Democratic Senators Accuse Starbucks of Union Busting

WASHINGTON -- Democratic senators last week accused coffeehouse chain Starbucks of union busting as it sought to squelch growing discontent among its workers.

“The issue is pretty simple, workers have a right to join a union,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

He said Starbucks’ “illegal union-busting campaign” has resulted in more than 80 National Labor Relations Board complaints against the company since workers in three Buffalo, N.Y., stores started a union organizing campaign in August 2021.

In addition, judges have cited Starbucks for breaking labor laws 130 times in six states, Sanders said.

The alleged illegal activity has included firing workers who participated in union organizing, drastically cutting hours of others until they lose job benefits and threatening termination to anyone who complained about pay or work conditions.?

Starbucks operates nearly 50 stores in Washington, D.C.

Sanders directed his harshest comments at Howard Schultz, the billionaire former Starbucks chief executive officer and still a board member.

Schultz denied abusing workers, instead discussing the advantages of working for Starbucks.

Employees average $17.50 per hour with benefits that raise compensation to the equivalent of $27 per hour. They include generous medical benefits, stock ownership, college tuition reimbursement and efforts to hire veterans and their spouses.

“Employee retention at Starbucks is twice the industry average,” Schultz said.

He agreed unions can play an important role in American business but added, “Starbucks has not broken the law. We are just trying to defend ourselves.”

He won a more sympathetic audience from Republican senators.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said the National Labor Relations Board complaints against Starbucks showed the agency was trying to “advance a political agenda.” He said the complaints represented “the weaponization of the agency.”

The union movement started when workers at the Buffalo stores announced on Twitter they formed an organizing committee, called Starbucks Workers United, that sought union affiliation with Workers United. It quickly spread to stores nationwide.

In response, Starbucks hired the law firm Littler Mendelson, which its critics have sometimes called a "union-busting firm."

About the same time, the National Labor Relations Board began receiving complaints that some workers sympathetic to the union were getting fired and Starbucks was closing stores where employees showed a preference for organizing.

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