The National Labor Relations Board sued Thursday starbucks over the coffee chain’s refusal to rehire 33 workers while reorganizing three downtown stores Seattleincluding its flagship store at Pike Place Market.
In a petition filed in federal court in Seattle, the agency called Starbucks’ plan to reorganize stores into a Heritage District and forcing 73 workers to reapply for their jobs, as an illegal response to unionization efforts at one of the stores, between the 1st Avenue and Pike Street.
By refusing to rehire 16 of the 22 workers, Starbucks “cooled employee support for the union” in the other two stores “sending them a clear message about what would happen if they unionized”says the NLRB (for its acronym in English).
The petition seeks an injunction preventing Starbucks from firing or sanctioning the workersdeny them higher wages and benefits, or force them to reapply for a job because of their union activities.
It also seeks to require Starbucks to offer jobs, with wages and back benefits, to the 33 people he fired.
Starbucks defended its actions, saying that store workers can try to unionize through an election supervised by the NLRB.
He said that the remedies proposed by the organization “They are contrary to the interests of our (employees) and threaten the experience we offer our customers. We look forward to championing the establishment of our Heritage District..
(With information from Reuters)
Source: Gestion
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