Starbucks asks labor board to halt union votes temporarily

By DEE-ANN DURBIN
AP Business Writer

Starbucks is asking the National Labor Relations Board to suspend all union elections at its U.S. stores in response to a whistleblower’s allegations of improper coordination between regional NLRB officials and the union. In a letter sent Monday to the NLRB, Starbucks said an unnamed career NLRB official told the company about issues in the NLRB’s St. Louis office while it was overseeing an election at a Starbucks store in Overland Park, Kansas, earlier this spring. The labor board says it doesn’t comment on open cases. More than 220 U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since late last year. The company opposes unionization.