In a Union Triumph, the Seeds of Future Failure

Starting with one small shop in Buffalo, Starbucks workers have unionized 481 stores with more than 11,000 employees in less than three years. It’s a staggering demonstration of what can be accomplished when an aggressive union, an eager work force and a labor-friendly Democratic administration wind up in alignment.

But this best-case scenario also shows how American labor laws, and the bureaucracy they require, make mass unionization impossible unless rules for certifying unions and negotiating contracts are simplified and streamlined.

To certify these 11,000 new union members, the National Labor Relations Board, the agency primarily responsible for administering federal labor law and protecting workers from employer retaliation, has had to take on an enormous workload. With an overall budget of $299 million and a staff of around 1,200, the N.L.R.B. has conducted over 550 union elections, processed more than 1,000 unfair labor practice charges and issued roughly 300 decisions in cases involving the company.

N.L.R.B. lawyers have also filed for 12 preliminary injunctions against Starbucks, the company accounting for more than 40 percent of all the injunctions the agency sought last year.

The agency’s legal documents in Starbucks cases comprised at least 2.7 million words, according to a database I compiled, not counting hearing transcripts, complaints, motions and briefs that I suspect would at least double that figure.

Much of this activity occurred after workers organized, with the union filing refusal-to-bargain charges against the company, which has so far resisted coming to a collective bargaining agreement. (Starbucks recently returned to bargaining after nearly a year without talks.) Starbucks has also helped efforts to decertify the union at various stores.