Labor Rights News Thread

weatheriscool
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Amazon workers in upstate New York file for union election
Source: AP

By HALELUYA HADERO
NEW YORK (AP) — Backed by the grassroots labor group that secured the first-ever union victory of an Amazon warehouse in the U.S., workers of another warehouse filed a petition on Tuesday for an election in upstate New York in the hopes of a similar outcome.

A spokesperson for the National Labor Relations Board said the petition was filed for the warehouse known as ALB1, located in the town of Schodack, roughly 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of Albany.

To qualify for a union election, the NLRB requires signatures from 30% of eligible voters at a specific facility. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding how many employees it has at the Schodack location.

Heather Goodall, a warehouse worker and a former insurance agent who’s leading the organizing effort, said in an interview earlier this month that workers had enough support to file for a union petition, but were choosing to delay in order to pick up even more signatures. On Tuesday, she said the group’s attorneys were not ready to release information on the number of signatures collected to the public.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm ... fe755be88e
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caltrek
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In Landslide 1,108-to-387 Vote, Maine Nurses Reject Effort to Decertify Their Union
by Jake Johnson
August 19, 2022

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) Nurses at Maine Medical Center have voted by an overwhelming margin to keep the union that they opted to join last year, fending off a decertification effort backed by a right-wing legal group dedicated to rolling back workers' ability to organize and bargain collectively.

The vote, held in person on August 17 and 18, favored the union even more heavily than the initial 1,001 to 750 vote in 2021.

A tally released late Thursday showed that the Maine Med nurses voted 1,108 to 387 in support of retaining the Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses United as their collective bargaining representative, a nearly 75% vote in favor of the union.

Jonica Frank, a registered nurse at Maine Med and a member of the union's bargaining team, said that "we have already negotiated historic improvements in pay, in working conditions, and on patient safety issues" since voting to join the union last year.

"A 'no' vote in this election would have meant that all these things could be taken away from us," said Frank. "Once again in this election, we have spoken. And we are not going back!"
Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... eir-union
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
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caltrek
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Federal Judge Orders Starbucks to Rehire Fired Union Organizers in Memphis
by Brett Wilkins
August 18, 2022

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) Labor advocates on Thursday cheered a U.S. federal judge's order compelling Starbucks to reinstate seven employees who were illegally fired from their Memphis store earlier this year for leading a unionization campaign.

U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman ordered Starbucks to rehire the so-called "Memphis Seven" within five days, writing that their firing "supports an inference of discriminatory motive" by the Seattle-based coffee giant. In May, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a motion to reinstate the workers, accusing Starbucks of directing "a wide variety of coercive measures" in its union-busting bid.

The seven workers at Starbucks' Poplar and Highland location were terminated in February during the early months of what has become a nationwide unionization wave in which employees at more than 200 of the company's stores have now voted to form unions.

While Starbucks officials claimed the seven were fired for violations including allowing at least one reporter inside the store to conduct an after-hours interview, the group accused the company of retaliating against the workers for organizing. In June, Poplar and Highland employees voted overwhelmingly to form a union.

"Today's federal court decision ordering Starbucks to reinstate the seven unlawfully fired Starbucks workers in Memphis is a crucial step in ensuring that these workers, and all Starbucks workers, can freely exercise their right to join together to improve their working conditions and form a union," NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo said in a statement following the ruling.
Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... s-memphis
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
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caltrek
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UPS Drivers are Dying of Extreme Heat. The Company Doesn't Care
August 19, 2022

Introduction:
(More Perfect Union) UPS drivers are collapsing in the street, suffering heat stroke & dying because the company refuses to put air conditioning in their trucks. UPS made $13 billion in profit last year yet won’t pay for A/C like FedEx & Amazon already do. We spoke with workers fighting back against UPS. Below is a full transcript of the video (see link that follows).
Read more here: https://perfectunion.us/ups-drivers-are ... esnt-care/


Produced and edited by Libby Rainey and Josh Hirschfeld-Kroen.
Videography by Camila Ortega
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
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caltrek
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Workers Begin Strike at UK’s Largest Shipping Container Port
August 21, 2022

Introduction:
(Al Jazeera) Workers at the United Kingdom’s largest container port have begun what they say will be an eight-day strike, becoming the latest workers in the country to take action to demand higher pay amid rising inflation and the soaring cost of living.

Nearly 2,000 workers at the Port of Felixstowe, which handles about four million containers a year from 2,000 ships accounting for more than half of the country’s incoming shipping freight, walked off the job on Sunday.

The dispute has raised fears of supply chain problems and comes as the transport industry is already reeling from work stoppages, with only one in five trains running in the UK on Saturday amid a railway workers’ strike.

Postal workers also plan a four-day strike later this month, while telecoms giant BT recently faced its first stoppage in decades. Amazon warehouse staff, criminal lawyers and refuse collectors are among those who have staged walkouts in recent weeks.
Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/ ... iner-port

caltrek’s comment: It seems weird that Al Jazeera is apparently taking more of an interest in labor issues in Great Britain than I am finding in U.S. based web sites that I normally monitor.
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
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The National Labor Relations Board is seeking compensation for workers whom it said the company had shortchanged.

By Noam Scheiber

Federal labor regulators have accused Starbucks of illegally discriminating against unionized employees by denying them wage and benefit increases that the company put in place for nonunion employees.

In a complaint on Wednesday, a regional office of the National Labor Relations Board accused the company of breaking the law when its chief executive, Howard Schultz, “promised increased wages and benefits at U.S. stores if its employees rejected the union as their bargaining representative,” and when it withheld raises and benefits from unionized workers.

