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Bernie Sanders accuses ex-Starbucks chief of unprecedented union-busting
Starbucks’ former chief executive Howard Schultz was accused at a Senate hearing on Wednesday of running “the most aggressive and illegal union-busting campaign in the modern history of our country”.The hearing, “No Company Is Above the Law: The Need to End Illegal Union Busting at Starbucks”, was chaired by Senator Bernie Sanders, a longtime critic of Starbucks’ anti-union activities.Starbucks had initially resisted calls for Schultz to appear. He agreed after the committee threatened to subpoena him.Nearly 300 Starbucks stores around the US have won union elections since the first Starbucks stores unionized in December 2021, though the rate of election filings slowed after an initial surge. Since that time, Starbucks has fought hard to stop the unionization drive and faces more unfair labor practice allegations than any other private employer in the US.Sanders said: “Over the last 18 months Starbucks has waged the most aggressive and illegal union-busting campaign in the modern history of our country.”Schultz responded by saying to Sanders: “These are allegations, and Starbucks has not broken the law.”He defended the company’s record and said the company gave workers better wages and benefits than its competitors.The Starbucks boss was defended by Republicans on the committee. Senator Rand Paul called the hearing a “witch-hunt” and Senator Bill Cassidy said it was a “smear campaign”.Cassidy said no one is above the law, “but let’s not kid ourselves: this is not a fair and impartial hearing.”Before the hearing, Sanders released a report by the committee’s majority staff outlining Starbucks’ record of unfair labor practice charges.The report found Starbucks broke the law 130 times in six states and is facing an additional 70 cases. Misconduct ranged from firing workers in retaliation for union organizing to shutting down stores, withholding pay and benefits, and comments made by Schultz himself.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“There is mounting evidence that the $113bn company’s anti-union efforts include a pattern of flagrant violations of federal labor law,” the report claims. “Starbucks has engaged in the most significant union-busting campaign in modern history. It has been led by Howard Schultz.”Naomi Martinez, a shift supervisor at a unionized Starbucks in Phoenix, Arizona, said she wanted to hear Schultz publicly explain Starbucks’ response to the union campaign and the numerous labor law violations that the National Labor Relations Board and judges have affirmed in complaints and rulings.“I always see the company state that they are continuing to respect the law, respect legal processes, respect the rights to organize, and we see a different story on the worker side of things,” said Martinez.“I just want to hear from Howard’s mouth himself whether or not he thinks that Starbucks has continuously, really respected rights to organize, fully adhering to the law at every turn. Every time that they have their spokespeople say something like that it really is just, to me at least, a slap in the face, because they are abusing these legal processes at every turn.”Starbucks has denied all allegations of labor law violations and appealed all National Labor Relations Board and court rulings against the company. More
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Senator Josh Hawley says Nashville shooting was an attack on Christians
A Democratic opponent of Josh Hawley labelled the Republican “a fraud and a coward” after the far-right Missouri senator demanded that the killing of three nine-year-old children and three adults at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, be investigated as a federal hate crime.Less than two years ago, Hawley was the only US senator to vote against a bill to crack down on hate crimes against Asian Americans during the Covid pandemic.That bill, Hawley said, would “turn the federal government into the speech police [and] give government sweeping authority to decide what counts as offensive speech and then monitor it”.Federal and state authorities have said any motive in the Nashville attack has not yet been established.On Tuesday, Lucas Kunce, a Missouri Democrat running to oppose Hawley in 2024, said: “One out of 100 senators voted against the anti-hate crime bill in 2021. His name is Josh Hawley. He’s a fraud and a coward. Some days it’s more obvious than others.”Hawley addressed the Nashville attack in remarks on the Senate floor, in a Senate resolution and in a letter to the FBI director, Christopher Wray, and the secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas.Condemning the “murderous rampage at a Christian school known as the Covenant School”, Hawley wrote: “It is commonplace to call such horror senseless violence. But properly speaking, that is false. Police report the attack here was targeted … against Christians.“… I urge you to immediately open an investigation into this shooting as a federal hate crime. The full resources of the federal government must be brought to bear … Hate that leads to violence must be condemned and hate crimes must be prosecuted.”At the White House, Joe Biden was asked about Hawley’s contention. The president said: “Well, I probably don’t [think so] then. No, I’m joking – I have no idea.”In the Senate, the US attorney general was asked by John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, if he would open a hate crimes investigation.Merrick Garland said: “As of now, motive hasn’t been identified. We are certainly working full time with [federal agencies and Nashville and Tennessee law enforcement] to determine what the motive is and of course motive is what determines whether it’s a hate crime or not.”In Tennessee, authorities continued to investigate. Police said the shooter, who was killed, wrote a “manifesto” and planned the attack extensively. The police chief, John Drake, told NBC that “resentment” over attending the school might have played a role in the shooting.