Posts tagged service sector
Opinion: What Buc-ee’s Can Teach Us About the Port Strike
October 12, 2024 // They care most about sheer numbers, from which both union dues and political power—and thus the leaders’ incredibly high salaries—are derived. So, they’ll fight like hell to keep the people they have, even as doing so contradicts not only the economics—and real-world lessons like Buc-ee’s—but also our current labor market reality, in which workers, not jobs, are increasingly scarce. In that world, it makes oodles of sense to embrace automation and other productivity enhancements, whether at the ports or anywhere else, and any other benefits are just the barbecue sauce on top. In the union’s world, however, the system’s working perfectly, and the government-protected sauce already flows.
‘This is the year’: SF labor unions prepare for hectic elections
July 15, 2024 // The Labor Council, which represents more than 100 unions, has already signaled it’s unlikely to reach a consensus on an endorsement. “Historically in San Francisco it’s been a bit all over the map,” said Jay Bradshaw, executive secretary-treasurer for the Nor Cal Carpenters Union. “There are times when there’s been alignment, and times when there’s not ... labor gets lumped in like a monolith — and labor is not.” At the state and national levels, unions have historically backed Democratic candidates. In a city where every legitimate candidate is a Democrat, labor organizers are taking a nuanced look at both the policy positions of — and personal relationships with — the candidates.
San Diego labor unions calling on city to mandate $25 minimum wage for service workers
May 2, 2024 // The move to lift the hourly wages of those working in San Diego’s service industry is being led by a coalition of three unions — Unite Here; the janitors’ union, SEIU-USWW; and the stagehands’ union, IATSE 122 (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees).
Struggling to ‘bring food to our families,’ Olathe schools hourly workers want a union Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/education/article286587730.html#storylink=cpy
March 14, 2024 // Arellano was among more than 70 custodians, paraprofessionals and other hourly workers who packed Thursday’s school board meeting, wearing red, “Union Power” T-shirts. The group of employees, who are not certified so cannot join the teachers union, said they are organizing to form their own union, to advocate for better pay, respect and working conditions. If successful, it would be the first union of its kind in a Johnson County school district. Hourly workers have formed unions in other large Kansas districts, in Lawrence and Wichita. The union, Olathe School Workers United, would be a part of Communications Workers of America, Local 6400, which organized workers in the Lawrence district.
Commentary: Teachers strikes cost students weeks of school in 2023
January 3, 2024 // Betsy DeVos said that the strike-induced school closures "are continuing to exacerbate a problem [the unions] created by the extended lockdowns and shutdowns during COVID." "They're doing it at the expense of the kids they are supposed to be serving," she said. "The unions continue to try to amass more and more political power and extort taxpayers for more and more money and continue to promote a very leftist ideology across the board." DeVos said that lost learning due to missed school days is "devastating for kids [and] families" and noted that closing schools creates difficulties for families beyond the missed time in the classroom. "For those people who have jobs to go to on a daily basis, [they] now have to scramble to try to figure out what to do with the children that are left at home because their schools aren't opening to serve them," she said. "These unions continue to really whipsaw the people around who are supposed to be their customers; they're supposed to be the people they're serving. And yet there's no regard for the impacts on them.
25 states will hike minimum wage in 2024
December 22, 2023 // Sean Higgins, an analyst at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, said many food and hospitality workers already earn more than their state minimum. He noted that employers have raised salaries to compete for a shrinking pool of applicants. “Raising state and local rates does hurt the smaller businesses, the classic mom and pop enterprises, who will employ local high school or college-age kids if they can but may not be able to justify that if the minimum rate increases,” Mr. Higgins said.
UNION’S FIRST CONTRACTS: MORE TWISTS THAN A SEASON OF ‘STRANGER THINGS’
November 16, 2023 // Welcome to the wild world of collective bargaining, where the quest for a first-time collective bargaining agreement (CBA) often feels like an episode straight out of ‘Stranger Things’ – unpredictable, a little strange, and full of twists and turns.
Las Vegas hotel and casino workers reach tentative deals to avoid strike
November 13, 2023 // erms of the deals weren't immediately released, but the union says that the proposed five-year contracts will provide workers with historic wage increases, reduced workloads and other unprecedented wins — including mandated daily room cleanings. Before the pandemic, daily room cleanings were routine. Hotel guests could expect fresh bedsheets and new towels by dinnertime if a "Do Not Disturb" sign wasn't hanging on their hotel room doors. But as social distancing became commonplace in 2020, hotels began to cut back on the service. More than three years later, the once industry-wide standard has yet to make a full comeback. Some companies say it's because there are environmental benefits to offering fewer room cleanings, like saving water.
From Hollywood to auto work, organized labor is flexing its muscles. Where do unions stand today?
November 9, 2023 // There are also limits for organizers under current labor law. That means that what worked in auto workers' labor campaign, for example, may not look the same or be possible in other industries. Larger, more established unions typically have more bargaining power — and that's reflected in new contract wins seen today. “We have a labor law that was designed in the era in the 30s and 40s, when auto plants of 10,000 workers (were organizing)," he said. Starbucks is “split into these small coffee shops of 15 workers. ... They need to join together to have any kind of bargaining power against a big employer. But our labor law isn’t structured to help them do that,” Colvin said. Service jobs can also be hard to organize due to part-time work and high turnover rates. The same can be said for Amazon warehouses, where there have been pushes for unions.
Oregon sees record-high unionization
October 9, 2023 // what’s happening here in Oregon is a little different: it’s driven by independent unions. Rather than join AFL-CIO, SEIU or other big unions, some Oregon workers are taking a “grow your own” approach to unionizing. Local chain Burgerville’s independent union, Burgerville Workers Union, won federal recognition in 2018 and signed its first contract in 2021. Seeing Burgerville’s success in organizing without the resources of a bigger union inspired workers at Voodoo Doughnut.