Posts tagged collective bargain
Op-ed: Organized Labor Pushes Blue States to Protect Private University Student Workers
September 2, 2025 // Without a quorum at the NLRB, state legislation that codifies collective bargaining for private-sector employees may be key to preserving workers’ rights.
Op-Ed: Union membership is now political. So can the government still require people to associate with a union?
July 10, 2024 // Since then, employees have argued that exclusive union representation does violate the First Amendment. Exclusivity saddles them with the “services” of nakedly political bargaining agents. Lower courts have turned those arguments aside mostly because of an older case, Minnesota Board for Community Colleges v. Knight, which suggested that exclusive representation was okay in the public sector. Knight seemed to say that when the government bargains about working conditions, it can choose its own bargaining partner. And if it chooses one exclusive union to bargain with, that choice burdens no one’s associational rights. But whether or not that’s what Knight meant, the decision has no bearing on private-sector bargaining. In the private sector, the government does not choose its own bargaining partner; it imposes one on private parties. And some of those parties object to their unions’ political views—views that are increasingly central to unionization itself. So private-sector bargaining raises a different question: can the government force private citizens to associate with a union when that union’s core purpose is increasingly political? (Elsewhere, I have argued at greater length that it cannot.)
Unions say Starbucks violates worker rights it claims to uphold — and its membership in U.N. corporate initiative is ‘self-serving’
June 6, 2023 // Trull added that “the complaints and [administrative law judge] rulings against Starbucks involve allegations some of which are disputed by Starbucks, none of which are final, and are not equivalent to findings that violations have occurred under the system of adjudication Congress created.” Elena Bombis, the senior manager of integrity at the U.N. Global Compact and the person to whom the unions’ complaint was addressed, did not immediately return a request for comment. The compact has been known to delist companies that have failed to adhere to the agreement’s principles.
Unions cling to monopoly on bargaining
April 14, 2023 //
Graduate Organized Laborers of Dartmouth win union vote
April 13, 2023 // The Graduate Organized Laborers of Dartmouth will become a recognized union, the group announced on Twitter this afternoon. According to the announcement, 261 graduate student workers voted to unionize, winning the election by an 89% margin. The union comes a year after the Student Worker Collective at Dartmouth unanimously voted to unionize.
Starbucks could be forced to bargain with workers who rejected union
January 25, 2023 // A U.S. labor board official is seeking a rare order requiring Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) to collectively bargain with workers at a Florida store, even after they voted against unionizing by a nearly two-to-one margin. The regional director of the National Labor Relations Board's Tampa, Florida office filed a complaint on Tuesday claiming unlawful threats, retaliation and surveillance by Starbucks managers were so severe that holding a new election at the store would be futile.
Starbucks says it wants union bargaining to begin
September 28, 2022 // Casey Moore, a labor organizer and union spokesperson, said the union’s focus right now is developing core proposals on both economic and non-economic issues to help guide bargaining at individual stores.
Starbucks union creates $1 million fund to cover lost pay for striking baristas
June 3, 2022 // The union backing organizing efforts at Starbucks is creating a $1 million fund to cover lost pay for baristas who go on strike, giving workers more firepower in their fight to unionize.
House tees up vote on union protections for staffers
May 9, 2022 // The resolution introduced by Rep. Andy Levin would address that by finishing a process the House began more than a quarter-century ago. When lawmakers passed the Congressional Accountability Act in 1995, they essentially removed a legislative branch exception to numerous federal statutes, including labor laws. But the House never took the final step of approving regulations issued by the Office of Compliance, now the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights.
Sanders pressures Biden on Amazon unions: ‘The time for talk is over’
April 27, 2022 // The Vermont senator sent Biden a Tuesday letter, obtained by POLITICO, asking the president to cut off federal contracts to Amazon until the massive company stops what he calls its “illegal anti-union activity.” As the Senate Budget Committee chair, Sanders will also hold a hearing next week dedicated to calculating how many federal contracts go to companies that are fighting back against unionization efforts, with a focus on Amazon.