The US National Labor Relations board disclosed on Wednesday regarding the refusal of Starbucks Corp. to bargain with the Union workers at its mega Café in Seattle. The board ruled the Company violated labor laws with their action.
The ruling was passed unanimously by two Democrats and one Republican member of the labor board. The decision orders Siren Retail Corp., a subsidiary of Starbucks, to negotiate with the new labor union at its Seattle Roastery restaurant.
Rapid Unionization Movement in the US
In April, the employees at the café voted to join the labor group Starbucks Workers United. The Union won elections in about 250 sites in the US coffee chain last year.
According to the written ruling by the board members, Starbucks had admitted to refusing to bargain with the Union. The Company contested the Union’s victory as legitimated because the government opted for a mail ballot instead of an in-person election.
Fresh Challenge
Starbucks is planning to appeal against the board ruling in the latest among the series of legal showdowns between the coffee retail chain giant and government agency. The US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has so far filed five lawsuits against the Company, including a new suit on Wednesday in New York and another one that led to Starbucks reinstating seven terminated activists in Memphis.
A Starbucks spokesman said in an email that the Company is challenging the election victory certification of the Union at the flagship Seattle Roastery Restaurant. It added that the Company feels mail ballot election approval by the Agency could have disadvantaged workers.
The Starbucks Workers united said in an email that the Company was going ahead with its aggressive stand against the workers union by confusing, delaying, and refusing to negotiate with them.
The regional directors of NLRB have issued dozens of complaints pending against the Company over the past year. It has accused the Company of illegally trying to suppress the store’s unionization. The judges at the Agency also ordered the Company to reinstate the labor activists fired at Kansas and Michigan sites.
Starbucks has denied any wrongdoings and said the claims for its anti-union stance as entirely false.
The Settle Roastery was opened in 2014, and the then CEO Howard Shultz said it fulfilled the Company’s decades-long dream, which relentlessly pursued coffee innovation.
