The city announced it had reached a settlement in which Starbucks would pay workers more than $35 million for violating the Fair Workweek Law.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders join striking Starbucks workers in New York on Dec. 1.ANGELA WEISS via Getty Images

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani joined Starbucks baristas on a picket line Monday to celebrate a $38.9 million settlement the city reached with the coffee chain following a yearslong labor investigation.

As part of the deal, Starbucks will pay $35.5 million to at least 15,000 workers for violating the city`s Fair Workweek Law, which requires fast-food companies to provide employees with regular schedules set two weeks in advance.

The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection said it amounts to the largest settlement of its kind in the city`s history.

Flanked by ized baristas who were on strike, Mamdani pledged Monday that his administration would support workers and "hold these kinds of corporations accountable."

"When I become the mayor of this city, I am going to continue to stand on picket lines with workers across the five boroughs," said Mamdani, the democratic socialist who`s set to be sworn in as mayor Jan. 1. "We want to build an administration that`s characterized by being there for workers every single step of the way."

He added, "When you are the mayor of New York City, you have a platform ... a platform where you can speak about the hundreds of times Starbucks has violated labor laws."

Mamdani was joined on the picket line by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I). Sanders said it was "an honor" for them "to stand with striking Starbucks workers."

The settlement with Starbucks was announced by the administration of outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, who withdrew from the race in September. Adams said in a statement that the "landmark" agreement would "put tens of millions of dollars back into the pockets of hard-working New Yorkers."

Implemented in 2017, the city`s fair workweek law aims to make retail workers` schedules more consistent by barring last-minute shift cancellations and "on-call" scheduling, in which employees must make themselves available but might not actually work. The law also includes particular stipulations for fast-food enterprises, including 14-day notice on scheduling.

The New York ordinance is similar to ones passed in other progressive cities in recent years with the backing of labor s and worker centers.

Starbucks said in a statement that it supports the law`s goals but that "its complexity creates real-world challenges."

"Here`s the reality: Even minor schedule changes can trigger a violation under the law," the company said. "The law treats almost any adjustment as a potential issue - even starting a shift two hours later than planned, even if the total hours and pay stay the same."

Starbucks said these days more employees are "getting schedules that fit their lives" while the company is "staying aligned with local laws like Fair Workweek."

The settlement comes at a time when Starbucks employees at more than 600 stores around the country are trying to negotiate their first collective bargaining agreements with the company. The Workers United says it now represents around 11,000 Starbucks workers who are pushing for higher pay and better benefits.

Workers at some of those stores have been going on strike in recent days in an effort to pressure the company on a deal. As HuffPost recently reported, it`s been nearly four years since the won its first election at a store in upstate New York, preceding a national wave of organizing.

Starbucks has around 10,000 corporate-owned locations in the U.S., and the company said less than 1% of them have been impacted by the recent strikes.

Both sides have accused the other of holding up contract negotiations. Jaci Anderson, a company spokesperson, told HuffPost in an email that the company was ready to meet the at the bargaining table. "Instead, they are focused on staging and promoting a protest in New York City, where they represent only 200 of the 4,500 partners in NYC," Anderson said.

Mamdani said on the picket line that the baristas` proposals were "not demands of greed" but "demands for decency."