Fran Swanson is a student at Harvard Law School.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced raises and expanded training for employees—except those at unionized stores and stores that have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for an election, the New York Times reports. Workers United has filed an unfair labor practice charge against the company. As Professor Matthew Bodie explained, not offering these benefits to unionized stores may violate the company’s obligation to bargain in good faith and, for those stores seeking to unionize, it is “[h]ard to see how this is that much different in practice” than saying “[d]rop the union campaign and you’ll get this wage increase and better benefits,” which would “clearly be illegal.”
In the Boston metro area, independent coffee shops are also seeing a wave of union activity, Jacobin reports. Over 15 independent coffee shops have unionized in the area in the past year. Workers are represented by UNITE HERE. According to Lip Manegio, a barista at 1369 Coffee House where workers are seeking voluntary recognition, “even the best management is still management, and having support and structure and accountability, the things a union can provide, is important.” Having the support of UNITE HERE and having other independent coffee shop baristas who have unionized as resources has been essential. And, Manegio said that the highly visible Starbucks campaign has also helped, because “[s]eeing workers with some of the best benefits in the industry still rightly insist that they deserve better is inspiring.”
LinkedIn has reached a conciliation agreement with the Department of Labor to pay $1.8 million in back pay with interest to female employees who were paid far less than their male colleagues, the New York Times reports. DOL investigated LinkedIn as part of a routine evaluation pursuant to Executive Order 1965, which requires that federal government contractors provide “equal opportunity” to employees. It comes after Google reached a $3.8 million settlement with the Department in 2021 after the company discriminated against female and Asian American candidates and employees.
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July 13
APWU and USPS ratify a new contract, ICE barred from racial profiling in Los Angeles, and the fight continues over the dismantling of NIOSH
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.