News & Commentary

January 12, 2022

Jason Vazquez

Jason Vazquez is a staff attorney at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 2023. His writing on this blog reflects his personal views and should not be attributed to the Teamsters.

In organizing news, Region 10 of the NLRB set a date for the rerun election at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. For context, the Region ordered the rerun after finding that the first election, the first at any Amazon warehouse and one of the highest-profile union elections in decades, was tainted by the company’s unlawful antiunion tactics. The rerun will begin on February 4, and votes will be tallied on March 28. The Region declined to issue a number of remedies the union had requested, prompting the union to criticize the order as insufficient to undo the effects of Amazon’s unlawful conduct. The union further voiced concern that Amazon would intensify its objectionable conduct in the coming weeks.

In strike news, UFCW local representing thousands of workers in Colorado and Wyoming rejected King Sooper’s “last, best, and final offer” on Tuesday, setting the stage for a three-week strike involving nearly ten thousand employees across dozens of locations. As negotiations disintegrate, the tension is escalating. The union filed a lawsuit in federal court last month alleging that company improperly subcontracted unit work, to which the company responded with an unfair labor practice charge accusing the union of refusing to bargain in good faith.

In political news, President Biden delivered a potent speech on Tuesday urging the Senate to eliminate the filibuster and pass legislation protecting voting rights. In dramatic rhetoric, Biden framed the present moment as a “defining” one and cast the Senate as “a shell of its former self.” “If state legislatures can pass antivoting laws with simple majorities,” he asserted, “the United States Senate should be able to protect voting rights by a simple majority.” Biden’s speech has obvious implications for the labor movement, as the filibuster has proven to be the graveyard of generations of efforts to reform the NLRA, which is likely a necessary condition for any resurgence of organized labor.

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