Starbucks illegally asked for cops to disperse staff: Judge

Bloomberg

Starbucks Corp. violated federal law in Kansas and Missouri by firing pro-union employees, stepping up enforcement of its dress code in response to union organising and asking for police to disperse workers with picket signs, a National Labour Relations Board judge ruled.
The agency judge’s decision requires Starbucks to offer reinstatement with back pay to four employees, and to cease making anti-union threats.
It says Starbucks also must post a notice informing workers that the government found it broke the law, and promising not to do so again.
Starbucks said that the terminated employees violated numerous company policies. “Interest in a union does not exempt partners from following policies that are in place to protect our partners, our customers and the communities we serve,” spokesperson Andrew Trull said in an emailed statement.
The evidence shows that Starbucks management acted out of “substantial animus” toward pro-union employees, the judge wrote.
Last week, another labor board judge in Michigan ordered the company to offer another fired employee reinstatement.
“It feels like we’re going to start seeing cases similar to ours win all over the country now,” Alydia Claypool, one of the Kansas workers who the judge found was wrongly fired, said in an interview Wednesday. Claypool said she hoped the ruling would help stem fellow employees’ fears of retaliation.
NLRB judges’ orders can be appealed to labor board members in Washington, and from there to federal court. The agency’s general counsel has issued dozens of pending complaints around the country accusing Starbucks of violating workers’ rights.
The union, Starbucks Workers United, has filed labor board claims accusing the company of firing more than 80 employees because of their activism. The NLRB has the authority to order workers reinstated and policies changed, but not to fine companies punitive damages for violations.
The union has prevailed in elections at around 250 of the chain’s roughly 9,000 corporate-owned US stores over the past year, following an initial landmark victory in Buffalo, New York, last December.