
Lewit Gemeda is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s news and commentary, workers in Wisconsin protest Energizer’s plans to close its Fennimore plant, Apple increases its anti-union efforts at its retail locations, and major U.S. unions saw their membership grow amid a tight labor market.
Workers in Wisconsin and union leaders across the country called for a boycott of Energizer (the battery manufacturer), which announced plans to close plants in Wisconsin and move jobs to Singapore, the UK, and one non-union plant in North Carolina. Teamster union leaders called for a protest boycott and have been using the hashtag #BadBunny to raise awareness of the company’s actions. Workers at the Wisconsin plants were informed that Energizer planned to shut down the plants and cut 600 jobs through a short statement from the company in December. The decision to move jobs offshore comes despite Energizer’s strong financial performance over the last year. The company grossed $1.1 billion in 2022 and paid $93 million to shareholders through dividends. Moreover, as Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) points out, Energizer’s plans to close the plants came after the company requested federal funds for R&D on top of the $10 million in public subsidies the company has received in six states since 1999.
Next, Apple has increased its attempts to stop its 270 retail stores from unionizing. Over the last two weeks, managers at Apple’s retail locations have reportedly held meetings with workers to discuss the challenges of unionization and give an update on bargaining between Apple and its first unionized store in Maryland. The efforts to discourage unionization may be working as only two Apple stores (in Maryland and in Oklahoma) have unionized, and efforts to organize stores in Atlanta and St. Louis have receded. In the meetings held across stores, Apple issued a prepared message that told workers that the unionized stores in Maryland were requesting dues that were close to 1.5% of workers’ pay, prioritizing full-time employees and employees with a longer tenure. Managers also suggested that unions could make unilateral changes—echoing comments made by Apple’s retail Chief Deirdre O’Brien last year—and explained the unionization process in a way that sought to “pour cold water on the idea.”
Lastly, several major U.S unions reported double-digit growth in 2022 while employers were experiencing a stiffer labor market. Those reporting double-digit gains includes the Teamsters (20%), the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (11%), and Workers United (10%). However, the gains and losses could be overstated as some unions belong to federations that have to submit federal disclosures, meaning there could be some double counting. Regardless, the annual disclosures made to the U.S Department of Labor show that 26 out of 52 groups surveyed saw their membership increase, a positive outlook for unionization.
Daily News & Commentary
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July 11
Regional director orders election without Board quorum; 9th Circuit pauses injunction on Executive Order; Driverless car legislation in Massachusetts
July 10
Wisconsin Supreme Court holds UW Health nurses are not covered by Wisconsin’s Labor Peace Act; a district judge denies the request to stay an injunction pending appeal; the NFLPA appeals an arbitration decision.
July 9
the Supreme Court allows Trump to proceed with mass firings; Secretary of Agriculture suggests Medicaid recipients replace deported migrant farmworkers; DHS ends TPS for Nicaragua and Honduras
July 8
In today’s news and commentary, Apple wins at the Fifth Circuit against the NLRB, Florida enacts a noncompete-friendly law, and complications with the No Tax on Tips in the Big Beautiful Bill. Apple won an appeal overturning a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that the company violated labor law by coercively questioning an employee […]
July 7
LA economy deals with fallout from ICE raids; a new appeal challenges the NCAA antitrust settlement; and the EPA places dissenting employees on leave.
July 6
Municipal workers in Philadelphia continue to strike; Zohran Mamdani collects union endorsements; UFCW grocery workers in California and Colorado reach tentative agreements.