June 17, 2025

By Emily Brill

The National Labor Relations Board improperly ignored a Starbucks employee's impression of her manager's comments during a union campaign when concluding the comments were unlawful, a split Eighth Circuit panel ruled Tuesday, resolving a case that challenged the board's standard for determining when an employer's anti-union rhetoric violates labor law.

June 17, 2025

By Beverly Banks

Federal labor law is not a "get-out-of-jail-free card" for union activists who violate an employer's policies, Starbucks argued to the Fifth Circuit, saying the National Labor Relations Board lacked evidence of anti-union bias when concluding the coffee chain illegally fired a barista in California.

June 05, 2025

By Tim Ryan

Starbucks Workers United celebrated after workers at a 600th Starbucks store voted to be represented by the union, the latest milestone in the four-year effort to organize the coffee giant.

June 02, 2025

By Beverly Banks

The Fifth Circuit must find that the National Labor Relations Board rightly concluded former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz illegally told a pro-union worker they could "go work for another company," the board argued, saying a reasonable employee would consider the remark as a threat.

May 28, 2025

By Braden Campbell

The National Labor Relations Board "thumb[ed] its nose" at employers' speech rights by ruling that Starbucks threatened workers and using the case to reverse precedent letting employers opine that a union would come between them and workers, the company told the Ninth Circuit.

May 15, 2025

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. Circuit panel expressed skepticism Thursday that it had any role in deciding two Starbucks workers' challenge to job protections for National Labor Relations Board members now that the agency agrees with the baristas' argument.

April 30, 2025

By Emily Brill

Starbucks flouted federal labor law at a Philadelphia store by encouraging workers to report union activity to their managers and by firing two workplace activists over violations of a previously unenforced attendance policy, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled.

April 17, 2025

By Emily Brill

The National Labor Relations Board was not obligated to accommodate Starbucks after its attorney filed a challenge to a board judge's ruling 23 minutes late, the D.C. Circuit ruled Thursday, holding that the board did not abuse its discretion by refusing to process the challenge.

March 28, 2025

By Beverly Banks

Starbucks unlawfully suspended union supporters at a South Carolina cafe and temporarily closed the store, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, finding the workers' actions, such as demanding raises from a manager, did not lose protection under federal labor law.

March 27, 2025

By Beverly Banks

The National Labor Relations Board tossed on Thursday an allegation that Starbucks violated federal labor law by not negotiating with Workers United over the discipline of a worker, declining to shift precedent on an employer's bargaining obligation with a union that hasn't notched a first contract.

March 27, 2025

By Beverly Banks

The Fifth Circuit must not enforce a National Labor Relations Board decision dinging Starbucks for unlawful subpoenas that sought employees' recordings of management and communications with Workers United, the coffee giant argued, challenging the board's application of 30-year-old precedent about discovery.

March 12, 2025

By Beverly Banks

A National Labor Relations Board attorney withdrew arguments in separate cases involving Starbucks and the American Civil Liberties Union about so-called captive audience meetings and negotiating over discipline with a new union, pointing to the acting general counsel's rescission of his predecessor's memorandums.

March 10, 2025

By Beverly Banks

Starbucks illegally fired a Workers United supporter in North Carolina for striking and refused to hire another employee given their union activities, a National Labor Relations Board judge concluded Monday, saying the coffee chain can't ask workers to get a manager's blessing before exercising their organizing rights.

March 05, 2025

By Beverly Banks

The National Labor Relations Board must not dismiss claims accusing Starbucks of failing to negotiate with Workers United about the display of pride decorations at stores in Oklahoma City, the agency's acting general counsel argued, saying the coffee chain is required to bargain.

February 28, 2025

By Beverly Banks

Starbucks violated federal labor law at two Connecticut stores in its efforts to quell support for Workers United, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, dinging the coffee giant for unlawfully firing a union supporter and threatening the loss of a Lyft reimbursement, among other actions.

February 19, 2025

By Beverly Banks

National Labor Relations Board prosecutors requested a Cemex bargaining order against Starbucks related to its alleged federal labor law violations at a Missouri store, after asking for a filing extension to make sure its post-hearing brief "reflects the views" of the agency's new acting general counsel.

January 30, 2025

By Beverly Banks

A mediator will help Starbucks and Workers United hash out the backbone for first contracts covering more than 500 unionized stores nationwide, the parties announced Thursday, marking the first time since December that the duo is going back to the bargaining table.

January 10, 2025

By Emily Brill

Starbucks violated federal labor law by firing one of the lead organizers of a union drive at a store in Bellingham, Washington, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Friday, rejecting the company's argument that it fired the worker because she was late to work.

January 10, 2025

By Beverly Banks

Starbucks illegally retaliated against baristas in multiple states who support unionization, Workers United alleged in dozens of unfair labor practice charges announced Friday, as the union seeks to pressure the company to agree on the terms of first labor contracts after negotiations came to a standstill last month.

January 09, 2025

By Beverly Banks

U.S. Supreme Court precedent bars two Starbucks baristas' claims about removal protections for National Labor Relations Board members, the board told the D.C. Circuit as it urged the circuit to affirm a lower court's dismissal of a constitutional challenge against the agency.