STARBUCKS workers have filed charges with the National Labour Relations Board after the global coffee giant announced a pay rise that would only be available to non-union employees.  

The company announced the package earlier this week along with a staff-training programme, but said unionised stores and those that have filed for recognition would be excluded. 

Chief executive Howard Schultz, who recently returned for a third term at the helm, told investors that spending would come close to $1 billion for the fiscal year and would help Starbucks deal with increased demand. 

The announcement, which will see rises of between 5 per cent and 10 per cent, came with more than 50 stores voting in favour of a union including a number this week as Starbucks employees seek a voice in the workplace. 

Their union, Starbucks Workers United, said the latest move was part of the company’s ongoing union-busting campaigns which has seen it reprimanded by the labour board for victimising workers. 

“This threat is blatantly unlawful,” the union said, adding that it has filed a complaint with the labour board accusing it of coercing employees who were voting in a union election by suggesting it would withhold new benefits if they unionised.

“We believe in fair and equal treatment for all partners,” the union said. 

Their campaign which started in Buffalo, New York, last year, has spread to a number of states and has been so successful that US President Joe Biden is considering an invitation to the White House.

Michelle Eisen, one of the leaders of the unionisation drive, said the company “continues to knowingly misrepresent US labour law in a sad attempt to slow our organising campaign and disregard the will and rights of its workers.”

Starbucks spokesman Reggie Borges did not say whether the company would make the same offer to unionised workers. 

“Where Starbucks is required to engage in collective bargaining, Starbucks will always negotiate in good faith,” he said. 

Barista and union organiser Mads Hall said the pay rise “only proves there is power in a union. They’ve had the means and the ability to do this all along, but they chose not to.”