Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol was reportedly confronted by a 10-year employee, and his bizarre response shows he is terrified of his own staff

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol allegedly bolted into active traffic in Chicago, ignoring a “don’t walk” signal, just to avoid having a conversation with one of his own employees. This whole bizarre incident happened while the coffee chain is facing a massive nationwide Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) strike, and honestly, the CEO’s desperate reaction is seriously telling about the relationship between leadership and staff.

The footage was posted over the weekend by the official Starbucks union TikTok account, @sbworkersunited, and was reported by Daily Dot. It shows a woman who identified herself as a 10-year Starbucks barista following a man she believed to be Niccol and his three business-casual companions down a city street. When the barista inquired if the man was indeed Niccol, one of his protectors repeatedly denied it.

The barista wasn’t buying the denial, though. She just wanted to introduce herself. She told the group, “I’m a Starbucks barista. I would love to just say hi, if he’s related to it at all.” She added that since she had “been a barista for 10 years,” it would be really nice to meet him.

The whole chain of events paints a miserable picture of the Starbucks CEO, unless, of course, he comes out to officially deny that it was not him

Instead of stopping, the man who was definitely “just a normal person,” according to his entourage, decided to make a run for it. He walked right out into the street against the pedestrian light, forcing a driver to blast their horn as Niccol and his protectors jogged the rest of the way across the intersection to escape the interaction. Running into traffic to avoid a quick chat? That is awful optics, especially when your company is knee-deep in a labor crisis.

The union quickly used the viral video to highlight the ongoing labor dispute. Thousands of Starbucks baristas are currently on ULP strike across the country, protesting the changes Niccol has overseen that they say have made their jobs worse. The union is currently asking everyone to stop buying Starbucks during the ULP strike until the company resolves its countless outstanding unfair labor practices and offers better pay, better hours, and better scheduling.

They did not pull any punches, either, captioning the video with a direct question aimed squarely at the executive: “Why are you so scared of your own employees, Brian?” It’s understandable why the CEO might want to avoid the topic of pay. Screenshots shared at the end of the video cite a staggering statistic: Niccol made 6,666 times the average pay of a Starbucks worker in 2024. Starbucks was also forced into a massive settlement in New York City.

The pro-worker crowd is absolutely rallying around this footage. The company has fought unionization efforts fiercely for years, even leading some to suspect that the closure of the iconic Reserve Capitol Hill location was due to unionizing attempts there. Union folks are taking this entire incident as another compelling reason to support small, local coffee stands instead.