Mayor-elect Mamdani and Bernie Sanders picket with striking Starbucks workers

Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News on Dec 1, 2025

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NEW YORK — Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders joined the picket line with striking Starbucks workers in Park Slope Monday.

The workers at unionized stores have been on strike since last month as they demand a contract that includes better hours and higher pay.

“These are not demands of greed — these are demands for decency,” Mamdani said. “These are workers who are simply being asked to be treated with the respect that they deserve. They’re being asked that their labor be repaid in a manner that allows them to build a dignified life.”

Sanders has been a big supporter of Mamdani, a democratic socialist who ran on populist, worker-friendly policies.

Starbucks Workers United, represents more than 12,000 baristas at over 600 locations nationally.

“Striking Starbucks workers who are telling this company they are sick and tired of corporate greed and sick and tired of union busting,” Sanders said on the picket line. “What is happening here on this picket line is happening all over this country. We are living in an economy where the people on top have never, ever had it so good.”

Also on Monday, Starbucks agreed to pay around $39 million to more than 15,000 New Yorkers to settle claims by the city that the company violated laws requiring it give workers predictable and stable schedules.

“It does not matter how big your business is or how much money your company makes, if you violate our workers’ rights, you will pay the price,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.

Sydney West, a Starbucks barista of five years, said employees face long commutes for minimum-wage pay and unpredictable, often short-staffed, working environments.

“We need workable conditions,” she said.

Starbucks did not immediately return a request for comment.

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