Posts tagged RWDSU
Max Finkelstein Workers Across East Coast Force RWDSU Union to Abandon 500+ Employee Unit
October 31, 2023 // “We warehouse workers and drivers at Max Finkelstein may be from many different facilities in many different states, but we are in agreement about one thing: RWDSU union officials don’t represent our interests,” commented Dorney. “It’s our right under federal law to challenge RWDSU’s forced representation power.” The RWDSU union has recently tried several high-profile unionization campaigns at Amazon warehouses across the country, most notably at the large Bessemer, AL, facility, where employees voted against the union by substantial margins in both 2021 and 2022. Gallup polling shows that 58 percent of nonunion workers are “not interested at all” in joining a union.
How the Amazon Labor Union helped shape modern workers’ rights
October 19, 2023 // For every 1% of Amazon's workforce that unionizes, analysts expect it to lead to an incremental $150 million in annual operating expenses.
Piscataway L’Oreal Employees Demand Vote to Remove RWDSU Union Officials from Facility
September 21, 2023 // Mark Mix. “RWDSU is still trying to impose itself on workers at the large Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama, despite those workers voting not once, but twice to reject the union’s presence.” “Unfortunately, the Biden NLRB is trying to make it easier for union officials who seek to undermine worker votes to cling onto power, but Foundation attorneys will continue to defend Ms. Hoyos Lopez and any other employee who seeks to exercise their individual right to vote out unwanted union officials,”
Unions seek gains in hostile territory: ‘If you change the South, you change America’
September 15, 2023 // The Union of Southern Service Workers, an SEIU-backed group, is organizing low-wage workers from across the service industry. The National Domestic Workers Alliance, a non-union membership organization, is mapping blue-leaning Southern jurisdictions, such as Miami-Dade County, that could be open to enacting a floor of labor standards for homecare. That effort has already led to the passage of “Bill of Rights” legislation in 10 states and four cities. And the Southern Workers Assembly, an advocacy group for both union and non-union workers, is trying to educate and organize workplaces across the region.
REI SoHo Workers Claim ‘Retaliatory’ Pay Cuts, Walk Out In Protest
September 12, 2023 // “They would give us the money if we stopped participating in our legally protected actions, like handing out fliers outside the store or talking to customers about what’s happening with the union,” Buckley said. “They’re ratcheting up the punishment on SoHo right now because they think that’s the best way to discourage other organizations.”
Sean O’Brien’s summer of the strike
June 26, 2023 // It’s the spark for the combative spirit that permeates Teamsters headquarters, where a whiteboard charts a long-term battle plan on a timeline — “practice picketing,” “CAT trainings” (for “contract action teams”), “identify strike teams” … and finally, on the July 31 spot that marks the end of the current contract: “STRIKE.” Why strike now? As O’Brien himself acknowledged in his Senate testimony, UPS already offers the most plum jobs in the logistics industry, with driver salaries starting at $93,000. But O’Brien argues that the pandemic gave UPS workers the greatest leverage they’ve had in decades. In 2020, union members risked their health to keep packages moving. UPS’s profits surged and have remained high, with customers still hooked on the online shopping habits they adopted during the lockdowns. “Our members are fed up” and remain convinced, he said, that “the only concern that was being addressed was UPS’s bottom line and their balance sheet.” No better time, O’Brien reasons, for workers to go to the mat to demand wages beginning at $20 an hour, tighter safety provisions and an end to the two-tier employment system ushered in by the last contract.
Fired Amazon union organizer in Alabama reinstated after filing a complaint, union says
June 16, 2023 // An Amazon spokesperson said during the appeals review, the company determined Bates had failed to be responsive to multiple requests for information regarding her leave. But the spokesperson said there were things the company could have done better to ensure Bates had clarity around what was needed — which is why she’s being reinstated. The company said it also encouraged her to file an appeal. “After a full review of her case, the decision was made to reinstate her,” said Amazon spokesperson Mary Kate Paradis. “We’re pleased that our appeal process continues to work as designed.” The RWDSU has long been a foe of Amazon, which is attempting to fend off organized labor from its vast network of warehouses. The company and the union are still contesting the results of a union election held last year in Bessemer, Alabama, which remains too close to call with 416 challenged ballots still waiting for adjudication.
Op-ed – New York: Lawmakers pass bill banning ‘captive audience’ meetings
June 14, 2023 // “Employers have become much more aggressive in using captive audience meetings to force workers into hearing the employer’s one-sided propaganda on unionization and other issues,” Appelbaum said in a statement following the legislation’s passage. “These meetings often leave workers feeling pressured and intimidated. It is time that the law catches up to the reality of the moment by allowing workers to refuse to attend these meetings without fear of retaliation.” Three states, Connecticut, Oregon and, most recently, Minnesota have banned the meetings. After the Connecticut ban passed, a coalition of U.S companies led by the U.S Chamber of Commerce sued the state in federal court, arguing that the law is preempted by the National Labor Relations Act and that it breached employers First Amendment-protected freedom of speech.
Workers at Barnes & Noble in Manhattan’s Union Square vote to unionize, continuing trend
June 8, 2023 // The Union Square employees are now part of the the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which also represents workers at McNally Jackson, Greenlight Bookstore and other independents. In an announcement Wednesday, the RWDSU cited issues at the Union Square store ranging from workplace harassment to “unstable scheduling practices” and “favoritism by management.”
Rutgers Barnes & Noble Workers Vote To Join Retail, Wholesale And Department Store Union
May 16, 2023 // uilding upon last week’s win by workers at REI in Chicago with RWDSU, today’s win also comes amid a longstanding streak of wins by the RWDSU at independent booksellers in the New York area, including McNally Jackson, Goods for the Study, Greenlight Bookstore and Book Culture, as well as the union election petition of workers at Barnes & Noble’s flagship Union Square, New York store. Workers at the Rutgers Barnes & Noble have reportedly faced safety issues amid the rebound of the pandemic; workplace harassment; substandard pay for the industry below that of independent booksellers; unstable scheduling practices; a lack of structure when it comes to job duties and tasks, and favoritism by management. These are issues the workers are looking to address at their first contract negotiations.