Feds may force Starbucks to reopen 23 stores — claim coffee chain illegally shuttered locations to block unionizing

A United States labor agency wants to force Starbucks to reopen 23 stores after it claimed the coffee chain illegally shuttered the locations to block employees from unionizing.

The company shut down 16 locations in July 2022. The closed stores were located in a number of large cities, including Seattle, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago.

The National Labor Relations Board stated in a Wednesday complaint that eight of the Starbucks locations were unionized at the time they were shut down. The federal agency claimed that the company failed to notify the workers’ union, Starbucks Workers United, ahead of time about the closures, thereby denying the union the opportunity to bargain, according to NLRB spokesperson Matthew Hayward, Reuters reported.

Hayward stated that the NLRB wants to force Starbucks to reopen the locations, rehire the employees, provide those workers with lost pay and benefits, and bargain with the union.

Starbucks Workers United represents 340 of the company’s locations within the U.S.

The NLRB contended that Starbucks intentionally closed the location to prevent workers from unionizing.

The case will be reviewed by a judge in the summer of 2024 unless the company agrees to a settlement before then, the New York Times reported.

On Thursday, the coffee chain released a new report, requested by its shareholders, detailing its labor practices. The report, prepared by an independent consultant, “found no evidence of an ‘anti-union playbook’ or instructions or training about how to violate US laws.”

Starbucks Workers United spokesperson Mari Cosgrove told the New York Post that the federal government’s lawsuit further confirms that the company is determined to “illegally oppose workers’ organizing.”

“It adds to the litany of complaints detailed in the company’s own report released this morning. If Starbucks is sincere in its overtures in recent days to forge a different relationship with its partners, this is exactly the kind of illegal behavior it needs to stop,” Cosgrove stated.

A spokesperson for Starbucks told the Post, “Each year as a standard course of business, we evaluate the store portfolio to determine where we can best meet our community and customers’ needs. This includes opening new locations, identifying stores in need of investment or renovation, exploring locations where an alternative format is needed and, in some instances, re-evaluating our footprint.”

The NLRB declined to comment, the Post reported.

In July, an NLRB judge ruled that Starbucks had illegally shut down a unionized location in Ithaca, New York. The company is appealing the judge’s decision.

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