Posts tagged Memphis
Memphis union workers prepare to strike ahead of AT&T negotiation deadline
August 5, 2024 // Last month, CWA members voted to authorize union leaders to call a strike at AT&T Southeast if the current contract was permitted to expire before AT&T had reached a fair agreement with its union employees. Union workers are expected to hold strike watch parties in the final hours of negotiations before the current union contract expires at 11:59 p.m.
Op-Ed: The Supreme Court Ruling in the Starbucks Case Proves the Law Won’t Save Labor
June 17, 2024 // As a union organizer and Starbucks worker, I’ve seen the effects of corporate retaliation up close. In December 2020, I took a job at the Elmwood Avenue Starbucks in Buffalo, with the goal of unionizing my workplace. A year later, our store voted to become the first unionized corporate Starbucks location in the United States, sparking a wave of organizing across the company. In response to our union campaign, Starbucks unleashed a union-busting effort that began with managers and executives swarming our stores in Buffalo and escalated to firings (including my own), store closings, and the withholding of new benefits, like seniority pay and credit card tipping, from unionized stores nationwide.
Daimler workers have been demanding significant raises, reviving the “record profits mean record contracts” slogan of last year’s strike.
April 28, 2024 // Once part of the same company, Daimler Truck split with Mercedes-Benz in 2021. Still, an outcome seen as favorable to workers in North Carolina could give the UAW a boost not only in the upcoming Mercedes-Benz election, but also union drives underway at Hyundai, Toyota, and Honda, other foreign-owned auto plants in the South. The UAW pledged earlier this year to spend $40 million on organizing efforts through 2026, with a focus on the South.
Supreme Court to hear Starbucks case about fired pro-union employees
April 24, 2024 // After investigating, an NLRB regional director issued an unfair labor practice complaint. The agency then sought an injunction to get the company to rehire the employees, under section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act. A U.S. district court judge granted the injunction and the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision. Starbucks said the workers were fired for violating company policy when they invited local journalists into a closed store and appealed the case to the high court.
FedEx Express Pilots hit the picket line outside Memphis headquarters as company reports higher third-quarter earnings
March 25, 2024 // “Management continues to insist that any new agreement must be cost-neutral with respect to the rejected tentative agreement,” said Wilm. “This approach will not be accepted by FedEx pilots and will not lead to an agreement that will be ratified by our pilots.” ALPA said the pilots will picket more frequently if FedEx leaders keep using ‘delaying’ tactics.
Right to Work Foundation SCOTUS Brief: Workers Exercising Right to Oppose Unions Isn’t “Harm” to Be Eliminated
March 1, 2024 // Foundation attorneys argue that “the Court must require the NLRB to prove employees were unlawfully coerced not to support a union because, absent such proof, employees have every right to make that choice”
The Supreme Court is getting involved in the fight over unionizing at Starbucks
January 25, 2024 // HSU: Starbucks said the workers had violated multiple company policies, including by allowing a TV crew into the store after hours. The workers believe they were fired because they were trying to unionize. Florentino Escobar is one of the Memphis Seven. He calls what's happening now a war. FLORENTINO ESCOBAR: Not only with us, but I feel like now it's with all U.S. workers.
The Supreme Court agrees to hear Starbucks appeal in Memphis union case
January 17, 2024 // The case has been among the most closely watched in the more than two-year-old effort to unionize Starbucks’s company-owned U.S. stores. Starbucks fired seven employees in Memphis in February 2022, citing safety. The Seattle coffee giant said they violated company policy by reopening a store after closing time and inviting nonemployees—including a television crew—to come inside and move throughout the store. But the NLRB intervened, saying the company was unlawfully interfering in workers’ right to organize and that the store had routinely allowed employees to gather there after closing time.
What would happen if clergy unionized?
December 3, 2023 // Knowing the economy they’re part of is leaving them worse off than previous generations, members of Generation Z are demanding a better work-life balance and healthier, more flexible work environments. They’re looking to unions to help them achieve these demands. If almost half of young pastors are considering leaving the ministry, they will need more than a little mentoring to convince them to stay. They will need the kind of community and sense of solidarity that unions provide, as well as the tools and resources they offer.
5-months with no pay, union strike continues as holidays approach
November 7, 2023 // Union members told FOX13 the company wants to take away 30-minute paid breaks, requiring workers to clock out during their break. Changes are also expected in overtime pay. According to BCTGM International Representative Darrell Copeland, the company proposed removing 8-hour overtime pay. New contract terms would only allow workers to get overtime after they’ve reached 40-hours.