Boycotts of restaurants that refuse to let their workers unionize are gathering steam nationwide, with the latest boycott against 6 popular eateries in the Washington DC area drawing support from dozens of Democratic members of Congress, including former House speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Ortez (D-NY) as well as Senators Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

Most of the DC-area restaurants being targeted are owned by Stephen Starr, a famed Philadelphia restaurateur who is also a major Democratic party donor, giving the boycott effort added oomph.

The six eateries include some of Washington’s highest-profile dining establishments including Le Diplomate, Osteria Mozza and The Occidental. Several of these elite outlets have been chosen in the past as venues for major Democratic party fundraisers. In addition, top Democratic party leaders, including many of those that signed the boycott pledge, are known to dine at these same establishments on a regular basis.

The DC boycott is the work of the Local 25 of Unite Here, a union that represents some 7,000 hospitality workers in the area. Unite launched the boycott after a supermajority of its members charged that all 6 eateries were harassing their workers seeking to establish union bargaining rights to push for higher wages and better working conditions. Starr, through his publicity outlet, denies the charges and accuses the Unite boycott of being “heavy-handed.”

But Unite has documented in considerable detail the worker harassment and obstruction claims made against the management at the 6 restaurants.

The DC area boycott is only the latest sign that grassroots economic pressure on corporate America is growing in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s reelection as president. Other major consumer boycotts have been underway at Walmart, Amazon and Target outlets, some of them organized by the People’s Union USA. The group, led by John Schwarz, called for a 3-day nationwide boycott of all three companies, as well as General Mills, on April 18 through April 20 of this year.

A Harris poll conducted earlier this year found that public support for consumer boycotts is growing, with 36% of respondents saying they would agree to support such efforts, and 20% already actively participating. A third of the boycotters also indicated that they would agree to stop shopping at a stigmatized company permanently, a pledge, if carried out, that could greatly affect their bottom-line, experts say.

Libby Rodney, Harris’ chief strategy officer, says:  “Companies and consumers are playing a high-stakes game of chicken – corporations betting on convenience winning out over conviction, while consumers wield their spending power like a weapon.”

Companies aren’t just responding to pressure on their policies toward their workers. Pressure is also growing to respond to cutbacks in support for their DEI hiring and promotion policies. Earlier this year Target and Amazon warned their investors and shareholders that supporters and opponents of DEI were mounting pressure on the companies, which could affect their public image as well as their sales revenues. Other companies are facing consumer boycotts due to their perceived support for Israel in its genocidal war in Gaza.  KFC and Pizza Hut experienced a 50% decline in their sales revenues in the last quarter of 2024 alone.

While it’s still too early to gauge, pushback against anti-DEI policies is already having some real impact – for example at Target, where a fierce online campaign has led to the emergence of shareholder resolutions calling on the company to restore its public support for DEI – and threatening more consumer action if the company fails to do so. According to published data, Target already has lost some $12 billion in sales revenue – about 10% of its projected total for 2025 – since Trump’s inauguration due to consumers refusing to shop at the company’s store outlets.

Another sign of shifting consumer – and voter – sentiment is increased public support for unionism, a reversal of past trends. A Gallup poll conducted last August found that 70% of Americans support union representation, the highest level recorded in nearly 60 years. Gallup also found that support for unions was even higher among younger Millennial and Gen Z workers, a clear sign of where public sentiment is heading.

Thus far, the steady increase in support for unions has not led to an actual rise in unionization, which remains stuck at about 9% overall, compared to a third of the US workforce in labor’s heyday, in the 1950s. In fact, unionization levels have continued to fall, despite a rise in workplace stoppages and union petition drives, which spiked to new heights in 2023.  Right-to-work laws are still in place in about half of the 50 US states, especially in the South, which makes the pursuit of collective bargaining rights next to impossible in those jurisdictions.

Consumer boycotts in solidarity with workers can potentially make a big difference in the success of local organizing drives, experts say. However, companies typically dig in their heels and seek to ameliorate consumer discontent by modifying their public relations and sales policies as they wait out the boycott, hoping interest will subside over time.

But Unite is clearly hoping that the high profile of Starr’s eateries and support from Democratic party heavyweights will make a difference to the DC boycott’s outcome. Three of the 6 properties – including the long-established Bombay Club –  are owned by a separate entity, Knightsbridge Restaurant Group and its founder Ashok Bajaj, whose reputation for luxury dining is global. The company’s website notes that Knightbridge is “widely recognized as Washington’s leading host among power diners.” Knightbridge just opened a new restaurant in DC’s upscale Van Ness neighborhood and like Starr, can scarcely afford the Unite boycott’s negative publicity.

Unite has already scored one important victory. José Andrés, the Brazilian owner of The Bazaar, housed in DC’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, has agreed voluntarily to recognize Unite’s representation of its 140 waiters and kitchen staff workers. Andrés has long supported worker and immigrant rights. In 2017, he temporarily shuttered 5 of his DC restaurants – including The Bazaar – in support of the “Day Without Immigrants” movement.

Meanwhile, rumors are circulating that representatives of Starr and Bhajaj have already begun backroom negotiations with Unite to try to ameliorate their union demands to bring the consumer boycott, now in its second week, to an early end. Other worker organizing campaigns at popular eateries, like the ongoing battle at Starbucks, have dragged on for years. Gaining a decisive organizing victory at 6 prestigious DC eateries could have a major ripple effect throughout the US hospitality industry, organizers say.

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