STARBUCKS has hired a former CIA/State Department officer and Pinkerton detective agency worker as the manager of Global Intelligence for retail operations, it was reported today.

According to her Linked-In profile, Amanda Stanfill was recruited by the coffee giant in March as it was carrying out an aggressive union-busting campaign in its stores.

She lists the CIA, Pinkerton and the US State Department among her previous employers and states “cross-functional intelligence collection efforts” among her responsibilities. 

Pinkerton has a long history of union-busting since it was founded in Chicago in 1850, including spying and carrying out violent attacks on behalf of bosses. 

Starbucks has waged a bitter anti-union campaign targeting workers who have led organising campaigns for dismissal and intimidating others. 

Around 200 stores have won union recognition since December, while the National Labour Relations Board has found hundreds of violations of labour law.

And last year, the regulator found that a trade unionist who led strikes at an Amazon store in New York was illegally interrogated by a former FBI officer agent as a manager.