☕ The Last Drop: How Starbucks is Crushing Tucson's Union Dreams One Closure at a Time
Tucson's most successful unionized stores mysteriously become "financially unviable" overnight
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
Starbucks workers in Tucson ☕🌵 worked really hard 💪 to form unions 🤝 so they could ask for better working conditions 🛠️, fair schedules 📅, and decent pay 💵. But when they succeeded in organizing 🎉, the big company 🏢 decided to close those same stores 🚪🔒, claiming they weren’t making enough money—even though customers ❤️ loved those locations.
It’s like if you finally convinced your class 👩🏫👨🎓 to ask the principal 🧑💼 for longer recess 🛝, and instead of listening 👂, the principal just canceled recess altogether 🚫.
Workers across the country 🌎 are dealing with the same problem: big companies 💼 would rather close stores 🚷 than treat their employees fairly ⚖️. But the workers aren’t giving up ✊—they’re still organizing 📣 and fighting for what’s right 🌟.
The Last Drop: How Starbucks is Crushing Tucson’s Union Dreams One Closure at a Time
🗝️ Takeaways
☕ Starbucks is permanently closing two of Tucson’s unionized locations despite high customer satisfaction ratings, including the University/Euclid store that was the first to unionize in 2022
⚡ The closures are part of a $1 billion nationwide restructuring that affects hundreds of stores and eliminates 900 corporate jobs, disproportionately targeting unionized locations
🔥 Over 200 Tucson baristas face uncertainty with minimal notice and unclear transfer opportunities, while CEO Brian Niccol’s compensation exceeds $100 million
💪 Workers continue organizing despite retaliation, with the Ina Road location voting unanimously (16-0) to unionize just months before the announced closures
⚖️ Federal judges have found Starbucks guilty of illegal union-busting in other cities, ordering the reopening of shuttered unionized stores
🏛️ The broader labor movement faces coordinated attacks under current political conditions, making worker solidarity more crucial than ever
¡Buenos días, compañeros! Pour yourself some strong homemade cafecito because we need to talk about corporate betrayal that’s happening right here in our tierras.
The mermaid has officially shown her true colors, and órale, they’re not green—they’re the blood red of union-busting. Starbucks announced this week that it’s shuttering hundreds of stores across North America, including at least six locations right here in Tucson.
And wouldn’t you know it? Two of those stores just happen to be unionized locations that workers fought tooth and nail to organize.
Qué coincidencia, ¿verdad?
The Bitter Truth About Corporate “Restructuring”
Let’s get one thing crystal clear: when CEO Brian Niccol talks about his $1 billion “Back to Starbucks” restructuring plan, what he really means is “Back to Union-Busting 101.”
The company claims these closures are about “financial performance” and creating better “physical environments.” But here’s the café con leche reality: the University Boulevard and Euclid Avenue location that’s being permanently shuttered had some of the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the city.
So let me get this straight—a store that customers love and that workers successfully organized is somehow not meeting Starbucks’ mysterious criteria?
¡Por favor! This isn’t about lattes and atmosphere; this is about sending a message to workers everywhere: unionize and we’ll pull the plug faster than you can say “grande Pike Place.”
The Tucson Union Story: La Lucha Continues
To understand why these closures sting so much, we need to echar un vistazo back at the beautiful struggle that brought us here.
The University and Euclid location became Tucson’s first unionized Starbucks in June 2022 with an 11-3 worker vote, joining the growing Starbucks Workers United movement that was spreading like wildfire across the country.
Workers at that location weren’t asking for the moon—they wanted basic dignity: fair wages, consistent scheduling, proper staffing levels, and protection from arbitrary discipline. You know, the kind of stuff that should be básico in any workplace. Then the Speedway and Park location followed suit in July 2024, after being thrown into a delivery program pilot with just two weeks’ notice and inadequate support.
As shift supervisor, Shea Hollis put it, “The company should give more freedom for managers to support their staff and their scheduling needs. They know the store better than a labor tool does.”
But apparently, corporate algorithms know better than the actual human beings doing the work, ¿verdad?
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Let’s break down this corporate shell game with some hard data, because nothing exposes capitalist BS quite like mathematics:
Starbucks’ 2025 “Restructuring” by the Numbers:
900 corporate employees laid off (on top of 1,100 cut in February)
Hundreds of stores are closing across North America (roughly 1% of total locations)
$1 billion restructuring cost
$850 million attributed to store closures alone
650+ unionized stores nationwide are still fighting for their first contract
Zero union input in closure decisions
Tucson’s Union Timeline:
June 2022: University/Euclid becomes the first unionized location (11-3 vote)
July 2023: University bookstore location unionizes
July 2024: Speedway/Park location unionizes
July 2025: Ina Road location votes 16-0 to unionize
September 2025: Two unionized stores were permanently closed
¿Ven el patrón? The more workers organize, the more stores mysteriously become “financially unviable.”
