Posts tagged Apple
Apple’s Maryland store workers vote to authorize strike
May 13, 2024 // Workers at Apple ’s store in Towson, Maryland, have voted in favor of authorizing a strike, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (AIM) said in a statement late on Saturday. The date for work stoppage has yet to be decided, according to the union, which represents Apple’s retail store workers in Maryland.
Apple Store in New Jersey with over 100 employees petitions to unionize
April 12, 2024 // According to the unionization committee at Apple Short Hills in New Jersey, the group has asked Apple not to interfere in the efforts and to allow employees “to freely determine for themselves whether to form a union.” Apple responded by saying that it’s “dedicated to providing an excellent experience” for its customers and teams.
Unions using ESG to control workers — and drain Americans’ retirement savings
March 21, 2024 // They’re pushing board nominees and shareholder proposals that aim to force more workers into union membership, even when workers don’t want it. The Biden administration has smoothed the path for this underhanded strategy, and not only does it threaten workers, it endangers millions of Americans’ retirement savings. A new Institute for the American Worker report shines a light on labor unions’ reliance on ESG.
Unions poised to capitalize on U.S. labor board rulings that bolstered organizing
January 2, 2024 // Business groups and employers are challenging many of those decisions in court, but in the mean time companies should brace themselves for an uptick in organizing emboldened by the NLRB's burst in pro-union activity, experts said. "There's an all-out assault to get businesses to recognize unions and increase union membership," said Ben Brubeck, vice president at construction trade group Associated Builders and Contractors.
UNION’S FIRST CONTRACTS: MORE TWISTS THAN A SEASON OF ‘STRANGER THINGS’
November 16, 2023 // Welcome to the wild world of collective bargaining, where the quest for a first-time collective bargaining agreement (CBA) often feels like an episode straight out of ‘Stranger Things’ – unpredictable, a little strange, and full of twists and turns.
‘Battle royale’: Tesla and anti-union Musk make enticing targets for UAW’s next push
November 5, 2023 // Some current UAW members are already fired up to take on Tesla. “Go out west to California? Absolutely, I would go,” said John Jake Kincaid, a Stellantis employee in Michigan. “Show them our strength.” Still, fighting for a contract at companies with established relationships with union workers is a far different effort than starting from scratch. Several workers who were key to Tesla’s earlier union effort are no longer at the company. The Fremont plant’s history with the UAW predates the electric vehicle maker. For about 25 years, Toyota and GM operated the facility together in an unusual joint venture. It was a union shop. In 2009, GM pulled out of the partnership as part of its bankruptcy proceedings and in 2010 Toyota shut the operation down, throwing 4,700 people out of work. A month later, Tesla bought the sprawling 5.3 million square foot factory; the union didn’t come with the purchase.
Game makers seek unions as digital entertainment booms
September 12, 2023 // Interest in union protection among video game workers has heightened as studios curtail remote work, meaning employees are being pressured to live near offices in cities that tend to be expensive, according to Fellmeth. The ongoing strike by film actors and writers has also been a factor, spotlighting the power of workers uniting. Writers walked off the job in May, followed by actors in July. Both unions are asking for better pay, and guarantees that AI will not steal their jobs and income, among other demands. The strikes have halted production on many studio films and television series.
Writers Guild Suggests Studios Should Split From Streamers in Latest Update on AMPTP Standoff
September 11, 2023 // In its latest strike-era update to members, the Writers Guild of America is suggesting that studio member companies of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers break off from the organization and negotiate individual deals with the union. As negotiations appear to be remaining at a standstill, the WGA’s negotiating committee told members in a Friday update that behind-the-scenes conversations with individual legacy studio executives amid the strike have shown a “desire and willingness to negotiate an agreement that adequately addresses writers’ issues.”
As Obscure as an Extra, She Has a Lead Role in Hollywood’s Labor Fight
August 30, 2023 // Wanted or not, the spotlight has found her. Many union members blame her for the negotiating logjam that has brought almost all movie and television production in Hollywood to a halt. Partly because of her woman-of-mystery persona and partly because she’s an easy target, Ms. Lombardini has become an avatar for the grievances of tens of thousands of striking workers. “Carol can go kick rocks,” Caroline Renard, a striking writer, said this month on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. With her public personality absent, actors and writers have invented one. In May, someone started a parody account on X that has portrayed Ms. Lombardini as a crass tyrant declaring, “I’m a goddess of chaos!” (Yes, she has seen it, an associate said. No, she is not amused.) Another group of screenwriters have mocked Ms. Lombardini online as a fuddy-duddy who hangs out at chain restaurants, the taunt being that no Hollywood person would be caught dead in one. (Her office is near a Cheesecake Factory in suburban Los Angeles.)
Will Starbucks’ union-busting stifle a union rebirth in the US?
August 28, 2023 // Many baristas say one Starbucks strategy in particular has discouraged workers from unionizing. In May 2022, Schultz announced that Starbucks would give certain raises and benefits to workers at its more than 9,000 non-union stores, but not offer those raises and benefits to its unionized workers. Starbucks insists it would be illegal to impose any raises or benefits on its unionized stores without first negotiating about them, but the NLRB’s general counsel asserts that this policy constitutes unlawful discrimination against Starbucks’ unionized workers. Under this policy, Starbucks has given its non-union workers, but not its unionized ones, a more relaxed dress code, increased training, faster sick leave accrual and, most important, credit card tipping. (Workers at the first few Starbucks stores to unionize had asked early on for credit card tipping.)