Starbucks
(photo
by
David
Lat).
Good
news!
In
a
series
of
events
totally
unrelated
to
our
Court’s
bad
historicism,
Starbucks
is
in
the
spotlight!
And
this
time,
it
has
nothing
to
do
with
their
Pink
Starburst
Frappuccino.
The
stars
are
safe!
Unfortunately,
Bucks
was
caught
using
some
illegal
union-busting
strategies.
In
its
most
recent
filing,
the
NLRB
called
on
the
court
to
order
Starbucks
to
reinstate
seven
Buffalo
workers
that
the
agency
contends
were
illegally
fired
for
trying
to
form
a
union.
It
also
wants
the
court
to
require
Starbucks
to
negotiate
with
a
store
whose
union
election
was
harmed
by
what
the
panel
says
were
the
company’s
anti-union
efforts.Starbucks
used
“an
expansive
array
of
illegal
tactics,”
including
using
managers
to
monitor
workers
and
discourage
union
activity,
closing
stores
with
active
organizing
drives,
and
firing
seven
union
activists
at
five
different
stores
over
the
course
of
six
weeks,
the
NLRB
said
in
a
news release.“Absent
immediate
interim
relief,
Starbucks
will
achieve
its
goal,
through
unlawful
means,
or
irreparably
harming
the
campaign
in
Buffalo,
and
sending
a
clear
chilling
message
to
its
employees
across
the
country,”
Linda
Leslie,
the
NLRB’s
regional
director
in
Buffalo,
stated.Leslie
issued
a consolidated
complaint in
May
containing
over
200
allegations
of
unfair
labor
practices
by
Starbucks.
A
hearing
on
the
complaint
before
an
administrative
law
judge
is
set
for
July
11,
2022.
Damn
it!
And
just
when
I
was
getting
over
the
whole
Starbucks
potentially
using
slave
labor
chocolate
thing!
This
week
is
rough
enough
with
the
whole
*violent
gesticulation
toward
the
Supreme
Court.*
Which
judge’s
house
do
I
have
to
peacefully
protest
at
to
get
an
ethical
cup
of
joe
and
chocolate
square
over
here?
Do
better,
Mr.
Schultz.
If
you’d
like
a
map
of
where
Starbucks
workers
are
unionizing,
I’ve
already
got
that
queued
up
for
you
here.
Maybe
run
on
Dunkin
in
solidarity
until
Starbucks
gets
their
cumulative
shit
together.
Starbucks
Used
“Array
Of
Illegal
Tactics”
Against
Unionizing
Workers,
Labor
Regulators
Say
[CBS
News]
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
cannot
swim, a
published
author
on
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.