(A hill) — Starbucks violated labor laws by refusing to recognize union members at a Seattle, Washington store and must sit down to negotiate with representatives, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said Wednesday.
The Starbucks Reserve Roastery officially voted to form a union in April, and the election was upheld by the NLRB in May.
But since July, Starbucks has continued to dispute the election without presenting any new evidence. The store also refused to negotiate with the union and recognize it, violating labor laws, according to the NLRB.
The federal agency ordered Starbucks to cease and desist from union recognition and to negotiate with union representatives.
Within 21 days of receiving the notice, Starbucks must file a form with local NLRB officials confirming the steps taken to comply with the order.
Employees at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood voted 38 to 27 to join Workers United, a branch of the Service Workers International Union.
The store joins more than 250 Starbucks locations that have merged over the past couple of years, part of a new movement that is quickly spreading to stores across the U.S.
Starbucks vehemently abandoned the effort, and union representatives blamed the coffee giant for union busting.
There was a store in Memphis, Tennessee ordered to reinstate seven employees in August after a judge found the company illegally retaliated against them for joining a union.
Earlier this month, Starbucks employees in more than 100 stores called the strike on Red Cup Day, typically one of the busiest times of the year when the company gives out free reusable cups to customers for the holidays.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who returned to lead the corporation in April but will step down from the top job next year, called the unionization effort “a new outside force that is desperately trying to disrupt our campaign.”