"Committee for Level Playing Field" Organized To Offer "Third Way" on Card Check Bill; Costco, Starbucks, and Whole Foods Market

WHAT:                 Briefing by Lanny J. Davis and Eileen O'Connor
                      Attorneys, Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe, representing
                      Costco, Starbucks and Whole Foods Market
WHEN:                 Sunday, March 22, 2009, 11:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time
WHERE:                Telephone Number Call-in: 1-800-447-0521
                      International: 1-847-413-3238
                      Confirmation: 24178874
If you cannot make this call, please call Eileen O'Connor on
202 339 8463 or 202 997 1234.

Three leading companies in the areas of employee advocacy and innovative
employment practices--Costco Wholesale Corp., Starbucks Coffee Corp. and
Whole Foods Market, Inc.--today announced the formation of an ad hoc
"Committee for a Level Playing Field for Union Elections." The group has
come together to open dialogue about a "third way" approach to reform
labor law. The Committee's purpose is to offer a new solution wholly
distinct from the recently-introduced and controversial "card check"
bill, the Employee Free Choice Act ("EFCA").

The founding companies that formed the Committee have consistently
appeared on Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For.
Their CEO's--James Sinegal of Costco, Howard Schultz of Starbucks, and
John Mackey of Whole Foods Market--today introduced a "Statement of
Principles," that, according to the Committee, would "substantially
level the playing field for union organizers, improve their access to
employees and provide a fair chance to make their case for a union
election."

These principles, attached below, would guarantee a fixed time period
for the secret-ballot election--by eliminating delays for establishing
a day for a secret ballot to certify or decertify a union. The
principles also include increased penalties for serious and pervasive
violations of the law by labor or management and expedited procedures to
impose them.

The Committee strongly opposes EFCA in its current form, which includes
the abolition of a guaranteed option for management or employees to
require a secret ballot, what they call a "bedrock principle of American
democracy." The group also opposes EFCA's provision for
government-imposed mandatory arbitration dictating terms of employment,
which would overturn the time-valued tradition dating back to Franklin
Delano Roosevelt and the Wagner Act of 1935 that preserves private, good
faith collective bargaining, free of government intrusion or dictates.

The Committee hopes that other companies, including representatives from
labor organizations and public interest groups, will support this
innovative, bipartisan "third way" approach.

"We believe in and trust our employees, which is neither anti-union nor
pro-status quo," said James Sinegal of Costco. "We favor fairness and
believe that the passage of a law based on these six principles will
ensure a fair opportunity for workers to make an informed choice, with a
secret ballot, whether they want a union or whether they wish to retain
non-union status."

Lanny J. Davis, an attorney with the Washington D.C. office of the
global law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, pointed out that,
contrary to assertions made by supporters of EFCA, the card-check bill
would, in fact, permit the exclusion of the secret ballot option. "It
defies logic to say that once 51% of eligible voters sign the cards, the
union that is entitled to automatic certification under EFCA would then
ask for a secret ballot. That deprives the 49%, and perhaps some who
signed the cards under pressure, the right to demand a secret ballot."

Davis said he has discussed the Statement of Principles with the staffs
of almost two dozen Democratic and Republican Senators. Most, he said,
indicated the Senators for whom they worked were "positive about our
third way approach, including many Democratic Senators who were
co-sponsors of EFCA and had voted for the same measure last year."

"I'm proud to call myself a pro-labor liberal Democrat who believes that
reforms are needed to provide a level playing field for both labor and
management, but not at the expense of a guaranteed option for a secret
ballot by both workers and management and certainly not at the
expense of preserving the historic process of private, voluntary
collective bargaining. I consider the Committee's third way proposal
based on these six principles to be favorable to labor and fair to
management," Davis said. "If I did not, I would not have taken on this
assignment."

"Given the severe economic crisis facing America it is time to avoid the
polarization that has occurred on both sides of this issue, and instead,
come together to find a productive approach," said Davis.

Committee for A Level Playing Field For Union Elections

II. Statement of Principles of
Reform "Third Way" Legislation:

(1) Secret Ballot. Guarantee the
right of management and unions to require a secret ballot under all
circumstances.

(2) Certification and Decertification
Treated Equally. Permit management to initiate a decertification
campaign through a secret ballot election just as employees and unions
are presently able to initiate certification and decertification
campaigns.

(3) Date Certain for Elections.
Guarantee a fixed time period for the secret-ballot election--i.e., do
not permit delays of an established day for a secret ballot to certify
or decertify a union.

(4) Equal Access to Employees for
Campaign Purposes. Level playing field for unions and management
to access employees during non-working hours during the campaign period,
e.g., permitting each to make presentations to employees at a neutral
location concerning the issue of whether to form a union.

(5) Expedited Enforcement and Stricter
Penalties. Expedited enforcement for serious and pervasive
violations of law by labor and management and stricter penalties for
serious and pervasive violations (e.g., unlawful discharges), including
the penalty of mandatory injunctions when appropriate.

(6) Preserve Private Collective
Bargaining. No mandatory arbitration that dictates contract
terms, but stricter penalties and expedited enforcement for violations
of good faith bargaining rules, including an expedited timetable to
begin bargaining after union certification.

SOURCE: Committee for Level Playing Field

Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe 
Eileen O'Connor, 202-339-8463 or 202-997-1234 
emoconnor@orrick.com 
or 
Cecelia Showalter, 202-339-8559 
cshowalter@orrick.com

For full details on Starbucks Corporation (SBUX) SBUX. Starbucks Corporation (SBUX) has Short Term PowerRatings at TradingMarkets. Details on Starbucks Corporation (SBUX) Short Term PowerRatings is available at This Link.