NEWS & ANALYSIS

By Braden Campbell

The National Labor Relations Board found Starbucks committed a host of labor violations to stem the first wave of union organizing in several Buffalo, New York-area stores three years ago, including firing union backers, promising to improve conditions and shuttering an organizing hub.

By Emily Brill

A pair of National Labor Relations Board judges correctly found that Starbucks illegally fought unionization in Los Angeles and Wichita, Kansas, but the judges overstepped by issuing broad cease-and-desist orders against the company, a split National Labor Relations Board ruled, saying narrow cease-and-desist orders are more appropriate.

By Emily Brill

Starbucks baristas in unionized stores in Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago have gone on strike, Starbucks Workers United has announced, saying the union plans to spread the strike to other markets across the country between now and Christmas Eve.

By Tim Ryan

Starbucks violated federal labor law by firing a worker at a New York store during a unionization campaign, the National Labor Relations Board ruled, reversing an agency judge's finding that the company fired the worker because he opened a letter from the board.

By Beverly Banks

Unionized Starbucks baristas have voted to authorize a strike at the coffee giant, Workers United announced Tuesday, as the parties went back to the negotiating table with outstanding issues for first contracts related to wages, benefits and settling unfair labor practice claims.

By Beverly Banks

Starbucks must take down statements on a company website unveiled during Workers United's organizing campaign that offered training and improved benefits, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Monday, finding the coffee chain must post a notice nationwide that its comments violate federal labor law.

By Beverly Banks

Starbucks violated federal labor law by not inviting unionized workers to ice skating parties in the Seattle area, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Tuesday, finding the coffee chain had a past practice of extending holiday gatherings as a benefit to workers.

By Beverly Banks

A policy barring workers at the Starbucks New York City Roastery from wearing more than one union pin violates federal labor law, the National Labor Relations Board said, finding a Second Circuit ruling about the company's one-button standard doesn't prevent board prosecutors from bringing the present challenge.

By Braden Campbell

Employers that tell workers during organizing drives that having a union would cut off direct relationships with managers may violate federal labor law, the National Labor Relations Board said Friday in a decision reversing nearly 40-year-old precedent. 

By Beverly Banks

Starbucks violated federal labor law by excluding unionized stores from a new benefit in four states under which it paid workers at nonunion stores weekly instead of biweekly, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, finding the coffee chain couldn't excuse its actions by promising to bargain in good faith.

By Tim Ryan

The Sixth Circuit was divided Thursday over Starbucks' challenge to a National Labor Relations Board order finding the coffee giant unlawfully fired a worker at a Michigan cafe, with the judges probing the limits of the board's power to remedy unfair labor practices.

By Tim Ryan

Starbucks violated federal labor law by issuing discipline to a worker for wearing a union shirt on the job, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Friday, saying the company previously allowed workers to wear nonunion apparel without punishment.

By Emily Brill

The National Labor Relations Board should have accepted Starbucks' challenge to an agency judge's order even though it was 23 minutes late, the company told the D.C. Circuit, saying the lateness was connected to a technical issue and should have been considered innocuous.

By Beverly Banks

Starbucks should be ordered to bargain with Workers United at a Long Island, New York, cafe under the National Labor Relations Board's Cemex standard, an administrative law judge ruled Monday, finding the coffee giant illegally threatened and questioned workers in the lead-up to a representation vote.

By Emily Brill

The Eighth Circuit should reject Starbucks' "groundless" challenge to the well-established standard for determining when employers' statements constitute unlawful threats, the National Labor Relations Board has argued, asking the court to enforce the board's holding that a store manager threatened unionizing workers by saying they might not get raises.

By Braden Campbell

The campaign to unionize Starbucks has notched its 500th win a little over three years after its public debut, reaching this milestone as a changed but potent movement that continues to expand as it inches toward its first contracts, experts said.

By Tim Ryan

Starbucks violated federal labor law by more strictly enforcing several policies at two California cafes after workers organized with a union, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, including barring off-duty workers from accessing back areas of the store.

By Beverly Banks

Two Starbucks baristas trying to oust Workers United from stores in the Buffalo, New York, area told the D.C. Circuit to revive their challenge to removal protections for National Labor Relations Board members, arguing a lower court wrongly found the workers lacked standing.

By Beverly Banks

The National Labor Relations Board and Starbucks ended litigation in a Colorado federal court of agency prosecutors' request for a nationwide injunction to stop the coffee chain from firing workers for their union activities.

By Rachel Riley

A Washington appellate commissioner gave Starbucks another chance to end a shareholder suit accusing the company's leadership of turning a blind eye to union-busting by managers, saying the lawsuit appears "premature" since it mostly relies on unfair labor practice complaints that are still pending.