Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz agreed to testify before the Senate about the coffee giant’s alleged labor law violations, complying with lawmakers’ demands just one day before Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) held a vote to subpoena him.
The Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee was expected to agree to subpoena Schultz on Wednesday after the Starbucks CEO repeatedly declined to testify before the Senate. It's not yet clear when the testimony will take place.
BERNIE SANDERS BLASTS STARBUCKS CEO FOR NOT UNIONIZING NATIONWIDE
“The HELP Committee was scheduled to vote tomorrow to subpoena him and I want to thank the members of the Committee who, in a bi-partisan way, were prepared to do just that,” Sanders said in a statement. “Let’s be clear. In America, workers have the constitutional right to organize unions and engage in collective bargaining to improve their wages and working conditions. Unfortunately Starbucks, under Mr. Schultz’s leadership, has done everything possible to prevent that from happening.”
Sanders first requested Schultz’s testimony shortly after the Vermont senator took over as committee chairman in February. However, the company declined to make Schultz available, noting he would be stepping down from the company this month.
The company offered to make other executives available for questioning, a move Sanders called “disappointing.”
Schultz’s testimony comes after the National Labor Relations Board issued more than 80 complaints against Starbucks over alleged violations of federal labor laws, as well as 502 unfair labor practice charges filed against the company. Additionally, the company engaged in “egregious and widespread misconduct” regarding its unions, a New York judge ruled earlier this month.
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More than 280 Starbucks shops nationwide have voted to form a union over the past year, but Starbucks has failed to “negotiate in good faith to sign a single first contract with their employees,” Sanders wrote.
“In America we must not have a two-tiered justice system in which billionaires and large corporations can break the law with impunity, while working class people are held accountable for their actions,” he wrote. “I look forward to hearing from Mr. Schultz as to when he intends to end his illegal anti-union activities and begin signing fair first contracts with unions.”