Posts tagged industry
NEW UNIONS, NEW TENSIONS: THE COMPLEXITIES OF UNION DECERTIFICATION
August 15, 2023 // Whether these early decertification attempts will gain momentum or fizzle out remains to be seen. Many of the petitions, especially those filed by Starbucks partners, could be blocked by the NLRB due to the high number of ULPs filed by the SBWU union. However, the petitions have generated a lot of publicity indicative of a stirring debate on relevance within newly organized workplaces where little progress has been made in collective bargaining. For now, the prominent backlash from major unions signals they are gearing up to defend their turf aggressively. But if more workers come forward, this could suggest deeper divisions emerging that unions must address.
The State of the Union: Unpacking the Recent Rise in Labor Unionization
January 20, 2023 // Considering unions’ historical role in curbing disproportionate corporate profits and inequality, it makes sense that the NLRB reported a 57% jump in union representation petitions and 14% more complaints of unfair labor practices in the first half of 2022. In the current moment, it seems that workers are turning to unionization as a means of righting the wrongs of corporate inequality. But this push for unions, while having recently enjoyed a burst of momentum, has been a long time coming. Public support for unions stands at 71%, up from 48% in 2010 and at its highest since 1965, according to a recent Gallup poll. Organizers are also being buoyed by a political environment conducive to labor organizing. President Biden has taken decidedly pro-union stances since entering office, replacing Trump’s pro-business and anti-labor NLRB general counsel with former union attorney Jennifer Abruzzo and backing the PRO Act, which would simplify the process of unionizing. It also helps that unions have evaded the extreme partisanship that has swamped most other issues in contemporary politics: While Democrats are twice as likely to view unions favorably compared to Republicans, almost half of Republicans still say that they would approve of unionization in their workplaces.