Friday’s broad complaint was filed by the National Labor Relations Board by a regional director. It alleges that Starbucks violated federal law more 200 times in its campaign against union formation in Buffalo, New York.
Starbucks is accused by the complaint of violating the National Labor Relations Act. It was accused of picking out union organizers to be disciplined, monitored, terminated, and shuttered. entire storesIn the Buffalo area during the union push; and threatening employees with inferior benefits if workers voted to unionize. HuffPost publishedThe full complaint to the NLRB.
“Starbucks has been saying that no union-busting ever occurred in Buffalo. Today, the NLRB sets the record straight,” saidStarbucks Workers United, the leader of the Buffalo protest unionization campaignThis has since spread across the nation. “The complaint confirms the extent and depravity of Starbucks’ conduct in Western New York for the better part of a year.”
“Starbucks will be held accountable for the union-busting minefield they forced workers to walk through in fighting for their right to organize,” the group continued. “This complaint fully unmasks Starbucks’ facade as a ‘progressive company’ and exposes the truth of Howard Schultz’s anti-union war.”
As expected, Starbucks denied violating federal law and rejected the NLRB’s allegations of anti-union activity as “categorically false,” even as CEO Howard Schultz publicly lashes out at union organizers and threatensTo exclude unionized workers of new benefits and pay increases
Since workers at a couple of Buffalo stores votedIn December, the first Starbucks unions were formed in the United States. More than 50 Starbucks locations across the country won elections to unite. 85% win rate even in the face of relentless opposition from the company’s management and its notorious anti-union law firm, Littler Mendelson.
In recent months, more than 250 Starbucks locations filed for union elections with NLRB. Management continues to and intensifiesHis union-busting efforts and slashing workers’ hoursAll over the country retaliating against organizers.
In its complaint on Friday, the labor board said that Starbucks “has been creating an impression among its employees that their union activities [in Buffalo] were under surveillance by… having high-ranking officials… make unprecedented and repeated visits to each store.”
Starbucks, the complaint concluded, “has been interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the [National Labor Relations Act] in violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the Act.”
The NLRB stated that Starbucks should be forced by the court to take a number actions to address the harm caused to its unlawful union activity. These actions include reinstating and compensating seven of its fired employees.
The board also said that Schultz and Rossann Williams — Starbucks’ executive vice president — should be required to make and widely distribute a video recording reminding workers of their organizing rights under the National Labor Relations Act.
Starbucks is expected to challenge the NLRB’s charges and corrective-action recommendations, potentially sparking a prolonged legal battle.
“Starbucks is finally being held accountable for the union-busting rampage they went on,” Danny Rojas, a fired shift supervisor at the Sheridan & Bailey Starbucks store in the Buffalo area, said in a statement Friday. “It is disappointing that Starbucks has refused to work with their partners and instead chose to fire union leaders like myself.”
“The NLRB is validating that the psychological warfare and intimidation tactics that took place in Starbucks stores was unacceptable,” Rojas added. “Starbucks needs to understand that it is morally corrupt to retaliate against union leaders, and I am looking forward to the NLRB forcing Starbucks to make this moment right.”
