Starbucks is taking its union fight to America’s highest court.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear the coffee giant’s challenge of a court order that required it to re-hire union organisers that it fired in 2021.
Starbucks has said the case from US labour officials seeking the order was insufficient to justify the command.
How the fight is decided could have big implications for what kind of relief US workers can hope for in labour disputes.
In this case, the National Labor Relations Board sought and won an emergency court order requiring the firm to rehire seven workers at a store in Memphis, after finding that the company had unlawfully retaliated against them for union activity.
Starbucks has said the staff, who invited a local news crew into a store to hear about their cause, were sacked for breaking company policies, including about off-duty access to its properties.
It appealed the emergency order, known as an injunction, which was upheld by a lower court.
Proponents of the temporary injunctions have said they are necessary to address harm that occurs during the lengthy time it often takes to resolve labour disputes.
However, Starbucks has successfully fought off such orders in other cases where judges held regulators to a tougher standard – a sign of a split in legal opinion that it has asked the Supreme Court to settle.
Business groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce, have filed arguments in support of Starbucks.
The fight comes during an unusual uptick in labour organising in the US, which has affected companies from Amazon and Apple to major car-makers.
Since 2021, staff at more than 370 Starbucks locations in the US have voted to unionise.
Organisers with Starbucks Workers United have filed hundreds of complaints accusing the company of breaking labour laws in a bid to shut down the effort. In many cases, investigation by labour officials has upheld those claims.
“The company is trying to eliminate one of the most effective tools the [National Labor Relations Board] has to hold corporations accountable for unlawful acts,” Starbucks Workers United said in a statement.
“With the Supreme Court agreeing to take up the Memphis case, Starbucks just expanded its war on its own employees to a war on all US workers.”
Starbucks, which owns and operates more than 10,000 stores in the US, has denied breaking labour laws.
The company said in a statement that it was “pleased” the court would consider its request to “level the playing field” for US employers by ensuring that a single standard was applied as courts weigh whether to grant injunctions.
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