A viral video allegedly shows Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol heading into traffic to avoid the filming barista following him as horns blare. The experienced fast food chairman is currently facing a nationwide strike of his coffee chain employees, and he apparently really doesn’t want to talk about it.
Union folks are taking this as another reason to support small, local coffee stands instead.
Starbucks barista questions man believed to be Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol
Over the weekend, the official Starbucks union TikTok account @sbworkersunited posted the footage by one of their baristas. It shows a man followed by three others in business casual dress walking down a Chicago street as the woman filming inquired about whether that was Niccol. One of the men accompanying the leader repeatedly denied it.
The Daily Dot could not independently confirm that this man was indeed Niccol.
@sbworkersunited 1000s of Starbucks baristas are on ULP strike across the country and CEO Brian Niccol would rather run into traffic than talk to us. Under Brian Niccol, baristas have seen change after change that’s made our jobs worse. We need better pay, better hours, and better scheduling… not to mention resolving Starbucks’s countless outstanding unfair labor practices. Our union is asking everyone to STOP BUYING STARBUCKS at ANY location for the duration of our ULP strike and until Starbucks does right by workers! #starbucksbarista #nocontractnocoffee #fypppp #tobeapartner ♬ original sound – Starbucks Workers United
After disbelieving the man who claimed it wasn’t Niccol, the Starbucks worker asked if she could talk to him.
“Can I say hi?” she asks. “I’m a Starbucks barista. I would love to just say hi, if he’s related to it at all.”
“I’ve been a barista for 10 years. It would be really nice to meet him.”
The man claiming that was definitely not Niccol then said he was “just a normal person.” So normal, in fact, that he didn’t wait for the “don’t walk” signal to change and walked into the street against the light. A driver blasted their horn at him and his protectors as they jogged the rest of the way across.
“Should probably not cross with cars in the way,” the barista said as they made their escape.
The video ends with screenshots including a headline citing a statistic that Niccol made 6,666 times the average pay of a Starbucks worker in 2024, plus a shot of him with Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“Why are you so scared of your own employees, Brian?” the union asked.
“Imagine hating your own workers so much”
The launch of a Starbucks barista strike in early December caused another surge of boycott calls against the company from the pro-worker crowd. The famous coffee chain has fought unionization tooth-and-nail for years. Some even suspected that the company closed its iconic Reserve Capitol Hill location due to efforts to unionize.
Followers of the growing union are not generally fans of Niccol and are showing it in the comments.
“Brian Niccol setting another bad example of crossing when you’re not supposed to,” wrote @cnrgrg. “Just like how WE DON’T CROSS PICKET LINES AND WE SUPPORT SBWU.”
“Imagine hating your own workers so much that you run into traffic to avoid talking to one,” said @expositorshep.
Even on Reddit, where u/mlg1981 reposted the video, the sentiment leans very much against the CEO.
“Very telling when you know nothing good will come from interacting with one of your employees,” u/GhostofHowardTV remarked.
“This is why I will gladly face more traffic in my morning commute to avoid getting a coffee from Starbucks,” u/melissaimpaired asserted.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Starbucks for comment via email.
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