On Monday July 31, dozens of unionizing Starbucks workers on a cross-country “Starbus” tour rallied at San Francisco City Hall. They were joined by fast-food workers with the Fight for 15, SEIU 1021 members, community organizations, and elected officials.

SEIU 1021 Vice President of Organizing Brandon Dawkins kicked off the rally, saying, “We’ve got to let Starbucks CEO Laxman know that when workers are trying to organize, when workers are wanting better for themselves… we are calling you out, and we’re saying union busting is disgusting.”

Congressman Ro Khanna congratulated Starbucks Workers United, saying, “I am just so proud of the Starbucks workers here…You’ve unionized more stores than probably have been unionized in any company in the last twenty years. That’s incredible.”

In under two years, more than 8,000 Starbucks workers across the country have organized with their union, Starbucks Workers United. However, the coffee giant is fighting back with every union-busting trick in the book, including threatening and firing workers, closing stores, and offering new benefits only to non-union stores.

The bus tour is bringing much-needed attention to these dirty tactics as workers continue to fight for a fair first union contract that improves pay and working conditions. The National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint about the company’s refusal to bargain in good faith.

Kyle Trainer, a Starbucks barista in the Castro for nearly 10 years, said, “Starbucks is trying to drag this out. My store still has not had even one day of bargaining. But we’re going to keep standing up and speaking out. There’s a huge labor boom right now, because life is getting harder and harder for working people, and we know we can’t ever back down if we want things to get better.”

At every stop on the tour, Starbucks workers have made their message clear: CEO Laxman Narasimhan must drop Howard Shultz’s heavy-handed, counterproductive, abusive union-busting approach and come to the table to bargain in good faith with workers who want to make Starbucks a better, fairer place to work.