Starbucks ditches union bargaining sessions
Agreeing to a union contract doesn't have to be difficult or 'complex'
Today, Starbucks Workers United posted photos and videos from bargaining sessions with Starbucks where company representatives ditched the meetings in California and Buffalo, NY.
(3) Tyler - Starbucks Workers United on Twitter: "STARBUCKS WALKED OUT ON US DURING BARGAINING. https://t.co/Qt1OMBo7j2" / Twitter
(3) Starbucks Workers United on Twitter: "Starbucks is now refusing to bargain — or even listen to our proposals — because a few workers are joining the session virtually. https://t.co/GLHSOnR96L" / Twitter
Starbucks posted on their own social media account a page of PR crafted arguments, many of which undermine one another, are incoherent altogether, or omit and ignore anything the company doesn’t want to address.
They start by claiming, “Collective bargaining is, unfortunately and historically, an adversarial process in the United States. Bargaining agreements are complex documents, and in the U.S. it takes about 465 days to negotiate a first contract.”
The ‘adversarial’ part is a choice, not inherent, and the 465 day average includes much larger bargaining units than a single store and is due to employers refusing to bargain, delaying bargaining, and trying to undermine the union. Characterizing this average as an inherent fact is disingenuous.
For instance, a Verizon store similar in size to a Starbucks store that unionized in Washington earlier this year ratified its first union contract just a few months later in August 2022, and Verizon has and still opposes unionization efforts. More ‘complex’ union contracts are developed and agreed upon all the time
Then Starbucks complains about Workers United pursuing regional and national negotiations, after pursuing store by store unionization efforts, which the NLRB ruled in favor of against Starbucks. This isn’t some strange pursuit, as national, regional, and localized agreements are not uncommon in collective bargaining.
Then Starbucks throws shade at the unionized stores, claiming a majority of workers didn’t vote or voted against the union, (going from insisting on single store bargaining, then lumping all the certified union stores together when convenient). Starbucks workers voted in favor of unionizing at these stores, and you can’t make sweeping generalizations about non-votes, which could be for any reason like workers quitting because of union busting, to cast criticism toward the democratic process while claiming you respect it. It’s election denial, undemocratic, and infers that Starbucks would be more apt to bargain with stores where a firm majority of workers did vote and voted for the union, yet that is not even argued to be the case, it’s just moving the goal posts out of convenience. The ‘partners’ at these stores made a democratic decision to unionize, as is their inherent right to do so. Starbucks makes claims about how proud they are of their “partner-focused company,” but these workers are also supposed to be partners and their voices should also be respected, not dismissed and denigrated for unionizing.
Starbucks claims a slowdown of union petitions and union organizing is a symptom of how great the corporation is, without addressing the fear and intimidation inherent in having managers and lawyers descend on stores and aggressively oppose unionization.
Starbucks repeats the line that there have been zero cases of retaliation, despite the NLRB finding merit to numerous complaints, judges already beginning to order reinstatement of fired employees involved in union organizing, getting hit with a Gissel bargaining order, yet the company is still trying to lean and rely on the slow process of the National Labor Relations Board in addressing these complaints as the agency is significantly underfunded and understaffed. It’s typical for corporate publicists to refuse to ever admit to any wrongdoing, but it gets to a point where these blanket denials are pathologically ridiculous.
National Labor Relations Board Union on Twitter: "The National Labor Relations Board—the sole federal agency tasked with enforcing private-sector employees' rights to organize and collectively bargain—is in a crisis. After years of inattention by Congress, the agency no longer has the resources to adequately enforce its mission." / Twitter