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionOn Monday, police said the 28-year-old shooter, Audrey Elizabeth Hale, was transgender.LGBTQ+ rights groups have expressed concern that Hale’s writings could be published, a step police have said they will not take while the investigation continues.Gun law reform group Gays Against Guns, formed after the Pulse nightclub massacre of 2016, condemned the Nashville shooting but also criticised Republican policies and laws.Gun violence and mass killings, the group said, “cannot be separated from the efforts of the cisgender white supremacist patriarchy to keep us divided along lines of race, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexual orientation”.“Until our society confronts these realities, rather than hide from or obscure them as ‘Don’t Say Gay’ and anti-‘Critical Race Theory’ laws proliferating across the nation … intend, we can, sadly, expect many more incidents like today.”The group also said that “expectations and demands can take their toll on members of our LGBTQ+ communities who, instead of receiving support and understanding from their families and communities, receive hatred, ridicule, denigration and persecution”. More
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‘Not going to let our military be politicised,’ says Republican delaying nominees over abortion
A Republican senator holding up more than 100 nominations over Pentagon policy on abortion claimed: “I’m not going to let our military be politicised.”Tommy Tuberville, from Alabama, was speaking on Tuesday at a hearing staged by the armed services committee.The Department of Defense covers expenses and leave needs for troops who have to travel to obtain an abortion, a procedure it allows in cases of rape or incest or if the health of the mother is in danger.In protest of that policy, announced last October, Tuberville is objecting to the quick processing of more than 150 civilian nominees and senior officer promotions.Tuberville’s “hold” means each nomination or promotion must be voted on individually, rather than in time-saving batches.At the Tuesday hearing, the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said the delay could affect readiness to fight.Citing threats from Russia, China and Iran, the retired general said: “There are a number of things happening globally that indicate that we could be in a contest on any one given day.”“Not approving the recommendations for promotions actually creates a ripple effect through the force that makes us far less ready than we need to be.”“The effects are cumulative and it will affect families. It will affect kids going to schools because they won’t be able to change their duty station. It’s a powerful effect and will impact on our readiness.”Austin said: “I really implore you to reconsider and allow our nominations to move forward. It will make a significant difference for our force.”Republicans scored a longed-for victory last year, when the conservative-dominated supreme court overturned the right to abortion, which was protected for 49 years.Democrats seized on a potent campaign issue but the decision emboldened conservative states to pass draconian bans.Austin said: “Almost one in five of our troops is women. And they don’t get a chance to choose where they’re stationed. So almost 80,000 of our women are stationed in places where they don’t have access to non-covered reproductive healthcare.”Tuberville said: “Now my colleagues on the left think this abortion issue is good for a campaign, and that’s what this shouldn’t be about. I’m not going to let our military be politicised.”He also said: “I want to be clear on this: my hold has nothing to do with the supreme court’s decision to the access of abortion. This is about not forcing the taxpayers of this country to fund abortions.”On Monday, 36 Senate Democrats and two independents – Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine – sent an open letter to Austin, asking him to stand firm.“Abortion restrictions and bans only force service members to travel farther to states that have not restricted abortion,” the senators wrote, “further compromising both the financial security of the service members and military readiness.“Our service members should not be forced to needlessly risk their personal health and safety for routine healthcare simply because they pledged to protect and defend our nation.”On Tuesday, Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat and Senate majority leader, rebuked Tuberville directly. The Republican, Schumer said, risked “permanently politicising the confirmation of military personnel.“… I can’t think of a worse time for a [pro-Trump] Republican to pull a stunt like this, as threats against American security and against democracy are growing all around the world.“I urge members of his own party to prevail on the senator from Alabama to stand down in this unprecedented and dangerous move and allow these critical, nonpolitical, nonpartisan military nominees to go through.” More
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Republicans accused of hypocrisy over gun safety after Nashville shooting – as it happened
That’s it for the US live politics blog. Here’s what happened today:
Earlier today, the Nashville police department gave a press conference about Monday’s shooting at a local elementary school, where three children and three adults were killed.
