Posts tagged Buffalo
Starbucks Workers Voted To Unionize In New York City Flagship Store, So Did Amazon—Is This The Resurgence Of Unions?
April 5, 2022 // The employees are joining Workers United, which is part of the Service Employees International Union. This organization has fielded inquiries from Starbucks staffers around the country. The vote is a rare one for the restaurant industry. Less than 2% of food-related workers are covered by a union. The baristas and other workers are calling for more help with staffing, better pay with set increases and training.
A surge in retail union organizing is the surest sign yet that workers are fed up
March 29, 2022 // It's a trend born from pandemic-fueled discontent. Once hailed as "essential" and given "hero pay," workers have seen their wages flatline as company profits rise and CEO pay soars. They've worked through COVID waves, had coworkers die, and experienced harassment at the hands of customers who don't want to wear masks.

What a Surge in Union Organizing Means for Food and Farm Workers
March 25, 2022 // By organizing with the Warehouse Workers for Justice, many were able to get their jobs back and have their demands met. “What’s really interesting is that there’s a huge movement right now for worker centers and unions to work together ... to essentially surround the industry,” Oliva said. “So if an employer busts the union, the worker center emerges. If the worker center is unable to organize the workers, the union organizes them.”
US unions see unusually promising moment amid wave of victories
March 16, 2022 // Gebre said the nation’s unions should send far more organizers and money to back the union drives at Starbucks and Amazon. “The rest of the labor movement should be willing to lend a hand,” even if they don’t get any of the members, said Gebre, who was recently named Greenpeace’s chief program officer. “That’s what solidarity means.”
Starbucks “partners” continue to find success in union efforts
March 14, 2022 // Employees are seeking improved wages, staffing, and benefits. The Seattle-based company raised their minimum wage to $15 an hour in October of 2021, which many argue is no longer the target for a livable wage in many major cities within the United States.
Employees at Denver Starbucks strike over unfair labor practices
March 14, 2022 // A spokesperson for Starbucks told Denver7 the employees who participated in the strike "violated clear safety and security protocol and received a warning." "They are both still employed. They received a warning on separate event," the spokesperson, who declined to give their name, said.
SEIU DROPS ITS FRONT IN UNIONIZING STARBUCKS
March 7, 2022 // Proponents had insisted that the movement, which now extends to 103 stores, was a homespun phenomenon arising spontaneously throughout the chain’s domestic arm. The narrative held that the baristas-turned-organizers were union neophytes who discovered they shared a desire to have more say on the brand’s direction and store operations, without any choreography from an outside labor force. Few reports even mentioned that the activist employees were receiving advice or financial support from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) through its Workers United affiliate.
In The Worker Empowerment Movement, Starbucks Employees Are Starting To Embrace Unions
February 27, 2022 // A common, unifying theme is that workers feel that they are being taken advantage of, forced to work long hours for low wages and treated rudely by their unsympathetic managers. These workers are pushing back against poor pay, unpleasant working conditions and a lack of respect from management. Once they’ve left, many take their time to seek out new types of opportunities that offer meaningful work and a path to advance.
Young workers give unions new hope
February 15, 2022 // Multiple polls show union approval is high __ and growing __ among the youngest workers. And U.S. union membership levels are even ticking upward for workers between 25 and 34, even as they decline among other age groups.
Federal Charge: IAM Union Bosses Illegally Demanded Mechanic Join Union, Caused Firing When He Refused Unlawful Demand
February 7, 2022 // Remmington Duk, who recently worked as a mechanic at the Robert Basil Buick GMC dealership in Orchard Park, has filed federal charges against the International Association of Mechanics (IAM) Lodge 447 union and the dealership. Duk’s charges say that IAM agents illegally threatened to have him fired in October 2021 because he exercised his right not to be a union member, and that Robert Basil officials followed through on this threat at IAM officials’ behest and terminated Duk less than a week later.