UCLA Students Against Starbucks (SAS) is giving the Associated Students of UCLA (ASUCLA) until Feb. 14 to respond to a call from students and faculty to divest from Starbucks. UCLA SAS led the call to action where they presented a petition with their demands during a meeting of the ASUCLA Board of Directors.
The deadline falls between ASUCLA’s next meeting on Feb. 7 and the meeting where they will officially vote on the demands on Feb. 23.
“Our deadline will be Feb. 14 where if we don’t have a decision from them by then, we’re going to continue organizing, finding other ways to influence the school to change its consumption practices,” said Charlie Walner, UCLA political science student, UCLA SAS organizing committee member and petition creator.
Walner believes that the UCLA student body is in support of their mission.
“Many students at UCLA either are past Starbucks workers or know Starbucks workers and they’ve heard how draining, manipulative and awful the management can be there,” Walner said. “We also see everyday on the news stories about workers being fired for trying to unionize their locations. So, I think there’s a general consensus among students that we don’t want to have a company like this on campus.”
During the ASUCLA meeting where the petition was presented, students spoke out about Starbucks’ alleged “union-busting” campaign, labor rights violations and anti-free speech censorship. The petition elaborates on these sentiments and urges UCLA to terminate its licensing agreement with Starbucks, as well as divest from and liquidate its investments with the company. The petition also mentions replacing the establishment with an alternative coffee shop on campus.
“Our petition is essentially telling them, students don’t support [ASUCLA] purchasing Starbucks products and we want you to switch to a more ethical coffee supplier,” said Walner.
In a statement to Annenberg Media, Starbucks spokesperson Andrew Trull said, “As a company, we respect our partners’ right to organize, freely associate, engage in lawful union activities and bargain collectively without fear of reprisal or retaliation — and remain committed to our stated aim of reaching ratified contracts for union-represented stores in 2024.”
Trull also shared that the company had reached out in December to the president of Workers United, Lynne Fox, in order to “help find a path forward that prioritizes the needs of our partners, break the impasse between parties and help us progress store-by-store negotiations — with the aim of reaching ratified contracts for represented stores this year. We continue to engage in dialogue with Workers United, consistent to this goal.” Trull added that Starbucks representatives have reached tentative agreements for nearly 30 sections of a draft collective bargaining agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represent partners at a store near Pittsburgh.
Micaela Aragon, a senior studying labor studies and a member of UCLA SAS who spoke at the meeting, noted Starbucks’ prominence in student life.
“[Starbucks] wants to be the drink of choice, basically, for college students, for high school students,” she said. “It wants to be the aspirational brand, and in the past few years it most definitely has accomplished this goal. However, I think it’s really amazing to see people say ‘not anymore, not now, not here.’”
USC freshman psychology student Mykalah King had a different take on the issue.
“I personally don’t think that there’s any issue with having a Starbucks on campus,” she said. “I think that it being on a college campus, a lot of kids aren’t from here. And I think that Starbucks being a chain is something that’s familiar for a lot of kids to go to or connect about.”
Other USC students voiced their support for the unionization efforts of Starbucks workers.
“I’m generally in favor of unionization because it’s kind of their way of fighting back, so to speak. Against whatever. Like inequalities they feel like they’re facing,” said Bryce Savoy, a junior studying psychology, screenwriting and organizational leadership and management at USC.
Cameron Gilley, a sophomore studying business administration at USC, chimed in: “[I] definitely consider myself pro-union … I support the cause.”
Some USC students were unconcerned about the existence of a Starbucks on campus and were simply interested in having a coffee shop present.
“I would be disappointed if there wasn’t a coffee store on campus. I don’t think it necessarily would need to be a Starbucks,” said Gilley.
When asked what drew her to the Starbucks at USC, freshman business administration major Lily Rose Drews said it was “just the convenience” and the “social setting” of the cafe.
USC junior in mechanical engineering Haley Maddocks said that she was “very indifferent” to the idea of USC cutting ties with Starbucks.
The USC Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation (SCALE) has previously posted a call to action on Instagram for USC students to sign a petition in solidarity with Starbucks workers. Beyond this, USC has yet to demonstrate against or boycott Starbucks.
UCLA SAS is only one of many campaigns across the U.S. where students are urging their college administration to divest from Starbucks. Cornell University ended its contract with Starbucks in Aug. 2023 after a student demonstration that occurred in May of that same year. Students at the University of California, Riverside, will make a similar demonstration tomorrow at noon.
Demonstrators at UCLA also chose the Feb. 14 deadline to coincide with Valentine’s day.
“We want UCLA to break up with Starbucks. That’s our tagline,” said Aragon.
This article was updated to include statements courtesy of a Starbucks spokesperson on Jan. 31, 2024.