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PRESS RELEASE
January 27, 2026
Contact: Liza Nielsen, [email protected], 408-612-6174
Community showed support for Starbucks Workers United and broader labor movement
DENVER – Today, community members across dozens of unions, nonprofits, and ally organizations gathered for Colorado’s first-ever Unite the Unions event to uplift Starbucks Workers United and the state’s broader labor movement, as well as confront the rise of violent authoritarianism. Organized by the Starbucks Workers United strike team at the Garden of the Gods Starbucks in Colorado Springs, today’s rally marked the 10th week of the baristas’ strike and delivered one clear message: Coloradans stand with workers and support the fight for justice, safety, and democracy.
“Workers across Colorado are standing up, organizing, and demanding better,” Kylie Anderson, SBWU Worker-Organizer, said. “We want elected officials and the public to know that the working class must be the top priority in upcoming elections. Workers are uniting to pass the Worker Protection Act and move our state forward together.”
More than 150 Starbucks stores nationwide went on indefinite strike on Red Cup Day, including 17 stores across Colorado. The strike comes amid a broader surge in worker organizing statewide and nationally, from coffee shops and grocery stores to higher education, healthcare, and public service. Workers across Colorado are increasingly taking collective action to demand fair wages, safe workplaces, and real accountability from employers.
Workers outside Starbucks Lafayatte
Photo from Sprout Foster
“Right now, corporate executives and union-busters get to control our lives, our schedules, our paychecks, and whether we can speak up without being punished. If we want Colorado to be a union state, elected officials can’t just cheer from the sidelines; we have to update statutes, pass the PRO Act, enforce real penalties for retaliation, and stop rewarding lawbreaking companies with public dollars,” said Senadora Julie Gonzales, a candidate for the U.S. Senate. “I’ve seen what happens when people get organized: you can break a rigged system. I’ll always fight for workers’ freedom to unionize, to stand together, and to demand more than crumbs, without their jobs being used as a weapon against them.”
Organizers said their rally echoes the Minnesota worker protests and strikes against violent federal ICE operations. These collective actions reflect a moment of growing worker solidarity confronting threats to civil and labor rights.
“This movement is growing every day,” Raven Caruth, SBWU Worker-Organizer, said. “When workers come together, we are unstoppable. One brick at a time, we will build a firm foundation for unions to flourish in the land of the free once more because our voice matters.”
Colorado Starbucks Workers United is a part of Starbucks Workers United, a national labor movement of Starbucks workers organizing for fair wages, safe working conditions, dignity on the job, and standing in solidarity with workers nationwide to oppose violence and authoritarianism in all its forms. Learn more at https://linktr.ee/Sbwu_CO.
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