ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
'Twas the strike before Christmas, at least that's what unionized Starbucks baristas are calling their walkout happening at now more than 300 stores. The strike is only planned to last five days, wrapping up tonight, and it's part of a trend of strikes in recent years scheduled to go only a few days. Stephan Bisaha of the Gulf States Newsroom reports that when it comes to the picket line, short is in.
STEPHAN BISAHA, BYLINE: Strikes can be long, grueling wars of attrition to see who blinks first, the workers or the company. It could also be a party.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Thank y'all for having me. Shout-out to all the nurses out there.
(CHEERING)
BISAHA: Back in October, nurses from the University Medical Center New Orleans went on strike with a very New Orleans-style picket line.
TERRY MOGILLES: I feel like it's multiple holidays rolled up in one - Mardi Gras, Christmas, birthday.
BISAHA: Terry Mogilles is a nurse at the hospital. To force the company's hand in contract negotiations, the unionized nurses decided to go on strike.
MOGILLES: We feel that this is the right way to go, and I'm here for the long haul.
BISAHA: Just not the long haul on the picket line. The strike was only scheduled to last a single day. In fact, most strikes in recent years lasted less than five days, according to Cornell University. Now, sure, longer strikes without an end date typically come with more leverage. But one day can be more than enough for workers with literal life-saving jobs, like nurses, to make their point. That's according to the head of San Francisco State University's Labor Studies Department, John Logan.
JOHN LOGAN: If you have that type of enormous leverage that you can cause huge economic pain by going out, or huge amount of disruption by going out in a one-day strike, they are still very effective.
BISAHA: What about workers that don't have that kind of leverage?
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting) No workers, no Starbucks. No workers, no Starbucks. No contract, no coffee. No contract, no coffee.
BISAHA: Even shutting down hundreds of Starbucks cafes during the holiday latte rush is just not going to cause a major disruption. After all, Starbucks baristas have been going on short strikes since 2022, and they still don't have a lot to show for it. They haven't even negotiated a first contract yet. Logan says low-wage workers like these do short strikes instead of long ones for a practical reason.
LOGAN: They're just not going to be able to afford to go out on an open-ended, you know, long strike. The employer could easily replace them.
BISAHA: Which is why these strikes are an uphill battle for Starbucks baristas. But they're still critical for keeping up morale. After all, Logan says the union can't just tell workers to sit on the sidelines while their lawyers spend years negotiating with the company.
LOGAN: That is not a recipe for success. And the only way that the union is really likely to be successful is if you can keep the workers engaged.
BISAHA: And based on that, the Starbuck strikes could be called a success. They spread from just a few cities on Friday to now hundreds of stores nationwide.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BISAHA: Engaged also described the New Orleans nurses on their one-day strike in the fall. They also timed it to be the same day as a Taylor Swift concert. Nurse Dana Judkins heard plenty of honking support.
(CAR HORNS HONKING)
DANA JUDKINS: You know, we've had a good turnout the entire time we've been here, really. I'm really proud of everyone for showing up and spreading the word, as the streetcar goes by. You know, hoping that some Swifties see us and maybe post it to their Story and, you know, make it a more nationwide news.
BISAHA: And that's often the other important goal of a one-day strike - get the kind of media attention that comes from a long one without the same kind of pain. For NPR News, I'm Stephan Bisaha.
(SOUNDBITE OF BADBADNOTGOOD AND GHOSTFACE KILLAH SONG, "FOOD") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.