Starbucks Workers Say Anti-Union Campaign Violated U.S. Law
Starbucks Workers Say Anti-Union Campaign Violated U.S. Law
(Bloomberg) -- Starbucks Corp. violated federal law in its push to defeat workers’ organizing efforts, according to a labor board complaint filed by the group trying to unionize several of the coffee chain’s New York stores.
Company management has responded to unionization efforts “by engaging in a campaign of threats, intimidation, surveillance” and other illegal activity, Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, alleged in its filing Thursday.
Starbucks has said that it complies “strictly with the laws and guidelines associated with union organizing activities.” A spokesperson did not immediately respond to an inquiry on the new complaint.
The complaint comes a week after workers at three Starbucks locations in the Buffalo, New York, region won a key victory allowing store-by-store unionization votes. If a majority of eligible workers at even one of those sites votes to unionize, it would be the first such labor foothold among the company’s thousands of corporate-run stores, underscoring the renewed influence of unions as American workers push for better pay and working conditions.
The U.S. National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency tasked with conducting unionization elections as well as enforcing the law protecting workers from retaliation for organizing, is scheduled to mail ballots next week to employees at the Buffalo stores.
Pro-union employees have alleged that in recent weeks Starbucks deployed out-of-town managers to visit their stores and try to dissuade them from unionizing. The employees said they were pressured to attend meetings in which company representatives warned that organizing could lead to the loss of some benefits.
Starbucks has said that it’s not uncommon for higher-ups to visit local stores, and that while it expects employees to attend its meetings, it doesn’t punish them if they refuse. Federal law allows companies to require attendance at anti-union meetings and to make negative predictions about unionization, but forbids anti-union threats or retaliation.
Claims filed with the NLRB are investigated by regional officials. If the allegations are found to have merit and a settlement can’t be reached, the officials issue a complaint on behalf of the labor board’s general counsel. That is then considered by an agency judge, and the rulings can be appealed. The agency has the authority to order companies to change illegal policies and inform employees about their rights, but generally can’t hold executives personally liable for alleged wrongdoing or issue punitive damages.
Jaz Brisack, a Starbucks employee and activist at one of the stores slated to vote, said that a ruling against the company could send a strong signal despite the agency’s limited remedies. “If the labor board weighs in and says this is not acceptable,” she said, “that carries weight.”
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