Posts tagged union recognition
Staples accused of firing Brunswick worker for backing union drive
September 11, 2023 // The Staples union drive is the latest in a string of organization efforts springing up across Maine. Since 2021, there have been successful union drives among workers at the Orono Town Office, Biddeford Starbucks, the Portland Museum of Art, Maine Medical Center in Portland and the Bangor Daily News. Despite those wins, efforts have petered out or failed at the Chipotle in Augusta, Little Dog Coffee Shop in Brunswick, Shalom House in Portland, the Starbucks on Middle Street in Portland and Bates College in Lewiston.
It’s getting easier for workers to unionize. One simple chart shows the new steps.
August 28, 2023 // In a new ruling, the National Labor Relations Board laid out what will now happen if employers trying illegal union-busting activity. If workers want a union, and employers use illegal tactics in the run-up to a union election that could compromise the election — like firing union organizers, or retaliating against workers engaging in protected union activities — the new rules says workers no longer have to hold a fresh election. Workers will instead automatically get their union and employers will have to bargain with them.
LA strip club becomes only in the US to unionize
May 17, 2023 // “If you have been following our journey, then you know this has been a long, exhausting fight, which is why this victory is so sweet,” Reagan, one of the Star Garden dancers, said in a statement. “We put everything we have into this campaign, and we were fortunate to have the support and solidarity from the club’s patrons, our allies and friends, the labor movement and our union, Actors’ Equity Association.” Star Garden Topless Dive Bar’s dancers will be the first to be represented by AEA, a national labor union that represents more than 51,000 actors and stage managers in live entertainment.
Teachers and staff at Living School form union. 6th New Orleans public school to unionize.
April 4, 2023 // Living School joins Rooted School, International High School, Bricolage Academy, Morris Jeff Community School and Ben Franklin High School as organized collective bargaining units. Teachers in New Orleans who do not work at a unionized school can join United Teachers of New Orleans. A small percentage of New Orleans' 71 charter schools are unionized. After Hurricane Katrina, thousands of public school teachers were fired and schools were taken over by the Recovery School District or transformed into charters, ending the contract between the city and the union. Rooted School, International High School, Bricolage Academy, Morris Jeff Community School, Ben Franklin High School
Op-ed: Why Employers Forcing a Return to Office is Leading to More Worker Power and Unionization
February 23, 2023 // It's important to recognize that this turn to worker power is happening in the context of massive layoffs by tech companies, which are becoming less willing to offer perks like remote work to their workforce. In fact, there's evidence that some companies such as Twitter are using return-to-office mandates to get workers to quit voluntarily, to avoid paying severance. Employers are increasingly getting the upper hand, as workers who feel anxious about the economy are reluctant to make demands for more remote work. However, such strategies may well backfire against employers in the long term if they spur increases in labor union organizing; even though individual employees might be anxious about their jobs, together they can press their case, especially given an unemployment rate of 3.4%, the lowest in over 50 years. And even tech workers are finding new jobs in three months or so, pointing to the strength of the labor market despite some shift toward employer power.
Philadelphia Orchestra’s choir moves to unionize
December 12, 2022 // AGMA has given the Philadelphia Orchestra Association a Monday deadline for granting voluntary union recognition to the group, just as the members prepare to join the orchestra for next week’s performances of Handel’s Messiah. Griff Braun, an AGMA organizer, declined to say exactly how many of the group’s 100-or-so singers had signed union cards, but called it a “very strong majority.”
YouTube Music contractors vote to unionize
October 26, 2022 // The AWU-CWA says it "won't stop organizing until all Alphabet workers (full-time, temporary, vendor and contract workers) have dignity on the job, the pay and benefits we deserve, and a seat at the table."
Labor unions are hot, but their moment may not last | Los Angeles Times
August 29, 2022 // About 1 in 10 American workers is in a labor union, down from a peak of more than 1 in 3 in the mid-1950s. Government workers are five times more likely than private-sector employees to be in a union. Yet even as experts acknowledge the newfound excitement around labor, they caution that unions, which have suffered decades of declining membership, are unlikely to turn the tide. Unions’ moment of opportunity could already be slipping away. Republicans are poised to gain seats in the November elections. And a potential recession could wipe away the rare leverage workers have held in the tight labor market that emerged in the wake of the pandemic. Jon Shelton, a labor historian at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Too radical or not radical enough? US’s top labor lawyer in the spotlight
August 8, 2022 // The top lawyer at the body charged with enforcing US labor law has been hailed as a champion by some and as a “radical” by her opponents. For others involved in the white-hot world of union organizing, she has not gone far enough. Abruzzo’s bona fides are clear. She has repeatedly urged the NLRB’s five-person board to adopt new policies that would make it easier to unionize. She wants the board to prohibit so-called captive audience meetings in which Amazon and many other companies require employees to listen to anti-union speeches from managers and consultants. She wants the board to require employers to grant union recognition once a majority of workers sign cards saying they want a union.
CANNABIS WORKERS SEEK UNION CANNABIS NATION TARGET OF PICKETERS
June 15, 2022 // the primary demands presented were that Cannabis Nation hire back four workers who were previously fired over offenses such as time theft or verbal harassment towards management, and to be sure that the fire alarms at the agricultural plant are working Until then, the picketers are paid by the union to protest for their demands, and the picketers ask that their story be spread, along with a consumer boycott on all Cannabis Nation products. occupational safety, health officials, NELL LITTLE, The Advocate, Mt. Hood Community College,