Labor board sues Starbucks after coffee chain fires 3 union organizers


The U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) petitioned a federal court on Friday to force Starbucks to reinstate three employees the NLRB claims were fired due to their union campaigning, CNBC reports.
"Employees have the fundamental right to choose whether or not they want to be represented by the union without restraint or coercion by their employer. The faith of Starbucks employees nationwide in workplace democracy will not be restored unless these employees are immediately reinstated under the protection of a federal court order," said NLRB Regional Director Cornele Overstreet in a statement.
Per CNBC, "more than 200 Starbucks locations have filed paperwork to unionize under Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union," and 24 stores have already voted to unionize.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
On Friday, The New York Post reported that leaked video of a meeting between Starbucks managers and executives showed Rossann Williams, the company's president for North America, denying that Starbucks is engaging in "union-busting." In the same video, CEO Howard Schultz appeared to refer to the unionization push as an "outside force that's trying desperately to disrupt our company."
Schultz, who recently rejoined Starbucks for his third stint as CEO after previously running the chain from 1986 to 2000 and from 2008 to 2017, "is particularly polarizing among union supporters because he has frequently spoken about his belief that Starbucks shouldn't be unionized," The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
According to CNBC, Workers United has filed dozens of complaints with the NLRB against Starbucks, while Starbucks has filed complaints of its own, alleging that "the union organizing its baristas broke federal law."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.
-
September 8 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Monday’s political cartoons include Donald Trump booed at the U.S. Open, a hidden message in the Epstein Files and a new bird in Florida
-
How to see more of The Week's stories on Google
How to Add The Week as a preferred source to get more of our award-winning coverage
-
Pope Leo canonizes first millennial saint
Speed Read Two young Italians, Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, were elevated to sainthood
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year