Starbucks CEO Schultz declines to testify at Senate hearing on federal labor laws, report

Starbucks CEO and founder Howard Schultz has reportedly declined to testify before the Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions Committee about his company's alleged lack of adherence to labor laws.

Committee Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders and all of the panel's Democrat members invited Schultz last week to testify March 9. Sanders is a Vermont Independent who caucuses with Democrats.

However, Schultz seems to have decline as a result of him leaving the international coffee shop chain next month, based on a letter Starbucks acting Executive Vice President and general counsel Zabrina Jenkins that Reuters obtained Tuesday.

"Given the timing of the transition, his relinquishment of any operating role in the company going forward and what we understand to be the subject of the hearing, we believe another senior leader with ongoing responsibilities is best suited to address these matters," Jenkins wrote.

When announcing the invitation to testify, the Senate committee said Starbucks "fought" their workers' unionization attempts by "refusing to bargain a first contract in good faith, delay tactics, and a significant escalation in union busting."

Starbucks has closed stores that unionized. Workers planned a three-day strike late last year in support of unionization efforts.