By Arnie Alpert, Active with the Activists

Arnie Alpert spent decades as a community organizer/educator in NH movements for social justice and peace.  Officially retired from the American Friends Service Committee since 2020, he keeps his hands (and feet) in the activist world while writing about past and present social movements.  You can reach him at arnie.alpert@indepthnh.org. 

The “Red Cup Rebellion” strike of Starbucks workers reached New Hampshire Thursday, when baristas set up picket lines at stores in Epping, Stratham, and Seabrook.  The Stratham store, normally open until 9:00 pm, was closed by 12:30 pm. 

“We’re not staffed properly, so we’re overworked, and we don’t get paid enough for the amount of work that we do,” said Scott Lasalette, who was on the picket line outside the Epping store.  

Cailyn Heath, a shift supervisor at the Stratham Starbucks, said the strike will go on “as long as it takes.”

“We want better wages. We want better working conditions. We want people to be able to afford rent,” she said, “to be paid enough that they can afford an apartment, that they don’t have to be choosing between groceries and meds.”

Nationwide, the strike launched on November 13, with walkouts at 65 stores in more than 40 cities.  Like the UAW’s 2023 Stand Up Strike, Starbucks Workers United is adding more stores each week.  Today, the union said, baristas went on strike at 26 additional stores including the three in New Hampshire, bringing the total to more than 145. 

The company says “99% of our 17,000 U.S. locations remain open.”

The union says its strike is focused on hundreds of unresolved unfair labor practice charges, “more labor law violations than any employer in modern history.”  The charges include firings of union members and a failure to negotiate over policies such as a controversial dress code.

The union is getting support from the Teamsters Union, whose members have a practice of refusing to cross picket lines.  April Richer, a Dover Teamster who was on the picket lines in Epping and Stratham today, said a Teamster delivery driver turned back from the Stratham store this morning.  

Lasallette said the Epping store had less than half its normal staffing today due to the strike.  “The store can’t operate with those numbers,” he said.

By early afternoon, a sign taped to the door of the Stratham Starbucks said, “We have temporarily closed our in-store café, but our drive-through remains open.”  When I arrived at about 1 pm, the café was dark and the drive-through window appeared to be unstaffed.  “Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience,” the sign said.

According to a company statement, “Starbucks offers the best job in retail, with pay and benefits averaging $30 per hour for hourly partners.”  Lasallette said that as a full-time worker, he has access to benefits, but that many baristas, who work less than 20 hours a week, are out of luck.  “The benefits are nearly impossible to get with the current way that the stores are run,” he said.

According to the company’s own figures, its CEO last year made 6666 times as much as the median worker, a part-time barista earning $14,674 a year.

The union continues to ask potential customers to stay away from all Starbucks stores and products while the strike is on.  A union email, sent today, said, “On December 15, we’re asking allies across the country to show up at non-union Starbucks stores to ask customers to stop buying Starbucks. It only takes 1 to 3 people to make a real impact. And if we work together, we can talk to thousands upon thousands of customers at hundreds of stores all on the same day.”

According to the union, more than 200,000 people have signed their “No Contract, No Coffee” pledge.  The union has also drawn support from a wide range of organizations, including major unions, Peace Action, the Sunrise Movement, and the Democratic Socialists of America, which is organizing “strike kitchens” in support of union members.

The union and the company each accuse the other of walking away from the bargaining table.  “Right now, it’s their move,” Heath said.

Picketing Friday morning will focus on the Starbucks store at Seabrook Crossing.  The New Hampshire AFL-CIO emailed an alert to its members encouraging them to be there.

CHARLESTOWN, N.H. (WCAX) – Authorities have released the name of the police officer involved in a shooting in Charlestown, New Hampshire, last month.

According to the New Hampshire attorney general, Ofc. Jacob Sands of the Charlestown Police Department responded to a speeding car in the area of Caryl Lane and Claremont Road that did not have a license plate.

The driver, Christian Paquette, 23, refused to stop, and a police chase began, during which speeds reached about 90 mph before Paquette eventually stopped the car, got out and tried to run away.

Ofc. Sands claimed Paquette was holding a knife and refused to drop it when asked.

That’s when Sands fired his gun, hitting Paquette.

Paquette is in stable condition, but is still in the hospital recovering from his injuries.

The investigation into the shooting is still underway.

Copyright 2025 WCAX. All rights reserved.

New Hampshire officials are welcoming a manufacturer that’s moving to the Granite State from Massachusetts, as the Healey admin has convened a council to address the Bay State’s sluggish economic competitiveness.

SynQor, a company that builds power converters for the military and other industries, has alerted Massachusetts labor and workforce officials that it will depart its Boxboro headquarters and relocate to the Granite State early next year.

Officials for the electronics manufacturer have not provided the exact reasons for the move, other than telling the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development that all positions and jobs based in Boxboro will be transferred to a new facility in Salem, N.H.

The move is expected to bring about 250 jobs to New Hampshire, marking the second Bay State company to relocate to the Granite State this year.

“SynQor is moving its HQ — and 250 jobs — from Massachusetts to New Hampshire!” Granite State Gov. Kelly Ayotte said in a social media post on Wednesday. “As the #1 state for economic freedom, we’re a beacon of opportunity for companies looking to grow. No better place to live, work, or raise a family than the Granite State!”

Analogic Corp., a health care and security technology company, announced in January that it would relocate its Peabody headquarters, bringing about 500 jobs to Salem, a town of about 30,000, just over the border.

Salem Town Councilor and New Hampshire state Rep. Joe Sweeney is applauding SynQor and Analogic for bringing their companies north, moves that he calls a “predictable result of years of smart policy, disciplined leadership and a clear belief in free-market principles.”

“As a Salem Town Councilor and as Deputy Majority Leader in the New Hampshire House, I have seen what happens when a state chooses growth instead of government control,” Sweeney stated in a social media post on Wednesday. “For more than a decade, New Hampshire Republicans have reduced employer taxes, cut regulations and created a climate where businesses are treated as partners who help drive prosperity.”

This all comes as Massachusetts continues to rank as a bottom-10 state for economic competitiveness. The Tax Foundation, a national watchdog group, credits the sluggishness to the Bay State’s “overly burdensome individual income taxes, property taxes, and UI taxes.”

Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Kim Driscoll have convened a Massachusetts Competitiveness Council to develop strategies to strengthen the state’s business and economic climate. The council of more than 20 leaders from business, labor, research and state government met for the first time on Wednesday.

Healey created the council in October to “advise her administration on policies and initiatives that support businesses, grow jobs, and ensure Massachusetts remains a leader in innovation, talent and quality of life.”

“I want Massachusetts firing on all cylinders, and winning the best jobs, investments, startups, companies and talent,” Healey said in a statement on Wednesday. “And we know that the ideas don’t all come from government, but from the people on the ground working to innovate and grow businesses every day.”

The Massachusetts High Technology Council is urging the council to prioritize reviewing state and local tax burdens and incentives or credits for firms that stay and expand in the Bay State, while addressing housing, transportation and energy costs.

“It’s time to stop treating high taxes and overregulation as immutable,” High Tech Council President Christopher Anderson said in a statement. “If Massachusetts wants to keep and attract the businesses driving innovation, growth and high-paying jobs, the time to act is now.”

Paul Craney, the executive director of state watchdog Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, is slamming Healey’s business mandates.

“Gov. Maura Healey is requiring any business over 20,000 feet to report their carbon footprint for an eventual carbon tax,” he told the Herald, “while NH offers no income taxes and a welcome from their Governor. Quite the difference.”