A federal judge has ordered Mike Pence to testify in a special counsel investigation on Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, though Pence is able to appeal the ruling.
Joe Biden commented on his ability to get gun control passed in the wake of Monday’s mass shooting. Biden said that he is only able to “plead with Congress” to act and pass gun control measures.
Democrats are apparently weighing legislative options in the face of Monday’s shooting, including a discharge petition which could bring legislation to the floor. But Democratic leadership has not provided a timeline to when or if they plan on doing so.
Republicans, including Tennessee governor Bill Lee, have been accused of hypocrisy for providing their condolences following Monday’s shooting but refusing to support gun control measures.
Thank you for reading. Join us tomorrow for more updates!Earlier today, the Nashville police department provided more updates on the shooter who killed three children and three adults at an area elementary school on Monday.According to the police, the 28-year-old shooter had legally purchased seven guns. The firearms were hidden from the shooter’s parents as the shooter resided in the family home.The shooter’s parents believed that the shooter owned one gun that had been sold.The shooter used three of the purchased guns to carry out the massacre on Monday at Covenant school, where they were a former student. The shooter had reportedly been receiving treatment for an “emotional disorder”, reported Reuters.The shooter left behind a detailed map of the school as well as what police are describing as a “manifesto”, which indicated that the shooter may have had plans to target other locations.Before carrying out the shooting, the shooter messaged Averianna Patton, a friend and former basketball teammate, writing: “Something bad is about to happen.”Patton told Nashville’s News Channel 5 that she notified police about the message, but said that police showed a lack of urgency.Here are more highlights from Biden’s remarks from NPR’s Asma Khalid:Biden spoke about yesterday’s mass shooting in Nashville while giving remarks at a semiconductor facility in North Carolina about his Investing in America agenda, his administration’s plan to increase job growth.Biden spoke on the shooting in Nashville, adding that the victims’ families deserve action on gun control and “more than a prayer”, referring to thoughts and prayers that are usually offered after such events.Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer responded to questions about whether an assault weapons ban would come to the floor for a vote.During remarks to the press, Schumer said that legislators were “working hard” to get enough votes for a ban to be passed, but declined to give a timeline on if a vote would happen on the issue soon.“Look, as you know, I care passionately about this. I’m the author of the bill that passed in 1994. And we’re working hard to get enough votes to pass it,” said Schumer.Florida representative Maxwell Frost called Republicans “cowards” for their failure to pass gun control.Discussing the Nashville shooting, Maxwell called out “politicians in this chamber that have been bought and paid for by the NRA” for not addressing the issue of gun violence seriously.“It is likely that at this moment, the next mass shooter is planning their shooting. What will this chamber do about it,” said Frost.Read the Guardian’s September 2022 profile of Frost here.The Georgia Democratic party (GDP) has put out a statement denouncing Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s upcoming speech at a local gun shop following yesterday’s shooting in Nashville.Representative Nikema Williams, who is also chair of the GDP, called on DeSantis to cancel the upcoming stop in Smyrna, Georgia, according to a statement from Williams published Tuesday:Holding a campaign event at a gun store days after another horrific school shooting where innocent children were murdered should be beyond the pale, but Ron DeSantis seems to not care.