Corporate Gaslighting 101
Starbucks wants us to believe this is all just business as usual.
According to company spokesperson statements, they “used a consistent set of criteria to determine the stores that are closing, and union representation wasn’t a factor.”
¡Mentirosos! If union representation truly wasn’t a factor, then explain why a federal judge just ordered Starbucks to reopen two unionized stores in Ithaca that the company shuttered in 2023, finding that the closures violated the National Labor Relations Act with “the intent to chill unionism at other store locations.”
This is the same playbook they’ve been running nationwide.
When workers organize, suddenly their profitable stores become “unprofitable.” When baristas demand dignity, their locations mysteriously fail to meet “physical environment standards.”
It’s corporate gaslighting of the highest order.
The Human Cost of Corporate Greed
While Niccol pockets his millions (his compensation package is worth over $100 million), let’s talk about the real people being crushed by these decisions.
Approximately 200 baristas in Tucson alone are facing uncertainty, with many unsure if they’ll be able to transfer to other locations or if they’ll be forced into unemployment.
These aren’t just numbers on a corporate spreadsheet—these are our vecinos, students working their way through the University of Arizona, single parents trying to make ends meet, young people building their careers. Workers were given just a couple days’ notice about the closures, barely enough time to process the news, let alone find alternative employment.
Es una traición to the workers who believed in the company’s rhetoric about being “partners,” not employees. Partnership doesn’t mean getting stabbed in the back the moment you ask for a voice at the table.
The Bigger Picture: Resistance in the Trump Era
This union-busting isn’t happening in a vacuum. We’re seeing a coordinated assault on worker power across the country, emboldened by the return of corporate-friendly policies from Washington.
Starbucks Workers United represents over 12,000 baristas across 650+ stores, but despite years of organizing, not a single location has successfully negotiated a contract.
This is the reality of labor relations under late-stage capitalism: corporations will spend millions on union-busting consultants and legal fees rather than simply treat workers with dignity. They’ll close profitable stores, destroy communities, and crush dreams rather than share even a tiny fraction of their obscene profits.
But here’s what gives me hope: workers aren’t backing down. The Ina Road location voted unanimously (16-0) to unionize just this past July, proving that the spirit of la lucha is alive and growing stronger. Even in the face of these closures, Starbucks Workers United is demanding “effects bargaining” to ensure displaced workers get placed in stores of their choice.
¡Ya Basta! Time for Action
So what do we do with this righteous anger burning in our chests? We organize. We resist. We make it clear that union-busting has no place in our community.
Here’s how you can support the fight:
Boycott Starbucks until they stop union-busting and negotiate fair contracts
Support local, worker-owned coffee shops that actually respect their employees
Contact Congressman Grijalva’s office at (520) 622-6788 and demand congressional action against corporate union-busting
Follow and support Starbucks Workers United on social media
Show up to solidarity events and worker actions in our community
Spread the word about what’s really happening behind the corporate PR
The Last Sip
The mermaid might think she can silence worker voices by closing stores, but she’s seriously underestimated the power of organized people. Every closure, every layoff, every act of corporate aggression only strengthens our resolve to build a more just economy.
La verdad is that this fight is bigger than coffee—it’s about the kind of society we want to live in. Do we accept a world where corporate profits matter more than human dignity? Or do we stand together and demand better?
I know where I stand, and it’s with the workers who had the courage to organize, the baristas who spoke truth to power, and every person fighting for economic justice in our borderlands.
The revolution might not be televised, but it will be caffeinated.
¡Sí se puede!
Three Sonorans is an independent voice in the borderlands, committed to exposing corporate greed and supporting worker resistance. Help us keep fighting by supporting our Substack and staying informed about the struggles happening in our own backyard.
Drop a comment below and tell us:
How has corporate union-busting affected your workplace or community?
What local businesses are you supporting instead of Starbucks?
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BOYCOTT STARBUCKS! It’s been the action to take, just like some of us have boycotted Amazon, for years now. Spread the word: there’s fantastic coffee done locally in Tucson at EXO (6th & 6th), Cartel Coffee Labs (Broadway & 5th), and Presta. MANY more small, mom and pop roasters whose coffees exceed by far anything Starbucks has ever burnt—I mean roasted.
Support local everything! This is Power to The People 💪🏾
I could never understand the appeal of Starbucks. Somehow, they became the "funky, groovy" place to go, and customers had the privilege of paying way too much for a cup of coffee that -- in my opinion -- was obscenely overpriced, given the mediocre quality.
Even before they exposed themselves as an anti-union, capitalist-pig corporation, I decided to boycott them. Now, given their savage response to labor issues, I actively encourage others to do the same.