Posts tagged Elizabeth Gulliford
How Unions Take Workers’ Voice and Never Give It Back
September 5, 2023 // Unfortunately, many states’ labor laws are tilted in union officials’ favor. Some unions, when faced with a decertification petition, scramble to agree to a contract — even one that favors management — to take advantage of something called a “contract bar,” which prevents a decertification election while a contract is in place. It has happened to my clients. In most states, unions never have to stand for reelection. Joan’s union, which won its certification in 1975, hasn’t had to prove that it enjoys majority support in nearly 50 years. The only way to remove it is to decertify it, and as Elizabeth and Joan would tell you, that means counter-organizing on your own time against full-time union organizers who have lots of money and lawyers on call. Few states have enacted “recertification” requirements that would impose democracy on supposedly representative unions, requiring them to periodically run for reelection.
Pittsburgh Starbucks Workers Seek Vote to Remove Unwanted SBWU Union
July 14, 2023 // A contributing factor to the growing worker dissatisfaction with SBWU union officials may be the controversial practice of “salting,” which according to news reports is a tactic the SBWU union employed to install union power at New York Starbucks locations. “Salting” involves union officials surreptitiously paying union agents to obtain jobs at non-union workplaces to agitate for union control. “Salts” generally hide their union-allied status from both managers and their coworkers, and may quickly depart the workplace once a union has been installed. The New York Post reported that one SBWU union agent was paid nearly $50,000 to “salt” a Buffalo Starbucks location, and concealed her affiliation from both her coworkers and Congress.