"Fast food workers are unionizing, but some of the biggest chains in the country are fighting to stop them", 1 April 2023

[...]

Employees at chains like Starbucks and Chipotle have started organizing in an effort to secure better pay and benefits. But many food and retail chains are pushing back against their workers, as CEOs bash pro-worker legislation and staffers accuse their companies of union busting.

[...]

The Starbucks union effort began in Buffalo, New York, where a store filed a petition to unionize in 2021. Since then, nearly 300 stores across the country have followed suit, beginning a movement within the company. 

[...]

CEO Howard Schultz was called to testify before Congress under threat of subpoena over his conduct regarding unionization at Starbucks.

Through around two hours of questioning, Schultz was steadfast in his claims that Starbucks never violated the law.

"We put our people. First, we make decisions based on our people, and we have the track record to prove it," Schultz said. "Starbucks is probably one of the best, if not the best, first job in America."

But workers who testified later in the hearing took a different tone.

"Union busting ramped up even more after we won our election," Jaysin Saxton, a former Starbucks Barista who lost his job last year, said in the hearing. "We were constantly being watched, and managers listened in to our conversations on our headsets."

[...]

A unionization effort at a Chipotle location in Augusta, Maine, last year was the first in the company's history.

[...]

Chipotle later faced legal penalties for its handling of unionization, leading the fast-casual burrito joint to pay $240,000 in fines.

[...]

In a statement to Insider's Alex Bitter, Chipotle's chief corporate affairs officer Laurie Schalow said the chain agreed to pay the fine "not because we did anything wrong, but because the time, energy, and cost to litigate would have far outweighed the settlement agreement."

[...]

McDonald's president Joe Erlinger slammed a California fast food law that would increase wages for workers up to $22 an hour in January. In 2022, Erlinger made $7.4 million, Insider reported.

[...]

Dubbed the FAST Act, the union-backed bill was signed into law last year — but McDonald's and other chains like Chipotle lobbied for a referendum on the bill. That referendum vote will take place in 2024, and the law cannot go into effect until after the vote.

In his open letter, Erlinger bashed unionization in the service industry, writing that organizing has failed to grow organically in sectors like retail and fast food.