DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ YouTube TV contractors in early stages of organizing say they're being held in 'captive meetings' to discourage unionizing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

YouTube TV contractors are in the early stages of making a push towards unionization. The YouTube TV contractors' efforts follow that of their colleagues in YouTube Music. In response, Cognizant held two "captive meetings" with the YouTube TV team in the past two weeks to dissuade them from organizing, contractors say. Contractors working for Cognizant say they've been told they should not take these new signs down. In the past year, more than 300 Starbucks locations organized under the Starbucks Workers Union.

☆ Starbucks' Howard Schultz was the gold standard for good bosses everywhere. Then Gen Z worked for him.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks at the time, then appeared with Clinton on a panel to discuss corporate responsibility. Schultz discussed his 1987 decision to offer Starbucks employees stock options and what he said was better healthcare than rivals, among other benefits. Starbucks workers participate in November's Red Cup Rebellion, a nationwide strike. Starbucks's health insurance option for part-time workers originates in a 1986 contract for unionized Seattle Starbucks workers that Schultz fought against at the time. Markey said that by unionizing, Starbucks workers are "just looking to be someone who can protect themselves in the way your father could not."

☆ Starbucks union is using billboards, a brass band and a butter sculpture to pressure board members from Nike, Land O'Lakes and Lego
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Starbucks union organizers are stepping up pressure on individual members of the company's board. Leaders at Nike, Lego, and Land O' Lakes were targeted using billboards, a movie trailer, a brass band, and even a butter sculpture. The push comes a week after shareholders voted in favor of an investigation into Starbucks' labor practices. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles and online, a Lego Movie-styled trailer premiered with the aim of enlisting Lego President Jorgen Vig Knudstorp to join the side of Starbucks workers. And now, those tensions are spilling over to other companies as the union targets Starbucks' board of directors.

☆ Starbucks union pressures board members with billboards, posters – and a butter sculpture
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Nearly 300 company-owned Starbucks cafes have voted to unionize under Workers United, according to National Labor Relations Board data. Starbucks Workers United is deploying a butter sculpture, brass band, billboard and movie posters to put pressure on the coffee chain's board to accept the union. Beth Ford, chief executive officer of Land O'Lakes Inc. (L), and a butter sculpture of land o'lakes her. In the hopes of speeding up the process, just outside of Minnesota's Twin Cities, Starbucks workers will deliver a butter sculpture of Ford to Land O'Lakes' headquarters. "Community allies" will also take part, according to Starbucks Workers United.

☆ Starbucks fires Alexis Rizzo, the Buffalo union worker who 'ignited a movement' to organize
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Starbucks has fired a Buffalo, New York, worker who “ignited a movement” from one of the first stores in the coffee chain to unionize, Starbucks Workers United said Friday. Alexis Rizzo had been shift supervisor at the Genesee Street store in Buffalo for 7 years, the union said. “This is retaliation at its worst,” a statement from Starbucks Workers United said. Nearly 300 locations have voted to join Starbucks Workers United. “What is outrageous to me is not only Starbucks’ anti-union activities and their willingness to break the law, it is their calculated and intentional efforts to stall, stall and stall,” Sanders said during the hearing.

☆ Starbucks fired the worker who led unionization movement, just days after former CEO grilled by Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rizzo sparked what has become a nationwide labor movement when she worked to unionize two Starbucks stores in Buffalo, New York. Alexis Rizzo, the Buffalo-based Starbucks worker who began the Starbucks Workers United campaign, was fired after seven years with the company, Starbucks Workers United tweeted Saturday. In an interview with CNBC, Rizzo said she was fired after her shift Friday, and that managers cited four times she was late for work. —Starbucks Workers United (@SBWorkersUnited) April 1, 2023Rizzo's firing follows former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's recent appearance before Congress, where he was questioned by senators over alleged widespread union busting. Starbucks Workers United posted a GoFundMe page for Rizzo Friday, pulling in nearly $7,000 for Rizzo in a day.

