CHICAGO — Nearly three years after the first Starbucks baristas in Chicago unionized, 11 workers and supporters were arrested by Chicago police after staging a sit-in inside one of the first union Starbucks cafes in the city on Tuesday.

Starbucks workers said they wanted to put pressure on the Seattle-based coffee giant to finalize a contract with the union on the eve of the company’s annual shareholder meeting scheduled Wednesday.

The baristas’ union, Starbucks Workers United, now represents about 11,000 workers at more than 500 stores across the country. But more than three years after the first Starbucks baristas unionized in Buffalo, New York, the coffee workers have yet to reach a first collective bargaining agreement with the company.

On Tuesday, workers at the Edgewater store on the city's North Side went on strike along with baristas at stores in five other cities including New York, Seattle and Pittsburgh, according to the union. Five people were arrested in Pittsburgh, the union said.

Workers at the union-represented 5964 N. Ridge Ave. packed the cafe with supporters before calling a strike Tuesday, walking out of the Edgewater store and picketing outside.

While some workers spoke to supporters and press outside the cafe, about a dozen demonstrators, who organizers said included current Starbucks workers, former Starbucks workers and community allies, stayed inside the store.

“Fair contract now,” read a banner the demonstrators displayed from inside the cafe.

Chicago police officers entered the cafe soon after the demonstration began, appearing to prepare to detain the protesters, who could be heard singing the union anthem “Solidarity Forever.” One of the protesters in the cafe was the Rev. CJ Hawking, executive director of the workers’ center Arise Chicago.

Police officers escorted protesters out of the cafe in handcuffs, before driving them away from the store in police vehicles. Chicago police later confirmed that 11 people had been taken into custody and arrested for criminal trespass “on signed complaints from an affected business.”

Phil Gee, a spokesperson for Starbucks, did not comment directly on the arrests Tuesday, but said in a statement that the company respects baristas’ rights to take part in “lawful strike activity.”

“We have made progress over the last nine months of bargaining, and we are committed to continuing to work together — with a mediator’s assistance — to navigate complex issues and reach fair contracts,” Gee said.

RJ Simandl, a shift supervisor on strike at the Starbucks at 5964 N. Ridge Ave. who did not participate in the sit-in, said workers and allies chose to risk arrest Tuesday “to send the message to our shareholders that we’re done messing around.”

“It’s time for them to put their money where it matters,” said Simandl, who has been a part of the union campaign in Chicago since it took root here three years ago. “We’re out here trying to make some noise to get them to listen to us yet again.”

The Starbucks campaign has been perhaps the most visible born during the wave of new union organizing that swept the country during the COVID-19 pandemic, with workers in industries such as food service and retail that were historically thought of as difficult to organize choosing to sign union cards in hopes of bargaining with their employers for improved wages and working conditions.

Starbucks has been accused by federal regulators of violating labor law hundreds of times throughout the rancorous union campaign; the company has consistently denied allegations of law-breaking.

Last February, it appeared the company and union had reached a detente, agreeing to come together to finalize a first contract and resolve their legal disputes.

But that agreement broke down late in the year, with Starbucks Workers United launching a wide-reaching national strike at hundreds of union cafes around the country shortly before Christmas, including in Chicago.

The union said Starbucks had offered union baristas a wage package that would include no immediate raises and a guaranteed increase of only 1.5% a year in future years. Starbucks, in turn, accused the union of walking away from the bargaining table prematurely.

In January, the two parties said they had agreed to bring in a mediator to help reach a deal.

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