Strategic Organizing Center Submits Letter to SEC Calling on Starbucks to Properly Disclose True Cost of Anti-Union Campaign

The Strategic Organizing Center (the “SOC”), a shareholder of Starbucks Corporation (Nasdaq: SBUX) (“Starbucks” or the “Company”), today submitted a letter to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), detailing what it believes are failures by Starbucks to properly disclose material information – including the full cost to date of the Company’s aggressive and illegal anti-unionization efforts – that shareholders have a right to know in advance of making voting decisions prior to the contested Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the “Annual Meeting”). The Annual Meeting is currently scheduled for March 13, 2024.

As the letter states:

Since before the Proxy Contest began, Starbucks has attempted to create a smokescreen of positivity around its conduct concerning its aggressive opposition to Starbucks workers’ efforts to unionize, in many cases by violating federal labor laws. These efforts are well documented. Moreover, the Company’s forceful tactics have led not only to increasingly problematic human capital management issues, but also substantial costs and liabilities that the Company has never acknowledged or disclosed, but that the SOC estimates to be at least $240 million to date.

The SOC’s analysis includes the estimated total of litigation costs and expenses, other categories of expenditures (including employee lost time, communications and internal Starbucks staffing) as well as liabilities associated with labor law violations sustained by National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB”) complaints and/or labor judge determinations.

Based on the SOC’s analysis, Starbucks’ anti-union campaign includes the following estimated costs and liabilities through February 2024:

	Estimated Costs Based on Company Anti-Union Activity through February 2024:
	Legal Fees: Litigation (State and Federal Court, NLRB),1 Campaign Advice, Expenses	$100 million
	Consultants and Internal Support: Communications, Research, Training	$40 million
	Store Employee Productivity Lost Time: Captive Audience Store and Individual Meetings, Trainings