Starbucks Labor Order Meets Skeptical Appeals Court Judge (1)

A federal appeals court judge appeared doubtful that Starbucks Corp. should have been handed a court order requiring it to rehire a group of union activists, sharply questioning a National Labor Relations Board attorney who defended the injunction against the coffee giant.

Judge Chad Readler, a Trump appointee to the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, expressed skepticism during oral argument Thursday that reinstating the fired workers was necessary to prevent union support from dying, considering that the union won the election after the terminations.

“The union wasn’t even alive—it came to life—the opposite of died, it sprung ...