Sen. Bernard Sanders on Wednesday said his Senate committee will vote on issuing a subpoena for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, setting up a potential showdown over unionizing efforts at the coffee giant.
Mr. Sanders, Vermont independent and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the panel will vote on March 8 to compel Mr. Schultz’s testimony. He has accused the CEO of union busting.
Mr. Schultz declined to appear voluntarily before the committee last month to answer questions about Starbucks’ long-running labor issues.
“For nearly a year, I and many of my colleagues in the Senate have repeatedly asked Mr. Schultz to respect the constitutional right of workers at Starbucks to form a union and to stop violating federal labor laws,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement. “Mr. Schultz has failed to respond to those requests. He has denied meeting and document requests, skirted congressional oversight attempts and refused to answer any of the serious questions we have asked. Unfortunately, Mr. Schultz has given us no choice but to subpoena him.”
The coffee chain is locked in a dispute with Starbucks Workers United, a labor group that last year unionized several hundred of the chain’s 9,000 stores in the U.S. The company employs about 248,000 workers.
The National Labor Relations Board, controlled by President Biden’s Democratic appointees, has filed more than 75 complaints against Starbucks for violating federal labor law. More than 500 unfair labor practice charges have been lodged against the company.
“While Howard Schultz is a multibillionaire who runs a very profitable multinational corporation, he must understand that he and his company are not above the law,” Mr. Sanders said. “These violations include the illegal firing of more than a dozen Starbucks workers. A multibillion-dollar corporation like Starbucks cannot continue to break federal labor law with impunity. The time has come to hold Starbucks and Mr. Schultz accountable.”
Dozens of white-collar Starbucks employees and managers signed an open letter protesting the company’s return-to-office mandate and its alleged union busting, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
“We love Starbucks, but these actions are fracturing trust in Starbucks leadership,” the workers wrote in their letter to senior executives and board members. “Morale is at an all-time low, and the brand reputation and financial value of this publicly traded company are at risk.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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