Fran Swanson is a student at Harvard Law School.
Approximately 100 Starbucks employees at three, Buffalo-area stores will be mailed ballots by the NLRB on Wednesday. Ahead of the vote, which will occur over the course of four weeks, Bloomberg reports that the company has stepped up its aggressive anti-union campaign, bringing in founder and former CEO Howard Schultz to speak to employees. In a move that was illustrative of the difficulties that organizing campaigns face, Buffalo-area stores closed for the occasion and employees were paid to attend. It followed a complaint filed against Starbucks last week by SEIU-affiliate Workers United, alleging that Starbucks has illegally “engage[d] in a campaign of threats, intimidation, [and] surveillance.” Schultz left the event when asked by employee Gianna Reeve whether he would support fair principles proposed by pro-union employees to guide the company’s behavior during the election. The unionization vote will occur on a store-by-store basis, rather than a regional vote (20 stores) favored by the company. Ballots will be counted on December 9th. While Starbucks has “cultivated a progressive brand,” Schultz has long been a vocal opponent of unionization. Employees who favor unionization argue that experienced staff are underpaid, employees aren’t scheduled for enough hours, and that—without a union—employees don’t have the security to speak up about customer harassment or unsafe conditions, a need highlighted by the pandemic.
An investigative piece by the New Yorker’s Sarah Stillman reveals the dangers and exploitation faced by the migrant workers who follow climate disasters. Climate change means business is booming for large, disaster-recovery firms, which rely largely on an immigrant workforce to move to disaster zones and perform dangerous, difficult work with little protection. Stillman found “more than two thousand credible claims of harm to workers, including instances of fatal or injurious working conditions, stolen wages, assaults, and labor trafficking.” Many workers rely on their employer for housing and food in each new, disaster-stricken location and undocumented workers are threatened with deportation when they advocate for basic safety measures or the pay they are owed. Those who moved to the United States for the promise of this work were often required to pay thousands of dollars to labor brokers. As Daniel Castellanos, who slept in a rat-filled basement to do post-Katrina cleanup work explained, “[w]e mortgaged our homes, sold property, and plunged our families into debt to pay fees.” Workers, aided by the organization Resilience Force, have been teaching one another how to document job-site abuses and have even taken companies to court, though that has been made more difficult by the franchise structure of some of the companies. Experts say that greater federal protections are needed, such as protection from deportation for whistleblowers and a better-funded OSHA to inspect temporary, disaster-zone job sites.
Finally, the New York Times highlighted the rise of the labor beat in legacy and digital media across the country. Labor reporters interviewed for the piece highlighted several explanations, including the tight labor market that has given workers more leverage and the labor movement in newsrooms themselves. Freelance journalist Kim Kelly suggested that, “[a]n entire generation of journalists has been turned into labor activists.” While some who have long-covered labor issues note reporters unfamiliar with the area can misstate legal issues or lack the context to capture the intricacies of contract negotiations, Association of Flight Attendants president Sara Nelson said that the wave of coverage was crucial to the worker morale necessary to sustain strikes and the public pressure required to make those strikes successful.
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March 24
Duke opposing unionizing grad student workers; NLRB prosecutors find merit to ULPs against Amazon; Starbucks investors weighing outside audit of company's labor practices.
March 23
Trader Joe's workers in Oakland file a petition to form a union; a Kenyan court temporarily blocks Meta contractor’s mass layoff of content moderators; and Starbucks workers at more than 100 stores walkout ahead of shareholders’ meeting.
March 22
NLRB's General Counsel issues two memos clarifying priorities and a recent Board decision, LA teachers go on strike, and Bloomberg Law reports higher pay raises from labor contracts
March 20
Residents and fellows at Mass General Brigham hospitals prepare to unionize; divisions in the New York Times NewsGuild union deepens as contract negotiations remain ongoing; the six-month Pittsburgh Post-Gazette strike turned violent on Saturday; Los Angeles schools prepare to close this week as workers plan to strike
March 19
Ninth Circuit reinstates Uber's Equal Protection challenge to California's AB5; reduction in SNAP benefits could lead to "hunger cliff" for low-wage workers; Amazon workers start unionizing campaign at Kentucky facility; ex-Google employees ask company to honor parental leave.
March 17
Texas committee considers sweeping legislation limiting municipal power; University of Chicago graduate students unionize; Tennessee Nissan technicians reject a unionizing effort; and protestors in France take to the streets after President Macron activates nuclear option to raise retirement age.