Since the first Starbucks cafe unionized in Buffalo, New York in 2021 much of the media coverage has portrayed the campaign to unionize Starbucks as a mostly organic effort.
Other than passing mentions that the Starbucks Workers United is an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), with the exception of a few, most mainstream media journalists who cover labor unions have not investigation, nor reported, on the amount of money and resources the SEIU has spent to unionize the world’s largest coffee retailer.
In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, the Freedom Foundation’s Director of Labor Policy Maxford Nelsen joins host Peter List to discuss Mr. Nelsen’s findings about the “astroturf” campaign to unionize Starbucks, as well as the union’s use of union ‘salts,’ and some of the expenditures made.
In addition to discussing the SEIU’s role in the Starbucks campaign, Mr. Nelsen discusses some of the Freedom Foundation’s important cases involving First Amendment issues for public-sector workers that may be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court..
Labor Relations Radio, Ep 53—Freedom Foundation's Maxford Nelsen on Starbucks Workers United, the SEIU & Union Salts