In her unceasing quest to cultivate further unionization across the business spectrum, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo announced her latest efforts last week on Twitter. Abruzzo, who formerly worked for SEIU, advised the Board in a brief filed in a pending case (Cemex Construction Materials v International Brotherhood of Teamsters) that…
Read More »With 6 more upstate New York stores and a shop in Kansa voting to unionize last week, only to be followed by 2 Boston area stores doing so UNANIMOUSLY this week, Starbucks will be pursuing a different strategy moving forward under interim CEO Howard Schultz (also the founder and twice previously President and CEO). In…
Read More »National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo yesterday issued a memorandum advising regional NLRB offices that she will be asking the Board to find that mandatory employee meetings held by some companies to persuade their workers to reject unionizing is a violation of federal labor law. In her 3-page memorandum, Abruzzo contends that…
Read More »With almost three years remaining in the term of President Biden, the self-proclaimed “most pro-union president ever”, organized labor is indeed making strides. One of the major forces in the federal government that can greatly influence organized labor is the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In the wake of decisions such as that reported above…
Read More »Contrary to the union-favoring anti-business provisions of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), there is finally a viable alternative floating around in the United States Senate. Republican Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced the Employee Rights Act (ERA) of 2022 into the Senate just over a week ago. The legislation seeks to bring…
Read More »A Starbucks store in the company hometown of Seattle became the seventh and latest store to formally vote for union representation, joining 5 other stores in the Buffalo New York market and one outlet in Mesa Arizona. The vote at the Seattle location was unanimous with 9 voting in the affirmative and one vote challenged…
Read More »The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced this week that three more Starbucks stores in the Buffalo New York market have voted to affiliate with the Starbucks Workers United, a local affiliate of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Two of the stores supported the union representation vote by tallies of 15 – 12, while…
Read More »With now well over 100 company-owned Starbucks locations seeking union representation elections under the administrative eye of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), each new location where unionizing efforts are successful presents additional potential challenges for the QSR industry at large and franchising in particular. The latest Starbucks location to formally endorse representation by the…
Read More »We are loathe to continually write about unionizing within the QSR industry, but it’s imperative that franchisees are aware and well-informed of this growing threat. As you know, Starbucks has replaced McDonald’s as the poster child for unionizing individual fast food stores and it is now looking at union representation elections in as many as…
Read More »Regrettably, it seems the broad subject of unionization and what organized labor is doing is becoming a regular feature in Small Regular No Sugar! of late. This week, two more Starbucks stores in the Boston area (now totaling 4 in Boston market) as well as a store in Tallahassee Florida filed for union representation elections…
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