The problem some (all?) Starbucks workers have had for the past few years is that their point of sale systems weren't making it possible to tip when paying via

The problem some (all?) Starbucks workers have had for the past few years is that their point of sale systems weren't making it possible to tip when paying via credit card, so people would need to tip cash. Fixing that for non-union employees but not unionized employees is what tweaked the NLRB, since it's part of a pattern of "union busting" behavior. Starbucks is not really set up to have the kind of slimy, lawful evil middle management that can be really good at union busting. Guile and misanthropy aren't exactly hallmarks of Starbucks staff. The stuff they're doing now is really obviously going to get them into trouble. This is not exactly subtle: “At my store, it did have a negative impact — we had our election finalized right as they rolled out these new benefits,” says Alisha Humphrey, a Starbucks union leader in Oklahoma City. So as happy as we were that people won, we were told that since we won our election, we were not getting credit card tipping or the raises. Our manager met with everyone and told us that if we transferred to another store, you would make $1.50 more and credit card tipping. And some did transfer.”