Starbucks has sued its union for misuse of intellectual property. The lawsuit filed by the company against Workers United, who call themselves Starbucks Workers United, was caused by a post from the union expressing support for Hamas terrorists in the midst of the attack on Israel.
Before filing the lawsuit, Starbucks Executive Vice President and Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly demanded the union "issue an immediate correction" and asked it to "immediately stop using our company name, logo and intellectual property." However, the union rejected these requests, so the company decided to initiate litigation in federal court, assuring that they "intend to pursue all legal options in defense of our partners and our company."
The Starbucks Workers United post
Following the attack and massacre carried out by Hamas terrorists against the citizens of Israel, Starbucks Workers United posted a statement on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "Solidarity with Palestine!" accompanied by a video of the fence surrounding the Gaza Strip being torn down by a bulldozer.
Starbucks responded to the post, saying they are "deeply troubled by the spread of misinformation, inaccurate headlines and third-party social media posts stemming from statements made by Workers United":
Starbucks wants to again express our deepest sympathy for those who have been killed, wounded, displaced and impacted following the heinous and unacceptable acts of terror, escalating violence and hate against the innocent in Israel and Gaza this week. ... To be clear: We unequivocally condemn these acts of terrorism, hate and violence, and disagree with the statements and views expressed by Workers United and its members. Workers United’s words and actions belong to them, and them alone.
The union's post was later taken down. However, according to Starbucks, this post led to "incidents where angry, hurt customers are confronting partners in our stores and sending graphic and violent images to partners in our Customer Contact Center."
The union's response
The union responded to the legal action and filed a series of countersuits against Starbucks. One of them is for defamation, due to the company's "public statements asserting that Workers United supports ‘terrorism, hate and violence,’" per the lawsuit. The other seeks a declaratory judgment on the permitted uses of the company logo and the name "Starbucks":
The company's statements are a transparent effort to bolster its illegal anti-union campaign by falsely attacking the union's reputation with workers and the public.
The legal action filed by Workers United alleged that the post on X was "an unauthorized tweet that was deleted after 30 to 40 minutes, which did not indicate that the Union supports terrorism. No reasonable observer could view that tweet, in context, as expressing the ‘view’ or ‘position’ that Workers United supports terrorism."
