Experts said the comments raised questions about whether the company was seeking to discriminate against unionized employees.
Starbucks’s interim chief executive, Howard Schultz, told a weekly meeting of store managers on Monday that benefits he was considering expanding for nonunion employees would not immediately apply to the company’s newly unionized workers.
The pronouncement, just over one week into Mr. Schultz’s third tour as chief executive, came after workers in at least 16 company-owned stores voted to unionize over the past six months, though the National Labor Relations Board has not yet certified all the results.
Since Mr. Schultz returned as chief executive, Starbucks has fired at least three union supporters, who a spokesman said had violated company policies. Mr. Schultz also suspended stock repurchases so the company would “have the opportunity to invest more in our partners and stores,” he said in a letter to employees on Sunday, and he has held meetings with employees in several cities to ask their ideas for improving the company.
Two appearances became contentious when Mr. Schultz was confronted by pro-union employees.
A Starbucks spokesman said the comments on benefits in the meeting on Monday arose during a question-and-answer session, when Mr. Schultz was asked how new benefits the company was considering might fit in with the union campaign.
The spokesman, paraphrasing Mr. Schultz, said the chief executive responded that when introducing a benefit, “...
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