Starbucks threatened to deny abortion travel benefits for workers seeking to unionize, judge says

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

October 25, 2023 / 5:24 PM


A month after the U.S. Supreme Court voided the constitutional right to abortion in 2022, Starbucks told workers trying to unionize in Wisconsin that they risked losing coverage of travel costs for the procedure.

The coffee giant's threat to deny the benefit — Starbucks was among the first to add travel costs for the procedure to employee perks after the high court's leaked ruling — is among more than two dozen violations of federal labor law by Starbucks in its nearly two-year battle with unionizing workers, according to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The company is waging "one of the most aggressive, anti-union campaigns in decades," said Steven Greenhouse, a senior fellow at progressive think tank The Century Foundation and former longtime labor reporter with the New York Times, citing the findings by the NLRB that Starbucks had illegally fired and otherwise retaliating against unionizing workers.

Since Starbucks workers started organizing in 2021, NLRB judges for the agency have issued more than 30 rulings finding that Starbucks broke the law. Starbucks has steadfastly denied violating labor laws and rejects claims that it is deliberately impeding workers' efforts to organize. It also contends that a union would hinder managers' relations with employees.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/starbucks-abortion-travel-benefit-union-workers/

[Demovictory9]

1. Disproportionate impact on women employees

[msongs]

2. why should starbucks pay travel costs for any medical procedure? that's odd nt

[BumRushDaShow]

3. You have treatments like "proton therapy" for men who have prostate cancer

where more rural states might not have a facility close to the patient that does this.

https://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/how-cancer-treated/radiation-therapy/proton-therapy

[msongs]

4. why should starbucks or any emplorer have to pay for travel time? never heard of such a thing nt

[BumRushDaShow]

5. The OP article doesn''t specify "time". It just says "benefits" (for travel).

It's something the federal government does - including recently with the military providing that for personnel needing to go out of state to get medical care like an abortion due to being stationed in a state that bans it, and that means travel to another state and costs of the procedure in that out-of-state facility.

As another example, you may have someone like my BIL who got a kidney transplant last year where he had to fly to Chicago because that is where the donor kidney was, and he and my sister live in suburban Philly. So that meant a flight (he also had a buddy who lived there so when my sis went out there with him, she was initially in a hotel but could stay with his friend).

Usually these "benefits" will cover up to some capped amount for that.

[ret5hd]

6. Because they said they would.

And now they are threatening to withhold this benefit from a protected class.

[bluestarone]

8. EXACTLY!

Because it's in their contract. That's why Union workers have a contract, for Christ sake. NOBODY should question why.

[Grins]

7. Really showing their ass with this move.

And it’s not the first time!