Former Starbucks CEO invokes Holocaust in discussion over unionisation

The former CEO and chairman of Starbucks bizarrely invoked the Holocaust in a discussion over unionisation.

Howard Schultz, who is himself Jewish and who has previously toyed with a Presidential run as a third-party candidate, was meeting with employees of the coffee chain in Buffalo, New York, last week, to discuss their plans to unionise.

According to witnesses and a transcript, Mr Schultz “noted that only a small portion of prisoners in German concentration camps received blankets but often shared them with fellow prisoners.” He then remarked, “What we have tried to do at Starbucks is share our blanket.”

It is possible that Mr Schultz was trying to suggest that unionisation was unnecessary because Starbucks, the employer, was generous to its staff. If so, it was a bizarre and utterly inappropriate analogy.

Starbucks franchise locations in Buffalo were due to vote this week on whether to become the first corporate-owned Starbucks stores to unionise. Stores had shut for the day so that employees could attend Mr Schultz’s talk, which was designed to discourage unionisation. Attendance at the talk was voluntary.

Mr Schultz headed Starbucks for 37 years until he stepped down in 2018, but remains the company’s largest shareholder.

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