Posts tagged Minneapolis
A Seat at the Table: Physicians Have Been Unionizing in Droves
January 3, 2024 // Mugdha Mokashi, MD, a second-year ob/gyn resident, emphasized that residents and fellows often take care of patients with the greatest needs and the fewest resources. "This is about having a seat at the table" to help make decisions that affect working conditions for residents and fellows, as well as others, including nurses and midwives, Mokashi told MedPage Today, adding that the people "directly responsible for making patient care better" should hold power within an institution.
First Avenue says it will recognize employee union
November 6, 2023 // Workers cited low pay, inconsistent training and short-notice scheduling among their top concerns. Unite Here Local 17 will represent all of the company's hospitality employees, whose work ranges from collecting tickets to bartending. First Avenue recognizing the union "is a testament to the love the First Ave. workers have for each other, their unity and their desire to make their workplaces better," Unite Here Local 17 said in a statement. "We look forward to beginning discussions with First Avenue." If First Avenue had chosen not to recognize the union, the next step would have been filing a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold a union election.
Minnesota’s Misguided Crackdown Of Independent Contractors
November 1, 2023 // Much to the chagrin of Minnesota regulators, rideshare drivers overwhelmingly identify as independent contractors and not employees. Uber and Lyft drivers have, instead, advocated for portable benefits as a means to insulate themselves from forced reclassification. Utah recently became the first state to pass this reform, while states like Massachusetts are mulling similar bills and will also have an opportunity to vote on a 2024 ballot measure to maintain their IC status. Minnesota should study California Assembly Bill 5 and similar efforts that displaced workers and left them worse off under the guise of “fighting” misclassification.
Metro Transit workers, including drivers, overwhelmingly vote to authorize strike
September 14, 2023 // While some may be ready to strike, voting to authorize a strike does not mean a strike will happen. But it does give union leadership the ability to call a strike if it becomes necessary, the union said. "The members have the final say in that. They will tell us what they want to do. They have the final vote on the contracts," Timlin said. "It's really how far they are prepared to go on this. That's the reality." Workers are asking for pay raises to include the cost of living, safety solutions, better shift differentials and more one-piece runs. Negotiations with the Metropolitan Council started back in March and contracts expired at the end of July.
Firing, reprimand of organizers lead to complaints of union busting at MN350
August 29, 2023 // Several workers have left MN350 in the past year, citing changes in the culture and frustration over what they regard as micromanagement. One of them, Joe Morales, was hired as an Indigenous organizing director in May 2021 and was part of a three-person team that helped run MN350 that fall. Morales originally backed the decision to hire McClenty, but within six months he and the other two members of the leadership team had left. He thinks the organization has strayed from its mission. "I still care about the staff and the mission of MN350, but I cannot support the organization anymore," Morales said.
Will Starbucks’ union-busting stifle a union rebirth in the US?
August 28, 2023 // Many baristas say one Starbucks strategy in particular has discouraged workers from unionizing. In May 2022, Schultz announced that Starbucks would give certain raises and benefits to workers at its more than 9,000 non-union stores, but not offer those raises and benefits to its unionized workers. Starbucks insists it would be illegal to impose any raises or benefits on its unionized stores without first negotiating about them, but the NLRB’s general counsel asserts that this policy constitutes unlawful discrimination against Starbucks’ unionized workers. Under this policy, Starbucks has given its non-union workers, but not its unionized ones, a more relaxed dress code, increased training, faster sick leave accrual and, most important, credit card tipping. (Workers at the first few Starbucks stores to unionize had asked early on for credit card tipping.)
Federal labor regulators say Minneapolis Trader Joe’s illegally removed pro-union literature
June 7, 2023 // Workers from the four stores unionized with Trader Joe’s United continue to negotiate with the company over a first labor contract covering wages, benefits and working conditions. Ryther says discussions have been halting. Workers want to negotiate a single contract across all four stores and do so with a virtual option. The company wants to treat workers at each store as separate bargaining entities and has refused to bargain with a virtual hybrid option, Ryther said. Trader Joe’s United has filed a complaint with the NLRB alleging the company has bargained in bad faith for not coming to the table when union representatives tried to bargain with a virtual option.
Tied vote stymies union effort at Lower East Side Trader Joe’s
April 24, 2023 // A two-day union vote at a Lower East Side Trader Joe’s ended in a tie, handing a loss to workers who supported the effort, the union announced Friday. The final vote at the Essex Crossing Trader Joe’s was 76-76, legally marking a win for the company, worker-led union Trader Joe’s United said in a news release. Despite the tie, however, worker-organizers at the store said they would continue to fight for a union.