SKDKs work for Starbucks comes as the Democratic Party is mulling whether to ban its consultants from participating in anti-union activities. Though the consulting firm said that it did not help Starbucks on labor issues, its work for the company could potentially complicate the Biden administrations increasingly assertive pivot toward supporting unionization efforts across workforces.
SKDKs work for Starbucks comes as the Democratic Party is mulling whether to ban its consultants from participating in anti-union activities. Though the consulting firm said that it did not help Starbucks on labor issues, its work for the company could potentially complicate the Biden administrations increasingly assertive pivot toward supporting unionization efforts across workforces.Dunn is set to return to the White House as senior adviser and assistant to President Joe Biden after serving in the administration at the beginning of his term last year and following work on Bidens campaign. She rejoins a number of other SKDK alums who are also in the administration, including Kate Berner, White House deputy communications director, and Herbie Ziskend, senior adviser for communications to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Starbucks currently faces a number of accusations of retaliation from its workers. As recently as Friday, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint out of its Buffalo, New York office, finding the company had violated the National Labor Relations Act, which grants most private-sector employees the right to form or join unions. Starbucks has denied the allegations in the complaint.
Michelle Eisen, a barista at the Buffalo, N.Y., Elmwood Starbucks location, helps out the local Starbucks Workers United.
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Ross D. Franklin, File/AP Photo
SKDK and Starbucks ended their relationship last month, according to SKDK partner Jill Zuckman. In a statement, Zuckman reaffirmed the firms support for Starbucks and did not directly address its ongoing labor dispute.
Starbucks has been a longtime client of SKDK and we have great admiration for the company, she said in the statement. Over the years, we provided guidance on corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion, particularly following the 2018 arrest of two Black men in a Philadelphia store, the companys response to the 2020 murder of George Floyd, and its support for its employees during the height of Covid.
Zuckman declined to answer whether Starbucks reported efforts to suppress the unionization of its employees was the reason for the split with what she called a longtime client. She later added that the firm did not work on labor issues for Starbucks.
A Starbucks spokesperson, Jaime Riley, said SKDK was not the one to decide to end the longstanding relationship.
Last week, Biden, Harris and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh had a White House meeting with union organizers, including Laura Garza, a representative of Starbucks Workers United. There, Biden thanked the attendees for their leadership, according to a readout of the meeting released by the White House.
In a letter to presidential counselor Steve Ricchetti the same day, Starbucks senior vice president AJ Jones II said the company was deeply concerned that Workers United was invited to the meeting, while official Starbucks representatives were not. He pointed to the companys employee benefits and compensation, adding that Starbucks has a drastically more positive vision for its employees and company.
I am requesting the opportunity to meet with you and bring a diverse, representative group of Starbucks partners from across the country to the White House so that they can share points of view and experiences that are vastly different from those presented by Workers United, Jones wrote.
Asked about SKDKs work with Starbucks, Starbucks Workers Uniteds organizing committee leader, Michelle Eisen, said in a statement that, as more of Starbucks anti-union behavior comes to light, Im glad to see that more people are beginning to hold Starbucks accountable for their actions.
The White Houses relationship with SKDK has been the subject of criticism in the past. Dunn earlier entered the administration at a salary just below the threshold that would require her to disclose clients. And unlike registered federal lobbyists, who must share some information publicly, the firms roster of clients is largely obscure.
Jeff Hauser, founder of the watchdog group Revolving Door Project, considers there to be an inherent conflict of interest, to be seeking counsel from people who are seeking to divert the administration from fulfilling its mandate.
We dont know how many other corporate clients SKDK has, who should be the subject of enforcement scrutiny and whether or not the Biden administration will pursue all those enforcement opportunities as far as the law permits, Hauser said.
In a statement, a White House official emphasized Bidens commitment to union rights, pointing to the recent meeting with union leaders, and the administrations ethics policies.
The president believes that every worker should have the choice to join a union, and has fought for that right over his whole career while opposing union busting, said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates. And experts have praised this administration for having the strongest ethics policies of any in American history.
SKDKs relationship with Starbucks is not the only case in which a Democratic-aligned consulting firm has worked with a client amid that clients alleged anti-union activity. Global Strategy Group, which was a polling partner of the pro-Biden super PAC Priorities USA, last week ended its relationship with Amazon. Unlike SKDK, GSG actually did work assisting Amazon in fending off unionization efforts at a Staten Island warehouse, for which it apologized.
SKDK has also done work with Amazon, having helped the online retail giant with efforts to create a New York City headquarters, which the company ultimately abandoned. According to a person familiar with the arrangement, Amazon was still a client of SKDK as of 2021. Zuckman declined to comment when asked about SKDKs work with Amazon.
