Starbucks' new logo is displayed on a paper cup carried by a customer in Halifax on Tuesday, March 8, 2011.Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press
Starbucks Corp. workers in Chile have gone on strike, the first strike in the coffee chain's history, union and company representatives told Reuters Friday.
Union workers, who are seeking pay and benefit increases, missed shifts earlier this month in protest, and Chile's Labour Bureau Friday said enough workers participated in that action to authorize the strike.
Starbucks said it plans to appeal the Labour Bureau's finding. It said the strike was certified effective as of July 7.
About 200 of Starbucks' 670 employees in Chile are union members.
A spokesman for Starbucks said it was covering the shifts of union workers with nonunion employees and that the action will not disrupt its business in Chile, where it has 31 cafés.