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The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case in which Starbucks is arguing that it does not have to follow a lower court’s order to rehire a group of union activists the company fired in Memphis, Tennessee, in a case that could have reverberating effects across the entire labor movement.
The core of Starbucks’s argument revolves around a standard in federal labor law that officials use to grant or request injunctive relief, such as ordering the rehiring of employees, to provide relief for workers affected by an employer’s labor law violations. The company has argued that different courts use different standards for issuing these rulings, while labor officials have countered that the differences are not substantial and that there is already an agreed-upon standard. The Department of Justice has backed the labor officials’ argument.
If the Supreme Court, with its conservative supermajority, sides with Starbucks, it could have a widespread chilling effect on union organizing across the country, giving more leeway to employers to act against unionizing employees with fewer potential consequences.
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