The labor board is seeking, among other things, that affected employees be made whole for the denial of benefits and wage increases. It is also asking that Mr. Schultz read a notice to all employees informing them that some had been unlawfully denied benefits and pay increases and explaining their rights under federal labor law. Alternatively, a board official could read this material to employees in Mr. Schultz’s presence.

The labor board’s case is scheduled for a hearing on Oct. 25 before an administrative law judge, unless Starbucks settles with the agency beforehand. Starbucks could appeal any ruling by an administrative judge to the full board.


Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/25/busi ... -nlrb.html
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caltrek
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'Historic Victory': Chipotle Workers in Michigan Vote to Form Fastfood Chain's First Union
by Brett Wilkins
August 26, 2022

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) Labor advocates on Thursday hailed employees at a Chipotle in Michigan who voted to unionize, becoming the first of the company's 3,000 locations to do so and adding momentum to a nationwide wave of worker organizing.

"Today's victory is an amazing moment for our team that has worked so hard and spent many months organizing," Samantha Smith, an 18-year-old crew member at the West Saginaw Highway Chipotle in Lansing, said in a statement following employees' 11-3 vote to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 243.

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... rst-union
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
weatheriscool
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Tesla Illegally Restricted Union Shirts, Labor Board Rules
Source: Bloomberg

Josh Eidelson

(Bloomberg) “Wearing union insignia, whether a button or a t-shirt, is a critical form of protected communication,” NLRB Chairman Lauren McFerran said in a statement Monday after the 3-2 ruling by the agency’s Democratic majority. “For many decades, employees have used insignia to advocate for their workplace interests -- from supporting organizing campaigns, to protesting unfair conditions in the workplace -- and the law has always protected them.”

The electric carmaker required production workers to wear black shirts with the Tesla logo, or occasionally all-black shirts when a supervisor gave permission, according to the ruling. The majority said the policy interferes with workers’ rights under the 1935 National Labor Relations Act.

The company didn’t respond to a request for comment on the ruling. Tesla had argued that its dress code was meant to prevent clothing from mutilating cars, and that employees were free to display other sorts of union insignia on the job.

But during a 2018 hearing in the case, former Tesla employees testified that managers told them to remove t-shirts supporting the United Auto Workers union, even though their co-workers wore shirts supporting sports teams without incident.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/t ... 6beb1ef405
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caltrek
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Behind Starbucks Union-Busting Stands CEO Who Got $940,000,000 Richer During Pandemic
by Jake Johnson
August 31, 2022

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) An analysis released Wednesday shows that the multi-billionaire chief executive spearheading Starbucks' aggressive and unlawful union-busting campaign has gotten $940 million richer during the coronavirus pandemic as employees at the coffee chain have struggled to get by on low wages.

Compiled by the progressive group Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), Billion-Dollar Union Busters: How Starbucks and Its Rich CEO Are Stifling Worker Organizing was published as the nationwide unionization drive at the coffee chain continues to grow in the face of increasingly brazen opposition from management, with more than 200 locations voting to join Workers United since December 2021.

“Starbucks and its billionaire CEO, Howard Schultz, can well-afford to improve employees' pay and working conditions through unionization," reads the new report. "Schultz's personal fortune increased by nearly $1 billion during the Covid pandemic, leaping to nearly $4 billion today. Over the last decade his wealth has increased by about $640,000 a day on average, or more money in a single day than most of his store employees are likely to make from Starbucks in a lifetime."

Schultz retook the helm at Starbucks in an interim capacity earlier this year as the unionization push spread rapidly to coffee shops across the country. Given his long history of union-busting, Schultz's return was widely viewed as part of the corporation's attempt to crush organizing momentum.

While recent data shows the union drive slowed slightly last month, the number of stores filing for union elections and winning is still rising at a striking pace, an indication that Starbucks' aggressive anti-union tactics—from firing organizers to denying unionized workers wage and benefit improvements—have thus far been largely unsuccessful.



Read more of the Common Dreams article here: here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... -pandemic

Read the Billion-Dollar Union Busters: How Starbucks and Its Rich CEO Are Stifling Worker Organizing here: https://americansfortaxfairness.org/ ... final.pdf
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
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caltrek
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As U.S. Workers Fight for Labor Rights, Public Support for Unions Soars to Five-Decade High
by Julia Conley
August 30, 2022

Introduction:
(Common Dreams ) Amid a continued high-profile push for workers' rights at U.S. companies including Starbucks and Amazon, polling released Tuesday showed that Americans' approval of labor unions is the highest it's been in nearly six decades and has risen substantially since a low point in the 2010s.

Gallup's annual Work and Education Survey, conducted between August 1-23, found that 71% of Americans now approve of labor unions.

Further extracts:
In 2021, 68% of people said they supported labor unions, and 64% reported the same before the coronavirus pandemic marked a shift in many American workplaces.

The Gallup poll, released less than a week before Labor Day, found that support for unions is now the highest it's been since 1965 and has jumped by 23 points in just 13 years, following the Great Recession.

Restaurant workers in Austin, Texas have formed an independent union with the goal of organizing the nation's entire food services industry

Read more of the Common Dreams article here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... cade-high

For more on the formation of an independent union for restaurant works: https://perfectunion.us/these-pizza-wor ... -industry/

For more on the Gallup poll results regarding support for unions: https://news.gallup.com/poll/398303/app ... 1965.aspx
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
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