Labor Officials Strictly Criticize Starbucks For Its Anti -Union Campaign –

Starbucks ’union campaign has opened about 80 stores nationwide in just a few months and has so far won most of the elections. CEO Howard Schultz and his team managed to beat the campaign in several stores where workers voted for the union.

It now appears that many of Schultz’s successes could end in his consecutive defeats.

A National Labor Council official has asked to take Starbucks to trade with the union, Workers United, at a store in Buffalo, New York, in the borough where the union lost an election late last year. The official said Starbucks broke the process through illegal tactics and it won’t stop the election – the company needs to identify the link and start negotiations.

Such a request is unusual in the Labor Council and shows how it believes gambling officials are conducting Starbucks conduct in Western New York.

“It’s a long time to get here and very frustrating for a company that has repeatedly violated labor law to force workers to vote‘ no, ’” said Will Westlake, a pro-union lawyer at the store. “Now we can say that we have received comments and the federal government agrees that this is one of the worst campaigns against the union.”

The deal is part of a lawsuit filed against Starbucks by NLRB regional director Linda Leslie. The company said the company had committed numerous labor law violations, including dismissing pro-union workers, disciplining and supervising others, closing stores, and changing labor policies while struggling with a campaign. organization in New York.

The complaint was originally filed earlier this month without the need for an agreement. Leslie filed a Corrected complaint on Thursday for inclusion.

The appeal will be heard before an administrative law judge who will decide whether Starbucks should trade with workers at a store on Camp Road in Hamburg, New York. The process is subject to appeal and can take years.

In an early election campaign, Camp Road store workers voted 12-8 against the union. The transaction order will effectively alleviate this loss and consolidate the store. It would also be a huge symbolic victory for the union’s campaign, arguing that Starbucks wouldn’t have won without a dirty game.

Starbucks did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the company said earlier this month that it denied all allegations in Leslie’s larger complaint: She was convicted.

According to the NLRB, 94 ballots have been counted for the Starbucks election so far. The Union won 79 and lost only nine; The results are uncertain in the other six. Some of the election results are questionable on both sides and may change.

Labor Council Attorney General Jennifer Abruzzo has set an aggressive agenda that will upset companies seeking to illegally dismantle labor unions. Abruzzo specifically said it will try to use transaction orders when it believes they are reasonable. Officials may find them when an employer has created an atmosphere of intimidation that the call for re-election is not enough.

In the complaint, Leslie argued that expelling unionists and other forms of revenge forced “traditional remedies” to fail in the Camp Road case. He said the workers made it clear they wanted to join by signing a majority of the union papers and Starbucks would have to trade.

As part of the complaint, Leslie said Starbucks tried to slow union support by permanently closing one store in the area and temporarily closing another, which happened later. Opened as a training center.

Richard Bensinger, the campaign organizer, said the closure was to have far-reaching effects.

“It’s not just to scare people in this store, to scare people all over the country,” he said.

Westlake said workers from one of the closed stores were brought to Camp Road and, because of their recent experience, they were reluctant to vote for the union. He believes the closure has no doubt affected how Camp Road votes.

“They all said,‘ We tried to fix it and they closed our store, ’” Westlake said. “Then it just came to our attention [Starbucks] Finished. … You need to have a democratic process. There is nothing more democratic than the Starbucks campaign trying to take over Camp Road.

Starbucks CEO Rossan Williams spent several weeks in Buffalo last year before organizing workers as he and other managers tried to drive them against the union. In her complaint for labor law violations, Leslie said Williams or Schultz should read a script informing workers of their rights violations, or stand before a council official who will do so and then will shoot video. Available for stores nationwide.