Outgoing Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, an iconic figure in the rise of the U.S. coffee chain, defended his anti-union stance at the group at a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday and rejected allegations of labor violations, AFP reported.

Since December 2021 and since the creation of the first union in the group’s three branches in Buffalo (northeast of the United States), Starbucks has become the object of a movement to organize hundreds of employees.

Nearly 300 coffee shops have followed suit, hiring about 7,000 of the Seattle-based company’s employees, according to the Starbucks Workers United union.

In early March, an administrative judge found Starbucks guilty of multiple labor violations that the judge said were part of an effort to prevent the company’s employees from unionizing.

According to the judge, the company fired workers for agitating for unionization, threatened others and offered various benefits to those who voted against unionization.

In particular, the judge ordered Schulz to record a video message reminding employees of their right to unionize.

At a hearing before the Senate Labor and Employment Committee (HELP) on Wednesday, Schultz, who handed over the CEO job to Laxman Narasimhan just days ago, said he would not comply with the order “because Starbucks did not break the law.”

The group has appealed or indicated its intention to appeal each ruling against it in the case, none of which are currently final.