NLRB in Starbucks case lowers bar for proving anti-union threats
By Daniel Wiessner
Nov 8 (Reuters) -The National Labor Relations Board on Friday said Starbucks broke the law by telling workers at its flagship Seattle cafe that they would lose benefits if they joined a union.
The board in a 3-1 ruling in the case, one of scores involving a nationwide union campaign at Starbucks, made it easier to prove that employers' predictions about the impact of unionizing amount to threats that violate the National Labor Relations Act.
The NLRB's Friday ruling overruled a 1985 decision that said most employer statements about the effects of unionization on the relationship between workers and management are lawful. The board said that moving forward, those statements will be deemed illegal unless they are "carefully phrased," based on objective facts, and relate to consequences out of an employer's control.
Otherwise, the board said, "the statement is no longer a reasonable prediction based on available facts but a threat of retaliation based on misrepresentation and coercion."
The NLRB said Starbucks violated that standard by telling workers during mandatory meetings in 2022 that if they unionized, they would be deprived of benefits granted to non-union employees.
Workers at the Seattle store voted that year to join the union Workers United, as have employees at more than 500 other Starbucks locations. In April, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an NLRB ruling ordering Starbucks to bargain with the union at the Seattle store.
Starbucks and lawyers for the union did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran in a statement said the new standard would bring greater consistency to the board's approach in evaluating employer statements.
The ruling "better protects workers' right to make a free and fair choice about union representation while respecting an employer's prerogative to share their views in a non-coercive manner," McFerran said.
The decision is the latest by Democratic President Joe Biden's appointees to the board to reverse or update longstanding NLRB precedent in ways seen as favoring unions.
Those rulings, including one creating a path for unions to organize workers outside of the traditional election process, will likely be on the chopping block after Republican former President Donald Trump's victory in this week's election.
After he takes office in January, Trump could install a Republican majority on the five-member board fairly quickly, as one seat is already vacant and McFerran's term expires next month.
The board's current lone Republican, Marvin Kaplan, dissented on Friday, saying the 1985 test appropriately distinguishes between non-coercive statements and threats.
Kaplan also said his colleagues should not have addressed the broader issue because it was not raised by the union or general counsel in Starbucks' case, and that as a result, it should not be treated as binding precedent.
"This case would make Shakespeare proud. It is truly a decision full of sound and fury that signifies nothing," Kaplan wrote.
The case is Siren Retail Corp, National Labor Relations Board, No. 19–CA–290905.
For Starbucks: Jeffrey Dilger and Ryan Hammond of Littler Mendelson
For the union: Dmitri Iglitzin of Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt
For the NLRB general counsel: Sarah McBride
Read more:
Starbucks loses appeal over union election at Seattle store
Starbucks CEO Niccol says committed to "engage constructively" with workers union
Unions poised to capitalize on U.S. labor board rulings that bolstered organizing
NLRB paves way for workers to unionize without formal elections
Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York
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