COLUMBUS, Ohio — Starbucks employees are turning the company's annual Red Cup Day into a Red Cup Rebellion.

What You Need To Know

  • Unionized Starbucks employees all over the country are on strike for better labor contracts on Red Cup Day, the most profitable day of the year

  • This is the second year in a row Starbucks employees have gone on strike on Red Cup Day

  • The strike is called the Red Cup Rebellion 

On the one day a year where customers can get a free red cup with the purchase of a holiday drink, employees across the country are striking for better wages and work conditions. The day is the company's most profitable day of the year. Red cup day started about five years ago and has been a popular day since its inception.

Because of its popularity, Starbucks coffee shops across the country are particularly busy on this day leaving employees overworked. 

“Everyone goes crazy; it’s double the business than usual, but we don’t get the labor to accommodate that. So you often get lines out the door 20- to 30- minute wait times and so much more. So we as a unionized store are saying no. We are not going to subject ourselves to that sort of unfair labor practice without being accommodated properly. So we’re going to strike,” said Starbucks shift supervisor Julia Genovesi.  

This is the second year Starbucks workers have protested on Red Cup Day, and employees said they will continue to protest every year until their demands are met. 

Spectrum News 1 reached out to Starbucks for a comment on the strike but hasn't received a response.