Posts tagged workplace safety
Dash’s Market workers seek to unionize
July 6, 2025 // Workers United has been active in organizing employees at many Starbucks locations around the country, as well as workers at Spot Coffee. Dash’s Market, which reportedly employs about 500 workers, celebrated 100 years in the grocery industry in 2023. The company was founded by Joe Dash’s grandparents, and the family also operated as a franchisee of the Tops Friendly Markets chain for many years.
Over 1,000 dairy worker Teamsters vote to authorize strike in Colorado, California, other states
June 4, 2025 // The union says just one or two of these strikes could cause supply chain issues. "We know how much money DFA makes, and we know what we deserve," said Peter Rosales, a Local 630 shop steward at Alta Dena Dairy in California. "This company is only successful because of us, and we take pride in our work. All we're asking for is our fair share."
UAW Joins Critics Slamming RFK Jr.’s Cuts to Worker Safety Unit
April 8, 2025 // While other unions, like those representing miners, have criticized the NIOSH cuts, the UAW adds an especially powerful voice to the opposition. With about 400,000 active members, the union secured significant wage gains from the three largest US automakers in 2023 after a six-week work stoppage. In a letter to senators last week, a coalition calling itself the “Friends of NIOSH” also asked senators to reverse the cuts, saying “the health and safety of the American workforce is a shared goal of all our organizations.”
Amazon workers at delivery facility in Skokie, Illinois, authorize strike
December 18, 2024 // The union said it gave Amazon until Dec. 15 to negotiate a contract after hundreds of workers at the Skokie delivery facility organized with Teamsters Local 705 earlier this year, but so far Amazon has maintained the drivers are contractors, not employees, and has refused to even recognize a union.
Senator Sanders Issues New Report Unfairly Criticizing Amazon’s Workplace Safety Record
December 16, 2024 // Significant criticisms have been levied at Sanders over this investigation. For example, the report, which was drafted by Sanders’ staffers rather than safety experts, relies on outdated data and unverified anecdotes. It also ignores the significant investments and improvements Amazon has made since 2019 to enhance worker safety and health. Additionally, Sanders’ investigation and subsequent reports have been conducted and issued without any involvement from other members of the Senate HELP Committee, indicating that no other Senators on the committee agreed with the approach taken by Senator Sanders.
New Biden Executive Order Gives Unions Leg Up on Federally Funded Projects, Imposes New Disclosure Requirements
September 14, 2024 // On September 6, 2024, President Biden announced his new Executive Order on Investing in America and Investing in Americans (“EO” or “Order”), which requires certain federal agencies to consider criteria related to labor standards when prioritizing which projects will receive federal financial assistance. The criteria includes not only traditional labor standards, such as wages, paid leave, and workplace safety, but controversial provisions as well that clearly favor unions, such as project labor agreements and neutrality and card check agreements. The EO will also effectively require agencies to collect information related to labor practices from companies that work on or bid on federally funded projects. The administration claims the Order “supports the creation of well-paying jobs, especially union jobs.” Business groups and Republicans, however, claim the EO is less about setting standards and more about using federal funds to favor unions at the expense of nonunion companies and employees.
Government Unions are Down — But Not Out
September 10, 2024 // For nearly a decade, the Commonwealth Foundation has tracked state-by-state changes in labor laws. Every two years, the Commonwealth Foundation releases its research on the ever-changing legal landscape for public sector unions, assessing each state’s efforts to promote public employees’ rights or cave to unions’ entrenched influence. This fourth edition examines government unions’ attempts, following Janus, to hold onto and expand special legal privileges under state laws. The research also highlights the states reining in government unions’ power and influence by empowering workers.
Read Amazon’s response to Senator Bernie Sanders’ misleading ‘interim report’ on workplace safety
July 17, 2024 // Senator Sanders’ interim report is wrong on the facts and builds a misleading narrative. Our employees’ safety is and always will be our top priority at Amazon.
Flight Attendants’ Union President Hints Climate Change To Blame For Turbulence That Killed Singapore Air Passenger
May 22, 2024 // "As our climate changes, severe and clear air turbulence instances are on the rise. Always follow crew instructions and wear your seatbelt whenever seated. It is a matter of life and death." Nelson has been vocal about clear air turbulence, stating in April that the reason cabin crews suffer most of the injuries is pretty straightforward.
NLRB joint-employer rule triggers fears of higher trucking costs
October 26, 2023 // In comments filed with the NLRB’s proposed rule last year, the American Trucking Associations was particularly concerned with including workplace safety and health as one of the determining conditions for a joint-employer relationship, given that many motor carriers have contractual provisions with other motor carriers that require compliance with federal health and safety standards. “This will, of course, necessitate a wholesale review of those contracts due to the accompanying risk associated with being deemed the employer of another’s employees — especially when there is no or limited ability to control those employees,” ATA stated.