Four people are sitting and kneeling on a sidewalk in front of a Starbucks store. Three of them are holding protest signs. The person on the left, wearing large sunglasses, holds a red and white sign that reads, 'Starbucks Workers United. No Contract No Coffee. Starbucks Workers United on ULP Strike.' The person in the middle holds a sign that says, 'Starbucks Workers United on ULP Strike.' The person to their right, wearing a neon green hat and a face mask, holds a green sign that says, 'Baristas on Strike.' The fourth person, on the far right, is kneeling and not holding a sign. They are wearing a dark hoodie, tan pants, green socks, and white Adidas sneakers. The group appears to be participating in a labor strike or protest outside the store. There are chairs, a window reflecting the street, and some trees and buildings in the background.

No Contract, No Coffee: My First Time Experience On The Picket Lines

A short blog post going over my experience on the picket lines for the first time at Starbucks.

Show/Hide The Table of Contents
  1. Arriving/Setting Up
  2. Different Speakers
  3. Meeting New People, Including Rep. Gabriel Sanchez
  4. Conclusion

Written By

Armando Vias

First Published:

Last Updated: Saturday, November 15th, 2025 @ 9:12 pm

Estimated Reading Time:

1–2 minutes

On Thursday, November 13, 2025, me and members of the Middle Georgia Democratic Socialists of America attended a strike at a unionized Starbucks store located in Alpharetta, Georgia.

In this blog post, I’ll be going over my experience on the picket lines supporting Starbucks workers during this strike.

Arriving/Setting Up

When we first got to the store, there was already people protesting. After we arrived at 3:45 PM Eastern Time, we set up by grabbing signs. There was lots of people already there at the store. Someone helped me find a chair that I could sit in and gave me a sign to hold.

Then, people were taking pictures of their signs, and the media was also present.

Different Speakers

At around 4:30 PM, there were different speakers from different organizations, including the newly elected Atlanta City Councilwoman Kelsea Bond. Also, We chanted, “No contract, no coffee!” over and over for a few minutes.

Meeting New People, Including Rep. Gabriel Sanchez

I'm standing with Rep. Gabriel Sanchez. He's holding a "No contract, no coffee!" sign in the Starbucks parking lot in Alpharetta, Georgia

After we went through all of the speakers, we got to meet new people, including Rep. Gabriel Sanchez of House District 42. Everyone that I met was very friendly. One of us even got interviewed for a college newspaper.

Conclusion

I had a fantastic experience supporting Starbucks workers during their strike. I’d like to thank someone from the Middle Georgia DSA for taking me to the event to show our support to these workers.

Before you go, I encourage you to take the pledge of not buying any products from Starbucks during this strike.

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