Starbucks baristas can't be union billboards: court
Source: Reuters
Starbucks baristas can't be union billboards: court
By Grant McCool
NEW YORK | Thu May 10, 2012 2:11pm EDT
(Reuters) - Starbucks baristas were out of line sticking Industrial Workers of the World pins all over their clothing in support of attempts to be part of a labor union, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday.
The court said a Starbucks Corp policy limiting employees to displaying only one pro-union button or pin on their work uniforms was not an unfair labor practice. One employee at a Starbucks location in New York had tried to display eight union pins on her clothing, according to court papers.
The case, a dispute between the National Labor Relations Board and the company, arose out of unionization efforts at several Starbucks coffee shops in Manhattan between 2004 and 2007. None of Starbucks's 7,000 stores in the United States are unionized.
Starbucks argued that a NLRB ruling allowing employees to wear an unlimited number of buttons would convert them into "personal message boards" for the union.
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