A U.S. Supreme Court decision Thursday sided with Starbucks in a dispute over the firing of pro-union workers in a ruling that could restrict the National Labor Relations Board’s future authority to intervene when workers accuse companies of illegally suppressing union organizing.
The case centers around seven baristas in Memphis, Tennessee, who alleged that Starbucks fired them for trying to unionize their store. The NLRB sided with the workers, and because it can take years for an unfair labor practice complaint to go through the legal process, the agency asked a judge for an injunction reinstating the workers, which was granted.
Starbucks had accused the baristas of violating store policies, and contested the legal standard the judge had used to impose the injunction. The Supreme Court agreed the lower court’s legal test was too broad and inconsistent with those of other courts.
The NLRB did not comment on the decision, but instead pointed to a statement the agency’s General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo made during Supreme Court arguments in April.
“Without obtaining this temporary relief,” Abruzzo said, “the lawbreaker will fully reap the benefits of having violated workers’ rights — such as by snuffing out a nascent organizing drive — through the passage of time, because a Board remedy in due course will come too late to sufficiently address the harm.”
In February, Starbucks announced a new path forward for contract negotiation, setting a goal of ratification of a contract in 2024, after years of impasse. Union members told Cascade PBS those renewed talks had been productive during initial negotiations.
“We remain focused on making progress toward our goal of reaching ratified contracts for represented stores this year,” Starbucks wrote in a statement after the decision. “Consistent federal standards are important in ensuring that employees know their rights and consistent labor practices are upheld no matter where in the country they work and live.”
Lynne Fox, president of Workers United, the union representing the Starbucks employees, called the court’s ruling egregious. Fox also argued the company should have dropped the case earlier this year when it committed to a new path in bargaining.
“Working people have so few tools to protect and defend themselves when their employers break the law,” Fox wrote in a statement.
More than 10,000 workers at 437 stores have joined Workers United since unionizing efforts began at Starbucks cafes in December 2021. A Cascade PBS investigation explored early negotiations between Starbucks and the union, and examined the role of the National Labor Relations Board in adjudicating hundreds of related unfair labor-practice complaints.