Former Starbucks interim CEO Howard Schultz agreed to testify before before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee at a hearing focused on the company’s labor practices on Wednesday.
The coffee giant has been mired in a protracted battle against a growing legion of its shop unions fighting for recognition and bargaining.
Schultz stepped down from his post last week, turning the company over to Laxman Narasimhan, but he still remains on the company’s board. The committee was prepared to vote to subpoena Schultz on March 7.
“I’m happy to announce that Howard Schultz, the CEO and founder of Starbucks, has finally agreed to testify before the Senate HELP Committee,” panel chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in a statement. “The HELP Committee was scheduled to vote tomorrow to subpoena him, and I want to thank the members of the committee who, in a bipartisan way, were prepared to do just that.”
“Let’s be clear. In America, workers have the constitutional right to organize unions and engage in collective bargaining to improve their wages and working conditions,” the pro-labor progressive added. “Unfortunately Starbucks, under Mr. Schultz’s leadership, has done everything possible to prevent that from happening.”
The National Labor Relations Board, the agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, has issued more than 80 complaints against Starbucks for violating federal labor law, Sanders said.
In February, a federal administrative law judge found that Starbucks management in Denver violated the National Labor Relations Act by “interrogating” employees about union support and threatening a loss of benefits.
Last week, The Washington Post reported that Starbucks ”committed ‘egregious and widespread’ violations of federal labor law” according to a 220-page order from another administrative law judge. In his ruling, the judge ordered that Starbucks reopen closed stores, and reimburse employees with back pay and damages.
The first Starbucks store to vote for unionization did so in Dec. 2021, in Buffalo, N.Y. Since then, more than 280 more stores have voted to form a union, though limited bargaining sessions have not yet led to contracts with any of the newly-formed bargaining units.
“Starbucks strategy is quite clear: it is to stall, stall and stall. They understand that it’s cheaper to break the law than to follow it,” Sanders said. “Bottom line is, we have a billionaire running a multinational corporation, breaking federal labor law, and we intend to put an end to that.”
In a letter addressed to HELP Committee leadership, and shared with Spectrum News, Starbucks general counsel and acting executive vice president Zabrina Jenkins said that the company is interested in working with the committee on a “productive dialogue.”
“As part of those efforts, we will endeavor to provide a deeper understanding of our culture and priorities, including our industry leading benefits offerings and our long-standing commitment to support the shared success of our more than 450,000 global partners (employees),” Jenkins wrote.
