Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Wednesday that he plans to hold a vote among his colleagues to determine whether Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz should be called to testify before a Senate committee.
The Vermont Independent has slammed Starbucks founders over an anti-union campaign against Workers United, a union that has organized nearly 300 of the chain’s stores. Now, Sanders said Schultz should be forced to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Sanders chairs.
“Unfortunately, Howard Schultz gave us no choice but to subpoena,” Sanders said said on Twitter. “A multi-billion dollar company like Starbucks cannot continue to violate federal labor laws with impunity. The time has come to hold Starbucks and Mr. Schultz accountable.
Sanders’ office said in a press release that the committee will hold a vote on Wednesday. Democrats have a slim majority in the committee and the Senate in general.
Sanders said the subpoena was related to Starbucks’ “lack of compliance with federal labor laws.” He also said he hopes to “allow the committee’s investigation into major corporate labor law violations.”
Workers United is facing aggressive pushback from the coffee chain as the union tries to organize stores from coast to coast starting in 2021. The National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel has issued dozens of complaints against the Seattle-based company, alleging illegal firings. workers, closed stores, and threatened to withhold pay raises and benefits to keep employees from unionizing.
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Sanders sent a letter to Starbucks last month asking for Schultz to testify before the committee, but the company responded with a letter saying the CEO did not want to do so. He recommended that a different executive, AJ Jones II, appear in his place. Schultz plans to step down from his role at the top of the company in March.
“Due to the transition period, he is relinquishing any operational role in the company that he will take on and what we understand is the subject of the hearing, we believe that another senior leader with ongoing responsibilities is best suited to address the issue,” Starbucks general. counsel Zabrina Jenkins wrote for Sanders.
Schultz is the face of Starbucks and has been heavily involved in campaigns against unions, making direct appeals to workers. The labor board’s general counsel has accused Schultz himself of breaking the law amid the campaign. In a sign of the controversy of the campaign, the union’s main organizers called Schultz “the Al Capone of the unions.”
After Starbucks declined the senator’s request for Schultz to appear before the committee, Sanders called the response “disappointing, but not surprising.”
“Apparently, it’s easier for Mr. Schultz to fire workers who are exercising their constitutional right to form a union, and to intimidate others who might be interested in joining a union than to answer questions from elected officials,” Sanders said.