WASHINGTON — Democratic senators at a hearing on Wednesday grilled the former CEO of Starbucks over allegations that the giant coffee company intimidated, harassed and fired workers who tried to form unions.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent and former presidential candidate who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, focused on Starbucks’ pattern of anti-union actions, such as failing to negotiate in good faith union contracts for hundreds of stores.
Nearly 300 Starbucks stores have unionized since 2021 and been certified by the National Labor Relations Board, but the company has not ratified a contract with those unions.
Sanders accused Starbucks of stalling.
“What is outrageous to me is not only Starbucks’ anti-union activities and their willingness to break the law, it is their calculated and intentional efforts to stall, stall and stall. They understand that the turnover rate at Starbucks is high,” Sanders said in his opening statement.
“They understand that if workers do not see success in getting a contract and improved wages, they may get discouraged.”
He pressed Starbucks founder and billionaire former CEO Howard Schultz about delays in ratifying union contracts, and asked him if he could commit that within two weeks, Starbucks would bargain and ratify its first union contract.
Schultz did not commit, but said he would continue to engage in good faith talks.
The National Labor Relations Board, an independent federal agency,...
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