The National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday accused Starbucks of illegally closing 23 shops to prevent workers from organizing and is seeking to force the business to reopen the shops, the New York Times reported.
Among the closed branches was a unionized shop on Middle Street in Portland, according to the Maine AFL-CIO. Starbucks closed the branch in December 2022. Workers there had voted 10-3 to unionize in October. Another Maine Starbucks branch, in Biddeford, unionized in July 2022 and is still open.
At least seven of the 23 closed branches addressed in the NLRB complaint had unionized, the Times reported.
In the complaint, the NLRB asked a judge to force Starbucks to reopen the stores and compensate employees for lost earnings and benefits.
Starbucks said the closures were part of a regular cycle at the company in which it opened hundreds of stores last year and closed more than 100, about 3 percent of which were unionized, according to the Times.
In a statement, Maine AFL-CIO Executive Director Matt Schlobohm, called the right to unionize and collectively bargain “a fundamental freedom in this country.”
“Corporations like Starbucks are not above the law even though they act like they are,” Schlobohm said. “Starbucks has routinely, systematically and arrogantly broken our labor laws and sought to deny workers’ rights to collectively bargain. We applaud this decision to hold Starbucks accountable and order it to reopen and respect our first amendment freedom of association.”
The complaint is expected to go before an administrative judge next summer, the Times reported, unless Starbucks settles it earlier.