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The Strategic Organizing Center, a labor federation that includes the Service Employees International Union and its affiliate Workers United, nominated three candidates for election to Starbucks’ board at the coffee giant’s 2024 annual shareholder meeting, the SOC announced Tuesday.
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Starbucks confirmed it had received the nominations and said the board’s nominating and corporate governance committee “will review SOC Investment Group’s proposed director nominee[s] in accordance
with its normal process,” before presenting its recommended slate of candidates in a proxy statement. -
The SOC framed its board nominations as a way to add “fresh perspectives and the right expertise to help improve oversight and safeguard the best interests of Starbucks’ shareholders, customers and employees.”
Dive Insight:
SOC's Starbucks board nominees
Maria Echaveste: A corporate attorney who served in the Clinton administration as administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and as deputy White House chief of staff
Joshua Gotbaum: Led the Chapter 11 reorganization of Hawaiian Airlines, in addition to service in a variety of government posts, and has significant experience on boards
Wilma Liebman: Served as a member of the National Labor Relations Board from 1997 to 2011, including two years as chair of the board during the first Obama administration
The nominations, the SOC argued, are necessary as a result of Starbucks’ response to the organizing of thousands of workers at hundreds of stores with Starbucks Workers United.
“[Starbucks] Board’s current approach likely jeopardizes its ability to fulfill its fiduciary duties to investors and has resulted in arguably one of the most glaring and destructive examples of human capital mismanagement corporate America has seen,” the federation said in its press release, citing hundreds of NLRB charges filed by workers and investigated by the NLRB, its regional offices and administrative law judges.
The SOC said that while Starbucks’ actions “have not yet led to a visible strain on the Company’s financial performance, given the reputational damage and potential impact on Starbucks’ ability to execute its growth strategy, we believe it is only a matter of time until the share price reflects the cost of this failed oversight.”
Starbucks, which has consistently maintained it has not violated labor law, touted its investments in partner benefits and store level changes in its press release responding to the SOC’s nominations. The company said such changes cost 20% of its profits and helped lower turnover to below pre-pandemic levels.