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Worker Rights and Jobs

How Workers Brought Starbucks To The Bargaining Table

March 1, 2024 Natascha Elena Uhlmann, In These Times. , , ,
After a grueling and innovative organizing campaign characterized by stonewalling, fear mongering and retaliation, Starbucks workers are closer than ever to a first contract. Days after Starbucks Workers United announced the largest single-day union drive in the company’s history, the union declared it had reached ​“a constructive path forward … on the future of organizing and collective bargaining at Starbucks.” According to the statement, Starbucks will no longer deny benefits and credit card tipping to union members, and will work towards a ​“foundational framework” for collective bargaining agreements.

Johns Hopkins Graduate Student-Workers Picket, Negotiations Stall

February 28, 2024 Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network. , , , , ,
One year ago, graduate student-workers at Johns Hopkins University overwhelmingly voted to unionize under the banner of Teachers and Researchers United (TRU-UE), which is affiliated with United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers. While workers had much to celebrate with their historic union election victory, bargaining a first contract with the university administration has been another story. On February 20, fed up with what workers say have been disrespectful and insufficient offers from the university administration, TRU-UE members held practice pickets on campus to show the administration what’s in store if more progress is not made at the bargaining table soon.

What was the CIO?

February 26, 2024 Andrew Elrod, n+1. , , , ,
After decades of defeat, workers are on the move again. Many of those interested today in a revived labor movement know that unions once exercised real sway over the national economy and politics in the US. And the distant memory of how the labor movement was built holds great symbolic power: as thousands of union organizers have asked in meetings, how did they do it in the 1930s? The United Auto Workers named and conceptualized their recent, triumphant “Stand-Up Strike” in explicit homage to their union’s breakthrough sitdown strikes of 1936–1937.

America’s Richest Men Ask The Courts To Make Unions Illegal

February 25, 2024 Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect. , , , , , , , , , ,
Fourscore and seven years ago—1937, to be exact—our fathers on the Supreme Court (well, five of them, which was just enough) brought forth a new nation: New Deal America. In that year, the justices ruled that the most fundamental legislative works of Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency—Social Security and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)—were constitutional. So said the Court; so said, in the NLRA case, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, the decision’s author, who had been the Republican candidate for president in 1916.

The 2023 UAW Strike: A Turning Point In Labor History?

February 23, 2024 Nelson Lichtenstein, New Labor Forum. , , , , , ,
How transformative was the strike that the United Auto Workers concluded in November 2023, when it shut down factories at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, which now incorporates Chrysler? The UAW has been in existence for nearly 90 years, during which three contests with capital have defined the character of the union and–because of its vanguard role–the expectations and standards for millions of other workers. Should we add last Fall’s brilliantly led and highly successful “stand-up” strike to that list? The great sit-down strikes of 1937 founded the UAW and ensured that, for more than a decade, shop militancy and leftwing politics would define a union representing upwards of a million workers in America’s most important industry.

Twenty-Five US Universities Face Calls To Cancel Starbucks Contracts

February 22, 2024 Michael Sainato, Portside. , , , ,
Student organizers, faculty and workers at 25 university campuses across the US are calling for their institutions to cancel their contracts with Starbucks in protest against the company’s response to union organizing efforts. The “Starbucks gets an F” actions will take place on Thursday at campuses including the University of Chicago, the University of South Florida, UW-Madison, New York University, Georgetown and Rutgers. Hundreds of college campuses have Starbucks locations on them, either through licensing agreements or through contracts with third-party vendors. Student organizers are circulating petitions pushing their universities to cut contracts with Starbucks on their campuses and raise public awareness about their efforts to hold the company accountable and support workers’ unionizing efforts at Starbucks.

Sixteen Months On Strike At The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

February 21, 2024 Finley Williams, Labor Notes. , , ,
Bob Batz, Jr., thought it would end quickly. “It's kind of cute now, that we thought getting into last December [2022] and January was a long time,” Batz said. “Little did we know. [We said] ‘Oh, it’s Christmas and we're still on strike. We can't believe it.’” Batz is one of 31 Newspaper Guild workers striking the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, owned by the family company Block Communications, Inc. Journalists at the Post-Gazette have been on strike since October 2022—making this strike the longest of the digital age—along with four other units: mailers, advertising workers, and Teamster truck drivers and pressmen.

Immigrants Are Not Hurting US-Born Workers

February 21, 2024 Daniel Costa, Economic Policy Institute. , , ,
The immigrant share of the labor force reached a record high of 18.6% in 2023, according to our analysis of Current Population Survey (CPS) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.1 Anti-immigration advocates have been out in full force, using this as a talking point for deeply misguided commentary and analysis that roughly translates to “immigrants are taking all our jobs.” The reality is that the economy does not have a fixed number of jobs, and what we see today is a growing economy that is adding jobs for both immigrants and U.S.-born workers. Here are six key facts that show immigrants are not hurting the employment outcomes of U.S.-born workers.

