Starbucks Worker Strategies
By 
I was wondering what made Starbucks cave on negotiating in good faith with their workers. Turns out at least part of the answer was a challenge to its board with a slate of worker candidates that threatened havoc.
A coalition of labor unions said Tuesday that it had ended its boardroom fight with Starbucks after the coffeehouse chain agreed to negotiate labor agreements, a sign of progress after years of tumultuous relations between the company and its organized workers.
The Strategic Organizing Center union alliance pulled its slate of three board candidates about a week before a March 11 shareholder vote on the 11-member board. The announcement comes more than two years into a campaign that has unionized nearly 400 Starbucks stores.
On Tuesday, the alliance said it was “time to acknowledge the progress that has been made and to allow the company and its workers to focus on moving forward.”
“We think it’s imperative that shareholders continue to monitor the board’s performance and Starbucks’ approach to labor relations issues in the coming months — and we plan to continue to hold the company accountable going forward,” the alliance said.
The decision to nominate board members was the unions’ latest attempt to push the company to engage with them.
I suspect there was some quid pro quo here, which is fine. I don’t usually think of running alternative board slates as working very often, but it seems to have here.