Starbucks baristas report surging health insurance premiums, union survey finds

Starbucks Workers United files unfair labor practice charge

Starbucks baristas across the country are reporting sharp increases in their health insurance premiums, with some workers saying per-paycheck costs have nearly doubled ahead of changes set for October 1, according to the survey of more than 130 workers in both unionized and non-unionized stores, shared with the Guardian by Starbucks Workers United. The union represents more than 12,000 workers at more than 700 unionized stores, according to its count, and launched a boycott of the company last month demanding a first union contract.

Kaye-Lani Story, a barista in Edina, Minnesota, who has worked at Starbucks for nine years, said her premiums were set to rise from $130 per week to $170 per week on October 1 — a 30% increase. Story said she took herself and her son to the doctor this month as their health insurance is set to lapse on October 1, and that she had decided to drop the company plan because she could not absorb the additional $40 a week.

“I have to drop my insurance because the company will not cover those costs when it’s clear that they’re definitely making enough,” Story said.

Story said she had previously qualified for Minnesota’s state health insurance but switched to the company plan once her income rose above the threshold for state coverage. “I make too much to qualify for coverage through the state. I don’t make enough to keep my medical coverage through work, and so at this point, I just have to drop it completely,” she said.

Cory Wagner, a barista in Woods Cross, Utah, outside Salt Lake City, said his biweekly premium was rising from $70 to $122 this year — a jump he called the largest of his seven years with the company. “This is the first year that [premiums] nearly doubled,” Wagner said.

Wagner said he relies on a heart medication to be able to work, and that the premium increase had made his out-of-pocket cost for the drug unaffordable. “Now I’m kind of left at a point where I am choosing between paying for this medication and paying for my utility bills, paying for my groceries, paying for the gas that I need to get to work,” Wagner said. He added that he was considering a second job or leaving the company.

Several other workers in the survey said they were opting to go without health insurance coverage entirely because of the costs, with some reporting premium increases that nearly doubled even as they worked enough hours to qualify for benefits.

Starbucks Workers United said it has filed an unfair labor practice charge against the company, alleging that Starbucks did not respond to a request for information about the premium changes — specifically what prompted the fee hikes and how the company’s contribution to workers’ healthcare costs was affected.

A Starbucks spokesperson did not comment on the unfair labor practice charge. In an emailed statement, the spokesperson said “like employers across the country, we continue to face rising healthcare costs while remaining committed to providing quality, affordable healthcare coverage for full and part-time partners at Starbucks, beginning at just 20 hours per week.”

The premium increases come as Starbucks Workers United continues to press for a first union contract at the company. More than 700 Starbucks stores have won union elections since the organizing drive began in December 2021, according to the union, and the boycott launched last month is aimed at pressuring the company to reach a deal.