Starbucks keeps an image as an inclusive, efficient place to work, but a group of Black employees say they have faced racial discrimination and cite pay inequities compare to their white counterparts.

UNITE HERE, a labor union created to represent the airport’s service workers, released a report Wednesday (March 4) that revealed Black baristas for Starbucks at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport are paid significantly less than their white coworkers. 

The report found that the median pay for black baristas at HMSHost-operated Starbucks stores in the location was $2.84 less per hour than that of white baristas in 2019, compared to the national gap of $1.85.

“In 2019, the median wage paid to Black baristas was 86 percent of the median wage paid to white baristas across the 27 airports we studied,” the report reads.

And the Bush airport workers aren’t alone. A transgender barista at Orlando International Airport, told CBS News that a manager openly mocked him before customers, calling him “she” instead of “he.” HMSHost, which operates Starbucks stores at 27 U.S. airports, dismissed those claims.

“Pay is directly linked to their experience and time with our company. It grows as associates stay with us and take on new responsibilities,” the company said in a statement responding to the union’s claims. “Pay rates for union-represented associates have been negotiated and agreed upon by the union during the collective bargaining process.  Pay rates are not in any way determined by race or ethnicity.”

The report also claims that as Starbucks closed stores nationwide for racial sensitivity training in 2018 after an incident in which two Black men were put out of a store, airport locations remained open.
In the report’s survey, some HMSHost employees reported poverty, homelessness or an inability to pay their rent off what they make.

HMSHost said the UNITE HERE report is not an accurate representation of their company, but did not deny the reported wage gap. 

“It is disappointing that UNITE HERE has chosen to wage a public campaign critical of HMSHost after decades in which we have had a positive working relationship,” their statement read. 

According to Daily Mail, Starbucks has declined to comment on the report and has instead referred to the HMSHost statement. 

Moving forward, a number of advocacy groups including the National LGBTQ Task Force and African Communities Together are planning to call on Starbucks this week to demand that the issues raised by UNITE HERE are addressed by HMSHost, CBS News reports.