Posts tagged Workers United
Workers United Has an Alter Ego
April 4, 2023 // Workers United is the largest shareholder of “union controlled” Amalgamated Bank, and is frequently described as its majority owner given its unique control of the bank. Amalgamated reports investments to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that go against both the union and the bank’s self-proclaimed values. Both Workers United and the bank have put forth an image of progressive values and social responsibility. This image has helped Workers United popularize some of its major organizing campaigns, including efforts to organize baristas throughout the country.
Report: baristas and fast-food workers behind sharp uptick in strikes in 2022
February 23, 2023 // Baristas, cashiers, cooks and servers were involved in at least 144 strikes and lockouts, a third of the work stoppages that the report documented. The overwhelming majority of those work stoppages were led by organizers from Starbucks Workers United campaign and the Fight for $15, two national labor movements that have made significant gains in the past few years. More than 278 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since 2021, and the Fight for $15 campaign has gained political traction in state legislatures, most recently in California. While fast-food and service workers were particularly active last year, they were far from the only food industry workers to protest, walk off the job, or go on strike. The report documents four confirmed work stoppages led by farmworkers, including two strikes in the strawberry fields of Santa Maria, California. In May 2022, at least 100 strawberry pickers walked off the job at J & G Berry Farms and demanded their employer pay them $3.50 for every box of strawberries they picked, which amounted to a 66 percent raise. J & G Berry Farms offered to pay its employees $2.20 per box instead, a 4 percent raise that workers say they agreed to because they could not afford to miss another day of work. Hundreds of food transportation workers also organized work stoppages. The report found that employees at Sysco, one of the largest food distribution companies in the world, went on strike at least five times last year. In April 2022, more than 200 of the company’s drivers refused to make food deliveries to regular customers in the Washington-D.C.-Metropolitan Area, which included the U.S. Capitol and the White House.
Starbucks workers contend company is busting unions. ‘This will be a priority for me,’ congressman says.
February 21, 2023 // Since then, the congressman’s staff has been in touch with the company, whose representatives have told them that Starbucks is allowing workers to exercise their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. Khanna told the employees on Friday that he has corresponded with new Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan and expects to meet with him after he takes over April 1. “I’m hopeful that between the approach to him and the approach to some of the board members, who I know, that they may see the light — allowing for reasonable unionization and reasonable terms,” Khanna said. He mentioned that Microsoft Corp. MSFT, -2.29% last year came to a neutrality agreement with the Communications Workers of America; Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is a Starbucks board member.
Union campaign at Tesla marks second attempt to organize workers
February 21, 2023 //
Tesla Workers Reportedly Fired After Trying to Unionize
February 17, 2023 // The move comes just a day after a worker organizing committee, known as Tesla Workers United, notified Musk by email of their intent to unionize. The group is comprised of 25 Tesla employees that process and mark data for Tesla’s Autopilot driver assist system. Tesla Workers United and the larger Workers United union are working in partnership as they attempt to organize Tesla’s Buffalo operation. If the latter name sounds familiar, it’s because the organization recently helped unionize hundreds of Starbucks locations. The group hopes to unionize employees tagging Autopilot data as well as a further 1,000 manufacturing staff at the facility. According to the union, one of the fired employees was a member of the organizing committee, while several others that were fired had been involved in discussions around unionization
Tesla workers trying to unionize are turning to the group that launched Starbucks’ nationwide union wave
February 16, 2023 // The Buffalo factory has about 2,000 employees, about 800 of whom work for the company’s Autopilot division, the technology that allows Tesla’s cars to maneuver controls automatically. The remainder of the workers are part of manufacturing or other functions, according to the Wall Street Journal. Since December 2021, when Starbucks workers first organized in Buffalo, over 250 more stores have voted in favor of unionizing. The company has adopted a hardline stance towards its unions. Starbucks has yet to agree to or sign any contracts with its unions, even though it has said it’s open to discussions. With executives pushing back and negotiations faltering, the unionization effort in the world’s largest coffeehouse chain has begun to slow in recent months with a softer pace of contract bargaining.
Blank Street Coffee Is Popping Up Everywhere. Workers Hope A Union Will Follow.
January 11, 2023 // deGraffenreid said the desire for unionism is “definitely in the air” when it comes to coffee shop workers, noting the massive success of Starbucks Workers United, which organized more than 200 shops at the previously non-union chain in less than a year. But interviews with deGraffenreid and three other workers supportive of the UFCW effort suggest Blank Street’s somewhat unique business model also helps explain why workers are interested in unionizing.
Workers at Eeva in Kensington have unionized
January 11, 2023 // Local 80, Philly’s food-service union, celebrated another victory this weekend as it welcomed its latest member: Eeva, the Kensington bakery/restaurant from the owners of ReAnimator Coffee. It is the first independent restaurant in the city to unionize. “The management team at Eeva intends to voluntarily recognize the Eeva staff union,” Eeva’s owners, Mark Corpus, Greg Dunn and Mark Capriotti, said in a statement to The Inquirer on Monday.
Starbucks union organizing gave labor a jolt of energy in 2022
December 9, 2022 // But unionized stores still represent only about 3% of all company-operated locations across the country. And the number of stores filing to hold union votes has dropped since peaking this March.
Starbucks says union broke rules by recording talks in 5 places
October 28, 2022 // The NLRB prohibits recordings or transcripts of contract negotiations and has previously argued against recording bargaining sessions