Local Starbucks workers and their supporters are calling on residents to take their money to other businesses, as a strike against the company’s labor practices continues nationwide.

From 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, baristas and their allies picketed outside a Starbucks cafe on Cary St., seeking to draw attention to their concerns and urge people to not support the company during the strike.

“Don't go to Starbucks right now,” said Persephone McNamara, a barista at the Strawberry Street location. “Can you wait a little while longer for us to get this contract so your baristas, the people making your drinks, can afford the drinks we make?”

McNamara joined union efforts this year and has spent five months on unpaid medical leave for an illness that makes her legs numb after standing 90 minutes.

Union workers say the contract they’re seeking would raise pay, improve scheduling and address labor violations, even as Starbucks makes changes its leaders say are needed to improve the company’s fortunes.

The contract could also secure the breaks McNamara needs to keep working and that leadership hasn't provided.

“I just need to sit for five minutes every hour and they have refused,” said McNamara, who has had to rely on her savings, friends, and sales of jewelry and clothing she makes to afford rent. “They've said that it's completely unreasonable for me to even ask that.”

The Cary St. location is one of several Richmond stores to have unionized since 2022. In October, it was the site of a practice picket as baristas and the Starbucks Workers United labor group called on company leadership to resume negotiations.

When leadership didn’t resume bargaining, 92% of union workers voted to strike, according to SBWU, beginning their “Red Cup Rebellion” Thursday, Nov. 13. Baristas in 20 more cities joined the strike on Black Friday, according to SBWU, contributing to a total of 2,500 participating baristas at over 120 stores in 85 cities.

Baristas say company leadership hasn’t communicated with them, but their efforts have drawn support from numerous groups and individuals, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which recently pledged not to deliver food, pick up trash or bring packages across picket lines.

“Some people are calling out from their own jobs to help us on the picket line,” Forest Hill barista Beck Whittenton said. “I think that speaks very heavily to what we're doing,”

Richmond coffee shops are also contributing. Striking baristas are providing information on nearby shops residents can visit instead, and those shops are supplying strikers with resources and support.

“Starbucks just needs to be better,” said Keith Duffin, owner of Abi’s Books & Brews.  “They can't claim to be a company that cares about people when they treat the people that define their brand so poorly.”

Starbucks has pushed back on the workers’ claims.

“As we’ve said, 99% of our 17,000 U.S. locations remain open and welcoming customers — including many the union publicly stated would strike but never closed or have since reopened,” Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson said in a statement. “Regardless of the union’s plans, we do not anticipate any meaningful disruption. When the union is ready to return to the bargaining table, we’re ready to talk.”

More rallies and pickets are planned in Richmond, and workers nationwide say they’re prepared to strike indefinitely.