
Nicholas Anway is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s news and commentary: Union representatives call for urgent heat protections for UPS workers and, at Starbucks, union organizing continues.
Union representatives across the country are worried about the increasing number of UPS workers who have needed medical treatment for heat illness this summer. NBC News reported that UPS, the world’s largest package delivery company, does not provide air conditioning in most of its warehouses and trucks. “After record earnings last year, the company installed cameras in its delivery trucks but did not change its heat safety protocols,” union spokespeople told NBC. “[T]emperature readings taken by workers in their trucks in Arizona and Florida and provided to NBC News show temperatures above 150 degrees.” Most UPS workers are covered by the largest union contract in North America, under which 350,000 workers are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The contract is set to expire next year. Union representatives told NBC that heat protections will be one of the key issues in upcoming contract negotiations. The Teamsters also issued a public letter last week, calling for UPS to implement heat protections like installing fans in every truck, providing drivers and warehouse workers with consistent supplies of water and ice, providing more breathable uniforms and hiring more drivers to reduce each drivers’ workload.
Starbucks workers continued union organizing efforts over the weekend. At a south Minneapolis store, workers implemented a surprise, two-day strike to protest management failing to negotiate over a first contract and changing store hours, wrote the Minnesota Reformer. Workers at the store, the second to unionize in Minnesota, became the first Starbucks in their state to strike, joining a national wave of labor protests in Boston, Seattle, Philadelphia and other cities. And on Friday, the Dallas Morning News reported that Starbucks workers in a Dallas store became the first in their city to unionize. The Dallas workers joined a list of cities in Texas with unionized Starbucks shops that includes Austin, San Antonio and Denton. According to Starbucks Workers United, more than 200 Starbucks shops have voted to unionize in total. The store employees wanted “to prove that it’s possible in Dallas, too.”
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
February 7
In today’s News and Commentary, the NLRB withdraws its objections to SpaceX’s constitutional challenge, Whole Foods asks the NLRB to set aside a union election in Philadelphia, and the AFL-CIO launches a campaign to push back against Musk. The NLRB filed a letter with the Fifth Circuit indicating it would not address SpaceX’s challenge to […]
February 6
Gwynne Wilcox files lawsuit challenging her removal from the NLRB, and unions file a lawsuit challenging DOJE's request to access Department of Labor information.
February 5
Trump's disagreements with Abruzzo & Wilcox, Dollar General's plan for ICE agents, remote work in federal CBA's.
February 4
In today's news and commentary King Soopers workers announce a strike, Congressman Biggs introduces a bill to abolish OSHA, the UAW announces willingness to support Trump's tariffs, and Yale New Haven Health System faces a wage and hour class action.
February 2
President Trump seeks to nullify recent collective bargaining agreements with federal workers; Trump fired the NLRB’s acting General Counsel; Costco and the Teamsters reach a tentative deal averting a strike; Black History Month began yesterday with the theme African Americans and Labor
January 31
In today’s news and commentary, AFGE and AFSCME sue Trump for an Executive Order stripping protections from government employees, Trump fires members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Amazon shutters operations in the entirety of Quebec in response to union successes. On Wednesday, two unions representing government employees–American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and […]