Desiree LeClercq on the Battle for Workplace Democracy at Starbucks
By 2022, workers at all three Starbucks locations in Ithaca, New York, had voted to unionize. By 2023, Starbucks had shut down every one of those locations. International labor law expert Desiree LeClercq – a professor at Cornell’s Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) School – breaks down the 2023 National Labor Relations Board proceeding that held three Ithaca store closures by Starbucks to be in violation of federal protections for organizing workers, and discusses the larger contexts in national and international worker rights.
Listen to the episode:
For more information:
- Starbucks Workers United website
- July 2023 National Labor Relations Board decision, “Starbucks Corporation and Workers United”
- The Cornell Daily Sun, “Starbucks Found Guilty of Violating Labor Laws in Ithaca Closure,” July 7, 2023.
- The Ithaca Voice, “NLRB judge orders Starbucks to reopen Ithaca Collegetown location,” July 7, 2023.
- Desiree LeClercq, “A Worker-Centered Trade Policy,” Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, 2023.
Music
Musical interlude: “Straight to Hell,” by The Clash.
The Scene’s theme song is “Follow Me,” by Aly-US.