Starbucks has hired a CEO with a reputation for union busting following a wave of labor strikes in recent years.
Brian Niccol has been lauded in Associated Press headlines as “a fixer who revived Chipotle when the chain was in distress.” Indeed, his accomplishments at the helm of the fast-food chain have been highlighted by nearly all observers, including Starbucks.
In an August 13 presser announcing the new leadership, the company said:
“Niccol currently serves as Chairman and CEO of Chipotle. Since becoming CEO in 2018, Niccol has transformed Chipotle. His focus on people and culture, brand, menu innovation, operational excellence, and digital transformation have set new standards in the industry and driven significant growth and value creation.
“Revenue has nearly doubled, profits have increased nearly sevenfold, and the stock price has increased by nearly 800% during his leadership, all while increasing wages for retail team members, expanding benefits, and strengthening the culture.”
The latter part about benefits and wages is the most sensitive. After three years of strikes, lawsuits, and wrangling before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Starbucks corporation and the Starbucks Workers United union came to a tentative agreement in late May 2024.
Most of the issues originated from a question about whether employees would maintain their May 2022 benefits package that included “increased pay, modernized training, and collaboration, [and] store innovation,” as well as other things like benefits from credit card tipping.
The Dallas Express contacted the union for comment on Niccol’s new role, which he will begin on September 9.
Its media representative responded with a press release that read in part:
“The constructive relationship we continue to build with Starbucks is important, including dozens of tentative agreements and hundreds of hours of productive bargaining. … We look forward to continuing to work with Starbucks to resolve massive outstanding litigation and reach fair collective bargaining agreements in the coming months for the more than 10,000 union-represented partners at over 475 stores and growing.”
The pro-union news account More Perfect Union posted on Instagram and was less diplomatic:
“Starbucks has abruptly ousted its CEO who approved negotiations on a landmark labor contract with Starbucks workers.”
The account also claimed Niccol was “anti-union” and implied he would be used to reverse the gains made by the employees.
In other posts on Twitter, the organization elaborated on why so many commentators have described Niccol as anti-union.
@MorePerfectUS stated that under Niccol’s leadership, Chipotle shuttered a store in Augusta, Maine, in 2022 after employees there tried to make it the company’s first unionized location. The organizing workers sent a complaint to the NLRB, which ruled that the closure was illegal. After the dispute, Chipotle settled to pay former workers at the Maine store around $240,000.
In 2022, Chipotle shuttered a store in Maine soon after its employees petitioned to form the company's first union.
The NLRB ruled the closure was illegal union-busting.
Here's Niccol after a Michigan store successfully unionized later that year:https://t.co/jSQUlzAGsZ
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) August 13, 2024
The company also settled another unfair labor practices charge after the NLRB sided with workers who had unsuccessfully attempted unionization at a Lawrence, Kansas, Chipotle.