call your employees Partners do you value your employees or your partners that want to join a union or have joined a union do you value them as much as you value those that have not yet joined a union we have respect for every single partner who wins a green apron regardless of their choice to vote to go for a union so yesterday I had the opportunity to meet with some unionized Starbucks workers from Minnesota Gracie and Elizabeth and they tell me that Starbucks is cutting their weekly hours they estimate that they're losing four dollars an
hour in wages because the company won't allow them in unionized stores to access Credit Card tipping when that's available to workers and non-unionized shops and they tell me that they are simultaneously understaffed in their stores and unable to get enough hours to pay their bills if these folks are your partners why are you treating them differently than non-unionized workers when we raise wages in may we were my understanding was that we under the law we did not have the unilateral right to provide those benefits to Partners who are involved in collective bargaining and that is
that is why so you have said that several times during this meeting you've said that you cannot legally provide these benefits without bargaining over them but you know I'm sure that the union has specifically stated in this letter um July 15 20 2022 that they waived any objection uh to bargaining on this it says in the letter to this end the union hereby waves any objection that we might have to Starbucks providing Union represented employees with any wage or benefit improvements provided to unrepresented employees so I don't think this I think I I just think
you're wrong let me let me try and explain there are an array of wages and benefits that need to be negotiated in the collective bargaining process it just it would not be proper to take one piece of the puzzle out of the negotiating process since the union the people who have joined the union have decided that they want to negotiate a contract it is our preference and our right to negotiate that contract fairly and objectively but not in piecemeal so I think that the way the law reads is that there is an exception to that
requirement to negotiate when the employees make it clear and unmistakable waiver to bargaining but let me ask you about this because the first Minnesota store Union was certified over 320 days ago and no meaningful bargaining has happened since then though there have been some meetings do you know how long those meetings have been in Minnesota I'm not involved in any of the meetings so the Minnesota folks tell me that those negotiation sessions have not lasted longer than six minutes so that seems to me sir as a failure to negotiate in good faith when from my
understanding in in many of the meetings that we've showed up to have face-to-face meetings the other side has decided to put on a zoom or teams and then we decide and we've told them up front that we will not negotiate unless the meeting is in person and we know who's in the room and so we have left those meetings as a result of the fact that we could not preserve the privacy and the Integrity of a face-to-face meeting so I my observation here is that this feels like sort of a catch-22 because you are not
willing to bargain on issues like credit card tipping while we are simultaneously you're not coming together to bargain at all and so I think that that is why the employees are feeling who are wanting to be in a union that feel so frustrated but I want to just touch on one other thing I've been listening really closely to you today and um I also come from the private sector had my own company at one time before I moved into the into the public sector and I've been really struck by your focus on what an excellent
company you are and honestly it sounds as if you are personally offended or even insulted that anyone would question you or your company and it seems as if you feel that only bad companies should be unionized that there's something nefarious about a company that is done something bad and therefore they need to be unionized and that Starbucks doesn't need a union because you are a good company but I think Mr Schultz that is not your decision to make and I believe that there is an inherent value in coming together to organize that would address this
imbalance of power that I think the many many Starbucks sitting behind you and in Minnesota feel I mean you're a billionaire and they are your employees the imbalance of power is Extreme and that is why people want to come together to form a union Senator I agree with you that I do not have who can vote for Union or not but I am the chairman I am the CEO of the company and or I was the CEO of the company and I have the preference and the right to communicate to our people about what it
is we believe is right for Starbucks and I want to repeat 99 of the 250 000 want a direct relationship with the company the last thing you said and it's been said many times by the chairman I just want to make a point of that this this monarch of billionaire let's just get get at that okay I grew up in federally subsidized how let me finish I grew up in federally subsidized housing my parents never owned a home I came from nothing I thought my entire life was based on the achievement of the American dream
yes I have billions of dollars I earned it no one gave it to me and I've shared it constantly people of Starbucks and so anyone who keeps labeling this billionaire thing is the shelter I don't mean to cut you off we have time limits here and you have well I'm not cutting you off it's your it's your moniker constantly it's unfair no it is not you have had more time I've been generous with the time now I'm sorry but Mr chairman we have a room full of people we have panel to go after you I'm
not the only person okay Senator Cassidy
