Posts tagged under-staffing
Union members sound alarm after Google fires key workers
June 12, 2024 // “As members of the LIS team, these workers are responsible for handling and responding to requests for user data made by law enforcement, the courts, and members of the public, as well as creating and operationalizing the programs and policies that safeguard user data and maintain compliance with Google’s legal obligations,” the Alphabet Workers Union wrote in a May 24 statement. Since Bloomberg published a September 2023 report revealing law enforcement officials often use search warrants to gain access to Google’s location and search data made by individuals involved in “nonviolent cases” (and those who had no involvement in the crime they are investigating), Google has appeared to further distance itself from withholding that sensitive information. This may explain Google's decision to shrink the Legal Investigations Support team.
Commerce agency near ‘collapse’ over telework, layoffs, union says
June 3, 2024 // Lawmakers, especially Republicans, have been wary of widespread remote work, saying customer service backlogs at government agencies including the Social Security Administration and the IRS prove the case for more in-person staff. Just last week, the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, the federal government’s HR department, assured lawmakers that more than half of all federal employees work in-person full time.
Citing ‘burnout,’ doctors with ChristianaCare file papers to form system’s first labor union
May 15, 2024 // The petition, which only required a 30% vote, was delivered to the NLRB office in Philadelphia late Tuesday. The union would be the first in the 136-year history of ChristianaCare, Delaware’s largest private employer with about 11,600 staff members. Should the doctors elect to form a union, the next step would be collective bargaining on a contract to address duties, wages and other issues.
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin workers vote to unionize
February 13, 2024 // The vote was 56-13 in favor of forming a union, according to a tally of ballots cast in an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board and counted on Thursday. Of the 133 Planned Parenthood workers eligible to vote in the election, 69 cast a ballot, according to a press release.
Wisconsin Rapids workers vote against unionizing Ocean Spray Plant
February 8, 2024 // According to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 965, last Friday 41 workers voted in favor of joining the IBEW local and 50 voted against.
AI JITTERS IN THE WORKPLACE: STRATEGIES TO ENCOURAGE WORKERS TO EMBRACE NEW TECHNOLOGY
October 19, 2023 // The AI fear is definitely real, too. An APA study revealed that 4 out of 10 workers fret over being replaced by AI. Goldman Sachs predicted that at least 300 million jobs could be on the line, and Forrester reports that 45 million workers could lose jobs by 2030. OpenAI adds that 80% of workers will see daily tasks affected, and a Pew Research Center report shows that over 50% of Americans worry about AI’s potentially harmful effects. Also important to note We don’t know how Chat GPT will evolve or devolve. We don’t know how the government will fully regulate it and other AI tools. In other words, hang tight and be ready to adapt. By adopting efforts to include solutions in your positive employee relations efforts, you can boost engagement, retention, and communicate to your employees that you have their technology concerns in mind.
Allina healthcare workers unionize, forming possibly the largest private-sector union for clinicians
October 18, 2023 // Healthcare workers with the Allina Health System voted to unionize Friday in what is described as what is now the largest private-sector union for clinicians in the country. The union, represented by Doctors Council SEIU Local 10MD, includes about 550 physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants who work at Allina clinics. The company is based in Minneapolis but has clinics all across Minnesota and Wisconsin.
‘Barbenheimer’ was a boon to movie theaters and a headache for many workers. So they’re unionizing
October 16, 2023 // Alamo held meetings in Manhattan and Brooklyn in the weeks leading up to union votes. In each gathering, management officials acknowledged discontent among staff members, while reiterating that any issues were better worked out entirely within the company. In Brooklyn, per the recordings, League reflected on the company's history, dating back to its origins in the 1990s. He spoke of his dedication to Alamo and of his own progressive affinities, including his “passionate” support for Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Both League and his wife and Alamo co-founder Karrie League have contributed to various Democratic Party candidates. Tim League has publicly praised the pro-labor senator's 2016 presidential run, telling a CNBC interviewer in 2016 that “Bernie is going to be good for America." League emphasized that he "understood" why Hollywood actors and writers were striking, and why auto workers went on strike. But for Alamo, he said, unions would be a step back, a "communication block." “I fully recognize my own personal bias here,” he said. “I don’t think that forming a union is the right solution for Alamo, that is my personal opinion. I’m concerned that a union is going to drive a wedge between us."
Union workers reach a tentative deal with Kaiser Permanente after the largest-ever US health care strike
October 13, 2023 // “The frontline healthcare workers of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions are excited to have reached a tentative agreement with Kaiser Permanente,” the union coalition said on X. “We are thankful for the instrumental support of Acting US Labor Secretary Julie Su.” The company also thanked Su its tweet about the deal. “We are excited to have reached a tentative agreement with the frontline health care workers of the union coalition. We are thankful for the instrumental involvement of Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Su,” it said in its tweet. The strike last week lasted only three days, the length of time it had been scheduled to run. But the coalition of unions was threatening an eight-day strike next month with even more workers walking out if a new deal was not reached by October 31.
Thousands of Kaiser Permanente workers plan to stage 3-day strike Wednesday
October 4, 2023 //