Posts tagged Pittsburgh
Locomotive Manufacturer, Union Agree to End Two-Month Strike
September 6, 2023 //
How Unions Take Workers’ Voice and Never Give It Back
September 5, 2023 // Unfortunately, many states’ labor laws are tilted in union officials’ favor. Some unions, when faced with a decertification petition, scramble to agree to a contract — even one that favors management — to take advantage of something called a “contract bar,” which prevents a decertification election while a contract is in place. It has happened to my clients. In most states, unions never have to stand for reelection. Joan’s union, which won its certification in 1975, hasn’t had to prove that it enjoys majority support in nearly 50 years. The only way to remove it is to decertify it, and as Elizabeth and Joan would tell you, that means counter-organizing on your own time against full-time union organizers who have lots of money and lawyers on call. Few states have enacted “recertification” requirements that would impose democracy on supposedly representative unions, requiring them to periodically run for reelection.
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.)
Starbucks’ ‘overbroad’ workplace civility rule oversteps NLRA, Board rules
August 17, 2023 // On the heels of its Stericycle ruling, which increased scrutiny of employer handbooks, NLRB said Starbucks must rescind its “How We Communicate” workplace policy.
Greenville, SC Starbucks Employees Latest to Demand Vote to Remove SBWU Union from Workplace
August 15, 2023 // Bory and her coworkers’ effort is the latest in a chain of SBWU decertification pushes across the country. In just the past few months, Starbucks employees in Manhattan, NY, Buffalo, NY, Pittsburgh, PA, Bloomington, MN, and Salt Lake City, UT, have all sought free Foundation legal aid in pursuing their decertification petitions at the NLRB. The flurry of decertification attempts is occurring roughly one year after SBWU union agents engaged in an aggressive unionization campaign against the coffee chain’s employees. Federal labor law forbids workers from decertifying a union for a year after a union’s installation, meaning many workers are seizing on the earliest possible opportunity to rid themselves of the SBWU union’s “representation.”
Wabtec sues union, seeks injunction aimed at conduct of striking workers on picket line
August 3, 2023 // Since the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America went on strike on June 22, according to Wabtec's motion, the striking workers have, among other things, used racist and homophobic slurs against non-striking employees entering and leaving the plant, damaged employees' personal vehicles, blocked the plant's gates and subjected the plant to two phoned-in bomb threats. Wabtec sued the UE in asking for the injunction. "Wabtec has made consistent efforts to address the Union's unlawful and dangerous picket activity with the Union and its counsel, but the activity has persisted and most recently escalated, amounting to an unlawful seizure of the Wabtec facility," according to Wabtec's motion.
Pittsburgh Starbucks Workers Seek Vote to Remove Unwanted SBWU Union
July 14, 2023 // A contributing factor to the growing worker dissatisfaction with SBWU union officials may be the controversial practice of “salting,” which according to news reports is a tactic the SBWU union employed to install union power at New York Starbucks locations. “Salting” involves union officials surreptitiously paying union agents to obtain jobs at non-union workplaces to agitate for union control. “Salts” generally hide their union-allied status from both managers and their coworkers, and may quickly depart the workplace once a union has been installed. The New York Post reported that one SBWU union agent was paid nearly $50,000 to “salt” a Buffalo Starbucks location, and concealed her affiliation from both her coworkers and Congress.
Hunter Tower: Is Pittsburgh a blueprint for other union-dominated blue cities?
May 1, 2023 // SEIU leaders now hold key posts in Gainey’s administration. Silas Russell, SEIU Healthcare executive vice president and political director, co-chaired Gainey’s transition team. Maria Montano, former SEIU Healthcare communications director, is now Gainey’s press secretary. And Lisa Frank, former SEIU vice president and director of strategic communications, is now the city of Pittsburgh’s chief operating officer. Emails uncovered through right-to-know requests by CBS Pittsburgh reveal that Russell provided the mayor with union-generated talking points ahead of a meeting last year with UPMC officials.
PNC Park ushers, ticket takers, ticket sellers go on strike, announce plans to picket outside Pirates’ next home game
April 19, 2023 // The Pittsburgh Stadium Independent Employees Union, or PSIEU, announced on Sunday that the Pirates' latest contract offer was rejected and that a strike vote was accepted. The union represents ushers, ticket takers, and ticket sellers at PNC Park. PSIEU says that workers will picket outside the Pirates' next home game on Thursday when the team takes on the Cincinnati Reds.