Starbucks CEO may have to testify before the US Senate

US Senator Bernie Sanders is continuing to push for Starbucks' interim Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz to testify at a Senate hearing on the company's compliance with labour law.

Schultz is set to step down later this month, but Sanders has refused to back down on calls to have him testify at the hearing scheduled for March 9.

Starbucks has reiterated that it has no plans to send Schultz to the hearing, prompting Sanders to say that he was "shocked and deeply concerned".

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He added that the vote on whether to issue a subpoena for Schultz to appear will go ahead on March 8.

In a letter to Starbucks, Sanders argued that Schultz is the founder, CEO, and spokesperson of the company, and has made it clear that he is the driving force of labour policy at Starbucks.

The company, however, has argued that Schultz is not the right witness to address workforce matters raised by the committee, stating that its Chief Communications and Public Affairs Officer AJ Jones is best positioned to do so.

Moreover, Starbucks has offered to send acting executive vice president and general counsel Zabrina Jenkins and vice president for partner and labour relations May Jensen.

The Senate hearing follows Democratic senators' accusations that Starbucks did not conduct fair conversations with workers who were considering joining labour unions.

Since 2021, employees in over 280 of the company's 9,000 company-operated US sites have chosen to join a union.

The union wants greater wages and benefits, better health and safety standards, and safeguards against arbitrary discipline and dismissal.

Starbucks has denied the allegations and stated that it respects the right of its employees to take part in legitimate union-related activities.

The Senate committee will also decide whether to give the panel the power to look into any labour law infractions by several other big businesses.

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