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Starbucks said the new dress code will make its green aprons
stand out and create a sense of familiarity for customers. It
comes as the company is trying to reestablish a warmer, more
welcoming experience in its store.
“By updating our dress code, we can deliver a more consistent
coffeehouse experience that will also bring simpler and clearer
guidance to our partners, which means they can focus on what
matters most, crafting great beverages and fostering connections
with customers,” the company said in a post on its website.
But some workers protested the move. Starbucks Workers United, a
labor group that has unionized workers at more than 550 of
Starbucks' 10,000 company-owned U.S. stores, said it told the
company last week that it has already negotiated a tentative
dress code agreement during bargaining sessions with the
company. The union said it opposes any changes to the dress code
until bargaining concludes and a labor agreement is reached.
Jasmine Leli, a Starbucks barista and union bargaining delegate,
said the company should be focusing on things that improve store
operations, like appropriately staffing stores and giving
workers a guaranteed number of hours.
“Instead of addressing the most pressing issues baristas have
been raising for years, Starbucks is prioritizing a limiting
dress code that won’t improve the company’s operation," Leli
said in a statement provided by the union. “They’re forcing
baristas to pay for new clothes when we’re struggling as it is
on Starbucks wages and without guaranteed hours.”
The new guidance comes nearly a decade after Starbucks loosened
its dress code to give employees more opportunity for
self-expression. In 2016, the company expanded the color of
shirts employees could wear, adding gray, navy, dark denim and
brown to the previous guidance of black or white. It also
allowed patterned shirts in those colors.
In 2019, the company tweaked the dress code again, allowing one
facial piercing as long as it was no larger than a dime. The new
dress code still allows one facial piercing.
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