Starbucks could be forced to reopen 23 locations across the country as it's accused of 'illegally' c
STARBUCKS could reopen 23 stores next year due to a bombshell complaint filed against the coffee giant.
A regional National Labor Relations Board director accused Starbucks of closing the locations in 2023 without allowing unions to discuss their options.
On Tuesday, the NLRB filed a complaint that claimed Starbucks provided no notice to employees who were represented by the Workers United union.
Out of the 23 locations closed, eight of them had successfully unionized, Fox Business reports.
The board argued that workers should have been allowed to bargain over the fate of the stores, and is now seeking for all locations to reopen.
If an administrative judge sides with the board, all workers could be rehired at the shuttered stores and provided with compensation that was lost during the closures.
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The states affected include Colorado, California, Washington, Missouri and Illinois.
Starbucks has slammed the filing as unfounded and said it lawfully shut down the stores in a blog post.
A spokesperson noted that closures were natural for the business model, adding that 437 locations were added during the 2022 fiscal year while 116 closed.
Of the closures, around 3% were unionized, the post read.
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"Each year as a standard course of business, we evaluate the store portfolio to determine where we can best meet our community and customers’ needs," read the statement.
"This includes opening new locations, identifying stores in need of investment or renovation, exploring locations where an alternative format is needed and, in some instances, re-evaluating our footprint."
The complaint will go before an administrative judge next summer unless Starbucks settles it out of court.
Union efforts at Starbucks began in 2021 after two stores in the Buffalo, New York area successfully unionized.
Now, more than 350 of the company's estimated 9,300 locations are represented by unions, the New York Times reports.
Starbucks has long been accused of permitting union-busting behaviors and has faced over 100 complaints issued by the labor board.
Less than five of the complaints were dismissed, and administrative judges have ruled against the company over 30 times.
However, Starbucks has appealed each decision that isn't in its favor.
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A huge change is incoming to mobile ordering which could be bad news for customers.
Store managers have always been able to pause or cancel mobile orders when the store gets too busy, but it could happen more frequently.
The company is expected to enhance its app on in-store iPads from January to make it "more intuitive" for workers to carry out the function.
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Supervisors might decide to pause online orders if they see higher-than-expected volume, or when employee absences are "negatively impacting the Starbucks experience," according to an internal document update viewed by Bloomberg News.
The coffee brand also abruptly dropped a new holiday beverage, but employees say it's difficult to keep up with the trends.
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