Starbucks Proxy Fight Charted Alternate Path for Workers’ Rights

A novel union-driven proxy fight at Starbucks Corp. that ended this week highlights shareholder activism as a new route to push companies on workers’ rights.

The proxy fight, driven by activists at the Strategic Organizing Center, a union coalition, fizzled out one week after the coffee giant agreed with the main union representing its employees to start talks aimed at reaching a collective bargaining agreement. Starbucks shareholders were supposed to vote March 13 to decide if the company’s board members would be replaced by any of three nominees put forward by the union coalition due to their experience on labor ...