
Morgan Sperry is a student at Harvard Law School and also serves as OnLabor's Social Media Director.
In today’s News and Commentary, Starbucks is (yet again) violating the NLRA, Ben & Jerry’s voluntarily recognizes its Scoopers union, and UPS workers prepare to strike for air conditioning and other benefits.
Yesterday, an NLRB judge issued a broad cease-and-desist order prohibiting managers at a Starbucks in Wichita, Kansas, from interfering with workers’ organizing activities. Citing Starbucks’s “extraordinary” proclivity for violating the NLRA, the judge found that Starbucks managers illegally threatened to cut hours, deprive workers of benefits, and close its hiring portal because employees were organizing.
Next, Ben & Jerry’s has voluntarily recognized its “Scoopers United” union after a card check officiated by a Vermont State Representative. In so doing, the ice cream company, which touts itself as socially-conscious, breaks with its facially progressive peers—like Starbucks and Trader Joe’s, who continue to engage in old-school union busting—to actually guarantee its workers a “sweet and collaborative future.”
Finally, UPS workers continue to prepare to strike as we head into the sweltering summer months. Drivers have been raising the issue of lack of air conditioning in delivery trucks—among other safety concerns—for over a year. They also seek pay increases and strive to eliminate existing worker hierarchies, which grant different benefits and pay scales to two separate classes of workers. As delivery services (spurred by the pandemic) proliferate and profits soar, drivers deserve their fair share.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
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.