Amazon, Starbucks Labor Law Allegations: Union Busting Explained

Starbucks Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. face federal labor board allegations that they broke the law in response to closely watched organizing campaigns among their workers, shining a spotlight on what companies can and actually do to prevent unionization.

Starbucks allegedly fired, threatened, and surveilled workers in New York, National Labor Relations Board prosecutors said in a complaint filed last week. The agency also has accused the coffee chain—which has seen unions win elections at more than 50 of its stores nationwide—of illegally sacking pro-union workers in Arizona and Tennessee.

Amazon allegedly violated the National Labor Relations Act by holding mandatory ...