By Danielle Wiener-Bronner | CNN
Starbucks interim CEO Howard Schultz will testify before a Senate committee about the company’s labor practices on March 29, a reversal of Schultz’s previous refusal.
“I’m happy to announce that Howard Schultz, the CEO and founder of Starbucks, has finally agreed to testify before the Senate HELP Committee,” Senator Bernie Sanders said in a statement Tuesday. Sanders chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which had planned to vote on whether to subpoena Schultz to testify on Wednesday.
The coffee company has been fighting a growing wave of unionization under Schultz’s leadership. Since Schultz rejoined the company as interim CEO in April of last year, and even before, he has said repeatedly that he doesn’t think Starbucks workers should unionize.
“I look forward to hearing from Mr. Schultz as to when he intends to end his illegal anti-union activities and begin signing fair first contracts with the unions,” Sanders said.
“I want Mr. Schultz to tell us that at long last he was going to stop his illegal activity, that he’s going to sit down with the union and negotiate a contract,” Sanders said during a press conference Tuesday, when asked by CNN’s Jessica Dean what he hopes to hear from Schultz later this month at his committee hearing. “That’s what I want, nothing more than that. To obey the law. I don’t think it’s asking too much.”
The first Starbucks store voted to unionize in December 2021, and despite the company’s aggressive attempts to stop the movement, more stores have joined since then. So far, the National Labor Relations Board has certified 285 votes to unionize, and 57 against.
There are about 9,300 US company-operated Starbucks stores in the United states, so the number of unionized stores may seem small. But it’s been an uphill battle for union organizers. The company has filed over 100 charges against the union, and the union has, in turn,…
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