The U.S. Supreme Court sided with Starbucks on Thursday in the company’s challenge to a judicial order that would have required them to rehire seven Memphis employees that were fired while they participated in union efforts.
The “Memphis Seven” publicly released a letter addressed to the Starbucks CEO and agreed to sit down in a store with a TV news crew to discuss the union efforts.
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June 1 will mark the start of “Pride” month, in which advocates of LGBTQIA+ causes celebrate that movement. In recent years, June has seen major corporate chains feature an array of “Pride”-themed merchandise and decorations, though some offerings have prompted considerable backlash from a non-receptive — even hostile public — in recent years.
2023 saw major retailers such as Target become the subject of boycotts over more controversial products marketed for children. Other companies, such as Anheuser-Busch came under scrutiny over marketing campaigns that failed to resonate with their traditional clientele.
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The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) expansion of mail ballot elections has led to widespread mismanagement, misconduct and procedural irregularities by the agency, according to a report released Thursday by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
The NLRB issued a decision in November 2020 expanding regional agency directors’ ability to order that union elections operate by mail rather than the traditional manual ballot due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the decision, voter turnout has decreased while both institutional issues, like employees interfering in elections, and integrity issues, like inappropriate voter solicitation and the number of lost or void ballots, have increased, according to the report.
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Starbucks plans to close seven stores located in downtown San Francisco in October, a spokesperson for the company confirmed.
The corporation looked into “several factors” when it decided to close the seven locations, and added that it would continue to invest in San Francisco through its 40 other company-owned locations in the city, a Starbucks spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Although the company declined to comment on whether crime was a factor that led to its decision, all seven of the closing locations — Mission & Main, Geary & Taylor, 425 Battery, 398 Market St, 4th & Market, 555 California and Bush & Van Ness — are situated in or near the city’s troubledTenderloin district, a Starbucks store map showed.
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On Monday, a federal jury awarded a White former Starbucks manager with $25 million after she successfully convinced them that she had been fired by the coffee chain due to her race.
As the New York Post reports, Shannon Phillips previously oversaw several locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as a regional manager who had been with the company for 13 years. Her lawsuit stems from a 2018 incident in which two black men attempted to use the restroom of a Philadelphia Starbucks, and were denied due to not being paying customers. When the men subsequently refused to leave, the police were called and the men were arrested and forced off the property.
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Starbucks will close 16 stores in various U.S. cities, citing safety concerns.
“After careful consideration, we are closing some stores in locations that have experienced a high volume of challenging incidents that make it unsafe to continue to operate,” company spokesperson said Tuesday.
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Corporations previously outspoken about hot-button social issues have stayed quiet on the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade after a dramatic fight between Disney and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis over the company’s political activism.
Following the leak of a draft opinion indicating the Supreme Court is likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, Democrats are trying to ram through a bill legalizing third trimester abortions; however, corporations are largely staying out of the fray, following Disney’s disastrous battle with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that ended with the company losing its special tax privileges.
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Seattle-based Starbucks announced this week that is dropping its policy requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The coffee giant’s move comes in response to last week’s United State Supreme Court ruling to block the Biden Administration from requiring businesses in the private sector to put vaccine mandates in place.
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Seattle-based Starbucks announced it will increase hourly wages next year as the coffee giant faces the dual pressures of unionization attempts and staffing shortages.
According to a press release from the company, starting in January of 2022, hourly employees with two or more years of service could see a 5% raise and those with five or more years of service could see a 10% raise.
By the summer of next year, the company says its average hourly pay will be $17, up from the current average of $14. Employees will make between $15 and $23 an hour across the country, depending on location and tenure.
The press release did not address what impact the moves will have on coffee prices.
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