☆ Starbucks fired the employee responsible for igniting the Starbucks Workers United union campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Starbucks fired Alexis Rizzo, the employee responsible for igniting the Starbucks Workers United union campaign, just days after the company's former CEO Howard Schultz testified on Capitol Hill about the coffee chain's alleged union-busting, CNBC confirmed. Starbucks Workers United announced Rizzo's termination in a tweet Saturday and said in a corresponding GoFundMe page that "this is retaliation at its worst." It was like my family," Rizzo told CNBC in an interview. Schultz faced a volley of tough questions from Sen. Bernie Sanders Wednesday about Starbucks' labor and union practices. Nearly 300 Starbucks cafes have voted to unionize under Starbucks Workers United, according to data from the National Labor Relations Board.

☆ Starbucks shareholders want more information about the company’s anti-union efforts
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Starbucks’ investors have voted in favor of an independent review of the company’s aggressive anti-union efforts. The assessment would include remedies if it finds that Starbucks has broken its own stated commitment to workers rights. Starbucks workers rally in celebration of the first anniversary of the union's founding on December 9, 2022 in New York City. Over the past year and a half, Starbucks has been waging a bitter fight against unionization efforts. During a hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee about the company’s labor practices on Wednesday, one former employee said he was wrongfully fired after organizing.

[1/2] Starbucks workers attend a rally as they go on a one-day strike outside a store in Buffalo, New York, U.S., November 17, 2022. REUTERS/Lindsay DeDario//File PhotoNEW YORK, March 29 (Reuters) - Starbucks shareholders approved a proposal for the coffee chain to conduct an independent assessment of its labor practices as it contends with hundreds of newly unionized U.S. cafes, according to voting results filed on Wednesday. The city's public pension funds and a coalition of other shareholders, who combined hold about 2.2 million Starbucks shares, proposed the assessment. "It is clear from the vote result in the proposal that our investors share our commitment to our partners," Starbucks said in its regulatory filing disclosing the results. The Seattle-based company said it will use findings of the review to "understand how we can best support our partners."

☆ Starbucks’s Howard Schultz Testifies About Negotiations With Unions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Heather Haddon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Longtime Starbucks Corp. leader Howard Schultz on Wednesday defended the coffee chain against accusations it has retaliated against pro-union workers who say they are seeking better pay and benefits. Mr. Schultz, testifying before a Senate committee, said the company has attempted to bargain with representatives of the Starbucks Workers United union in good faith. Any unionized employee disciplined by Starbucks was a result of violating company policies, not advocating for a union, he said in prepared remarks.

☆ Starbucks’s Howard Schultz Faces Tough Questions from Bernie Sanders About Union Talks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Heather Haddon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Lawmakers grilled former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on the company's alleged anti-union practices. Sen. Bernie Sanders persuaded Schultz to testify after threatening to subpoena him. Starbucks workers and former employees also testified before the panel. Sen. Bernie Sanders, chair of the committee, persuaded Schultz to testify after threatening to subpoena him. Starbucks workers and former employees also testified before the panel.

☆ Bernie Sanders questions Howard Schultz on Starbucks' labor practices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Senator Bernie Sanders, who has roundly criticized former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz over the company’s blatant attempts to shut down its own workers’ unionization efforts, will finally get to question Schultz during a Senate hearing Wednesday. It’s a relatively small number compared to the roughly 9,300 company-operated Starbucks stores in the United States. Howard Schultz at the Starbucks annual shareholder meeting in Seattle, Washington on March 22, 2017. “Starbucks respects the right of all partners to make their own decisions about union representation,” Schultz said. In prepared remarks for the hearing, Schultz argued that “Starbucks has engaged in good faith bargaining,” saying that delays are coming from the union.

