Former Starbucks CEO fights with Bernie Sanders over union busting

The coffee chain has been accused of retaliating against workers involved in unionization efforts.

The former CEO of the Starbucks coffee chain testified before a US Senate committee, responding to allegations that the company had unlawfully retaliated against employees involved in unionization efforts.

In a tense exchange, Howard Schultz faced accusations of “union busting” by progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, who criticized the former leader’s time overseeing the coffee giant.

“The fundamental question we face today is whether we have a justice system that applies to everyone or whether billionaires and big corporations can break the law with impunity,” Sanders said.

It’s that fun time of year to stop union busting and negotiate a fair contract with your workers. https://t.co/URLKIlxucj

—Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 28, 2023

Starbucks, along with other big American brands such as Amazon and Apple, has faced a wave of unionization offers in recent years as workers push for better wages and working conditions.

Schultz, who resigned as Starbucks Interim CEO earlier this month, he acknowledged at Wednesday’s committee hearing that union locations had been excluded from a pay increase announced in May.

However, he said the company had not done anything illegal and dismissed charges to the contrary as “accusations”.

The testimony comes as the US experiences a spike in support for work activity. The Gallup poll found that 71 percent of Americans approved of union organizing in 2022, a high not seen since 1965.

In December 2021, coffee shops in Buffalo, New York, became the first Starbucks locations to successfully vote to unionize. Since then, some 300 locations have voted to do the same.

But some employees have said they faced serious consequences for doing so. In August, a federal judge ruled that Starbucks must rehire seven pro-union workers who were fired in an apparent act of retaliation.

Testifying before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Wednesday, a disabled veteran and former Starbucks employee named Jaysin Saxton said he had been surveilled by managers and fired for being “disruptive” after engaging in a unionization effort.

“I didn’t get any writs or discipline,” Saxton said. “There was no investigation.”

On Wednesday, Starbucks shareholders voted to conduct an independent assessment of the company’s labor practices, to decide whether they violated the “principles of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.”