How Four Black Women Changed Homecare Organizing Forever

February 20, 2024 Keith Kelleher, Portside. , , ,
Forty years ago, Irma Sherman and the over 150 homecare workers employed by “McMaid” (Yes, McMaid really was the name of the company) decided they’d had enough of low wages and no benefits and began to organize their union with United Labor Unions (ULU) Local 880, a small, independent union founded by ACORN, the national community organization. While McMaid advertised itself as one of Chicago’s premier “maid services,” with a green and white logo depicting a scantily clad white “maid” happily dancing around with feather duster in hand, in reality, the workers at McMaid were mostly Black and Brown middle-aged women who were not happy about their conditions.

Forget Elections; Build Your Union

February 15, 2024 Hamilton Nolan, In These Times. , , ,
It’s a presidential election year. Are you happy? Excited? Ha. Of course not. Election years in America are fueled far more by fear and loathing than by any sense of genuine inspiration. For many of us, political news inspires a vague sense of disgust and a desire to tune it all out. The more politically engaged you are, the more you understand the awful stakes if the other side wins, and the more you fill with dread. Most of the time, the majestic American democratic project is an exercise in manipulative rhetoric, fearmongering, and, at best, a choice of Lesser Evils. Much of this is hardwired into our inflexible two-party system. Left (and right) wingers are forced into power struggles against hostile party establishments.

Pilots Got Their Payday; Now Flight Attendants Push For Higher Wages

February 15, 2024 Leslie Josephs, Portside. , , , , ,
Airline pilots won pay raises worth billions of dollars in new labor deals last year. Flight attendants are now pushing for similar improvements. Flight attendants from United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines and others picketed Tuesday at dozens of airports around the U.S., demanding higher wages and a better quality of life. “We have been in a period of austerity for 20 years, and it’s time the industry paid up,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents cabin crews at United, Spirit, Frontier and others. The demonstrations mark the first mass pickets jointly held by the labor unions, which represent more than 100,000 flight attendants at U.S. airlines between them.

Solar Nonprofit Shows Patience Brings Results To Lower-Income Residents

February 15, 2024 Frank Jossi, Next City. , , , ,
One installation at a time, a solar nonprofit that matches socially conscious investors’ cash with lower-income homeowners is spreading the benefits of solar in North Minneapolis. Solstar was formed three years ago by solar entrepreneur Ralph Jacobson following his retirement from IPS Solar, the pioneering Twin Cities’ solar company he founded three decades ago earlier. In his entire career, “I hardly ever had Black customers or Black subcontractors,” Jacobson recalled. Solstar is a collective effort for clean energy leaders in North Minneapolis to address those racial disparities. Jacobson, 71, works his network to persuade wealthy individuals to invest in residential solar installations.

Indian Farmers March On Delhi To Protest Unfulfilled Demands

February 14, 2024 People's Dispatch. , , , ,
Indian farmers from the State of Punjab began a protest march towards the national capital, New Delhi on February 13, Tuesday, to raise longstanding demands that have gone unfulfilled by the Union government. Cement blocks, metal barricades, barbed wire, and iron nails were erected on the borders of Delhi and in the State of Haryana on Tuesday to stop the farmers, similar to the blockades that had been set up over two years ago, when farmers had first marched on Delhi to demand their rights. The “Delhi Chalo” protest on Tuesday was organized by over 250 farmers’ unions under the umbrella of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM– Peasant-Worker Front) and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non political), comprised of over 150 farmers unions and a breakaway platform from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a group of over 500 unions, which had organized the historic protests of 2020-21.

Contract Faculty Wrest Neutrality From New York University

February 14, 2024 Jeff Schuhrke, Labor Notes. , , ,
Contingent professors scored a victory January 3 when they got New York University to agree to a union election this semester, and to remain neutral during the process. The election is scheduled for February 27 and 28. If they vote yes, Contract Faculty United (CFU)-UAW Local 7902 will become the largest union in the country of full-time, non-tenure-track faculty at a private university, with 950 members. Nationwide, two-thirds of faculty positions are contingent—meaning they lack the possibility of tenure. Many are adjunct instructors, who are hired on a course-by-course, semester-by-semester basis and typically make low wages and lack benefits. But there is another, lesser-known category of contingent faculty: those who work full-time on long-term contracts. The number of such full-time, non-tenure-track faculty in the US has almost tripled since 1987.

CUNY Workers Launch New Strike Campaign

February 14, 2024 Olivia Wood, Left Voice. , , , ,
As faculty, staff, and graduate student workers at the City University of New York (CUNY) approach one year without a contract, a new strike campaign is forming, fueled by outrage over decades of underfunding, low wages compared to other New York City schools, and fresh cuts to the university’s 25 campuses. Just last month, dozens of faculty were laid off right before the start of the semester — with full or nearly full classes getting cut from the schedule, leaving students in disarray — after the university ordered enhanced cuts at nine CUNY schools. Furthermore, Governor Kathy Hochul’s proposed executive budget cuts CUNY funding by $528 million. Most of this decrease comes from the capital budget, which provides for building upkeep and other infrastructure costs, even though only eight percent of CUNY’s buildings are considered to be in a “state of good repair.”
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