Georgetown Students Against Starbucks (GSAS) announced the suspension of its anti-Starbucks campaign March 1 following the announcement that Starbucks would enter into contract negotiations with union leaders. 

Leaders of GSAS, which is a branch of the Georgetown Coalition for Workers’ Rights (GCWR) that opposes Starbucks due to its treatment of its employees, said the group plans to shift focus from Starbucks to upcoming contract negotiations between Aramark, a subcontractor that provides food services to campus, and Georgetown University dining employees. The shift in anti-Starbucks organizing strategy developed as Starbucks Workers United (SBWU), a branch of the labor union Workers United that represents Starbucks workers, halted its anti-Starbucks campaign Feb. 27 to focus on negotiating union representation for workers with Starbucks. 

Elijah Ward (CAS ’26), a lead organizer at GSAS, said Starbucks’ decision to enter into contract negotiations represents a historic win for the workers’ rights movement because of the activism of workers, students and unions in supporting labor rights. 

“This is a big deal,” Ward told The Hoya. “This is one of the biggest pieces of news in a long time for organized labor. We had our panel, and we had a rally afterward where we displayed the number of labor abuses Starbucks had committed, and to have that culminate a week later into this huge, huge victory, being the culmination of what we’ve been seeking for so long or at least a step towards the ultimate victory of getting a contract, was massive.”

GSAS has advocated for Starbucks workers’ rights on campus through a petition that has garnered more than 500 signatures as of March 14 and a panel on the national day of action for college chapters of SBWU, which featured members from SBWU, followed by a rally to call the university to end its contract with Aramark. 

Valli Pendyala (SFS ’27), another lead organizer with GSAS, said that although the group recognizes victory for workers and labor rights in Starbucks’ renegotiation, the GSAS campaign will resume if Starbucks fails to grant its employees union representation. 

“As long as Starbucks continues to meet those bargains in good faith, we’re going to pause our campaign to create the best possible space for workers to negotiate with Starbucks,” Pendyala told The Hoya. “We are keeping a watchful eye on these negotiations, and if there’s a sign that Starbucks is no longer bargaining in good faith, that it’s going back to union-busting practices, that it’s hurting workers, that’s when we’re going to talk to our stakeholders and our partners and consider restarting our campaign.”

At Starbucks locations across the United States, allegations of union-busting practices — which disrupt or deplete the power of unions — include refusing credit card tipping to unionized stores and awarding increased benefits to non-unionized workers, such as improved sick leave and less restrictive dress codes. 

A spokesperson for Starbucks said coming together to establish the framework for both Starbucks and members of SBWU represents an essential collaborative effort from those involved. The spokesperson added that Starbucks will provide workers represented by SBWU credit card tipping as a show of good faith. 

“Starbucks and Workers United have a shared commitment to establishing a positive relationship in the interests of Starbucks partners,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “While there is important work ahead, coming together to work on this framework represents an important step forward and is a clear demonstration of a shared commitment to working collaboratively on behalf of partners.”

Elinor Clark (CAS ’27), a former Starbucks employee and lead organizer with GSAS, said the group had focused its campaign on two ideal outcomes: Georgetown removing the Starbucks location and Starbucks branding in the Leavey Center or Starbucks entering into negotiations with SBWU.

“We’re just some of the many examples of the power that workers and society have when we’re standing up against big corporations,” Clark told The Hoya.

Clark won her case against the company in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) trial in July 2023. The judges ruled that Starbucks illegally retaliated against Clark for wanting to form a union among the employees at her store. 

A university spokesperson confirmed the upcoming negotiations between Aramark and their workers represented by the UNITE HERE union and said the university does not have a contract with Starbucks as Aramark manages the corporation’s location and operations on Georgetown’s campus. 

“We are continuing to look closely at this important issue,” a university spokesperson wrote to The Hoya.

“Georgetown does not have a contract with Starbucks,” the spokesperson added. “Aramark has a license agreement with Starbucks, and union-represented Aramark dining employees staff the Leavey Center Starbucks location.”

Clark said that as many students involved with GSAS shift their advocacy focus to the upcoming Georgetown-Aramark contract negotiations, efforts will center around calling for improved working conditions, access to parking, paid time off (PTO) and sick days in what are the first negotiations since 2019. 

“Universities as a whole have always been at the forefront for change and movements of freedom and justice,” Clark said. “We want to make sure that they show us that they are pro-labor and stand by the workers in their contract renegotiations with Aramark.”