DeSantis is showing Georgians exactly where his priorities lie as he advocates for an extreme MAGA agenda that could make it easier for criminals to carry guns in Florida and puts the gun lobby ahead of our children’s lives. DeSantis should cancel this event immediately.DeSantis is scheduled to visit the gun shop on Thursday, 30 March.A federal judge has ordered Mike Pence to testify in a special counsel investigation on Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.The former vice-president has been ordered to testify about conversations he had with Trump leading up to the January 6 insurrection, reported CNN.The judge has said that Pence can decline to answer questions related to his own actions or the insurrection itself.Pence is able to appeal this ruling.Joe Biden has commented on his ability to get gun control passed following Monday’s massacre at a Nashville elementary school, noting that he can only “plead with Congress” for action.Biden spoke to reporters while on his way to Durham, North Carolina.While making his trip, Biden was asked about his ability to enact firearm restrictions.“I can’t do anything except plead with Congress to act,” said Biden.The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly wrote on the latest updates regarding Tuesday’s shooting in Nashville at an elementary school, available here.The Senate chaplain commented on yesterday’s mass shooting, delivering fiery remarks about the need to move beyond thoughts and prayers in response to gun violence.On Tuesday, Senate chaplain Barry Black began his morning prayer for the Senate with a plea on addressing gun violence.“When babies die at a church school, it is time for us to move beyond thoughts and prayers. Remind our lawmakers of the words of the British statesman Edmund Burke: ‘All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing,” said Black during his impassioned prayer.Democrats are now holding a press conference in response to yesterday’s shooting, urging Republicans to work with them and pass gun control legislation.Democrats are apparently weighing legislative options in the face of Monday’s shooting at a Tennessee elementary school, including a discharge petition.Democrats have been critical of Republicans’ responses to the latest mass shooting and are considering potential actions, reports Politico’s Nicholas Wu.“We’re going to have a conversation about all options to deal with the gun violence epidemic in America,” said US House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries to Politico.Tennessee representative Andrew Ogles has responded to criticism he received after yesterday’s Nashville shooting for a 2021 Christmas family photo featuring firearms.Ogles, who represents the district where the shooting took place, did not express regrets on Tuesday over the photo, where Ogles, his wife, and several of his children are holding riffles and smiling.“Why would I regret a photograph with my family exercising my rights to bear arms?” said the representative.An aide to Kentucky senator Rand Paul was stabbed multiple times over the weekend, said the senator in a late Monday statement.A member of Paul’s staff was seriously wounded during the random attack around 5.15 pm eastern time on Saturday, reported ABC News.The assault took place less than two miles outside of the US Capitol building, raising concerns about violence in the capital city.“This past weekend a member of my staff was brutally attacked in broad daylight in Washington, D.C.,” said Paul in a statement to ABC News.“I ask you to join [wife] Kelley and me in praying for a speedy and complete recovery, and thanking the first responders, hospital staff, and police for their diligent actions.”The victim was treated for stab wounds and taken to the hospital for “treatment of life-threatening injuries”, according to a police report obtained by ABC.The suspect was arrested and is being held without bail.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spoke this morning about yesterday’s shooting, urging Republicans to “show some courage” on passing gun control measures. While speaking on the show Morning Joe, Jean-Pierre spoke about the need for legislation following another mass shooting in a US school.“No other country is dealing with this,” said Jean-Pierre. “No other country is dealing with our kids going to school [and] being slaughtered, being murdered.”