Category Archives: US unions

‘We’re ready to strike’: UPS workers and Teamsters prepare for contract fight

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Employees are pushing for better overtime protections, improved pay for part-time employees and heat protections

For eight years, Rob Becker worked as a delivery driver for UPS in Queens, New York. About five years ago, he was terminated. He got involved in his local union, Teamsters Local 804, and fought, successfully, to get reinstated.

While pushing for changes and collecting signatures in recent months at UPS as the Teamsters prepare for a new union contract fight across at the company in 2023, Becker, an alternate union steward, was again fired from his job.

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Starbucks and Amazon accused of dragging their feet on union contracts

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After successful unionization drives, experts say companies will ‘fight to the end’ to prevent the next step

Over the past year, workers at Starbucks, Amazon, Trader Joe’s and Apple have all achieved historic, hard-won union victories, but now many of these newly unionized workers fear they might face an even bigger challenge: negotiating a first union contract.

Exhibit A for that challenge is the slow pace of progress at Starbucks. Unions have won elections at more than 220 stores. Many baristas are upset that Starbucks has begun negotiations with workers at only three of them.

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Americans’ support for labor unions at highest in nearly 60 years

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Gallup survey finds 71% of US residents approve of unions amid a wave of successful organizing efforts

A new Gallup annual Work and Education survey found that Americans’ approval of labor unions is at its highest in nearly 60 years.

Seventy-one per cent of US residents approve of unions, as high as in 1965. The 1950s saw the highest support for unions, at three in four Americans, according to the polling firm.

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Minnesota nurses’ strike vote puts safety and conditions in spotlight

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15,000-strong Minnesota Nurses Association authorized to call what would be one of the largest nurses’ strikes in US history

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, nurses around the US have faced deteriorating working conditions and challenges, from safety concerns to increasing workloads that have stemmed from understaffing as nurses have quit their jobs or retired early.

Those nurses who are still on the job at many hospitals say they have been expected to do more with fewer resources, an issue that nurses say is causing retention crises and jeopardizing patient safety and care.

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Starbucks workers hold strikes in at least 17 states amid union drive

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Workers allege over 75 people have been fired in retaliation for organizing this year

Workers at Starbucks have held over 55 different strikes in at least 17 states in the US in recent months over the company’s aggressive opposition to a wave of unionization.

According to an estimate by Starbucks Workers United, the strikes have cost Starbucks over $375,000 in lost revenue. The union created a $1m strike fund in June 2022 to support Starbucks workers through their strikes and several relief funds have been established for strikes and to support workers who have lost their jobs.

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Delta flights attendants race to unionize: ‘We’re the people behind the profits’

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Workers say they just want a fair deal on pay, conditions and schedules at an airline has long resisted union efforts

Flight attendants at Delta are currently pushing to form a union at the only major airline in the US where flight attendants are not unionized.

Workers are racing to gather union authorization cards signed by a supermajority at Delta to trigger a union election over the next few months, as signatures are only valid for one year.

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‘They don’t care about us’: US Starbucks workers allege they were fired for union activity

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Nine Colorado employees claim their dismissals came after an organizing campaign in response to safety concerns and pay problems

Nine Starbucks workers at three stores in Denver, Colorado, who were fired shortly after their stores voted to unionize allege they were dismissed in retaliation for union organizing at the American coffee chain giant.

The firings are among a few dozen cases around the US where workers have alleged they have been fired from the coffee retail chain during a union organizing campaign at their store. More than 180 Starbucks corporate retail stores in the US have voted to unionize, and more than 300 have filed for union elections.

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US travel chaos unlikely to improve as Fourth of July looms, experts say

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Over the Memorial Day and Juneteenth holiday weekends more than 3,000 flights were canceled and over 19,000 were delayed

As Fourth of July travel chaos looms, experts are warning that a combination of factors including pilot shortages, the climate crisis and even the rise of drones means the situation is unlikely to get better soon.

Over the Memorial Day and Juneteenth holiday weekends more than 3,000 flights were canceled and more than 19,000 were delayed. About 1,800 flights have been canceled so far this week, according to the Hill.

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‘People are walking off the job’: workers blame American Red Cross for US blood shortage

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Employees say staff shortages and low pay are causing donors to leave before giving blood, amid delays over union contract

The American Red Cross, which controls about 40% of the blood supply in the US, declared a national blood shortage in January, the worst shortage in over a decade.

The Red Cross emphasized decreasing blood donations as a driving factor for shortages, citing a 10% decline in the number of people donating blood during the pandemic. The shortage has continued across the US in recent months.

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‘We didn’t sign up to die’: US transit workers sound alarm over rising violence

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Unions say trend of assaults and abuse on staff is intolerable – and crisis will worsen without federal action

Monique Rondon, a bus operator in New York City for 23 years, has been spat on and assaulted several times on the job.

Now transit workers and labor unions across America are sounding the alarm over the trend of violence, assaults, and abuse that workers in the transportation industry in the US have faced throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, a crisis they say will continue to worsen without federal action and implementation of safety protections and rules.

