk to our baristas; many of us have multiple stories at this point, [like] having to call out our boss for docking people’s hours for using their protected sick time,” Scroggins said.

Workers also ask that you boycott Starbucks until workers get a contract, and demand that the company bargain in good faith.

“Since negotiations fell off last year, there’s been no sign from corporate that they have been wanting to come back to it,” Scroggins said.

The company claims they already “offer the best job in retail” and are “a great place to work,” that Starbucks Workers United’s proposals “aren’t serious, evidence-based proposals,” and that agreeing to workers’ demands would “significantly affect store operations and customer experience.”

The union disagrees, and so does Scroggins, though he acknowledged the pressure can get to workers.

“A lot of the things we’re fighting for can sometimes feel like we’re asking for too much,” he said.

But that’s only if you forget that Starbucks could agree to the union’s demands with less than one day of the giant coffee chain’s profits—and that CEO Brian Niccol had a total compensation in 2024 of $97.8 million, or 6,666 times more than the median annual salary of a Starbucks worker at $14,674—the largest CEO-to-worker pay gap among the top 500 corporations in the US.

“It would be a drop in the bucket for Starbucks to meet all of our demands,” Scroggins said.

What do you think of the Starbucks strike? Email me.

@iowastartinglineLast week, two Iowa Starbucks locations joined an escalating national strike, establishing their own picket lines they’re encouraging consumers not to cross. For Clocked In: Iowa At Work, Amie spoke with shift supervisor and strike captain Jacob Scroggins on why the stores are striking and how Iowans can show their support.♬ original sound – Iowa Starting Line