Howard Schultz To Testify Before Bernie Sanders' Senate HELP Committee Over 'Union Busting' Allegations
The move is a reversal in the coffee-giant's position to allow Schultz to testify on Sanders' committee
A day before Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was to hold a vote in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee to subpoena Starbucks’ Interim CEO Howard Schultz to testify, the company has agreed to allow Schultz to appear.
The move ends a “nearly monthlong back and forth between the outgoing CEO of the Seattle-based coffee giant and Sen. Bernie Sanders,” the Seattle Times reported Tuesday.
The move is a reversal in Starbucks’ position that a different executive would be better positioned to attend Sanders’ hearing.
On Monday, Sanders’ office issued a press release stating (in part):
“…the [HELP] committee will hold an Executive Session this Wednesday, March 8, at 10:00 a.m. ET to vote on a subpoena for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, followed by a hearing titled, “Defending the Right of Workers to Organize Unions Free from Illegal Corporate Union-Busting” featuring AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry, Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien, former Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board John Ring, and President of the National Right to Work Committee and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation Mark Mix.”
However, in a letter written to Sanders on Tuesday, Acting Executive Vice President and General Counsel Zabrina Jenkins wrote:
“After constructive discussions with Committee staff, we have agreed that interim chief executive officer Howard Schultz will testify on behalf of Starbucks before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on March 29, 2023, at 10 a.m. ET.”
“We look forward to continuing to work with the Committee to foster productive dialogue. As part of those efforts, we will endeavor to provide a deeper understanding of our culture and priorities, including our industry leading benefits offerings and our long-standing commitment to support the shared success of our more than 450,000 global partners (employees).”
Since late 2021, Starbucks has been the center of a wide-spread campaign orchestrated by the SEIU’s Workers United wherein nearly 300 separate corporate-owned Starbucks cafes across the United States have been unionized.