Starbucks Illegally Retaliated Against Pro-Union Workers, Labor Officials Allege

Starbucks was accused of interfering with workers efforts to form a union by the federal labor officials.

A regional director for the National Labor Relations Board said in the filing that the company retaliated against pro-union employees. One worker was suspended and the other lost her job.

According to the complaint, Starbucks has been coercing employees into exercising their rights under federal labor law. It is alleged that Starbucks managers used a previously unenforced rule to punish Dalton and stopped granting her scheduling requests, leading to her firing. According to the complaint, they surveilled workers.

The labor board's general counsel said that Starbucks should have to notify its employees around the country that it violated the law and make the woman whole.

A Starbucks spokesman denied the allegations in an email to HuffPost. They are false.

The Starbucks Workers United campaign has unionized six stores, most of them in the Buffalo, New York, area, and petitioned for elections at more than 100 others around the country. Workers are trying to join the union Workers United, which is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union.

Starbucks has gone to great lengths to try to stop the effort, corralling workers into anti-union meetings with managers and causing procedural holdups with the union elections. In recent weeks, the union has filed a number of unfair labor practices claims with the labor board, accusing the company of trying to stop the organizing efforts.

The labor board's regional director filed a complaint against the company on Tuesday after finding merit in some of the union's allegations. The cases are usually settled before they go to trial.

The Starbucks worker in Phoenix said in a statement that the company should apologize to the two people.

It is the first step in holding Starbucks accountable for its unacceptable behavior during the unionizing efforts in our store and stores around the country.

Starbucks fired seven pro-union workers at a store in Memphis, Tennessee, because they brought non-employees into the store outside of work hours. The labor board has not yet pursued a case after the union filed charges that Starbucks retaliated against workers.

Starbucks was accused by the union of cutting the hours of pro-union workers.