Category Archives: US unions

Pittsburgh newspaper workers go on strike over unfair labor practice

Posted on by

Strike began after Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s management, Block Communications, cut off health insurance

More than 100 workers represented by five labor unions at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are currently on an unfair labor practice strike, including production, distribution, advertising and accounts receivable staff.

The strike initially began after the newspaper’s management, Block Communications owned by the Block family, cut off health insurance for employees on 1 October after refusing to pay an additional $19 a week per employee to maintain the existing coverage.

Continue reading...

Republicans want working-class voters — without actually supporting workers

Posted on by

GOP courts blue collar voters but most favor anti-union ‘right to work’ laws and reject laws that would protect right to organize

After years of struggle, America’s labor unions enjoy greater public approval than at any time in more than 50 years. Yet even as the Republican party seeks to rebrand itself as the party of the working class, its lawmakers, by and large, remain as hostile as ever toward organized labor. It doesn’t look like that situation is about to change.

With the midterm elections approaching, and many polls indicating that the Republicans will win control of the House, nearly all Republican lawmakers in Congress oppose proposals that would make it easier to unionize. One hundred and eleven Republican House members and 21 senators are co-sponsoring a bill that would weaken unions by letting workers in all 50 states opt out of paying any fees to the unions that represent them. And at a time when many young workers – among them, Starbucks workers, Apple store workers, museum workers, grad students – are flocking into unions, Republican lawmakers often deride unions as woke, leftwing and obsolete.

Continue reading...

US railroad union rejects contract with employers, raising strike concerns

Posted on by

The third-largest maintenance workers’ union opposed the deal, saying concerns over paid time off remained unaddressed

The US’s third-largest railroad union rejected a deal with employers Monday, renewing the possibility of a strike that could cripple the economy. Both sides will return to the bargaining table before that happens.

Over half of track maintenance workers represented by the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division who voted opposed the five-year contract, which contained 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses. Union President Tony Cardwell said the railroads didn’t do enough to address the lack of paid time off – particularly sick time – and working conditions after the major railroads eliminated nearly one-third of their jobs over the past six years.

Continue reading...

Starbucks employee was fired illegally, labor board judge rules

Posted on by

The coffee giant will be required to reinstate Hannah Whitbeck’s job and to hold a meeting reasserting that the company broke the law

Starbucks illegally fired an employee at one of the coffee giant’s shops in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for engaging in union activism, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Friday.

The decision requires Starbucks to offer the worker reinstatement with back pay and to hold a meeting with employees, management, government representatives and the union to clarify workers’ rights and reassert the board’s finding that the company broke the law.

Continue reading...

California’s fast-food industry calls for referendum on new labor legislation

Posted on by

Law provides for councils to represent workers, but opponents claim menu prices will increase and restaurants will close

The fast-food industry is seeking to overturn one of the most significant labor wins in recent American history by trying to scrap a new law in California that will establish an industry council for the sector on wage standards and other regulations, including safety.

The Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, AB 257, was signed into law by the California governor, Gavin Newsom, on 5 September in what is seen as a huge fillip to a US labor movement seeking to capitalize on a wave of unionization drives.

Continue reading...

US railroad workers prepare for strike as rail companies see record profits

Posted on by

As Biden’s recommendations fall flat, negotiations between management and unions are at an impasse – and workers are prepared to walk

US freight railroad workers are close to striking over claims that grueling schedules and poor working conditions have been driving employees out of the industry over the past several years.

Heated negotiations over a new union contract between railroad corporations and 150,000-member-strong labor unions have been ongoing for nearly three years. A “cooling off” period imposed by the Biden administration after it issued recommendations to settle the dispute ends on Friday. If no deal is reached, unions are threatening industrial action – the first since 1992 – and workers say they will quit an industry already facing staff shortages.

Continue reading...

‘Tired of trickle-down economics’: Biden calls for expansion of unions in Labor Day speech

Posted on by

President again pledges to be ‘most pro-union president’ in history during speech in Milwaukee

Joe Biden used a Labor Day speech in the battleground state of Wisconsin to endorse the expansion of unions, reiterating his election promises to be the “most pro-union president” in American history.

The US president argued in Milwaukee that a skilled, unionised workforce would help the US regain its place as a world leader in infrastructure and manufacturing.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Starbucks and Amazon accused of dragging their feet on union contracts

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Minnesota nurses’ strike vote puts safety and conditions in spotlight

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...