Employees at Starbucks are showing the first signs of dissatisfaction with the labor movement, as workers in New York are trying to dissolve the union at two stores. We've gathered articles on the news from SHRM Online and other news outlets.
Employees at Buffalo Store Seek to Decertify Union
Buffalo, N.Y., was the original center of union organizing at Starbucks, but employees in a store in the city's downtown are now trying to decertify the union. The employees’ decertification petition did not give a reason why members wanted to dissolve the union; Workers United, which represents Starbucks employees, said the situation was due to union-busting tactics.
Workers at Rochester Store Move to Decertify Union
Employees at a union in Rochester, N.Y., filed a decertification petition on May 8. That was the second attempt in the last two weeks to remove a union from a Starbucks location.
A decertification bid must be filed at least a year after the unit's certification, with proof that at least 30 percent of the workers support an effort to unseat the union. A union spokesperson said that the union expects the decertification petitions to be dismissed.
Proposed Rule Would Make Decertification More Difficult
Employees will likely have a harder time voting out unions the workers no longer want to represent them if the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) finalizes a proposed rule to rescind a 2020 amendment to the "blocking charge" rule. Delaying decertification elections through blocking charges is a way for a union to halt momentum when it believes employees would vote it out.
Under the 2020 change, union representation elections, including decertification elections, can go forward—potentially with impounded ballots—even if there is an open unfair labor practice charge that might require a rerun election. If the 2020 amendment is rescinded, the NLRB will let unions block an election by filing a charge alleging unlawful conduct by the employer that affected or will affect employee voting, as was the case before the rule change.
Starbucks Is Closing All Its Stores in Ithaca
Last year, Ithaca, N.Y., became the first town nationwide where every Starbucks employee was unionized. By the end of the month, Starbucks will have shut down all three of its unionized Ithaca locations.
Former Starbucks CEO Denies Union-Busting
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz defended the company's labor practices, garnering praise and criticism from lawmakers in a U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on March 29. Schultz said the company has not broken federal labor law. However, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the company has done so in more than 100 instances.
New Starbucks CEO-as-Barista
The new CEO of Starbucks, Laxman Narasimhan, took over for the outgoing Schultz on March 20. Before assuming the new role, Narasimhan earned a barista certification and immersed himself in the company's operations.
Narasimhan leads at a time when the coffee chain faces ongoing unionization efforts, with approximately 300 U.S. stores having voted for unionization.
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