WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday made it more difficult for the federal government to win court orders when it suspects a company of interfering in unionization campaigns.

The case resulted from a 2022 incident in which Starbucks fired seven workers who were trying to unionize their Tennessee store.

This ruling was one of three opinions released by the Supreme Court Thursday; with additional ones expected Friday. Decisions are pending on nearly two dozen others heard during this court term.

The National Labor Relations Board had argued that the National Labor Relations Act, the law that governs the agency, has for more than 75 years allowed courts to grant temporary injunctions if they find requests “just and proper.” The agency said the law doesn’t require it to prove other factors and was intended to limit the role of the courts.

In the Tennessee Starbucks situation, the NLRB obtained a court order forcing the company to rehire the workers while the case wound its way through the agency’s administrative proceedings.

Such proceedings can take up to two years.

A district court judge agreed with the NLRB and issued a temporary injunction ordering Starbucks to rehire the workers in August 2022. After the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling, Starbucks appealed to the Supreme Court.

Five of the seven workers are still employed at the Memphis store, while the other two remain involved with the organizing effort, according to Workers United, the union organizing Starbucks workers.

The Memphis store employees voted to unionize in June 2022.

As the case proceeded, animosity between Workers United and Starbucks began to fade. The two sides announced in February that they would restart talks with the aim of reaching contract agreements this year, and they held their first bargaining session in nearly a year in late April.

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