Dozens of Starbucks Corp. employees and managers. white-collar white has signed an open letter protesting the company’s back-to-office mandate and its alleged union-busting, opening a new front in the war over the avowedly progressive coffee chain’s treatment of its staff.
“We love Starbucks, but these actions undermine confidence in Starbucks leadership,” the workers wrote in the letter, which was sent to senior executives and board members and will be posted on its website Wednesday. “Morale is low, and the brand reputation and financial value of this publicly traded company is at risk.” Both violate the rights of the barista union, and subject white-collar staff to the mandate to return to the office suddenly, the letter argued, describing the same problem: “Not listening to partners.”
“We believe in Starbucks, we believe in core values, and we call to return to those values,” Wrote white collar staffers.
Collective activism by headquarters staff is increasing pressure on incoming Chief Executive Officer Laxman Narasimhan to resolve a bitter dispute with Starbucks Workers United, a labor group that last year organized several hundred of the company’s 9,000 US locations. It may have been a precursor to unionization efforts by the white-collar Starbucks staff themselves, who argued that the company had violated the values they were supposed to segregate.
Starbucks did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has repeatedly denied violating labor laws and said all claims of anti-union activity were “grossly false.”
The letter was signed by about four dozen white-collar workers, who organizers said also represented others whom they did not name for fear of retaliation. Starbucks employs about 258,000 people in the U.S., with 248,000 of them in company-operated stores, according to data released by the company. The rest work in corporate support, store development, baking, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution.
In January, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz sent out a memo requiring workers within commuting distance to return to the office three days a week. He told white-collar staff that baristas “ask us to do transformative work that I believe can only be done effectively when we are physically together.”
Employees said the protest letter arose out of online discussions over the past few months that were sparked in part by Schultz’s January email. It also reflected long-standing frustration by some white-collar workers with Starbucks’ response to the union campaign, which US labor council prosecutors allege included illegal threats and the termination of about 50 activists. Barista activists and Workers United organizers have suggested the efforts will be made by white-collar workers.
Starbucks’ business appears to be largely unaffected by worker morale and union battles: The coffee chain’s results have been strong in recent quarters, excluding China, where the outbreak of Covid-19 has ended sales restrictions. North American consumers have proven that so far they will pay more for lattes and frappuccinos, while transactions have also increased. The stock is up about 3% this year, slightly trailing the gains of the S&P 500 Index.
The workers behind the letter say the company’s anti-union efforts punish baristas who “challenge the status quo,” while arguing the return-to-office mandate hurts productivity, morale, accessibility and sustainability.
“After Howard issued the edict, I definitely don’t like working at Starbucks anymore — it’s like I’m working for a dictator,” said Starbucks app developer Peter de Jesus, one of the employees who signed the letter. “I feel like this isn’t the Starbucks I signed up for.”
De Jesus said he hopes the letter will help show more white-collar workers that they don’t just feel like they’re not being heard by management. “Many people just want their grievances and demands aired, and hope for change,” he said. “If it doesn’t lead to significant change, then the next step is to think about being able to integrate.”
Manager Participation
The organizers and signatories of the letter include several managers, whose workplace advocacy carries certain risks. Federal labor law guarantees most employees the right to take collective action regarding working conditions, including union efforts. But the law does not include managers, leaving executives with the authority to demand that they toe company lines.
“For the most part, supervisors and managers have no rights under this law,” said former National Labor Relations Board member Wilma Liebman, who chaired the federal agency under President Barack Obama.
While companies are generally free to fire managers for complaining about working conditions, retaliating against them can still be illegal if it’s done to interfere with an hourly employee’s freedom to organize, Liebman said. Labor councils have ruled, for example, that it is illegal to fire managers for refusing to commit illegal acts.
The employees behind the letter said they hoped coming forward as a group would prevent punitive measures against them. He also sought to help change the company’s course in a way that recent judge rulings and lawmakers’ letters condemning allegations of union rebellion have not done.
See also: Starbucks stands firm in union battle amid government pressure
“Many of us stand up in the hope that the more people stand up, the less we worry about retaliation,” said engineering manager Cyril Bouanna, who is working on tools including Starbucks’ mobile app.
The letter follows an internal survey last year that showed the company’s staff faith in the company’s ethics and social impact is at a historic low amid union battles and back-to-office policies. Staff at companies such as Amazon.com Inc and Walt Disney Co.
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