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Apple workers in Maryland vote to join union, a first for the tech giant in US

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Move comes as unionization efforts gain momentum across country, including at Amazon and Starbucks

Apple Store workers in Maryland have voted to join a union, becoming the tech giant’s first retail employees to join a labour-force movement as part of a wider trend across US retail, service and tech industries.

Workers voted to unionise on a nearly two-to-one margin and the result, announced on Saturday by the National Labor Relations Board, provides a foothold for a budding movement among Apple retail employees who want a greater voice over wages and policies pertaining to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report

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Workers at US abortion rights groups seek unions to prepare for post-Roe care

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Clinic employees say more staffing and resources will be needed to manage an expected influx of out-of-state patients

As reproductive rights groups brace for an anticipated US supreme court decision to overturn Roe v Wade and strike down federal abortion rights in America, workers at these groups are organizing to unionize ahead of the expected legal changes.

About 400 workers at 28 clinics in five states in the midwest – Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, announced in late May 2022 their intent to unionize with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa. They have filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board after a majority of workers signed authorization cards and their request for voluntary recognition was turned down by management.

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Activision Blizzard’s Raven Software workers vote to form industry’s first union

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The vote marks a victory for labor advocates in an industry mired with allegations of abuse and poor working conditions

Workers in a division of video game company Activision Blizzard have voted to unionize, creating the first labor union at a major US gaming firm.

A small group of Wisconsin-based quality assurance testers at Activision Blizzard’s Raven Software, which develops the popular Call of Duty game franchise, voted 19-3 in favor of unionizing on Monday.

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Trader Joe’s workers push to unionize amid wave of organizing efforts

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Branch in Hadley, Massachusetts, would be the first unionized store out of more than 530 locations in the US

Organizers have begun a unionization campaign at the upscale supermarket chain Trader Joe’s after workers at a branch in Hadley, Massachusetts, announced they were forming a union and intend to file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election.

It would be the first unionized Trader Joe’s store out of more than 530 locations in the US. Workers are organizing independently, citing the similar framework of the Amazon Labor Union, which is not affiliated with traditional, established labor unions.

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Virginia Target workers seek to unionize amid surge in labor organizing efforts

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Company has already reportedly pushed back by trying to use union dues as a tactic to deter workers from supporting the union

Workers at a Target store in Christiansburg, Virginia, have filed for a union election and, if successful, the store would be the first belonging to the retail chain to unionize.

Target has long opposed unionization, with anti-union videos to discourage workers from unionizing. Earlier this year, Target training documents for managers to prevent unionization within stores were leaked.

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Amazon reportedly fires at least six New York managers involved in labor union

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According to the New York Times, the dismissals are regarded as the company’s response to the recent unionization victory

Amazon has reportedly fired over half a dozen senior managers who were involved in a New York warehouse union.

The firings, which took place outside the company’s employee review cycle, was regarded as the company’s response to the Amazon Labor Union which formed in Staten Island last month in a “historic victory” against the country’s second largest employer, the New York Times reported, citing former and current employees who spoke on the condition anonymity.

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Amazon labor organizers push for second union victory in New York

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About 1,500 eligible workers at LDJ5 sorting center on Staten Island vote in union ballot, after recent success at JFK8 warehouse

Amazon workers in New York will go to the polls again as labor activists push to unionize a second facility in the US following their surprise recent victory over the tech giant.

About 1,500 eligible workers at an LDJ5 Amazon sorting center in Staten Island, New York, begin voting in a union election on Monday, in a process that will continue through 29 April. Ballot-counting starts on 2 May.

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Amazon to ban ‘union’ and other words from staff chat app

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Planned social media app would also prevent workers from using terms such as ‘fire’, ‘slave labor’, ‘diversity’ and ‘injustice’

Amazon reportedly plans to block the word “union” and other related keywords from an internal messaging app the company is developing for workers.

The list of banned words includes “union”, “fire”, “compensation”, “plantation”, “slave labor”, “diversity”, “robots”, “grievance” and “injustice”, among others, according to leaked internal messages seen by the Intercept. The news came days after Amazon workers in New York made history by voting to form a union, the first successful US organizing effort in the company’s history.

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Union chief vows to pressure Amazon after historic New York vote

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Teamsters’ Sean O’Brien says the e-commerce company has ‘total disrespect’ for its workers

The Teamsters’ new president has pledged his powerful union will step up the pressure on Amazon and mount its own efforts to unionize the company after workers in New York voted to form the company’s first US union.

In an interview with the Guardian Sean O’Brien said it was vital to organize Amazon, asserting that the e-commerce company has “total disrespect” for its workers and was putting downward pressure on standards for unionized warehouse workers and truck drivers across the US.

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Amazon workers in New York close to forming historic union after key vote

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Elsewhere, a unionization vote by Alabama workers is pending as hundreds of votes were challenged

Amazon workers in New York are close to voting to form a union – a major win for labor activists who have failed in previous efforts to organize at the tech giant that is now the second largest private employer in the US.

Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island will find out on Friday whether or not they want to form a union, Amazon’s first in the US where it now employs over one million people.

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