☆ Starbucks, union at odds over hybrid negotiations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 28 (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O), which has faced criticism over its opposition to union organizing, said the labor union representing some of its stores has rejected in-person bargaining sessions and is insisting on hybrid negotiations. Starbucks Workers United, which represents thousands of U.S. baristas at about 200 cafes, conducted unauthorized virtual broadcasts of bargaining sessions without prior agreement from all parties, Starbucks said in a statement to Reuters on Monday. "Workers United is asking for a seat at the table, we're simply encouraging them take their seat in-person at the negotiating table, as required, to move the bargaining process forward," the company said. This comes after National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) prosecutors alleged that Starbucks violated labor law by refusing to engage in bargaining if some workers were attending remotely via videoconference, according to a Bloomberg report. "Now that it's clear we have the right to bargain using a virtual component, we hope Starbucks is ready, too," Tyler Keeling, a leader of the Starbucks Workers United in California said.

☆ Chipotle to pay ex-employees $240,000 after closing Maine location that tried to unionize
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Chipotle Mexican Grill has agreed to pay $240,000 to the former employees of an Augusta, Maine, location as part of a settlement for closing the restaurant when workers tried to unionize. Employees at the Chipotle restaurant filed a petition to unionize under Chipotle United in late June, becoming the chain's first outlet to do so. While Chipotle United counted the settlement announced Monday as a win, it fell short of reopening the closed location. Chipotle will also offer to put all of those workers on a preferential hiring list for other Maine locations for one year. To date, just one Chipotle location has successfully unionized.

☆ 'I'd really prefer it if he stayed out of our way': Starbucks union organizers lash out at CEO's promise to work behind the counter
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Starbucks' new CEO Laxman Narasimhan announced he'll spend a half-day every month pulling coffees. Seven Starbucks stores announced they have begun the unionization process Thursday. During the annual Starbucks shareholder meeting Thursday, Starbucks Workers United announced seven new stores had filed for union elections. Workers at those stores said they hope the move shows that the labor movement at Starbucks isn't lost on Middle America. "Union Starbucks partners are here to stay."

☆ The three-day LA school strike is over. But get used to short, disruptive strikes like it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But technically, this was a strike to protest the school district’s labor practices, not over the state of the contract negotiations. Most of those short strikes started with both strikers and management knowing the length of the strike at the start. Los Angeles school workers and supporters rally in Los Angeles State Historic Park on the last day of a three-day strike this past week. Sometimes the union waging the strike doesn’t have the option, at least not at that time, to have an open-ended strike. Workers on strike sometimes receive strike benefits but they’re not eligible for unemployment benefits from their state.

☆ Starbucks shareholders to vote on proposals for labor probe, succession planning
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Shareholder votes aren't binding, so the board can reject proposals even if a majority of investors vote in favor. More than 190 company-owned Starbucks locations have voted to unionize under Starbucks Workers United, according to National Labor Relations Board data as of Friday. Members of a recently formed union of Starbucks workers hold a rally to celebrate the first anniversary of their founding, December 9, 2022 in New York City. Apple, unlike Starbucks, agreed to perform the assessment without waiting for a shareholder vote. But Trillium has more than two decades of experience putting shareholder proposals before Starbucks' board.

☆ House Republicans subpoena labor authorities in Starbucks union dispute
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 22 (Reuters) - The House Education and Labor Committee on Wednesday issued a subpoena to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging officials of the labor body failed to conduct fair and impartial union elections at Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O). She has requested a regional NLRB official to provide documents to see if the federal labor board mishandled Starbucks Union elections. The NLRB was investigating a substantial number of additional allegations against Starbucks and working with the Congress, the spokesperson added. Starbucks did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment, while Starbucks Workers United declined to comment. Employees at more than 280 of Starbucks' roughly 9,000 company-operated U.S. locations have voted to join a labor union since 2021 seeking better pay and benefits, improved health and safety conditions and protection against unfair dismissal.

