Posts tagged unionized workers
Chipotle may have violated workers’ unionization rights, US labor board says
August 28, 2024 // The board said late Monday that its Detroit regional director found merit to allegations filed against Chipotle by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The union alleges that Chipotle unlawfully disciplined an employee in Lansing, Michigan, for engaging in union activity and told employees the fast-food chain couldn’t give them raises because they were unionized. The regional director dismissed an allegation that Chipotle unlawfully withheld credit card tips from unionized workers. An allegation that Chipotle unlawfully used surveillance methods on its employees is still under investigation.
COMMENTARY: What Big Labor Doesn’t Want You to Know This Labor Day
September 5, 2023 // "Yet, instead of adapting and finding ways to still provide value to workers, unions have maintained strictly seniority-based compensation structures and rigid workplace rules that reduce workers’ productivity, pay, and flexibility. That ends up hurting workers who desire autonomy and flexibility. For example, young workers who are parents typically lack the seniority needed to choose the hours they want. And workers who want to put in extra effort to earn a pay raise have little incentive to do so because most union contracts prohibit employers from giving employees performance-based pay raises or bonuses that exceed the union-negotiated pay scales."
Support for labor unions has increased, but union membership is at an all-time low
September 9, 2022 // Harvard Business School also keeps data on union membership in countries around the world, since the late 19th century. Since their data goes back even further than the BLS data, we can see that the all-time peak for union membership was in the mid-1960s, when it exceeded 30 percent. Like the BLS data, Harvard’s figures show the percentage of the workforce in a union has been steadily declining for decades, and has recently reached lows not seen since before World War II.