Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz declines to testify in Sanders’ hearing
Starbucks declined to make interim CEO Howard Schultz available to testify before Congress next month, according to a letter sent by Starbucks’ general counsel Zabrina Jenkins on Tuesday.
Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders and 10 other Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions demanded Schultz testify in the March 9 session regarding Starbucks’ compliance with federal labor laws. Sanders, who chairs the committee, warned he would subpoena Schultz if the CEO refused the invitation.
Starbucks’ letter argued Schultz will transition out of the CEO job next month and will not have any operating roles, making him less suited to address labor matters at the hearing.
In a statement on Wednesday, Sanders said “it is disappointing, but not surprising, that Howard Schultz, the CEO and director of Starbucks, has declined an invitation” from the committee.
“If Mr. Schultz believes that a multibillion-dollar corporation like Starbucks can break federal labor law with impunity, he is mistaken,” Sanders said.
Seattle-based Starbucks intends to send Executive Vice President and Chief Public Affairs Officer AJ Jones II to appear before the committee, according to the letter. Jones has been with the company since September 2021 and previously served as a senior aide to Democratic Rep. James Clyburn.
“Jones is the best person to address workforce policy matters,” according to Jenkins’ letter. His “experience on workforce issues led him to preside over a number of employer and health legislative issues before the Congress.”
Sanders could subpoena Schultz to attend without support from Republican senators. The Vermont senator took the helm of the committee, previously chaired by Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, this month.