A demonstrator waves a sign near a Country Club Plaza Starbucks store, where dozens of Starbucks employees and union supporters protest an alleged anti-union strategy by the company, Thursday, March 3, 2022.
Jill Toyoshiba | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
starbucks is telling its barista that unionization could jeopardize gender-affirming health care coverage for transgender employees that the company offers, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Labor Board.
The complaint comes after more than 100 of the coffee chain’s 9,000 US cafes have voted to unionize under Workers United in the past seven months. Under interim CEO Howard Schultz, Starbucks is trying to counter union pressure by emphasizing the potential drawbacks of collective bargaining, such as federal labor laws that restrict the company. unilateral increment In unionized cafes without contract negotiations.
Union’s latest complaint against Starbucks, first reported bloomberg, was filed Monday. A transgender employee at the Oklahoma City location told the publication that she believed her manager used “hidden threats” in the conversation. The manager reportedly told the employee that his benefits could improve, stay the same or worsen if the store is unionized and referred specifically to the use of trans health care benefits.
Starbucks spokesman Reggie Borges told CNBC that the claim is false.
The company’s health insurance has covered a wide range of gender-affirming procedures such as gender reassignment surgery since 2012 and hair transplant or breast reduction since 2018. Last month, the coffee chain announced it would cover Travel Expenses for Gender Confirmation Surgery As state lawmakers target transgender rights.
By mid-March, more than 150 anti-trans bills had been introduced in state legislatures to limit access to health care, sports, bathrooms and education. According to NBC News, For example, Oklahoma has passed three anti-trans laws this year.
Starbucks often touts its long history of supporting LGBTQ+ activists and the wider community, especially during Pride Month in June. The company notes its decades-old policies, which include same-sex domestic partnerships and health care coverage for employees with terminal illnesses, were inspired by a Starbucks worker who died of complications from AIDS.
