This month, there might be more union-related Starbucks developments than there are items on the coffeehouse giant’s drink menu.
Not only did outgoing CEO Howard Schultz testify in front of the Senate, but both the union and the company are throwing increasingly venomous darts. As well, the ongoing bargaining table battle – without one single union contract to show for it, out of slightly under 300 unionized cafes – seems to be reaping buyer’s remorse. Let’s start there.
Workers remain frustrated with the customarily slow pace of collective bargaining. This drama led some union members to want to oust Workers United:
- Someone filed a decertification petition on behalf of workers at an Augusta, Georgia cafe. The timing is interesting, given the filing date of April 1, which follows less than a year after the store’s May 2022 certification date, which means that the petition could be withdrawn or dismissed due to complicated rules about filing deadlines.
Stay tuned for a ruling, in other words. This petition could end the same way as a case involving a Nichol Hills, Oklahoma cafe, which saw its petition dismissed in November 2022, less than a year after certification.
Still, the message is clear: Starbucks workers are making noises about a union that isn’t representing their interests. There will likely be more of this to come.
Squabbles between the union and company continue to be plentiful, including arguments over in-person versus virtual negotiations and some high-profile firings:
- Chicago, Illinois: An eighth Starbucks location unionized in the Windy City with workers demanding training on handling drug overdoses in the location’s bathrooms. These workers also began fundraising for a union leader who was fired for tweeting their desire to “assassinate” Schultz after his Senate grilling.
- Buffalo, New York: Starbucks stands by their firing of activist Alexis Rizzo for attendance issues, which she denies were as severe as claimed. The union calls the firing “retaliation at its worst.”
- Exclusive perks a no-go: The NLRB came for a Starbucks tactic that we told you about last year: exclusively granting credit-card tipping to non-unionized stores. Starbucks maintained that unionized stores must bargain for perks, but the board declared that Starbucks violated the NLRA and must compensate the union workers accordingly.
Sen. Sanders finally got Howard Schultz on the hotseat, and it was as contentious as expected. Fiery video footage shows Sanders holding Schultz out as an example of whether “large corporations can break the law with impunity.” Schultz, who has made no secret of his anti-union stance, “unequivocally” denied violating labor laws. He stressed that no union would do what Starbucks does to provide college tuition for workers.
It suffices to say that there was no meeting of the minds.
Workers “welcomed” incoming CEO Laxman Narasimhan by going on strike at 100 cafes, their biggest walkout since last fall’s “Red Cup Rebellion.” Meanwhile, Narasimhan penned a letter expressing that the company “must care for” workers. He also pledged to work a monthly barista shift alongside frontline employees.
