Starbucks Workers Accuse Company of Union Busting; Congressman Vows Action

Workers and union representatives at the coffee shop alleged that the business "has embarrassed us over and over again and has not respected us" during a meeting with Silicon Valley's Ro Khanna, which MarketWatch saw.

Starbucks Corp. employees in Santa Clara, California, met with U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna at his California office on Friday, saying that the company is not bargaining in good faith and is retaliating against workers who unionize or seek to organize. According to the large coffee chain, the assertion is false. However, the Silicon Valley Democrat's Friday meeting with Starbucks SBUX, -1.83% workers and union representatives, which was covered by MarketWatch, echoed complaints from elsewhere in the country that the company is engaging in union-busting, and the lawmaker vowed to continue fighting for better working conditions at the coffee chain. Edith Saldano, a Santa Cruz County site employee, told the congressman, "The company has humiliated us over and over again and has not respected us." Starbucks' lawyers, according to Saldana, rushed out of the first bargaining session in November after just three minutes.

The congressman has long taken pride in his position as a champion for low-wage workers such as janitors in Silicon Valley and fast-food servers in California. On Friday, Khanna told Starbucks employees that he had also met with unionized Starbucks employees in Los Angeles and that he hoped to help convince the company, which is in transition and will have a new chief executive officially take over in a couple of months, to change its approach to the growing movement to unionize at hundreds of its stores. Starbucks is facing hundreds of labor-law violations after the National Labor Relations Board accused the company of firing unionized workers. Judges ruled against the business in many of the cases. Starbucks has filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in response, arguing that the union is not bargaining in good faith. In-depth: Struggles by unions at corporations such as Amazon, Apple, and Starbucks may be the "most important time in the American labor movement" in decades.

Two other Starbucks employees from the Bay Area who are also seeking to unionize spoke strongly in Khanna's office on Friday, but they want to remain anonymous for fear of punishment. They grumbled about being understaffed and overworked despite the fact that their hours had been reduced to the point that they no longer qualified for benefits.

Saldano choked back tears as they recounted how they had "waited all day" and lost out on a day's worth of work, both of which were critical given that she was "houseless" at the time in an area with a famously high cost of living. The crew approached Khanna with a contract proposal.

"We're requesting that you read it over and talk to them," Saldano, who is also a member of the national negotiating committee, added.

Khanna pledged to look into it and congratulated Saldano, stating, "I admire you for fighting not just for yourself, but for everyone."

Workers are overworked to the point that "cheaper baristas" may take their place, as one worker phrased it. We will fail if we attempt to tackle issues on our own. According to the others, Starbucks "controls the market by whatever means necessary," and Starbucks employees "need the support of lawmakers" and other authorities. The threat of retaliation from the employer is "instilling dread in stores that want to unionize... they see what the unionized workers are going through," according to Brandon Dawkins, vice president of organizing for SEIU Local 1021. Khanna applauded the employees' "courage," pledged that the matter will be a high priority for him in the 116th Congress, and outlined his ongoing efforts to support the workers. Starbucks spokesperson Andrew Trull said on Friday that suggestions that the company has not bargained in good faith are "simply false." Trull alleges that Starbucks has "come to the table" for over 85 distinct bargaining meetings at various locations since October.

According to Trull, union officials insisted on live streaming these discussions with Workers United and even gave online transcripts of the proceedings for individuals who couldn't attend in person.
"Starbucks has a long history of changing store hours to match seasonal swings in customer demand," Trull said in response to charges that the corporation is reducing hours for unionized Starbucks employees. Starbucks employees' union, Workers United, cautioned that "the current trend of decreasing hours does not fit the organization's heritage." The union representative also said that the company makes it difficult to organize meetings by not offering negotiating committee members unpaid time off, that the union and the corporation have agreed to virtual bargaining sessions, and that the union introduces participants for each meeting. Ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz avoided a Senate committee last week that wanted to interrogate him about the company's alleged violations of labor rules. In view of Schultz's upcoming resignation as CEO, the company offered to have Al Jones, its senior public relations officer, come before Sanders's committee, as mentioned in the email between the two sides. Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said last week that he intends to "hold Mr. Schultz and Starbucks accountable for their reprehensible acts."

Khanna and 30 other legislators wrote to Schultz in October, urging him to recognize the unions that have formed at thousands of Starbucks outlets around the nation.
Starbucks is requested to interact with unions in a letter from members of Congress. Starbucks has subsequently notified the congressman's office that its workers are allowed to exercise their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. On Friday, Khanna told the workers that he had spoken with the incoming CEO of Starbucks, Laxman Narasimhan and that he planned to meet with him when he formally takes office on April 1. After speaking with Khanna, the board member, "I'm confident that by engaging him and other board members I know, they will see the light — allowing for respectable unionization and appropriate circumstances," Khanna said. He also said that Microsoft Corp. (MSFT, -2.13%) reached a neutrality agreement with the Communications Workers of America last year; Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is a Starbucks board member.