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Starbucks Korea's employees threatened to hold rallies against frequent promotional events that have been significantly increasing their workload ahead of the planned Halloween and Christmas seasonal promotions.
They also have repeatedly requested salary raises and demanded improved working conditions, including for the company to hire additional staff to deal with the high workload, especially during promotional events.
The last promotional event held by Starbucks Korea on Sept. 28 drew customers to line up for hours, with one branch in Seoul handing out over 650 waitlist tickets.
The event was to mark the US coffee chain's 50th anniversary, for which it served grande-sized beverages in limited-edition plastic tumblers, for the cost of the beverages only.
After the Sept. 28 event, one employee wrote on an anonymous company review platform that the headquarters continues to treat them as expendable.
The workers raised money to hang banners criticizing the heavy workload while using buses to display their demands in two Seoul locations.
In response, Starbucks Korea will conduct a survey and take follow-up measures to improve the employees' working conditions.
The protest is the Starbucks Korea employees' first collective action since its launch here in 1999, and it is being conducted even without a union. The coffee chain has over 1,600 outlets and 18,000 employees in South Korea.
Starbucks Korea has received rave responses from customers for the promotional events, with many buying dozens of drinks at a time to get more limited-edition promotional items.
Many of the items are resold on online secondhand markets.
The exact dates of Starbucks Korea's Halloween and Christmas seasonal promotional events are yet to be determined.
