The National Labor Relations Board has sued the coffee shop chain Starbucks for allegedly retaliating against three employees who were involved in organizing a union.
One worker was disciplined, suspended and discharged; another was "constructively discharged" and a third was put on unpaid leave after the company revoked "recently granted accommodations," the NLRB said in a press release.
Cornele Overstreet, director of the NLRB region based in Phoenix, asked the U.S. District Court in a filing on Friday to immediately reinstate the employees with their usual schedules and accommodations, among other requests.
"Employees have the fundamental right to choose whether or not they want to be represented by the union without restraint or coercion by their employer," Overstreet said in a statement.
"The faith of Starbucks employees nationwide in workplace democracy will not be restored unless these employees are immediately reinstated under the protection of a federal court order," he added.
In a statement to NPR, Starbucks said it "wholly disagree[s]" with the claims made by the labor board in the lawsuit.
"These partners were terminated because they violated our established policies. In some instances, they also violated state law," a Starbucks spokesperson said. "A partner's interest in union representation does not exempt them from the standards we've put in place to protect partners, customers, and the communities that we serve." Starbucks refers to its employees as...
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