Person

Lynne Fox

Nationality:

American

Occupation(s):

International President, Workers United

Board Chair, Amalgamated Bank

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Lynne Fox is the international president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Workers United division and manager of Workers United’s Philadelphia Joint Board. She is also the board chair of Amalgamated Bank of New York (Amalgamated Bank), which is minority-owned by Workers United. 1

Between October 2022 and March 2023, Fox was named in over 100 labor unfair labor practice charges filed by Starbucks against Workers United. The charges accuse Fox and Workers United of misconduct for refusing to advance negotiations. 2

Career

Fox has worked as the international president of Workers United since 2016 and manager of Workers United’s Philadelphia Joint Board since 2009. Fox also is an executive board member of the national Service Employees International Union (SEIU). 1

Fox has served as board chair of Amalgamated Bank, which is minority-owned by Workers United, since 2016. She also sits on the board of Amalgamated Healthcare Fund, Amalgamated Life Insurance Company, and the National Retirement Fund. Prior to being chair, Fox sat on the board of Amalgamated Bank since 2000. 3 1

From 2006 to 2011, Fox served as a board member of the State Employee Retirement System in Pennsylvania. 3

Fox also is the president of the Philadelphia Jewish Labor Committee, vice president of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO Council, and a board member of the Philadelphia Airport Advisory Board. 1

Starbucks Controversies

In October 2023, Fox published an open letter titled “Starbucks Is Exploiting the Violence in Gaza and Israel to Attack Its Union.” The letter accused Starbucks founder and former CEO Howard Schultz of partnering with the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce (OJC) and “endangering employees” by providing a boycott list of Starbucks locations with unionized employees who allegedly supported Palestinian nationalist terrorism which was circulated by the OJC. 4

According to Fox, the list, which included local stores unionized by Workers United, was created and given to OJC following an October 19, 2023 Twitter post by Starbucks Workers United declaring “solidarity with Palestine” following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack against the State of Israel and the subsequent Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. She further claimed the post was deleted as it was “not authorized by the union or its workers.”  4 Fox further accused Starbucks of “capitalizing” on the ongoing conflict to engage in an “illegal union busting campaign” and “bully workers into abandoning their union name.” 4

In July 2022, on behalf of Workers United, Fox wrote a letter to then Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz requesting that its members be provided an upcoming wage increase and benefits change that was approved for non-union employees, claiming and stating that the union withdraws its requests to negotiate. The letter came after an approval of wage increases for non-union members after members of Starbucks Works United had been engaging in strikes. 5 6  Representatives from Starbucks reported that it had not extended wage increases to union members to comply with National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regulations that require companies to engage in collective bargaining with unions prior to approving wage or benefit changes. Fox’s letter alleged that the company’s claims of withholding benefit changes based on NLRB regulations were “misleading at best and false at worst.” 5 Restaurant Dive reported that another spokesperson from Workers United claimed that Starbucks pressured the union into waiving its rights to engage in collective bargaining while accusing the action of being a “union-busting tactic.” 6

In April 2023, Starbucks published a press release accusing Fox in her role as Workers United president of fear mongering, delaying collective bargaining, unlawfully broadcasting negotiations, and criticizing the union for refusing to national contracts instead of contracts with individual stores or non-unilateral agreements. The press release also reports that between October 2022 and March 2023, Starbucks filed over 100 unfair labor practice charges against Workers United due to claims of it refusing to advance negotiations. 2

In June 2023, Starbucks published a letter written to Fox, in response to a May letter criticizing Starbucks for removing coverage of gender-reassignment treatments from its employee health insurance. The letter was titled “Workers United’s Willfully and Recklessly False Statements and Blatant Fear Mongering Among the LGBTQIA2+ Community,” and claimed that Fox’s criticisms are based on false accusations. It accused Fox of politicizing LGBT issues to continue her attempts to block single-store negotiations. 7

Activities

In an interview for an August 2022 op-ed published by Century Foundation, Fox expressed support for increased funding for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging that the agency being underfunded “hurts our campaign and every organizing campaign”  8 while Starbucks was “playing the system to their advantage.” 8

References

  1. “Our Leadership Team.” Workers United Labor Union. Accessed December 16, 2024. https://workersunited.org/who-we-ar/our-leadership-team.
  2. Trull, Andrew. “Latest in Our Ongoing Exchange with Workers United President Lynne Fox.” Starbucks, June 15, 2023. https://one.starbucks.com/negotiations/latest-exchange-with-workers-united/.
  3. “Lynne Fox.” Amalgamated Bank. Accessed December 16, 2024. https://www.amalgamatedbank.com/contact/lynne-fox.
  4. “Starbucks Is Exploiting the Violence in Gaza and Israel to Attack Its Union.” In These Times. Accessed December 16, 2024. https://inthesetimes.com/article/starbucks-israel-gaza-lynne-fox-palestine.
  5. Schonfeld, Zach. “Starbucks Union Requests Wage Increases Apply at Unionized Stores.” The Hill, August 1, 2022. https://thehill.com/lobbying/3582888-starbucks-union-requests-wage-increases-apply-at-unionized-stores/.
  6. Canham-Clyne, Aneurin. “Workers United Says It Will Waive Bargaining Rights over Some Starbucks Benefits.” Restaurant Dive, August 2, 2022. https://www.restaurantdive.com/news/starbucks-benefits-union-waives-bargaining-rights/628579/.
  7. Jensen, May. Letter to Lynne Fox. “Workers United’s Willfully and Recklessly False Statements and Blatant Fear Mongering Among the LGBTQIA2+ Community.” Starbucks, June 14, 2023. https://one.starbucks.com//uploads/2023/06/WU-response-LGBTQIA2.pdf.
  8. Grimshaw, Abigail. “U.S. Labor Leaders Say Underfunding at Federal Agency Has ‘Reached Crisis Stage.’” The Century Foundation, August 17, 2022. https://tcf.org/content/commentary/u-s-labor-leaders-say-underfunding-at-federal-agency-has-reached-crisis-stage/.
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