More than 2,000 Starbucks baristas refuse to work due to clothing restrictions

By Alimat Aliyeva

Employees at over 120 Starbucks locations in the United States have gone on strike in protest of the company’s newly implemented dress code. According to Starbucks Workers United, the union representing U.S. employees of the coffee giant, more than 2,000 baristas nationwide are participating in the strike, Azernews reports.

The discontent stems from the company’s new dress code, which imposes strict limitations on what baristas can wear beneath their corporate green aprons. Under the new guidelines, employees in the U.S. and Canada are required to wear a plain black shirt paired with denim trousers in either black, blue, or khaki.

Many employees feel that this change undermines their autonomy and takes away from the more relaxed, personalized atmosphere that Starbucks has traditionally fostered.

“Starbucks has lost its way. Instead of listening to the baristas who make Starbucks what it is, they focus on the wrong things, like introducing a new restrictive dress code,” said Paige Summers, a shift supervisor at a Starbucks in Hanover. “Customers don’t care what color our clothes are when they wait 30 minutes for a latte.”

This strike comes as part of a larger wave of unionization efforts across Starbucks locations in the U.S., with workers increasingly voicing concerns about corporate policies, working conditions, and wages. The recent dress code issue is just the latest flashpoint in an ongoing tension between the company’s corporate leadership and its baristas, who have long advocated for more input into decisions that affect their daily work life. While the company insists the new dress code is a step toward standardization and professionalism, employees argue that it distracts from more pressing issues like understaffing and customer service challenges.