World News | Former Starbucks CEO defends union opponents in Senate

NEW YORK, March 29 (AP) – Longtime Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Wednesday when he defends the company’s actions amid ongoing union activism. , will face sharp doubts.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who has been an outspoken supporter of Starbucks labor organizers, has been seeking Schultz’s testimony for months.

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Schultz had tried to avoid the hearing, suggesting that others at the company were more deeply involved in union efforts that Starbucks opposed.

But Sanders has argued that Schultz, the longtime leader who stepped down as interim CEO last week but remained on the company’s board, played an important role in setting company policy. Under threat of subpoena, Schultz agreed to testify.

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“Let’s be clear. In America, workers have the constitutional right to organize and bargain collectively for higher wages and better working conditions,” Sanders said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, under the leadership of Mr. Schultz, Starbucks has done everything possible to prevent this from happening.”

At least 293 of Starbucks’ 9,000 company-owned U.S. stores have voted to unionize since the end of 2021, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

Starbucks Workers United, the labor group that organizes the stores, has yet to reach a contractual agreement with Starbucks at any of the stores.

Workers say they are seeking higher wages, more consistent schedules and better benefits. But Starbucks argues that it already offers some of the best compensation and benefits in the industry and says its stores operate better when it works directly with employees.

“We have scheduled more than 350 negotiating sessions involving more than 200 sets — each related to a single store — and Starbucks representatives have personally attended more than 85 sets,” Schultz said in his prepared testimony . hearing.

“However, union representatives improperly demanded multi-storey negotiations, postponed or refused to attend meetings, and insisted on illegal preconditions, such as virtual negotiations and the participation of outside observers.”

Efforts to unionize have been controversial. Earlier this month, a federal labor judge found the company violated labor laws “hundreds of times” during a union drive in Buffalo, New York.

The company is attractive. A federal judge also forced Starbucks to reinstate the labor organizer it fired.

Schultz, who led Starbucks from 1987 to 2000 and 2008 to 2017, returned as interim CEO last April.

Starbucks’ new CEO, Lazman Narasimhan, told The Associated Press that he also thinks Starbucks operates better without unions.

“I still believe that having a direct relationship with our partners is the best way forward,” Narasimhan said. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the body of content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)