Rossann Williams, head of Starbucks North America decides to step down
Rossann Williams started with Starbucks as a regional vice president nearly two decades ago
After nearly two decades with the coffee firm, the head of Starbucks North America is apparently leaving. Rossann Williams, a regional vice president at Starbucks since 2004, will leave the firm later this month.
Williams was a driving force behind the company’s anti-union campaign. Her resignation comes as a number of other well-known corporations face unionization attempts among their hourly employees.
A Starbucks location in Buffalo became the first company-owned Starbucks outlet in the United States to unionize in December. According to the National Labor Relations Board, at least 150 of Starbucks’ 9,000 company-owned outlets in the United States have voted to unionize since then. At least ten establishments have voted against joining the union.
In a letter to employees last year, Williams stated that Starbucks has never supported unionization and prefers to communicate with employees directly, but that the company respects the legal process and wants to engage with individuals in Buffalo who voted for union representation.
Williams oversaw Starbucks’ biggest market, with 18,000 stores across North America, including the U.S. She has worked with the company since 2004 after having previously worked with Toys R Us and Blockbuster.
In her message to Starbucks workers, Williams, thanked employees for their efforts through a difficult period, and for challenging what she called the company’s status quo. “Starbucks is a company, a family, a belief system, and a tremendous light with a great future,” she wrote.
Starbucks was accused by federal labor regulators in April of retaliating against workers in Phoenix after the company learned of their desire to form a union.
“Among other things, Starbucks disciplined, suspended, and discharged one employee, constructively discharged another, and placed a third on an unpaid leave of absence after revoking recently granted accommodations,” the filing said.