Posts tagged Starbucks
After right-to-work’s anniversary in Arkansas, Fayetteville Starbucks becomes the state’s first location to unioniz
December 1, 2022 // Arkansas' right-to-work law turned 78-years-old on Nov. 7, and a little over a week after its anniversary, a Fayetteville Starbucks became the first location in the state to unionize. Although right-to-work effects how unions function, other factors like deindustrialization impacted the state's labor movement.
A new union is born in the South
December 1, 2022 // USSW workers and staff are bullish on their new union, believing that its fusion of labor and human rights organizing will help them secure livable wages, stronger safety protections, control over their work schedules, and new respect for the African Americans and Latinos who make up the majority of their members. They are encouraged by the growing public approval for labor unions and the increase in worker protest during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among essential or frontline workers. They are also building off of nine years of organizing through Raise Up — the Southern expression of the Fight for $15 and a Union and an affiliate of the sprawling Service Employees International Union. Raise Up veterans like Gas and Smalls, and the Durham, North Carolina-based Ieisha Franceis and Jamila Allen, will be critical to the USSW's success. Beginning in September 2020 and continuing over the next year, Franceis and Allen led three walkouts that forced their employer, Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers, to agree to their demands for raises, paid leave for employees in quarantine, and new sanitation procedures. Franceis was initially hesitant about striking, but she trusted the much younger and more soft-spoken Allen, who had been meeting with Raise Up organizers for a year and gently prodding her coworkers to take collective action.
This East Bay Coffee Company Just Entered Its Union Phase
November 30, 2022 // A new coffee company union effort just launched not far from California’s state capital. No, it’s not more Starbucks locations demanding better working conditions. This time it’s the East Bay’s own Peet’s that’s looking to get a union started. According to More Perfect Union, workers from two Davis stores will submit their cards to the NLRB on November 28, signaling a formal intent to unionize. The stores have near-unanimous support from staff and have been organizing for about five months, according to Alyx Land, a leader at the North Davis location. The worker says one of his main reasons for getting involved was receiving a 50-cent raise at his last performance review which, given inflation, means his promotion sees him making less money than last year.
Labor secretary takes to Starbucks and Amazon’s hometown paper to point out ‘more worker organizing than many of us have seen in our lifetimes’
November 28, 2022 // U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh reiterated the Biden administration’s support for organized labor with that statement in a Thanksgiving opinion article for the hometown newspaper of two giant companies at the center of union activity: Starbucks Corp. SBUX, +0.04% and Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -0.76% But Walsh wrote in the Seattle Times that getting to the next step — companies bargaining with unions in a timely manner in order to reach an agreement on a first contract — is key. He noted that federal labor law is “weak” and can allow companies to delay bargaining, which could “drag on for years.”
Op-ed by Marty Walsh: Protecting the Right to Organize Act will help unions win their first contracts
November 28, 2022 // The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act is strongly supported by the Biden-Harris administration. Introduced by Sen. Patty Murray and co-sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell, the act would establish a mediation and arbitration process for reaching a first contract agreement. The PRO Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in March 2021, is awaiting a vote in the Senate.
New service union seeks to inspire labor movement in South
November 22, 2022 // Organizers of USSW seek to supplement, rather than compete with, existing movements like Starbucks Workers United. The group will join the nearly 2 million members of the Service Employees International Union, and its demands include better pay, fair grievance processes, safe workplaces, health care benefits and consistent scheduling.
EDITORIAL: Starbucks strike unveils the downside of unions
November 18, 2022 // Colorado’s Democratic legislature and governor aren’t likely to consider a right-to-work law. In recent years, they have expanded options for public sector unionization, a move to counter plummeting private sector membership. Voters rejected a right-to-work ballot measure in 2012. Over 10-plus years, dynamics have changed. Voters have twice chosen to lower income taxes for employees, so they may be open to protecting them from compulsory and coercive unions. When union contracts can’t keep up with market forces, they burden their members — as acknowledged on Thursday. Under these circumstances, the law should free all workers, public and private, from compulsory membership and dues. Maybe it is time to try the ballot again, in a serious effort to protect employees and their and their jobs.
Widespread strikes descend on California
November 18, 2022 // It’s strike season in California, again.
Starbucks announces closure of Portland store that voted to unionize
November 17, 2022 // Starbucks says it reviewed whether the store was thriving, the workers felt supported and whether customer needs were met. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree tweeted that this is blatant union busting, and she's demanding the National Labor Relations Board investigate right away. Maine
Where Six Louisville Unionization Efforts Stand
November 17, 2022 // While there has been a boom in unionization efforts in Louisville, there has also been, for the most part, pushback from employers, who have largely demanded employees vote rather than voluntarily recognize unions.