No Contract, No Coffee: NYC’s Mayor-Elect Mamdani Calls for Starbucks Boycott
In a move that merges City Hall politics with labor activism, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has leveraged his substantial social media platform to call for a national boycott of Starbucks. With a message directed at his over one million followers on X, the Democratic socialist declared his solidarity with the ongoing “Unfair Labor Practices” strike organized by Starbucks Workers United. “While workers are on strike, I won’t be buying any Starbucks, and I’m asking you to join us,” Mamdani stated, co-opting the union’s rallying cry: “No contract, no coffee.”
The call to action comes on the heels of a major labor escalation dubbed the “Red Cup Rebellion,” an open-ended strike launched by the union on one of Starbucks’ busiest days of the year. The strategic timing, during the company’s popular Red Cup Day promotion, aims to maximize the strike’s impact and visibility. The union has vowed this will become “the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history,” framing the conflict as a critical battle for a fair contract and setting the stage for a protracted public relations and economic struggle.
Mamdani’s very public endorsement of the boycott intensifies the political pressure on the coffee giant, signaling that the plight of unionizing baristas will have a powerful ally in the nation’s largest city. His election victory itself was a shock to the political establishment, and this early move aligns perfectly with his democratic socialist platform, demonstrating a commitment to translating campaign rhetoric into direct action. As both the union and the company dig in, the “Red Cup Rebellion” has swiftly evolved from a labor dispute into a high-profile political standoff.
