Starbucks announced a plan last week aimed at bringing management and workers closer together with “connection sessions.”
The two-hour all-staff meetings will feature coffee tasting, games and team-building exercises, with a video introduction from CEO Laxman Narasimhan.
The meetings, which are taking place through May 8, include 10,000 stores and more than 250,000 employees. The meetings will be personalized by managers to better suit the needs of each store.
The company said in a statement that while previous storewide meetings have focused on operational concerns, the new meetings are based on the personal touch.
“These two-hour sessions are intentionally focused on discussing the art of connection among and between Starbucks partners and customers,” the statement reads. “However, store managers are always available to their partners to discuss their concerns and questions about logistical and operational matters.”
A spokesperson for the company confirmed that none of the meetings will be mandatory, but that they will be paid while participating.
The sessions come during increased tension between Starbucks management and workers looking to unionize. The company has been accused of using union-busting techniques, although it has over 300 unionized outlets in the U.S.
Recently, the National Labor Relations Board accused the company in a complaint of failing to negotiate fairly with more than 140 unionized stores.
“For more than a year we have been trying to meet with Starbucks to present our thoughtful proposals on how to make the company a better place to work,” Starbucks Workers United member Sal Hirsch said upon the labor board’s complaint. “Instead, the company has walked out of nearly 100 sessions after just minutes without taking the time to listen to our proposals to make Starbucks a better place.”
The company has rebuked the union’s characterization of its strategy.
“For the 3% of U.S. stores that are represented by a union, Starbucks has proposed more than 390 collective bargaining sessions, and Workers United has responded to just 245 of those proposals,” the company told Insider. “Workers United’s claims fail to acknowledge that we have recently completed full-day bargaining sessions in the last month, which is a promising development.”
A spokesperson for the company said that the connection sessions have been planned for months and have only coincidentally coincided with the NLRB’s complaint.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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