Money | Starbucks Starbucks' Union-Busting Campaign Before Judge Brewhaha over coffee bosses' plot to stop baristas from organizing By Rob Quinn Posted Jan 10, 2008 3:05 AM CST Copied Industrial Workers of the World has been trying for years to get Starbucks employees to organize, but they've had little success - only a few dozen of the coffee chain's 150,000 employees are members. (KRT Photos) Starbucks bosses trying to stop baristas from union organizing did some internet sleuthing to discover who had graduated from a university labor program—and even had Halloween partygoers snooped on, the Wall Street Journal reports. Starbucks' own emails detailing "our attempts to thwart a potential union situation" by identifying pro-union workers are now before a New York judge looking into claims the company violated labor laws. The Industrial Workers of the World union has been trying to organize Starbucks workers since 2004 with little success—only a few dozen employees have joined. Some experts insist Starbucks didn't break any laws by snooping to determine who was pro-union, but the emails will embarrass the coffee chain and likely give the union's organizing efforts a jolt. Read These Next Trump tells Washington's homeless to clear out. Analysis sees a historic shift underway in US capitalism. Explosion rocks steel plant near Pittsburgh. Jamie Lee Curtis is definitely no fan of this Freakier Friday review. Report an error