© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz delivers a speech at Starbucks Investor Day 2016 in Manhattan, New York, U.S., December 7, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/Photo archive
(Reuters) – starbucks corporation (NASDAQ:) said Thursday it has no plans to send interim CEO Howard Schultz to testify at a Senate hearing on the company’s compliance with federal labor law.
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders said Wednesday that the committee will vote next week on whether to issue a subpoena for Schultz.
The committee will also vote to authorize the panel to investigate labor law violations by large corporations.
Schultz last month declined an invitation from 11 senators to testify before the committee on March 9.
Starbucks maintains that its Director of Communications and Public Affairs, AJ Jones, is best positioned to fully address employment policy issues raised by committee members.
The company also offered to send May Jensen, vice president of employee and partner relations, and Zabrina Jenkins, interim executive vice president and general counsel, according to a letter posted on its website.
Members of the Democratic Party have accused Starbucks of failing to engage in fair negotiations with employees who join unions. The coffee company has refuted the claims and stated that it values the right of its workers to assemble and participate in legal union activities.