“Enough. Enough. Enough,” Jean-Pierre added. “We need Republicans in Congress to show some courage. This is what they owe these parents.Following Monday’s shooting in Nashville, Tennessee governor Bill Lee has come under fire for sharing condolences about the massacre while not supporting gun control in the state. Republican governor Bill Lee shared on Monday that he was “praying for the school, congregation & Nashville community”.But Lee was widely criticized for his comments as Lee refused to pass firearm restrictions in June following a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were killed.Lee also faced backlash for his comments, as his administration passed a bill in 2021 that allows open carry of handguns without permits in Tennessee.Good morning.Yesterday’s shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, has once again spotlighted the partisan divide on how to address gun violence in schools.Three children and three adults were killed during Monday’s massacre at the Covenant school, a private elementary school, confirmed the Nashville police department. The shooting was carried out by a former student who was shot and killed at the scene.In response to Monday’s tragedy, Democrats have been quick to point out hypocrisy and inaction on gun violence from their Republican counterparts.Tennessee representative Andrew Ogles, who represents the district where the Covenant school is located, said he was “utterly heartbroken” over the shooting in a statement released on Monday, reported the Washington Post.But Democrats and gun control advocates brought up Ogles’ previous defense of guns, including a 2021 Christmas card featuring Ogles’ family smiling and holding riffles.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre similarly accused Republicans of inaction during yesterday’s briefing, stating: “How many more children have to be murdered before Republicans in Congress step up and pass the assault weapons ban, to close loopholes in our background check system, or to require the safe storage of guns?” More - in US Politics
Republican congressman says ‘we’re not going to fix’ school shootings
After the latest massacre of schoolchildren in the United States, the Republican congressman Tim Burchett answered the question Americans have all but given up asking of their elected officials by telling reporters: “We’re not going to fix it.”The three-term congressman from Tennessee, the state where an intruder fatally shot three nine-year-old students and three adults at a small Christian school on Monday, appeared to compare the expectation of safety for American schoolchildren with that of soldiers fighting Japanese suicide attackers during the second world war.“It’s a horrible, horrible situation, and we’re not going to fix it,” Burchett said. “Criminals are gonna be criminals. And my daddy fought in the second world war, fought in the Pacific, fought the Japanese, and he told me, he said, ‘Buddy,’ he said, ‘if somebody wants to take you out, and doesn’t mind losing their life, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it.’”Asked whether there was a role for Congress to play in preventing tragedies that are exceedingly common in the US while being exceedingly rare in the rest of the world, Burchett responded: “I don’t see any real role that we could do other than mess things up, honestly … I don’t think you’re going to stop the gun violence. I think you got to change people’s hearts. You know, as a Christian, as we talk about in the church, and I’ve said this many times, I think we really need a revival in this country.”Burchett, 58, has a reputation as “perhaps one of the least filtered members” of Congress, according to a recent profile in Politico that focused on his penchant for somewhat offbeat jokes.His substantive track record is less distinct from his rightwing peers. Burchett was first elected to Congress in 2018, after two decades in the Tennessee state legislature and as mayor of Knox county. He describes himself as an “avid gun owner” and received an A rating from the National Rifle Association’s political action committee, which noted his opposition to bans on semi-automatic weapons. The far-right Heritage Foundation rates his voting record at 95%, thanks in part to his opposition of a bipartisan gun control bill and universal background checks for gun purchases. He was also among 125 House Republicans to sign an amicus brief backing one of the efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election.But Burchett has not always had such a laissez-faire attitude toward crime nor such a cynical attitude toward legislators’ role.In 2006, while serving in the Tennessee state legislature, he sponsored legislation to ban salvia divinorum, an herb with psychoactive properties. “It’s not that popular,” Burchett said of the drug at the time. “But I’m one of those who believes in closing the barn door before the cows get out.“In certain hands, it could be very dangerous, even lethal.”In 2022, after voting against Democratic legislation to fund police departments, Burchett attributed a “violent crime spike” to “liberal soft-on-crime policies and the radical Defund the Police movement”.Burchett has introduced one piece of legislation related to public safety during his tenure in Congress: the 2019 “Unmasking Antifa Act”. The bill sought to create “a new criminal civil rights violation for wearing a disguise while interfering with another person’s exercise of a protected right or privilege”. Had it passed, the bill would have punished people committing crimes while wearing masks with prison sentences of up to 15 years. More
