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LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAW — 06/09/09

Starbucks settles with NLRB over unfair labor practices

The National Labor Relations Board has reached a settlement with Starbucks over unfair labor practice violations committed by the world's largest coffee chain, a "watershed victory" in the ongoing effort to organize Starbucks baristas, according to the International Workers of the World (IWW) Starbucks Workers Union.

"Faced with the prospect of having its widespread union-busting campaign exposed in a public hearing," the IWW says, Starbucks agreed to remedy the alleged violations committed against workers in the ongoing union campaign. It was the sixth such settlement in three years, the union noted.

Among the terms of the Board's settlement with Starbucks:

• Reinstatement of IWW members who were discharged for their union activity;

• A $2,000 backpay award (mitigated by IWW's ability to assist the discriminatee in securing alternate employment, according to the union);

• Invalidation of Starbucks' national policy that prohibited employees from sharing written union information and joining the union on company property;

• Invalidation of a no-pin policy, which banned baristas from wearing IWW pins. Workers had been sent home from work without pay for refusing to take them off, according to the union;

• Agreement to cease threats, bribes, and surveillance of union members.

The settlement agreement can be viewed in its entirety at: http://www.starbucksunion.org/files/
usgovsettle.pdf.

The Starbucks Workers Union, part of the Industrial Workers of the World, is a "solidarity" or "members only" union that allows any Starbucks worker to join, without securing a majority of workers at a site. The union currently has more than 300 current and former Starbucks employees as members. According to the union, it has been able to secure wage gains and improvements in working conditions and has remedied individual grievances with management.

For more information on this and other topics, consult CCH Employment Practices Guide or CCH Labor Relations.

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