Posted on May 24, 2022
For Kansas City Starbucks workers, ‘lifesaving’ benefits are on the bargaining table
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For Starbucks baristas — many of them young and queer — it used to be a point of pride to work for a company with a reputation for taking care of its employees. But some employees say the company's response to their unionization efforts prove otherwise.
When Maddie Doran learned she was at risk of losing her health insurance as an employee of Starbucks, she says she was terrified.
“Oh, it ruined me, I mean, I suffer from a panic disorder so any little thing that spikes my anxiety makes it go through the roof,” Doran says.
Doran was an employee at the Starbucks on 75th Street in Overland Park. Like many Starbucks workers across the country, she was drawn to the job's flexibility and health benefits — and because she is transgender, that insurance was especially important.
But when she and her colleagues announced they wanted to form a union, the company threatened to take those benefits away.
When Maddie Doran learned she was at risk of losing her health insurance as an employee of Starbucks, she says she was terrified.
“Oh, it ruined me, I mean, I suffer from a panic disorder so any little thing that spikes my anxiety makes it go through the roof,” Doran says.
Doran was an employee at the Starbucks on 75th Street in Overland Park. Like many Starbucks workers across the country, she was drawn to the job's flexibility and health benefits — and because she is transgender, that insurance was especially important.
But when she and her colleagues announced they wanted to form a union, the company threatened to take those benefits away.
For Kansas City Starbucks workers, ‘lifesaving’ benefits are on the bargaining table
Posted from kcur.org
Starbucks
Kansas City
Overland Park
Independence
LGBTQ+
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 2
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."On the lawful side of being very anti-union’
While Starbucks’ alleged actions have been widely criticized, they’re not necessarily illegal.
The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 provides protections for unionizing employees through Section 7 rights, which says among other things that companies cannot "threaten employees with adverse consequences" if they support a union or "promise employees benefits if they reject a union."
But according to Risa Lieberwitz, a professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University, the way the law is written and interpreted still allows companies to oppose union efforts.
“Employers use the weaknesses in the law as ways to engage in very vociferous anti-union campaigns that stay on the lawful side of being very anti-union,” Lieberwitz said. “They do it because they want to interrupt the momentum of employees unionizing, and they also do it because the law isn't strong enough to create disincentives to their engaging in those kinds of campaigns.”
In 2021, the Biden administration appointed a new general counsel to the NLRB, Jennifer Abruzzo. It’s been seen as an encouraging move for workers' rights and pro-union advocates across the country."...
..."On the lawful side of being very anti-union’
While Starbucks’ alleged actions have been widely criticized, they’re not necessarily illegal.
The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 provides protections for unionizing employees through Section 7 rights, which says among other things that companies cannot "threaten employees with adverse consequences" if they support a union or "promise employees benefits if they reject a union."
But according to Risa Lieberwitz, a professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University, the way the law is written and interpreted still allows companies to oppose union efforts.
“Employers use the weaknesses in the law as ways to engage in very vociferous anti-union campaigns that stay on the lawful side of being very anti-union,” Lieberwitz said. “They do it because they want to interrupt the momentum of employees unionizing, and they also do it because the law isn't strong enough to create disincentives to their engaging in those kinds of campaigns.”
In 2021, the Biden administration appointed a new general counsel to the NLRB, Jennifer Abruzzo. It’s been seen as an encouraging move for workers' rights and pro-union advocates across the country."...
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