Posts tagged delivery drivers
COMMENTARY: Good news: 2023 won’t mark a union revival
January 3, 2024 // The decline of union membership has been remarkably steady over the last four decades. Since 2000, the year-to-year change in the unionization rate has been positive only six times, and those small gains have quickly been reversed. Moreover, the latest data show that unionization is increasingly concentrated in the government sector, especially local services such as K-12 education and public safety. Only 6% of private sector workers are union members.
Pizza Hut franchisees lay off more than 1,200 delivery drivers in California as restaurants brace for $20 fast-food wages
December 26, 2023 // Mark Kalinowski, a restaurant-industry analyst, wrote in a note this week that he expected "more harm to come" in various ways as fast-food chains "take action in an attempt to blunt the impact of higher labor costs." Chains such as Chipotle and McDonald's said they planned to pass the costs of higher wages in California to customers by raising menu prices. In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California signed the FAST Act into law. It called for the minimum wage for fast-food workers to increase to $22 an hour in 2023. But corporate chains such as McDonald's, Chipotle, and Chick-fil-A, as well as franchise advocacy groups, fought the law. A coalition of restaurant-industry organizations said the law could raise costs for fast-food restaurants by $3 billion. They rallied to get a referendum on the ballot.
When California’s public workers go on strike
August 11, 2023 // On Tuesday, thousands of city workers across Los Angeles, including staff at LAX and Van Nuys airport, City Hall, animal shelters, public swimming pools and other facilities, walked off the job for a 24-hour strike, reports the Los Angeles Times. There have been some efforts in the Legislature to expand strike rights for public workers. State Sen. Tom Umberg, a Democrat from Santa Ana, has proposed a constitutional amendment that would enshrine every worker’s right, including public sector employees, to join a union and negotiate with their employers “to protect their economic well-being and safety at work.” Another measure, authored by Democratic Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes of San Bernardino, would protect public employees from disciplinary action if they join a sympathy strike, refuse to cross a picket line or refuse cover work for striking co-workers.
UPS Teamsters strike threat lingers, here’s how a strike could impact non-union workers
July 14, 2023 // Non-union workers are likely to see additional workload expectations in the event of a strike. Management, supervisors and other clerical staff that may not be covered by the Teamsters contract "could be told to keep the packages moving" while the union members walk the picket lines, Morris said. Clark said UPS could try and lean on the non-union workers to keep the company afloat during a strike.
Amazon Drivers in Union Extend Strike to Second Warehouse
June 26, 2023 // Striking Amazon delivery drivers and dispatchers in Palmdale extended their picket lines to a second warehouse in San Bernardino, according to a statement from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Workers in the union demand Amazon stop its unfair labor practices Growing strike will continue until Amazon reinstates “unlawfully terminated” employees and addresses low pay and dangerous working conditions
The Teamsters Say They Unionized Drivers at an Amazon Facility in California – But It Might Be More Complex
May 2, 2023 // Amazon told Sourcing Journal (SJ) that it had terminated its partnership with Battle-Tested Strategies before the agreement was reached. “This particular third-party company had a track record of failing to perform and had been notified of its termination for poor performance well before [The Teamster’s] announcement,” said Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards to SJ.
Imperfect Foods Workers Vote to Officially Unionize Clackamas-Based Delivery Drivers
November 17, 2022 // Local drivers for Imperfect Foods, the grocery delivery service specializing in “rescued” produce, have voted to officially unionize. Drivers working out of the company’s Clackamas facility are joining United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 555, which also represents workers at groceries like Safeway, Albertsons, and Fred Meyer. The newly unionized employees hope to negotiate for higher wages, guaranteed raises, safety standards, and fairly distributed delivery routes, though the union does plan to solidify the goals of their upcoming contract bargaining through union member surveys.
The resurgence of unions and the fight against Amazon
April 25, 2022 // "The pandemic also created a labor shortage, which gave people more leverage, and made them less fearful of organizing," she said. "Unions are cool again for this generation."