Labor Hearing Focuses on Starbucks EX-C.E.O.

When Howard Schultz of Starbucks testifies before a Senate committee on Wednesday about the company’s labor policies, he will no longer be its chief executive. But his presence will underscore his continuing sway over a company he has run on and off since the 1980s.

The Capitol Hill appearance, which Schultz had resisted until faced with the possibility of a subpoena, comes the week after he handed the top job to an outside recruit, Laxman Narasimhan. How much control will actually be yielded by Schultz — who is still a board member and a major shareholder — is unclear.

He bowed out as chief executive twice before, only to reclaim the position when he felt the company had lost its way. In his most recent stint, lasting almost a year, he was outspoken in trying to blunt the progress of Workers United, which has won union elections at nearly 300 of roughly 9,300 corporate-owned Starbucks locations nationwide since fall 2021.

Organizers assert that the company’s reluctance to bargain and its retaliation against labor supporters have slowed the union’s momentum. Schultz faces tough questioning on that point from Democrats on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, along with its chairman, Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has accused Starbucks of acting illegally to suppress the union campaign.

“I look forward to hearing from Mr. Schultz as to when he intends to end his illegal anti-union activities and begin signing fair first contracts with the unions,” Sanders, I-VT., said this month.

Starbucks said it had tried to bargain in good faith and denied that it had violated labor law. The company said that it had fired or disciplined workers only in response to violations of its rules and that it had not singled out union supporters.

Some in Congress are more sympathetic to the company. A spokesman for Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the highest-ranking Republican on the committee, said he would express concern on Wednesday about “the blatant prejudicial nature of these C.E.O. hearings.” And the House Committee on Education and the Workforce has demanded documents that the panel’s Republican majority said would show misconduct in the National Labor Relations Board’s handling of Starbucks’ union issues.

Since early 2022, the board has issued dozens of complaints accusing the company of violating labor law. Starbucks has disputed the accusations.