Starbucks reiterated Thursday that its outgoing CEO Howard Schultz is not the right person to testify on behalf of the company at a congressional hearing requested by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. Despite being the public face of the Seattle-based coffee giant, the company said Schultz hasn't been involved in making decisions regarding union matters.
Schultz, who is leaving the job this month, has been focused on the Reinvention plan since he returned as CEO last April and has delegated union issues to a small group of executives, according to a letter written by Starbucks general counsel Zabrina Jenkins. The Reinvention plan is Starbucks' strategy, announced last September, to focus on new consumer behavior.
Jenkins' letter is the latest in a series of standoffs between Schultz and Sanders since the Vermont senator took the helm of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions last month. On Wednesday, Sanders scheduled a subpoena vote to force Schultz to testify after Starbucks declined to make the CEO available. The company instead offered AJ Jones II, the head of public affairs, to testify on alleged labor law violations.
