
Morgan Sperry is a student at Harvard Law School and also serves as OnLabor's Social Media Director.
In today’s News and Commentary, hot labor summer is in full force as Starbucks workers, actors, screenwriters, and UPS drivers remain locked in labor disputes.
Starbucks Workers United is on a national bus tour to bring attention to Starbucks’ 2,000+ federal labor law violations and refusal to negotiate with unionized stores. The workers seek just cause employment protections, improved health and safety standards (including zero tolerance of sexual harassment), increased wages, predictable and regular scheduling, high quality healthcare, and expanded access to medical, parental, and personal leave (plus the right to take leave for union work).
Starbucks workers have also been sounding the alarm regarding some stores’ restriction of Pride month decorations amidst renewed attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. Currently, more than 300 Starbucks stores are unionized across 38 states and DC. Just this week, workers at the Chicago Roastery—the largest Starbucks store in the world—filed for an NLRB union election.
The entertainment industry continues to reel after movie and TV actors joined striking screenwriters on the picket lines Friday. The historic simultaneous SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes have helped launch today’s labor movement into the zeitgeist as Hollywood’s biggest stars use their platforms to discuss exploitation, CEO overpay, the gig economy, the future of AI, and what work post-COVID should look like.
As Swap reported, 340,000 UPS workers are prepared to strike—and, on Sunday, Teamsters President Sean M. O’Brien asked the White House not to intervene. The union continues to push for air conditioning in trucks, ending the existing two-tier wage system, and wage increases for part-time workers. The strike would be one of the largest single-employer strikes in US history.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
September 24
UAW expands strike, files ULP against a Republican senator and hosts Biden on the picket line. NLRB ALJ issues first Cemex bargaining order.
September 22
Biden and Lula announce Partnership for Workers’ Rights; GAO clears Su to serve as acting Secretary of Labor indefinitely.
September 21
DHS policies for Venezuelan migrants; reduced arbitration fees under No Surprises Act; increasing religious objections to workplace DEI policies.
September 19
Canadian autoworkers continue negotiations with Ford’s operations in Canada, Trump announces a rally in Detroit next week with union workers, and talk shows backtrack on plans to return to air without writers.
September 18
UAW enters its fourth day of striking with plans to meet Stellantis at the negotiating table; 13 of the 14 bargaining units representing Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) will negotiate new contracts in the next six months; a Brazilian labor court ordered Uber to pay ~$205 million in fines for irregular working relations with app drivers; unions across many sectors press lawmakers to curb potential threats from artificial intelligence
September 17
Updates from UAW’s strike, Dartmouth College athletes file petition to unionize, visual effects artists at Marvel Studios unanimously vote to unionize, and California’s legislature passes a variety of pro-worker bills.