Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is calling for a vote on whether or not to issue a subpoena to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
Sanders chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP).
The committee is voting on the subpoena, which would force Schultz to testify about his company’s labour practices, including potential violations.
The subpoena vote is scheduled to take place on March 8.
The result of the vote could result in an investigation into the multinational corporation and whether it violated labour laws in its pushback against unionization.
“While Howard Schultz is a multi-billionaire who runs a very profitable multi-national corporation, he must understand that he and his company are not above the law,” Sanders said in a statement.
“The National Labor Relations Board has filed over 75 complaints against Starbucks for violating federal labour law, and there have been over 500 unfair labour practice charges lodged against his company. These violations include the illegal firing of more than a dozen Starbucks workers. For nearly a year, I and many of my colleagues in the Senate have repeatedly asked Mr. Schultz to respect the constitutional right of workers at Starbucks to form a union and to stop violating federal labour laws.”
Schultz has, so far, failed to respond to those requests to testify in front of the HELP Committee.
“A multi-billion dollar corporation like Starbucks cannot continue to break federal labour law with impunity. The time has come to hold Starbucks and Mr. Schultz accountable,” Sanders said.
The first Starbucks to vote to unionize was in Buffalo in 2021.
It has since seen more than 350 locations across 40 states vote in favour of unionizing, demanding safer working conditions and higher wages.
Not one union contract has been signed, though, as the company pushed back against the campaign.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is down 0.65 percent, trading at $101.43 at 4:08 p.m. ET.
