![[US] Starbucks violated labour laws with pay rises for non-unionised workers](http://gpa.net/cdn/shop/articles/bigstock-Burnaby-BC-Canada--March---334871401_1200x.jpg?v=1696486603)
In the US, a federal Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) has ruled that Starbucks violated federal labour laws when it improved wages and benefits for tens of thousands of its employees across the nation in 2022, Daily Coffee News reports.
That employee compensation plan - announced by Starbucks in October 2021 and taking effect in August 2022 - left out the company’s unionised store employees. They currently comprise less than 3 per cent of the company’s U.S. workforce, according to court documents.
In a 45-page ruling, Administrative Law Judge Mara-Louise Anzalone said that Starbucks was guilty of repeatedly employing a “carrot and stick” tactic, using the promise of improved wages and benefits as an incentive to dissuade unionisation among workers.
The ruling reportedly links the employee wage and benefits scheme that took effect August 29, 2022, and the original unionisation efforts at individual Starbucks locations in Buffalo, New York in late 2021. Workers in at least 300 of the approximately 9,000 Starbucks company-owned locations in the US have subsequently voted in favour of unionisation.
Starbucks has claimed that making unilateral pay changes to wages or benefits for unionised or unionising employees would have actually violated National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) laws protecting the integrity of the election process.
Judge Anzalone rejected that argument, stating that it was not offered in “good faith” based on her review of public comments and testimony. The judge’s ruling ordered Starbucks to compensate unionised employees for wages and benefits lost since the new rates of pay took effect.
Starbucks has reportedly announced its intention to appeal the ruling. In a statement, it said, “The ALJ’s recommendation that Starbucks should or could have disregarded these rules is flatly wrong and creates an untenable situation - which has already been rejected by federal courts - where employers violate the law if they unilaterally include organizing or unionized employees when making changes in wages and benefits and violate the law if they do not do so.”
Source: Daily Coffee News
(Link and quotes via original reporting)
In the US, a federal Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) has ruled that Starbucks violated federal labour laws when it improved wages and benefits for tens of thousands of its employees across the nation in 2022, Daily Coffee News reports.
That employee compensation plan - announced by Starbucks in October 2021 and taking effect in August 2022 - left out the company’s unionised store employees. They currently comprise less than 3 per cent of the company’s U.S. workforce, according to court documents.
In a 45-page ruling, Administrative Law Judge Mara-Louise Anzalone said that Starbucks was guilty of repeatedly employing a “carrot and stick” tactic, using the promise of improved wages and benefits as an incentive to dissuade unionisation among workers.
The ruling reportedly links the employee wage and benefits scheme that took effect August 29, 2022, and the original unionisation efforts at individual Starbucks locations in Buffalo, New York in late 2021. Workers in at least 300 of the approximately 9,000 Starbucks company-owned locations in the US have subsequently voted in favour of unionisation.
Starbucks has claimed that making unilateral pay changes to wages or benefits for unionised or unionising employees would have actually violated National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) laws protecting the integrity of the election process.
Judge Anzalone rejected that argument, stating that it was not offered in “good faith” based on her review of public comments and testimony. The judge’s ruling ordered Starbucks to compensate unionised employees for wages and benefits lost since the new rates of pay took effect.
Starbucks has reportedly announced its intention to appeal the ruling. In a statement, it said, “The ALJ’s recommendation that Starbucks should or could have disregarded these rules is flatly wrong and creates an untenable situation - which has already been rejected by federal courts - where employers violate the law if they unilaterally include organizing or unionized employees when making changes in wages and benefits and violate the law if they do not do so.”
Source: Daily Coffee News
(Link and quotes via original reporting)