After years of scorched-earth union-busting and stonewalling tactics by their bosses, Starbucks workers are trying to get their union drive and contract negotiations unstuck through a nationwide strike.

When Benjamin Estrello started working at Starbucks four years ago, he knew he wanted to unionize his store. The then-nineteen-year-old had grown up in what he describes as a “very conservative” household in North Texas. When a friend of his came out as transgender in high school, “that experience made me think very deeply about my worldview, what matters and what separates us from one another,” Estrello said. “It caused me to question authority, leading me to the way I am now.”

By the time he got the Starbucks job in the Dallas, Texas, area, he was ready to organize.

As locations across

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