Starbucks Chief Found To Have Hired Union-Busting Operators

When Starbucks founder Howard Schultz testified at a Senate hearing this week, the shadowy world of well-paid union-busters was thrust into the spotlight, Capital & Main reported.

Photo Insert: Schultz was confronted at a Senate hearing over the coffee company’s hiring of Littler Mendelson, the country’s largest employment and labor law firm devoted exclusively to representing management.

The hearing coincided with the release of a new report that finds US companies spend an estimated $433 million per year on union avoidance consultants, Marcus Baram reported for Capital & Main. Consultants are paid at least $350 per hour or at least $2,500 per day.

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) confronted Schultz over the coffee company’s hiring of Littler Mendelson, the country’s largest employment and labor law firm devoted exclusively to representing management.

“It’s one of the largest and most notoriously union-busting firms in the country,” Casey said of Littler Mendelson.

For union organizers, the hearing confirmed the surprising power of a youth-led national organizing campaign that first took root less than 18 months ago at a group of stores in Buffalo, New York.

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