AP – Longtime Starbucks Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Howard Schultz faced sharp questioning yesterday when he appears before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to defend the company’s actions during an ongoing unionising campaign.
United States (US) Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent who has been a vocal supporter of Starbucks labour organisers, has been seeking Schultz’s testimony for months.
Schultz had tried to sidestep the hearing, suggesting that others in the company were more deeply involved in the union effort, which Starbucks opposes.
But Sanders had argued that Schultz, a longtime leader who stepped down as interim CEO last week but remains on the company’s board, was instrumental in setting the company’s policies. Under threat of a subpoena, Schultz agreed to testify.
“Let’s be clear. In America, workers have the constitutional right to organise unions and engage in collective bargaining for higher wages and better working conditions,” Sanders said in a statement. “Unfortunately Starbucks, under Schultz’s leadership, has done everything possible to prevent that from happening.”
At least 293 of Starbucks’ 9,000 company-owned US Starbucks stores have voted to unionise since late 2021, according to the National Labor Relations Board.
Starbucks Workers United, the labour group organising the stores, has yet to reach a contract agreement with Starbucks at any of those stores.
Workers said they’re seeking higher pay, more consistent schedules and better benefits. But Starbucks argues that it already provides some of the best pay and benefits in the industry, and said its stores function better when it works directly with employees.
