Pingree, Congressional Members Take Starbucks CEO to Task for Withholding Pay Increases for Union Employees

Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree joined 30 members of Congress in a letter to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz criticizing the company’s decision to withhold pay increases and improvements in benefits from union employees. 

“As workers renegotiate the compact between employee and employer across workplaces nationwide, we encourage both parties to work together, mend differences and unite to help build an economy that works for everyone,” the Congressional members wrote. 

In the letter to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, led by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), lawmakers said the reported discrimination against unionizing employees “could set an alarming precedent that, in our opinion, is not consistent with U.S. labor laws, including the National Labor Relations Act.”

Of the 9,000 Starbucks locations nationwide, 242 have unionized. In July, the Starbucks in Biddeford became the first Maine location to unionize. Workers at the Starbucks on the corner of Middle and Exchange Streets in Portland are organizing to become the second unionized location in Maine, citing pay and safety concerns.

The National Labor Relations Board has received over 200 unfair labor practice complaints alleging union busting and mistreatment of workers since the union drives began last year. Starbucks Workers United filed another complaint in June alleging that Schultz broke the law when he told New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin that he would never embrace the union, calling the workers’ union a “third party.”