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Your Call

Starbucks' Howard Schultz questioned about illegal union-busting

Worker's Voice

On this edition of Your Call, we discuss what we learned from Wednesday morning's US Senate committee hearing called “No company is above the law: The need to end illegal union busting at Starbucks."

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz agreed to testify after the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee threatened to vote on whether to subpoena him. Democrats, led by Senator Bernie Sanders, asked Schultz about his role in illegal union-busting, which was cited by the Committee, his refusal to show up to the bargaining table, and workers’ rights. Republican Senators defended Schultz.

According to the HELP Committee, the National Labor Relations Board has filed over 80 complaints against Starbucks for violating federal labor law and there have been over 500 unfair labor practice charges lodged against this company. These violations include the illegal firing of more than a dozen Starbucks workers for "the crime" of exercising their right to form a union and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. Nearly 300 Starbucks coffee shops have unionized, despite an aggressive and illegal anti-union campaign waged by Starbucks under the leadership of Howard Schultz.

Schultz denies the allegations. Starbucks declined to join today's show.

Guests:

Kyle Trainer, barista at Starbucks in San Francisco's Castro District and organizer with Starbucks Workers United

Greg Zajac, barista at Starbucks in San Francisco's Castro District and organizer with Starbucks Workers United

Jeff Schuhrke, labor historian, journalist, union activist, and assistant professor of Labor Studies at the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies, SUNY Empire State University

Web Resources:

US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions: No Company is Above the Law: Myth-Busting Starbucks’ Claims That it Has Not Violated Federal Labor Law with Impunity

NBC: Howard Schultz, defending Starbucks' labor practices, bristles at being labeled a billionaire in a Sanders-led hearing

Quartz: Why does Starbucks want to negotiate with unionized workers in person and not on Zoom?

Mother Jones: Howard Schultz Came Out of Retirement to Destroy Starbucks’ Union—and His Legacy

In These Times: Bernie Sanders Is Putting Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz In the Hot Seat Over Union Busting

HuffPost: The Only Good Friends Howard Schultz Could Find In Washington Were Republicans

Rose Aguilar has been the host of Your Call since 2006. She became a regular media roundtable guest in 2001. In 2019, the San Francisco Press Club named Your Call the best public affairs program. In 2017, The Nation named it the most valuable local radio show.
Bee Soll is a producer with Your Call at KALW, and a producer, writer, and editor at KCBS Radio in San Francisco. She is a former reporter for Crosscurrents and contributor at KPFA Radio.