Starbucks’ Path to Settling With Union Laden With Legal Hurdles

Starbucks Corp. and the Workers United union are set to begin long-awaited negotiations next week, kicking off a process that must contend with federal labor board complexities before the hundreds of pending charges against the coffee giant could be put to rest.

Resolving open cases isn’t as simple as Starbucks and the union agreeing to the terms of a deal.

Instead, a chief obstacle is the need for them to get settlement approval from different authorities within the National Labor Relations Board depending on where each individual case is in the life cycle of an unfair labor practice dispute, legal ...