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Trump says he’s not upset over possible indictment while attacking ‘fake’ case
Donald Trump repeatedly insisted on Saturday night he was not upset by expected criminal charges that might arise from the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into his role in paying hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels as he returned from a campaign rally in Waco, Texas.But the manner of Trump’s responses to questions suggested worries about potential damage to his image, and he came across as someone angry that his good vibrations with his “Make American great again” base in Texas could be interrupted by the reality of a possible indictment as soon as this week.Travelling back from his first rally as a 2024 presidential candidate, Trump claimed during a recorded interview with four reporters aboard his Trump Force One plane that he was unafraid about the investigation even as he attacked the case and attacked media reporting about the case.“I’m not frustrated by it. It’s a fake investigation. We did nothing wrong – I told you that,” the former president said before proceeding to lash out at the NBC News reporter on the plane who asked if he was frustrated. “This is fake news, and NBC is one of the worst. Don’t ask me any more questions.”Trump also acknowledged during the interview that he had no actual insight into the investigation. He said “I have no idea what’s going to happen” – before deciding that he supposedly knew what would happen anyway and claiming, “They’ve already dropped the case, from what I understand.”Trump then settled on attacking the investigation, insisting the case is over while making various assertions not supported by concrete evidence and mainly based on speculation that has circulated among his allies and the campaign.“If anything ever happened with the case, it’s a fake case. This is a fake case. They have absolutely nothing. They have it in reverse. They should indict Michael Cohen for all the lies that he told,” Trump said, referring to the attorney who made the hush money payment to Daniels. “They may not do that, but that’s what should be happening.”The case centers on $130,000 that Trump paid to Daniels through Cohen in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Trump later reimbursed Cohen with $35,000 checks using his personal funds, which were recorded as legal expenses. Cohen later pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal crimes.It remains unclear what charges the district attorney Alvin Bragg might seek against Trump, though some members of his legal team believe the most likely scenario involves a base charge of falsifying business records coupled with potential tax fraud because Trump would not have paid taxes on the payments.The remarks from Trump on the flight came during an interview with four reporters. The Guardian obtained the recording after this reporter, confirmed to travel with the former president, was bumped off the manifest the day before the trip over recent reporting that the campaign disliked.The former president also said during the interview that the previous week had buoyed him, at least from a 2024 campaign perspective, correctly noting how he has surged in recent polls amid news of an expected indictment and the Republican base’s clamoring to his defense.“We’ve had the best polls we’ve ever had,” Trump said. Using a derisive nickname for Florida governor and expected 2024 candidate Ron DeSantis, Trump added: “Ron DeSanctimonious is crashing. They’re already looking for somebody to take his place.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“You know where he would be right now [if he wasn’t the governor]? Probably working either at a cigar store or a law firm.”Trump’s rhetoric about the hush money investigation has turned increasingly bitter in recent days as he has gone from lashing out at the prospect of criminal charges, to insisting he wanted to be handcuffed and arrested, back to once again attacking the matter with vehemence.The former president’s attacks on Bragg took a turn on Friday when he predicted in an overnight post on his Truth Social website that “death and destruction” could come should the grand jury in New York return an indictment against him.Returning from the Texas rally on Saturday, where he used his speech to repeatedly air grievances about the investigation, Trump sought to distance himself from his darkest comments that had come as Bragg’s office discovered a threatening letter and white powder in its mailroom.“No – I don’t like violence and I’m not for violence,” Trump said.Then, repeating his lie that electoral fraudsters stole victory from him over Joe Biden in 2020, he said: “But a lot of people are upset and you know they rigged the election, they stole an election, they spied on my campaign. They did many bad things.” More
