Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has heard from 14 Senate Democrats urging him to stop union-busting and turn Starbucks into “the twenty-first century leader for corporations by once again setting industry standards for what is possible when workers are heard and their rights protected.”
The letter, led by Sen. Cory Booker, focuses on Schultz’s recent announcement that Starbucks will increase pay and benefits—but only for workers in stores that are not unionizing. The senators note that Starbucks’ excuse for excluding unionized or unionizing workers doesn’t hold water. “As you and your lawyers know well,” they write, “there is nothing keeping Starbucks from offering benefits to workers in a union—the union simply needs to be consulted first. That is the purpose of a union: It gives workers a voice in their workplace. Your comments that workers in support of union are ‘colluding with outside union forces’ contradicts your goal to ‘co-creat[e] our future directly as partners.’ Your ‘partners’ include more than a thousand workers across 17 states who have, to date, voted in favor of a union.”
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Booker was joined in the letter by Sens. Sherrod Brown, Ed Markey, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jeff Merkley, Chris Van Hollen, Alex Padilla, Bob Casey, Mazie Hirono, Tina Smith, and Amy Klobuchar.
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As the senators note, more than 1,000 Starbucks workers have now voted to unionize. Looking at the numbers after 60 elections—a count that is swiftly going out of date as more votes are held—Matt Bruenig counts 1,514 workers at the 54 stores that have unionized with 70% to 80% of workers voting yes across all 60 stores, and projects that if the same patterns continue across the 193 stores where petitions have been filed and votes haven’t yet been held, the union could represent another 174 stores and 4,870 workers. And, of course, the movement keeps growing.
On Tuesday, the union won five out of five elections, adding stores in Miami Springs and Jacksonville, Florida; Linthicum, Maryland; and Denver, Colorado. Also on Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed in federal court asking the court to force Starbucks to reinstate the Memphis seven, union leaders who were, the board says, “unlawfully fired for exercising their right to form a union,” and stop intimidating and retaliating against other union supporters.
“Given Starbucks’ egregious conduct interfering with the federally protected rights of its employees, we are asking the Court to swiftly grant the injunction,” NLRB Regional Director Kathleen McKinney said in a statement. “Without immediate interim relief from this Court, Starbucks could irreparably harm the campaign in Memphis, and send a chilling message to its employees across the country that they too will suffer the same fate as the terminated Memphis employees if they dare to exercise their right to engage in protected activities. It is crucial that these seven employees be reinstated and that Starbucks cease its unlawful conduct immediately so that all Starbucks workers can fully and freely exercise their labor rights.”
The union has filed around 125 unfair labor practices charges against Starbucks, and the NLRB has so far issued complaints on 45 of those charges, indicating that the board feels they have merit. (More could be coming.) The complaints the NLRB has issued detail hundreds of labor law violations.
“As you look to the future,” the letter from the Democratic senators closes, “we urge you to remain a national and global leader by setting new standards for employer-worker relationships. This is an opportunity to work together with your workers instead of illegally retaliating against them. It’s a chance to help set standards for not only your 300,000 workers, but for the millions in the food service industry all across the country as well.” Unfortunately, at the moment, Starbucks is committed to setting standards for union-busting, not listening to its “partners.”
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