Chelsea Engel with Pride at Work and Steelworkers Local 3657 addresses the crowd during the Starbucks Workers Union rally in front of the Starbucks Market Square location Friday, Dec. 9, 2022, in Downtown Pittsburgh. Members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh who are on strike from the Post-Gazette listen in the background. (Pam Panchak/ Pittsburgh Union Progress)

Organized baristas received plenty of support as they crowded around the Starbucks store on Downtown’s Market Square at noon Friday. Harold Grant of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers noted the coffee company’s billions of dollars in revenue and told the gathered workers, “You made it happen.”

Then came the chant, “No contract, no coffee.”

The effort to organize Starbucks stores in Pittsburgh is part of a nationwide movement — more than 200 stores across the nation have unionized in the past year. Friday’s rally brought together supporters from a number of other unions as well as politicians and members of the community.

Tori Tambellini, with the Starbucks Workers Union leads pro-union chants during the Starbucks Workers Union rally in front of the Starbucks Market Square location Friday, Dec. 9, 2022, in Downtown Pittsburgh. (Pam Panchak/ Pittsburgh Union Progress)
Striking Post-Gazette workers from the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, from left, Susan Banks, Joshua Axelrod, Julian Routh and Mike Pound cheer during the Starbucks Workers Union rally in front of the Starbucks Market Square location Friday, Dec. 9, 2022, in Downtown Pittsburgh. (Pam Panchak/ Pittsburgh Union Progress)
Pam Panchak

Pam Panchak is a photographer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but she's currently on strike

Pam Panchak

Pam Panchak is a photographer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but she's currently on strike