Posts tagged essential
The year of the strike: what’s causing this labor movement and the potential impact
October 16, 2023 // Data from the Economic Policy Institute shows the number of workers striking fell sharply in 2020 and 2021 but then jumped 50 percent last year alone. Labor historians said another factor is the victory after some of these strikes. “As workers do engage in these actions, they encourage each other, to emulate the demands and to emulate the tactics in some ways,” said Joseph McCartin, labor historian at Georgetown University.

Railroad Strike Threat Shows How Unions’ Rigid Rules Often Hurt Workers
October 6, 2022 // Railroad companies would almost certainly have raised compensation to maintain the workforce they needed, but they’ve been locked in by union contracts that prevent them from increasing workers’ pay—or any other benefits—until a new contract is reached. The lack of flexibility to respond quickly to changing circumstances and conditions has almost certainly hampered railroad companies’ ability to find workers throughout the pandemic.
Column: Why Starbucks has become a huge unionization target — and why the company is in a panic
April 25, 2022 // Many American consumer companies, including Amazon and McDonalds, have been dealing with a surging interest in unionization by their employees, spurred in part by the pandemic-driven recognition that their employers have consistently undervalued their contributions to business success.

California grocery workers vote on strike authorization
March 23, 2022 // Thousands of southern and central California grocery workers have started voting on whether to authorize their union to call a strike against several major supermarket chains