U.S. News

Starbucks, Union Locked in Legal Battle Over ‘Solidarity With Palestine’ Post

TROUBLE BREWING

Starbucks claimed Workers United damaged the company’s reputation and upset customers by issuing the message.

A Starbucks worker boards the Starbucks union bus after Starbucks workers stood on the picket line.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Starbucks has filed a lawsuit against Starbucks Workers United, the union working to organize branches of the coffee giant, after the union briefly posted a tweet reading “Solidarity with Palestine!” the Associated Press reported. Starbucks claimed Workers United damaged the company’s reputation and upset customers by issuing the message and, in a lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, alleged the union committed trademark infringement by using its name and a similar green logo. The union in turn asked a federal court to allow it to continue using the name. “Starbucks is seeking to exploit the ongoing tragedy in the Middle East to bolster the company’s anti-union campaign,” union President Lynne Fox told Starbucks in a letter obtained by the Associated Press.

Read it at AP