About a dozen Starbucks workers and allies held a strike outside the store’s Route 1 and Knox Road location in College Park on Monday.

The picket, which lasted more than two hours, was part of a larger strike organized by Starbucks Workers United chapters across the country, according to shift supervisor MJ Matava. Matava, who is part of the chapter’s organizing committee, said workers protested unfair labor practices.

The strike began the same day the Starbucks chain initiated a new dress code requiring workers to wear certain colors, according to the Starbucks website. This new dress code could present a financial burden on workers, Matava, a senior English and Spanish major said.

Workers also protested unjust firings and issues regarding hours and wages, Matava said. According to Matava, negotiations over some of these issues “broke down” in December and the union was unable to get back to them.

Matava emphasized that many Starbucks workers in College Park are students at the University of Maryland.

“We care a lot about the people that we serve coffee to,” they said. “It feels especially important to us that we be given the chance to bargain for a contract that supports us and our customers.”

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A Starbucks spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Diamondback that the majority of the chain’s 10,000 U.S. stores were operational Monday despite Workers United’s “disruption.” The union represents less than 5 percent of the company’s workforce, the statement read.

“It would be more productive if the union would put the same effort into coming back to the table to finalize a reasonable contract,” the statement read.

Barista Josie Cloutier said the Starbucks union members are hoping to negotiate better scheduling and managerial treatment. Cloutier, a member of the organizing committee, added that managerial economic gains have come at the expense of workers.

“Starbucks has been raising the prices of their products for years, but as employees, we haven’t seen any of that profit,” she said.

The location’s employees previously brought a letter of demands to their manager twice, according to Cloutier. Although the demands seemed to be “well-received” the first time, they said, the most recent time was met with resistance.

“So that’s why we’ve escalated striking, because if they won’t listen when we try to do it respectfully, we will shut the store down,” Cloutier said.

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Some people who did not work for Starbucks joined the protest as well.

Storm Tojo, a College Park resident and University of the District of Columbia student, said he came to the area to buy a muffin and orange juice. But when Tojo saw the protest and learned about its cause, he joined in.

He added that the concerns the protestors voiced are common in the food industry.

“These kinds of things happen a lot in many different kinds of corporations, especially in the food industry,” Tojo said. “I believe that all the workers, they are the most important things to value.”

Freshman computer science major Gavin Tantleff protested what he described as mistreatment of the employees by their boss.

“I hope that University of Maryland students will show solidarity with the workers and support them,” Tantleff said. “No one’s there to have terrible bosses. No one deserves to not have their needs met, that’s what’s happening to these workers.”