Posts tagged bargaining power
Op-ed: Will COVID-era work-from-home flexibility disappear?
September 19, 2023 // Telford points out the irony that even Zoom – the company that made remote work possible for millions, has recently instructed its own employees who live within 50 miles of a Zoom office to start coming in at least twice a week. Mark Zuckerberg has informed Meta employees that they could face termination if they do not come in at least three days a week starting this month. The sources quoted in the Post story seem to all be pointing toward the long schlep back to the office as being inevitable. Venture capitalist Matt Cohen said “During the pandemic, a lot of salespeople were taking calls from the top of mountains on hiking trips. That’s not working anymore.” Of course, all of this exists only within the world of the office worker. The remote work debate is largely a moot point for anyone who works in a warehouse, a restaurant, or on a road crew. It’s rather difficult, after all, to give a client a work-from-home pedicure. In so far as we’re supposed to be most worried about the outcomes of those least well off, there are probably plenty of employment issues that should be far higher up on our priority list.
Analysis: Workers have more bargaining power amid changing labor landscape | Tatiana Bailey
September 12, 2023 // And here’s the monkey wrench. Some of these worker asks are related to disruptive technological changes like artificial intelligence, better known as AI, and alternative energy. For example, Hollywood writers don’t want entertainment companies to use AI to write scripts. Auto workers are worried about their job security because of electric vehicles. Unionized workers, in particular, are trying to secure a bigger piece of the pie as it relates to corporate executive pay, but they are also trying to secure their place in a world that is likely shifting to fewer workers and more technology. It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Student Activists Are Turning Their Attention to the Labor Movement
June 22, 2023 // Last year, the Young Democratic Socialists of America’s Red Hot Summer program trained hundreds of young people to organize their workplaces and helped launch union drives representing thousands. This year’s program hopes to be even bigger, writes YDSA’s cochair. Student workers across the country are engaged in an unprecedented wave of labor organization. Spurred on by the support of organizations like the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), of which I am cochair, undergraduate student workers have launched union drives on nearly thirty public and private campuses in the United States. These workers are fighting for increased pay, improvements to scheduling and hours, sick pay, and better health care. They are also fighting for issues that go beyond bread and butter, like removing Israeli products from dining halls.
Philadelphia Orchestra’s choir moves to unionize
December 12, 2022 // AGMA has given the Philadelphia Orchestra Association a Monday deadline for granting voluntary union recognition to the group, just as the members prepare to join the orchestra for next week’s performances of Handel’s Messiah. Griff Braun, an AGMA organizer, declined to say exactly how many of the group’s 100-or-so singers had signed union cards, but called it a “very strong majority.”
Opinion: Unions And Stress—What Businesses Should Learn
June 23, 2022 // Unionization is often a sign of discontent more than wage/benefit dissatisfaction. And workers have plenty to be discontented about. Demand for goods and services is up, but the working-age population is not. Many workers toil in short-staffed offices and shops. Add to that all the people who changed jobs in the Great Resignation and have not yet come up to speed at their new positions. More experienced workers have to take up the slack created by new employees. A further problem is poor hires. Companies have been so desperate to hire that they may bring in people not well suited to a particular job, or not suited to any job at all. Pressure to get more done is high, and staffing across the country is not adequate. Bill Conerly
NJ, NY Sanitation Workers Vote Overwhelmingly to Flush Unwanted Teamsters Union
March 22, 2022 // Mr. John Operations employees voted 30-10 to oust union officials from workplace in Labor Board decertification election
National Right to Work Foundation Legal Brief Counters Farm Union Bosses’ Case Seeking Power to Impose Union, Top Down, via Lawsuits
February 24, 2022 // “Union association must be fully voluntary, not the result of backroom dealing in lawsuits by union officials designed to force a union on workers from the top down.”
Why Pennsylvania Needs Wisconsin-Style Government Union Reform
February 24, 2022 // Government union executives use this power to trap government employees in unions, deny them alternative representation, and lobby against fiscal and educational reforms needed to make Pennsylvania more prosperous.
Reject Union Bosses’ Push for More Power over Kids’ Education
January 27, 2022 // Without school choice, parents and kids would have no option but to bear this top-down control, so it makes sense that citizens are leaving union-dominated government schools in record numbers. For much the same reason, teacher union bosses oppose giving parents choices like charter schools, because those options threaten union boss monopoly control over education.
Colorado front and center in new era of labor fights post-pandemic
January 24, 2022 // The labor fight that recently hit Colorado grocery stores may soon extend to local coffee shops, classrooms and city hall.