Posts tagged Labor
Judge grants temporary halt in UFW’s unionization of Wonderful Co. nursery workers
July 21, 2024 // Within days, Wonderful accused the UFW of having baited the employees into signing the authorization cards under the guise of helping them apply for $600 each in federal relief for farmworkers who labored during the pandemic. The company submitted nearly 150 signed declarations from nursery workers saying they had not understood that by signing the cards they were voting to unionize.
Samsung union kicks off three-day strike over unfair pay
July 8, 2024 // The President of the NSEU told Reuters “What we think is the most important for this strike is to disrupt production, so we’ve been mainly encouraging those working on the production line to join the strike so they can directly impact it.” Those hitting the picket lines include workers who oversee automated production lines and equipment. However, with just over 6,500 workers striking this week - about 5% of the entire workforce - Samsung says it does not expect to see a drop in production at a time when demand is booming for AI chips.
Fury as one of America’s oldest companies slashes jobs in the Midwest as it shifts work to Mexico: ‘It’s greed’
June 30, 2024 // The layoffs come after 10,000 unionized John Deere workers went on strike for five weeks in October 2021. The strikes were among the most prominent during 'Striketober', where thousands of workers from Nabisco, Kellogg's, McDonald's and others walked out for weeks or even months to protest low pay in the wake soaring company profits.
Toledo Starbucks trying to unionize stags day-long ‘sip-in’
June 19, 2024 // Workers at the Westgate Starbucks in west Toledo were asking people to wear red and give the name "Union Strong' when placing the order.
Remote Work Is Reshaping the California Labor Market
June 5, 2024 // That flexibility may be desirable for workers and it could improve labor force participation. For instance, initial evidence suggests that the opportunity for telework may have improved employment among women in recent years. Additionally, remote work is a valuable option for workers with disabilities, though the recent shift toward remote work does not appear to be widespread among this group. In fact, occupations with more flexibility to work remotely have had strong employment growth. While overall employment fell 2% between 2018–19 and 2021–22, employment in occupations where at least half of workers report working from home grew 12%. The largest growth includes software developers, mathematical science occupations, management analysts, and computer hardware engineers. However, the occupations most likely to do remote work are writers and editors (3 of the top 10 remote occupations), even though this field is not growing very fast in California.
Biden appoints UAW president to White House advisory council
June 3, 2024 // The President’s Export Council serves as the main national committee advising the White House on matters of international trade. The group discusses and works to resolve trade-related issues around business, agriculture and labor. The appointment of Fain is the latest instance of the UAW leader emerging as one of Biden’s closest allies in organized labor. Biden walked the picket line with UAW members in Michigan during a strike last year, and Fain and the group endorsed Biden’s reelection bid in January, citing the president’s solidarity with workers.
Guest column: Union democracy? Not so much
May 21, 2024 // The AFL-CIO Philadelphia Council announced GET-UP may be Philadelphia’s largest private sector union. Nonetheless, GET-UP did not secure — as some overzealous headlines suggest — an “overwhelming majority.” Yes, the 1,807-to-97 vote to unionize was undoubtedly one-sided. However, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reported 4,003 eligible voters, meaning only 45 percent of the total workforce supported unionization. Other reports suggest a lower denominator of 3,700 voters. Even then, that’s only 48 percent — clearly less than “the majority of the employees in a unit” seemingly described in the National Labor Relations Act. Yet, due to federal court decisions that strayed from the statutory text long ago, UAW only needed a simple majority
Amazon CEO’s Comments Violated Labor Law, NLRB Judge Rules
May 2, 2024 // Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy made comments to the media in 2022 that violated federal labor law, a US National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Wednesday. Remarks that Jassy made to reporters about the downsides of unionization told “employees that, if they selected a union, they would become less empowered and would find it harder to get things done quickly,” NLRB administrative law judge Brian Gee wrote. Gee cited various comments Jassy made, including telling CNBC that making workplace improvements is “much slower” with a union and saying at a New York Times conference that employees without a union are “better off” because “it’s not bureaucratic.”
Ice cream chain franchisee raises new questions about California’s fast-food labor law
March 31, 2024 // Assemblyman Chris Holden has not responded to a request for comment. A spokesman for SEIU California referred KCRA 3 to the California Labor Commission. No state leader involved or member of SEIU has responded to KCRA 3's question if they intended to include ice cream shops in the new law. "California’s landmark law raising wages for over 500,000 workers will result in urgently needed relief for working families on April 1, when the wage increase takes effect," the SEIU California spokesman said in a statement. The SEIU has previously said KCRA 3's reporting on its use of nondisclosure agreements is a "nothingburger." "Entities who will determine who will be subject to the law include the labor commissioner's office, the fast-food council, and potentially the courts," said Alex Stack, a spokesman for Gov. Newsom, told KCRA. Campbell told KCRA 3 she has hired a lobbyist and attorneys. When asked if she's considering taking legal action she said, "I think everything is on the table."
Opinion | Unmasking Big Labor’s ‘Salts’
March 26, 2024 // Big Labor says these legal protections are the only way the masses can compete with corporate power. The masses don’t seem to agree. The Institute for the American Worker conducted a recent poll on labor fairness, and three-quarters of respondents said unions should have to disclose their paid influencers. The labor-law standard since Taft-Hartley has been freely and transparently negotiated employment contracts. President Biden hasn’t hidden his goal to boost unions by any means available. Lawmakers who want to maintain a fair labor landscape will have to defend it on several fronts.