Starbucks and the union representing nearly 9,000 of its baristas filed warring lawsuits on Wednesday after Workers United posted messages on social media declaring “Solidarity with Palestine!” in the wake of Hamas’ deadly attacks.
Starbucks sued the union in Iowa federal court for trademark infringement, demanding that the union stop using “the Starbucks name and other identifying symbols.”
The lawsuit said “customers [were] misled and confused over the source or endorsement” of Starbucks Workers United’s pro-Palestinian message because of the union’s name and the two entities’ similar circular, green-and-white logos.
The coffeehouse chain noted that it hasn’t been successful in “distinguishing itself from [SWU] and their positions,” resulting in “damage [to] Starbucks’ reputation and business” and more than 1,000 complaints related to the union’s post.
SWU’s “inflammatory and misleading communication shave led, among other things, to property damage, threats and calls for a boycott against Starbucks,” the lawsuit claimed.
Aside from changing its name and logo on all signs, promotional materials and social media accounts, Starbucks requested that the union pay statutory damages, plus attorneys’ fees.
“Starbucks unequivocally condemns acts of terrorism, hate and violence, and we strongly disagree with the views expressed by Workers United, including its local affiliates, union organizers and those who identify as members of “Starbucks Workers United” – none of these groups speak for Starbucks Coffee Company and do not represent our company’s views, positions, or beliefs,” Starbucks Executive Vice President Sara Kelly said.
“Their words and actions belong to them, and them alone.”
SWU responded with a counter suit filed in Pennsylvania federal court, condemning Starbucks’ claim that the union violated trademark laws, and accusing the company of defamation.
SWU pointed to a slew of other labor unions that “have specifically incorporated the employer’s name in their titles,” including Amazon Labor Union the National Football League Players Association and TMobile Workers United, among others.
In addition, “Starbucks defamed Workers United through the company’s public statements asserting that Workers United supports ‘terrorism, hate and violence,'” the union claimed.
SWU declined to comment beyond the lawsuit.
Starbucks did no comment on SWU’s lawsuit
After the union wrote “Solidarity with Palestine!” in a since-deleted post on X, where it boasts nearly 100,000 followers, Starbucks swiftly moved to distance itself from the organization, which has demanded that baristas receive a base wage of at least $20 per hour and seniority rights grant employees more paid time off the longer they’ve worked for the coffee chain.
Though SWU deleted its initial pro-Palestinian message about 40 minutes after it was posted, screenshots of the post were already circulating around social media, and the union’s X account showed that the group “liked” a tweet by one of its members that said: “Once again, free Palestine.”
In response, Starbucks wrote: “We unequivocally condemn 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 company added that the New York-based union and its parent Service Employees International Union (SEIU) “do not represent the company’s views, positions or beliefs.”
SWU — which represents Starbucks staffers at 340 Starbucks locations across the US — is an affiliate of SEIU, which has more than 2 million members working across a range of industries in the US and Canada.
One of SWU’s founding organizers, Jaz Brisack, has previously voiced support for Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh, who was involved in bombings in Jerusalem in 1969 and 1970.
Brisack penned an op-ed in the Daily Mississippian in 2017 that referred to Odeh as a “political prisoner.”
He also called Odeh and her fellow members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — deemed a terrorist organization by the US in 1997 — “freedom fighters,” according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Odeh was freed by Israel as part of a prisoner exchange in 1980 but arrested in the US in 2013 after illegally entering the country in the 1990s.
She was deported to Jordan in 2017.
