About 20 Starbucks baristas and their supporters rallied on Colorado Springs’ east side on Wednesday, reaffirming their demands for a contract with the Seattle-based international coffee brand.

In chilly mid-morning temperatures hovering around 36 degrees, picketers waived signs and chanted slogans like “no contract, no coffee,” and “who calls the shots? We call the shots,” outside the Starbucks at 8193 Carmela Grove.

“We’re making (Starbucks) their money, and it feels like they’re using us as little more than labor and leaving us in the dust,” said Blue Taylor, a shift supervisor at the store.

More than 12,000 Starbucks employees at 650 stores in 45 states and Washington, D.C., have voted to unionize, but haven’t yet negotiated a contract with the company, Starbucks Workers United said in a Tuesday news release announcing the Colorado Springs rally. The union formed in late 2021, when a Starbucks store in Buffalo, N.Y., voted to organize.

Starbucks disputed that figure. Union workers represent fewer than 10,000 company employees, or around 4%, Starbucks told The Gazette on Wednesday.

The Carmela Grove location is the latest Starbucks in the Colorado Springs area to unionize, following a successful vote this summer. Only one other location in the city, at 4465 Centennial Blvd., is unionized, according to a map on the Starbucks Workers United website. There are 18 unionized Starbucks locations throughout Colorado, the map shows.

Wednesday’s “practice picket” in Colorado Springs is part of 70 such events held in 60 cities across the U.S. as Starbucks baristas and their supporters escalate their demands for a contract that will improve staffing, hours, take-home pay and on-the-job protections for baristas, Taylor said.

A contract should be finalized before the busy holiday shopping season is in full swing, the union said.

Workers also demanded the company resolve its legal issues. For example, workers in Colorado and Illinois filed class action lawsuits in September over Starbucks’ decision not to reimburse employees who had to purchase new clothes to comply with the company’s new dress code.

“When we unionized, I did expect some stuff to get better, but it didn’t, really,” Taylor said of worker rights. “Only a contract can do that. This shows that the company won’t do something unless they’re forced to, basically.”

Starbucks employees have begun voting to authorize unfair labor practice strikes at locations across the country, the union said in its Tuesday release. Taylor could not say when the Carmela Grove location would vote.

Bargaining talks have stalled because Starbucks has presented “unacceptable” terms, Taylor said. Starbucks said during previous talks, the union presented its voting delegates “an incomplete framework” for single-store contracts, which undermined negotiations.

In a written statement on Wednesday, Starbucks told The Gazette it is ready to negotiate.

“Any agreement needs to reflect the reality that Starbucks already offers the best job in retail, including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits for hourly partners,” spokesperson Jaci Anderson said. “We’re investing over $500 million to put more partners in stores during busy times. The facts show people like working at Starbucks. Partner engagement is up, turnover is nearly half the industry average, and we get more than 1 million job applications a year.”

The nationwide practice pickets aren’t just about securing stronger rights for Starbucks workers, but also to support workers’ rights everywhere, employees said.

“Union workers are strong together,” Taylor said. “The only reason we have the (labor) rights we have today is because of the work of activists who fought years ago. Just because we have existing rights doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.”