Starbucks founder and former CEO Howard Schultz repeated the coffee chain’s union-busting talking points in an often contentious Senate labor committee hearing on March 29, as lawmakers asked him about the roughly 130 violations of labor laws submitted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the last 18 months.
Schultz “unequivocally” denied breaking any labor laws, despite documented examples of union busting compiled by the NLRB, which included the closing of unionized Starbucks locations and the firing of some workers involved in organizing, who were accused of unrelated misconduct.
Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said Schultz’s refusal to admit any wrongdoing was akin to a motorist who had been pulled over for speeding 100 separate times, and then claimed that the officer had gotten it wrong every time.
Schultz, who explored a bid for the White House in 2019, maintained that his anti-union stance was about prioritizing personal relationships with employees.
“We want to treat everyone with respect and dignity,” Schultz said. “However, I have the right, and the company has the right, to have a preference. And our preference is to maintain the direct relationship we’ve had with our employees, who we call partners.”
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