Starbucks said on Wednesday former CEO Howard Schultz would step down from the company's board after 41 years with the coffeehouse chain.

Schultz stepped down as CEO in March after he took the reigns at the company for the third time.

The move comes when Starbucks is facing a wave of unionization across hundreds of its stores in the U.S, with CEO Laxman Narasimhan tasked with handling the labor unrest and wavering demand.

Shares of Starbucks were down nearly 1% in extended trading.

(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)