in our Spotlight on Business Report tonight if you're a latte lover you may already know today is the annual red cup day at Starbucks where Barista hand out those free holiday themed reusable cups to Surge traffic at the company stores nationwide but this year thousands of Baristas at more than 200 locations including here in New Jersey walked off the job protesting their lack of a contract despite a roughly two years long effort to unionize the chain Ted gold ber spoke with workers about their demands at a picket line in Mars County are trying to convince customers to take their business elsewhere hey at least for today union members at New Jersey's five organized stores are bringing attention to the fact that no unionized Starbucks location has agreed to a contract with corporate everyone whoever Barista nurses Auto Workers who have all been on strike actors we all deserve Fair labor practices and there's no reason that Starbucks has not come to the table we never get the proper Staffing we still haven't gotten a contract we're trying to fight for that um and you know today is their biggest money-making day of the year so let's hit them where it hurts unions now represent the staff at more than 360 American Starbucks stores unionized employees walked off the job yesterday and are on strike today during red cup day a huge Money Maker for Starbucks I was not scheduled for red cup Day last year but I know it was bad it was our first real strike over here in Montclair and honestly we managed to cause a lot of disruption we managed to get a bunch of like refunds and honestly Starbucks was really feeling the heat on that one right there the customers and the media coverage really shows and highlights what their issues and concerns are Rucker labor Professor Todd vashan says the red cup Rebellion won't [ ó_ó_ ] the coffee company but it could shine a light on what union members say are anti-un tactics for instance Starbucks recently announced a wave of raises for employees but some of them won't take effect in unionized stores the fact that they are utilizing raises in the non-union stores versus the union stores definitely um gives off the aroma of being a union busting tactic for sure is it legal there's the gray Zone that's something for the nlrb to decide the National Labor Relations Board has been busy dealing with Starbucks and accusations of union busting tactics Starbucks says some of the raises are subject to itive bargaining and they've accused some locations of not confirming a proposed session including the store in Ledgewood part of their statement reads despite escalating rhetoric and recurring rallies demanding a contract Workers United hasn't agreed to meet to progress contract bargaining in more than 5 months as we join together to uplift the holiday season and reflect on the past year we again call on workers United to fulfill their obligations and engage in the work of negotiating first contracts we're not asking unreasonable things we're ask asking for better Staffing uh we're asking for a little more money for what we do cuz we do a lot um we're asking for safer working conditions the pay is miserable 1575 for the busiest store in this in the district Taylor Olsen has worked as a barista here in Ledgewood since March we're constantly short staffed and always struggling we even have customers harass us half the time because we have to close early While most customers continue to jump in line for their drinks some of them listened to the union members and walked away calling Starbucks to get a refund on their canceled drink orders you can still go in and they'll still they're they're still going to make it cuz they don't know that you're getting a refund so you can still grab that coffee and get your money back is that illegal no it's a Starbucks corporate number that's the number that we're given like it we did it last strike we're doing it this strike we have a lot of um really good customers that like know us and like us so a lot of times they will cancel their order or they just won't come in um because they support us rather than the company um so I think we have a decent like customer base a customer base that could lend support to unions as they continue fighting for a contract in Ledgewood I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news support for the business report provided by the New Jersey tourism industry Association NJ Tia will host their New Jersey conference on tourism November 30th through December 1st at Resorts Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City nj.org for event information [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music]