A truck displays a message calling on Starbucks Korea to reduce promotional spending and address staff shortages in Mapo-gu, Seoul, in 2021. (Screenshot from X) Workers at Starbucks Korea have formed the company’s first labor union since it entered South Korea 27 years ago, seeking higher pay and relief from heavy workloads.The workers recently established a Starbucks branch under the Korean Chemical, Textile and Food Workers’ Union, the new union said Sunday. The industrial union, which is affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, has about 44,000 members.The Starbucks branch said it was the first union formed by workers at a coffee franchise in South Korea.Starbucks Korea has operated an employee consultation channel known as the “Gonggam Meeting,” or empathy meeting. The union, however, said the program had done little to address workers’ concerns.“Rather than listening to workers’ demands, Starbucks Korea has unilaterally introduced promotional events and operating policies that have increased workloads,” the union said.It cited pay that remains close to the minimum wage, chronic understaffing and frequent promotions that add to baristas’ workloads as its main concerns.Starbucks workers previously organized collective actions through anonymous online communities in 2021 and 2024. They sent funeral wreaths to company headquarters and staged truck protests carrying messages critical of the company’s labor practices.Starbucks Korea, which directly employs its store workers, said it would communicate with the union in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.