BC Labour Relations Board Finds Starbucks Made Threats Against Pro-Union Employee

A Starbucks sign is pictured in downtown Vancouver, on March 20, 2015. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

The B.C. Labour Relations Board has found Starbucks wrongfully made “threats of adverse consequences” against an employee for her unionization activity, but found the company had a “legitimate business reason” to close down its only unionized location in Vancouver.

The United Steelworkers Local 2009 made a complaint of unfair labour practice against Starbucks Coffee Canada in 2023 for closing the Dunbar Street store less than a year after its workers had been unionized, and for disciplining an employee for “wearing a union T-shirt.”