Starbucks seeks Supreme Court protection from being ordered to rehire baristas who say they were fired for union-promoting activities

A group of fired Starbucks employees celebrate the result of a vote to unionize a Memphis shop on June 7, 2022. AP Photo/Adrian Sainz by Michael Z. Green, Texas A&M University What factors must a court consider when the National Labor Relations Board requests an order requiring an employer to rehire terminated workers before the completion of unfair labor practice proceedings? That’s the central question that the Supreme Court will consider on April 23, 2024, during oral arguments in the Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney case. The global coffee shop chain is challenging the NLRB, the federal agency responsible for enforcing U.S. workers’ rights to organize, saying that the agency used the more labor-friendly of two available standards when it asked a federal court to order the company to reinstate workers at a Memphis, Tennessee, store who lost their jobs in 2022 amid a nationwide unionizing campaign. The Conversation U.S. asked Texas A&M law professor Michael Z. Green to explain what’s behind this case and how the court’s eventual decision, expected by the end of June, could affect the right to organize unions in the United States. What is this case about? Seven baristas who were attempting to organize a union...