Starbucks worker in Oklahoma asks National Labor Relations Board to remove union

Amid the volatile fight over unionization at Starbucks stores nationwide, an employee at a Nichols Hills location has joined anti-union efforts by filing a petition seeking a vote to remove the union from her store.

Amy Smith filed the petition earlier this month with the National Labor Relations Board asking that 27 employees be allowed to vote on decertifying Starbucks Workers United at the Nichols Hills Plaza location.

Smith is asking for a vote to take place Nov. 17.

She is represented by the National Right to Work Legal Foundation, which said in a news release this week that the petition has enough employee signatures to prompt a vote.

“While Oklahoma is a right-to-work state, meaning SBWU bosses cannot compel Smith or her coworkers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of staying employed, SBWU is still empowered by federal law to impose a union contract on all employees of the coffee shop, including those who oppose the union,” the foundation said. “A successful decertification vote would strip union officials of that power.”

The foundation said Smith and her co-workers are the latest to join efforts to decertify the union, including Starbucks workers in New York, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City among other locations.

Oklahoma City Starbucks was the first in the state to unionize

Workers at 365 Starbucks locations nationwide have voted to join unions since August 2021.

Last year, the Starbucks store at 132 NW 23 in Oklahoma City was the first in Oklahoma to unionize.

Starbucks Workers United says employees at the Nichols Hills store and stores across the country are victims of a union-busting campaign costing millions of dollars that could be spent on employee raises.

“It is concerning the Right to Work Foundation claims to represent the interest of workers, while being funded by billionaires, whose larger goal is to diminish labor power,” said Collin Pollitt, a union partner at the NW 23 location. "Organized workers are responsible for raising labor standards throughout history, not benevolent dictator CEOs.”

Labor board investigating several Oklahoma Starbucks locations over alleged union busting tactics

Region 14 of the labor board is looking into complaints of unfair labor practices at the Nichols Hills store as well as one in Norman, and two in Oklahoma City, including the NW 23 location.

Accusations include interrogating workers about union activity, threatening loss of pay raises and benefits if employees unionized and promising increased benefits and improved workplace conditions if employees did not partake in unionization.

Starbucks Workers United has filed more than 100 cases with the labor board across the country, accusing Starbucks of refusing to bargain with the union, firing union supporters and conducting anti-union efforts in stores.

Some of those accusations have been aimed at the Starbucks C-suite.

More: OKC metro-area Starbucks stores face prosecution for unfair labor practices, NLRB says

On Oct. 6, Administrative Law Judge Brian Gee in Los Angeles ruled that former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz violated federal labor law making an illegal threat against an employee.

During a “listening tour” among Starbucks employees in Long Beach last year, Schultz had a tense exchange with barista Madison “Mads” Hall.

Schultz agreed with Hall that employees should earn a “living wage,” but went on to say, according to Gee’s finding:

“And I sense from you a little bit of anger towards the company and I just want to know why.”

Hall suggested they talk about open labor board charges. Schultz offered to speak with Hall one-on-one. Others in the room went silent and stared at the exchange.

According to Gee’s finding, Schultz let out an “indignant half-laugh” and said:

“I’m here to be 100% honest and transparent. You’ve been with the company two years. I would just ask you to have a little bit more respect for the people who have been here more — more years than you. And the fact that I’ve come here, not to talk about a union issue, I’ve come here to address the issues that we need to address to improve the company. And if you’re not happy at Starbucks, you can go work for another company.”

Gee ruled that Schultz violated federal labor law by “threatening or impliedly threatening employees by inviting them to quit in response to their union or other protected concerted activities.”

The judge ordered Schultz and Starbucks to quit threatening employees by inviting them to quit because they have engaged in union or other protected activity.

“In 2022, Starbucks held collaboration sessions with our partners around the country to gather input on how best to shape the experiences in our stores and we are pleased NLRB Judge Gee found those sessions both lawful and rooted in past practices,” the company said in a statement.

How Starbucks has responded

Starbucks said it has no affiliation with The National Right to Work Foundation, and the chain respects the right of employees to decide whether to join a union:

“While Starbucks continues to make good faith efforts to negotiate first contracts for certified stores, partners at nearly 20 stores across the country have filed petitions to decertify Workers United as their bargaining representative.

Unfortunately, in each instance where partners have appropriately filed petitions to hold a decertification vote, Workers United and the National Labor Relations Board have sought to deprive those partners of their right to choose whether they want to maintain union representation through a secret ballot election.”

In its news release announcing the union decertification move at the Nichols Hills store, The National Right to Work Foundation said union officials manipulate federal labor law to prevent workers from voting them out. Tactics include filing unrelated or unverified charges against management, the group says.

“SBWU union officials are leveraging their legal privileges and the deep pockets of their affiliate, the Service Employees International Union, to try to install union control over as many Starbucks employees as they can as quickly as they can,” foundation President Mark Mix said in the news release.

“But as Starbucks and other coffee employees across the country continue to try to flee the union’s power, it’s becoming clearer that the SBWU’s campaign is rooted more in generating political buzz and expanding union power than actually standing up for workers’ interests.”

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 granted private sector employees the right to unionize.

Last week in Midwest City, employees at the Starbucks near SE 29 and Air Depot filed a petition with the labor board to unionize with Starbucks Workers United.

"After dedicating three years of my life to this company, it's disheartening to witness how our viewpoints and perspectives as partners are often overlooked in decisions that greatly impact both the business and partners,” Viktoria Jekic, a barista and organizer at the Midwest City location, said in a news release. “The title ‘partner’ loses its meaning when we are treated as expendable commodities. Unionizing signifies a future where our voices are not only acknowledged but truly valued and embraced, and where we are genuinely regarded as partners in the true sense of the word.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Starbucks worker in Oklahoma files to vote for removal of union