Starbucks accuses labor board of unfairly helping pro-union workers

Starbucks is accusing the National Labor Relations Board of "unfairly helping workers unionize," The Seattle Times writes.

Workers at several Starbucks locations have been pushing to unionize in recent months, meaning the NLRB, the federal agency in charge of managing union elections, has been working with a growing number of the coffee giant's branches.

According to the Seattle Times, Starbucks claims labor board officials "arranged for in-person voting in NLRB offices during mail-in elections, gave the Workers United union confidential information about vote counts and collaborated with the union to increase pro-union votes," all of which it considers misconduct that could skew vote results in favor of unionization. This misconduct allegedly occurred in Kansas City, Seattle, and Buffalo, New York.

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"In light of these types of misconduct by NLRB personnel, we request the Board immediately suspend all Starbucks mail-ballot elections nationwide ... until there has been a thorough investigation," Starbucks wrote in a letter to the NLRB, reports CNN.

The NLRB has not commented on the dispute, as it "does not comment on open cases," CNN reports per director and press secretary Kayla Blado.

Meanwhile, employees of the company's location in Lakewood, California, went on a one-day strike Monday. This was one of 55 strikes in 17 different states in which workers have been fighting for better treatment from the company, NBCLA reports.