Starbucks is calling on the National Labor Relations Board to pause all union elections at stores across the country over accusations that board personnel improperly coordinated with the union.
The coffee giant, which has been the subject of a union drive across the United States, sent a 14-page letter to the chairman of the labor board and its general counsel calling for an investigation into alleged impropriety between regional NLRB officials and a union working to organize a Starbucks in Kansas City.
The letter claims that a “career NLRB professional” tipped off the company that there was “a concerted effort” between regional labor board personnel and Starbucks Workers United “to tip the scales” to have the store in question vote in favor of unionizing. Starbucks said there are indications that similar misconduct may have occurred in other elections.
The allegations are that the regional NLRB office made “secret” arrangements with union representatives for certain voters to vote in person at the labor board’s offices without any observers, despite both Starbucks and the union agreeing that the election would be conducted using mail-in ballots.
NEW UNIONIZATION WAVE RIPPLES ACROSS US
Starbucks said proof of the alleged misconduct is memorialized in documents, including emails between NLRB officials and representatives of the union.
“This documentation shows that Board personnel have secretly colluded with the Union to affect multiple stages of the mail-ballot election process, including the providing, returning and counting of ballots,” the letter reads. “The purpose of this misconduct was to tip-the-scale in order to deliver the outcome sought by the Union.”
The backdrop of the controversy is a historic wave of unionization efforts at Starbucks locations across the country. More than 300 Starbucks locations have petitioned the labor board for union elections since a store in New York became the first to vote for unionization in December. More than 200 of those stores have since voted in favor of unionizing.
Starbucks Workers United, the group leading the unionization efforts, pushed back on the accusations. The union said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner that the coffee giant is using the letter to “manipulate the legal process” in order to prevent workers from organizing.
“This is Starbucks yet again attempting to distract attention away from their unprecedented anti-union campaign, including firing over 75 union leaders across the country, while simultaneously trying to halt all union elections. Workers have spoken loud and clear by winning 82 percent of union elections,” the union said.
Workers at the Starbucks location in Buffalo that set off the union drive cited a perceived lack of training, problems with pay, understaffing, and stressful working conditions as factors behind their attempt to organize.
Starbucks has repeatedly pushed back on the union’s efforts. The company has said it does not oppose the right of its workers to organize but thinks unionizing is unnecessary given the work environment and its generous benefits, including several medical, vision, and dental plans, as well as discounted company stock.
A spokeswoman for the NLRB told the Washington Examiner that the labor board doesn’t comment on open cases and has a well-established process of handling challenges to election matters and unfair labor practice complaints.
“Those challenges should be raised in filings specific to the particular matters in question. The regional staff — and, ultimately, the Board — will carefully and objectively consider any challenges raised through these established channels, which include opportunities to seek expedited review in both representation and unfair labor practice cases,” she said over email.
Starbucks isn’t the only company facing a growing wave of union activity this year.
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Earlier this year, an Amazon warehouse in New York became the first to vote in favor of unionizing, an REI store in New York did the same, and a Trader Joe’s in Massachusetts became the first to file for a union election.
The labor board put out a news release in March that said during the first six months of fiscal year 2022, union representation petitions filed with the NLRB increased 57%, up to 1,174 from 748 during that same time last year. Unfair labor practice charges have also increased 14% during that same period.
