Starbucks Workers United members and supporters picket outside a Starbucks store in New York, US, on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. The said baristas from 30 more stores planned to join the strike Thursday, bringing the total number of stores with striking workers to 95 in 65 cities, AP reports. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBloomberg via Getty Images

Unionized Starbucks baristas are asking their supporters to delete the Starbucks app from their phones in order to pressure the coffee chain at the bargaining table.

The request is the latest escalation in the workers` long-running battle for a first contract. The Workers United has organized around 650 stores across the country since late 2021, but is still struggling to secure a collective bargaining agreement that guarantees wage increases and benefits.

"It`s disgusting for a corporation worth billions of dollars to force employees to rely on SNAP and Medicaid so they can keep flying their CEO to the office on a private jet," Jasmine Leli, a barista and leader, said in a statement Thursday. She was referring to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol`s 1,000-mile commute from Southern California to Starbucks` Seattle headquarters.

In emails and social media posts this week, the has urged customers to uninstall the app and to encourage five friends to do the same. A successful campaign could deliver a blow to sales: Starbucks said on an earnings call last year that more than 30% of its transactions were coming from mobile.

Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson said the `s effort hadn`t put a dent in sales as of Thursday.

"We have not seen - nor do we expect - any impact on customer use of the Starbucks app," Anderson told HuffPost.

Baristas have been trying to compel the company to reach a groundbreaking labor agreement for the largely non- retail sector. None of Starbucks` roughly 11,000 corporate-owned stores were organized until Workers United began its campaign in Upstate New York less than five years ago.

But first contracts can be notoriously hard to win. Workers United has accused Starbucks of dragging its feet in talks and reneging on earlier promises, while Starbucks has claimed it was the that walked away from the table. The two sides have not met to negotiate in over a year.

Anderson said the company and have reached tentative agreements on 30 matters. But those would not include the biggest issues, like pay and health care, which are typically the last to be settled.

"Starbucks offers the best job in retail," Anderson said. "This is why our turnover is roughly half the industry average, and we receive more than one million job applications each year."

The call to delete the Starbucks app comes on the heels of an unfair labor practice strike at roughly 180 stores that began in November. Workers at the vast majority of those locations have since returned to work, according to Starbucks.

Silvia Baldwin, a barista who went on strike in Philadelphia, recently told HuffPost that her coworkers wouldn`t let up until a solid contract was settled. She said Starbucks risked damaging its brand by holding out.

"If the company wants to act rationally and in its own best interests, they will actually engage with us and listen to us," Baldwin said. "We know this company is more than capable of doing what is right."