☆ House Republicans subpoena labor authorities in Starbucks union dispute - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The report added the House Committee on Education and the Workforce asked a regional NLRB official to provide documents as to whether the labor body improperly influenced at least one Starbucks election. The top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, Virginia Foxx, wrote that she believes the NLRB has communications and documents outlining alleged misconduct in Starbucks elections, the report said. Foxx is seeking documents on the matter and has requested that the NLRB official provide the documents to the committee on March 29, the Journal reported, citing the subpoena. Starbucks, NLRB, the Starbucks Workers United and GOP did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Starbucks workers have also filed more than 500 charges against the company with the NLRB, which has ordered the company to reinstate 22 fired employees including some union supporters.

☆ Meet Laxman Narasimhan, a coffee industry outsider who just took over as CEO of Starbucks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Avery Hartmans | Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Laxman Narasimhan officially took over as Starbucks CEO, replacing Howard Schultz. Narasimhan is new to the coffee industry, having started his career in the consulting world before joining PepsiCo, and, later, British consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser. Narasimhan built his career in the beverage and consumer-goods industriesLaxman Narasimhan at Starbucks Investor Day in September 2022. Starbucks said at the time that Narasimhan would begin as CEO on April 1, taking over for interim CEO Schultz. Of the 365 Starbucks stores that have held votes to unionize, 292 have voted to form a union.

☆ Bernie Sanders successfully cajoled Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz into testifying before a Senate committee on labor practices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Interim Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has agreed to testify in front of Sen. Bernie Sanders' committee. Sanders chairs the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP), and wanted to subpoena Schultz to testify. Now, Schultz has agreed to testify on March 29 about the firm's alleged anti-union activities. Ahead of that vote — which was scheduled for Wednesday — Sanders said that Schultz has "finally agreed to testify." Sanders also thanked the members of his committee, "who, in a bi-partisan way, were prepared" to vote to subpoena Schultz.

☆ Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz agrees to testify at Senate hearing after subpoena threat
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has agreed to testify in a U.S. Senate hearing about the coffee chain's alleged union busting after pressure from Sen. Bernie Sanders. The Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP, Committee was scheduled to vote Wednesday morning on whether to subpoena Schultz, who previously declined a request to appear. Schultz is now scheduled to appear at a March 29 hearing. More than a year after Starbucks Workers United won its first election, none of the cafes have agreed to a contract with Starbucks yet. Starbucks has lodged more than 100 of its own complaints against the union, alleging intimidation and harassment.

☆ Starbucks corporate employees sign petition to reverse return to office mandate and stop alleged union busting
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Dozens of Starbucks employees signed a letter Wednesday pushing back against return to office policies. The corporate staffers are calling to overturn a mandate to come in at least three days per week. Months after Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said he was pleading with employees to return to the office, the executive ultimately announced a policy in January requiring employees "within commuting distance" to return to the office at least three days per week. The return to office policy and alleged union busting is "fracturing trust in Starbucks leadership," the letter states. The letter makes official requests for the company to reverse the return to office policy and "commit to a policy of neutrality and respect federal labor laws."

☆ Starbucks displayed ‘egregious and widespread misconduct’ in union fight, judge says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Starbucks has displayed “egregious and widespread misconduct” in its dealings with employees involved in efforts to unionize Buffalo, New York, stores, a National Labor Relations Board judge said in an order Wednesday. Starbucks workers attend a rally as they go on a one-day strike outside a store in Buffalo, New York, November 17, 2022. “I don’t think a union has a place in Starbucks,” Schultz recently told CNN’s Poppy Harlow. But we as a company have a right also to say, we have a different vision that is better,” he said. “This is truly a historic ruling,” Gary Bonadonna Jr., manager of the Rochester Regional Joint Board of Workers United, SEIU, said in a statement issued by Starbucks Workers United.

Search resuls for: "Starbucks Workers"

25 mentions found