Starbucks Off Pomona campaign protests Starbucks at Cafe 47 which escalates as national strike continues

1,000 unionized Starbucks workers at 65 stores nationwide went on strike on Nov. 13, 2025 on the chain’s promotional “Red Cup Day,” pushing for union negotiations and calling for a boycott of the store. The open-ended strike comes after sustained boycott efforts in support of the union, including the national Student Against Starbucks campaign, in which student organizers, including ones at the 5Cs, have pressured their colleges to end their contracts with Starbucks.

Beginning this semester, Starbucks replaced Peet’s Coffee as the main supplier for Cafe 47, Pomona College’s campus cafe. The Claremont Student Workers Alliance (CSWA) and other 5Cs students are calling for the College to end its contract with Starbucks, citing the chain’s record of union-busting, among other exploitative practices and connections.

The 5Cs Starbucks Off Pomona campaign kickstarted on Oct. 16, when student organizers across the 5Cs hosted a teach-in in The Motley Coffeehouse calling for a boycott of Starbucks’ presence on campus. Speakers described Starbucks’ history of complicity in Palestinian genocide, ties to the prison-industrial complex, union busting, and exploitative labor practices both at home and globally through their alliance with Nestlé.

Over 50 students attended the event, which was co-organized by CSWA, Starbucks Workers United, Students Against Starbucks, Claremont Colleges Prison Abolition Collective, and The Motley. 

According to an ASPC email sent on Oct. 27, Pomona administration did not inform students beforehand of the decision to replace Peet’s with Starbucks at Cafe 47, whereas the earlier switch to Peet’s had “significant student input.”

School administration cited “inconsistent supplying” as their reason behind the decision to switch from Peet’s. However, a Jamen Trojak PO ’29, a speaker representing CSWA, explained how it is possible for the college to switch to other ethical suppliers without the school losing profit, and how student organizing has the power to switch to ethical suppliers and remove Starbucks from Cafe 47, the entire 5C campus, and beyond. 

Carlos Callejo, a National Organizer with Students Against Starbucks, affirmed the power of student organizing against monopolistic corporations like Starbucks. He first joined the campaign as an organizer at Cal Poly Pomona.

“Students have an oversized leverage. They have more power to stand up to arguably the biggest union-busting company in the country and really make a statement,” he said. 

Trojak began the teach-in with a statement from Bob Robinson, the assistant vice president of facilities and campus services on Pomona’s campus. The statement was in regards to Pomona’s recently implemented contract with Starbucks. 

“Bob Robinson sent an email when we reached out and asked ‘Are you worried about boycotts?’ He said, ‘Well, profits are up 80%,’” Trojak said. “But when profits aren’t up 80% anymore, and we drive profits down, we make it unprofitable, and they will have to cancel the contract.”

Although Pomona’s contract with Starbucks is for three years, the email noted that it can be canceled or re-evaluated after one year.

Trojak further expanded on individual actions to aid in the Students Against Starbucks campaign.

“Instead of getting Starbucks at Cafe 47 you should go somewhere else, like the library, Scripps, Pitzer, CMC; they all have local, more ethical distributors than Starbucks. Additionally, sign this petition to get your name out. It’s really important that we get as many signatures on this as possible,” Trojak described.

CSWA invited Shahbaz Khan, a worker in the union at Starbucks to discuss the power of student organizing in affecting Starbucks in their decision-making. As someone who worked at one of the busiest Starbucks, on the campus of the University of Southern California, he noted that, even though sometimes it feels that student movement may be limited in momentum, it solidly creates a tangible impact for change: 

“Student organizing is something that works… It can sometimes feel a lot like you’re just kind of staying home and doing nothing. But we [Starbucks workers] do feel it on our end. You do actually have the capability to hurt these companaies” Shahbaz said.

The Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine representative noted that while Starbucks is not on the official BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) list, Starbucks still has deep ties to the Zionist Entity. 

For instance, the former CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, is a longstanding supporter of the Zionist Entity in its occupation and massacre of Palestinians, and has urged the arrest and suppression of student protestors. Also, in October 2023, Starbucks sued the Starbucks Worker Union in the excuse of them posting a Pro-Palestine post. Starbucks claimed the post was damaging the brand’s reputation by misusing the brand name. The Union thereby took the tweet down and responded later with a detailed statement on their support of Palestine. 

Frances Currie, a student representative for the 5C’s Prison Abolition Collective, spoke on Starbucks ties with Coffee With a Cop program, and emphasized the company’s use of prison labour, equivalent to modern-day slavery, to package their bags of coffee beans.

“[Starbucks] defended inmate labor to the press when a Starbucks representative said that prison labor was perfectly in line with the company’s values,” Currie explained. For instance, “[in] early 2000s Starbucks used prison labor in Washington to package bags of coffee beans”. 

While the initial teach-in and campaign have targeted on Starbucks’ presence at Pomona’s Cafe 47, the boycott also applies to Harvey Mudd College and Claremont Graduate University’s contracts with Starbucks. Prior to Cafe 47’s adoption of the supplier, Harvey Mudd’s Starbucks has long been contentious, a focus of CSWA’s earlier Muddbucks boycott campaign.

The Starbucks Off Pomona campaign escalated on Thursday, Nov. 6, when student organizers from CSWA led a delegation to the offices of the administration, delivering their petition calling on Pomona to end their contract with Starbucks with 560 student signatures.

Student organizers emphasized the “illegal and unfair pushback” that Starbucks Workers United have faced from the company and the necessity of breaking ties with Starbucks, as well as the availability of local suppliers that could allow Pomona to connect with businesses in the community. 

Organizers have emphasized in both the teach-in and the delegation that not only is the boycotting of Starbucks and support of unionization ethically right, but also a completely realistic option. 

Callejo, for instance, stressed on the historical significance of this movement, connecting concerns on the Pomona campus and the 5C in the Students Against Starbucks campaign, to broader labor movements and empowerment of the working class.

“The Starbucks campaign is truly historic. It can set a template for the rest of the labor movement. That’s why they’re putting so much energy against it—it’s not just about one company, but about the fear that if workers and students win here, others will follow,” Callejo said. “You have power as students to make great change.”

This article was published on Dec. 17, 2025 but was backdated to Oct. 16 for browsing convenience.