Starbucks Ordered to Rehire Two Illegally Fired Union Organizers

Starbucks Corp. must rehire two workers in Illinois and New York after separate National Labor Relations Board judges found the company illegally fired them for their activities with the union.

NLRB Administrative Law Judge Sarah Karpinen held Friday that the global coffeehouse chain broke the National Labor Relations Act multiple times while baristas tried to organize a cafe in Wilmette, Ill., in 2022.

The decisions are the latest in a growing wave of ALJ rulings against the coffee giant. The NLRB’s judges have found labor law violations in 48 out of 49 rulings, including illegally threatening and firing over 60 union organizers, excluding unionized stores from nationwide pay raises, and interfering with the board’s investigation process.

Karpinen ruled that store managers “nipped the nascent union campaign in the bud” by interrogating workers about their union activities. The supervisors also fired the two baristas who began the unionization drive, saying they used profanity in front of customers.

According to Karpinen’s decision, both workers were fired after meetings where managers interrogated them about their union sympathies and the second organizer was let go after filing a complaint about the first organizer’s termination.

In a separate decision Friday, Administrative Law Judge Michael Silverstein ruled that Starbucks managers in Syracuse, N.Y. told workers that their hours, pay, and benefits might be taken away if they chose to unionize. Supervisors also unlawfully interrogated andmonitored employees during their unionization drive in January 2023, the ruling said.

Starbucks was ordered to rehire the two illegally fired employees with back pay, and halt all other illegal conduct.

The Illinois case is Starbucks Corp., N.L.R.B. A.L.J., No. 13-CA-297565, 2/9/24.
The New York case is Starbucks Corp., N.L.R.B. A.L.J., No. 03-CA-310676, 2/9/24