Starbucks: intimidation and smear

After loudly proclaimed his respect for the employees association law, Starbucks multinational began covertly its smear campaign and legal guerrilla. She hired one of the most prestigious law firms, Heenan Blaikie, to help challenge the right of its employees to be treated fairly and with respect.

In a letter sent to the Labor Relations Commission (CRT), Heenan Blaikie claim that the bargaining unit should include all branches of the Quebec City region, and that the current application for certification " ignores the organization of labor relations and the mode of operation of our client."Recall that the corporation had used the same tactics in the first union demands in New York, in 2004.

But this time, the chances of success of this strategy are thinner, the Quebec Labor Code allowing the unionization of a particular institution within a chain. «In legal terms, we are quite confident, it just goes better prepared according to that argument», said Simon Gosselin, spokesman of the Union of Workers of Starbucks (STTS).

But Starbucks does not simply react in the legal field, and since the filing of the application for certification, Multinational practice an insidious and constant intimidation. A meeting was also held between Quebec officials and employees of Starbucks, in which the corporation has not bothered to try to smear the IWW and its organizers.

These facts confirm that our US colleagues had already discovered for themselves: Starbucks is a multinational union, which considers that its profits come before any other form of consideration, and who does not hesitate to play the card of intimidation and smear.