Labor Rights News Thread

[Yuli Ban]

[caltrek]

Forced Arbitration Suit Pushes High Court to Define Transportation Workers
by Kelsey Reichmann
March 28, 2022

https://www.courthousenews.com/forced-a ... n-workers/

Introduction:

WASHINGTON (Courthouse News) — The Supreme Court heard an arbitration case on Monday concerning an airline worker fighting for overtime pay where the justices looked for a narrow ruling on a growing problem.

As a ramp supervisor at Southwest Airlines, Latrice Saxon loads and unloads cargo from planes. Saxon claims Southwest didn’t properly compensate her and other employees for overtime they are due. In an attempt to recoup that lost money, Saxon sued Southwest on behalf of herself and other workers, but her suit was complicated by an arbitration clause that was a condition of her employment.

The Federal Arbitration Act requires courts to enforce private arbitration agreements. However, section one of the statute exempts seamen, railroad employees or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce from these agreements.

Southwest moved to dismiss the suit under the FAA because Saxon had signed an arbitration agreement, but Saxon argues the FAA does not apply because her job categorizes her among the workers who are exempt from arbitration agreements under the FAA.

A district court found that airline employees who load and unload interstate cargo are not exempt from the FAA, but in a unanimous decision, the Seventh Circuit reversed, finding that ramp employees were engaged in foreign or interstate commerce. Southwest then appealed to the nation’s high court.

[caltrek]

In a Stunning Victory, Amazon Workers on Staten Island Vote for a Union
by Andrea Hsu
April 1, 2022

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/01/10893186 ... 7126978b4c

Introduction:

(NPR) Amazon workers at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York, have voted to unionize, a first for Amazon, and a stunning win for a grassroots campaign led by former and current Amazon employees.

The historic vote was 2,654 for the union to 2,131 against.

Ballots were cast in person over five days starting last Friday. Roughly 8,000 workers were eligible to vote.

The workers, who pick and package items for customer orders at the facility will be represented by the Amazon Labor Union, an upstart group formed by Christian Smalls after he was fired from Amazon in March 2020. At the time a supervisor at the fulfillment center, he staged a walkout over the lack of worker protections against the coronavirus. Amazon says Smalls violated safety protocols by showing up after he'd been told to quarantine due to a COVID exposure.

Shortly after being fired, Smalls formed the Amazon Labor Union, relying on GoFundMe to finance the operation. The ALU is not affiliated with any national union, leading many to wonder early on whether it could even gather enough employee signatures to petition for a vote. Indeed, a first attempt failed, but Smalls persevered, eventually meeting the 30% threshold necessary to hold a vote

[caltrek]

'Staggering' Analysis Finds Amazon's Injury Rate Rose 20% Last Year
by Jessica Corbett
April 12, 2022

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/ ... -last-year

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) As the United States' unionization movement elevates criticism of Amazon's labor conditions, an analysis published Tuesday exposed a 20% rise in injuries among company warehouse workers last year while a pandemic-related increase in online shopping led the e-commerce giant's profits to soar.

The report—entitled The Injury Machine: How Amazon's Production System Hurts Workers—was published by the Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), a democratic coalition that includes the Communications Workers of America, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Service Employees International Union, and United Farmworkers of America.

"Amazon's earnings in the first 12 months of the pandemic exceeded the previous three years combined," the report states, noting the company's profits jumped from $21.3 billion in 2020 to $33.4 billion in 2021.

"While shareholders and executives reaped the benefits of the company's soaring stock price, Amazon's aggressive growth has come at a high cost for its workers," the document adds. "Amazon's high-pressure operations keep resulting in worker injuries in unprecedented numbers, and the situation is worsening."

Based on data Amazon submitted to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, SOC found that "in 2021, there were 38,334 total recordable injuries—defined as those requiring medical treatment beyond first aid or requiring time off a worker's regular job—at Amazon facilities."

[caltrek]

Apple Retail Workers at the Grand Central Store are Trying to Unionize
by Amanda Silberling
April 18, 2022

https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/18/apple ... d-central/

Introduction:

(TechCrunch) From Activision to Amazon, historic union elections are changing the way that Americans think about work. Now, Apple is the next tech giant to reckon with an employee-driven labor movement.

Calling themselves the Fruit Stand Workers United (FSWU), employees at Apple’s Grand Central Terminal retail location launched a website designed to educate their fellow workers about why they want to unionize their store.

“Year over year, the cost of living in New York City has not kept pace with our wages,” the FSWU’s mission statement reads. “Meanwhile, Apple has grown to be the most valuable company in the world. Why should its retail workers live precariously?”

The collective will be affiliated with Workers United, the same group that has helped over 20 Starbucks locations form unions since December.

The FSWU is seeking a minimum of $30 per hour for all workers. Right now, wages range between $17 and $30 per hour, plus some Apple stock. They also want better benefits, including increased tuition reimbursement, more vacation time, better retirement options and higher match rates for 401(k)s. Since the Grand Central store faces unique challenges due to its location, they want to conduct research about the health effects from the dust, building materials and noise pollution in the busy landmark.

[caltrek]

Starbucks Workers Urge Congress to Grill CEO Howard Schultz on Union-Busting
by Jake Johnson
April 18, 2022

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/ ... on-busting

Introduction:

(Common dreams) A group of two dozen Starbucks workers is calling on the Democratic-controlled House labor committee to seek testimony from billionaire CEO Howard Schultz on the coffee company's relentless—and, according to employees and organizers, blatantly unlawful—efforts to crush unionization drives at shops across the United States.

In a letter dated April 15 and first publicized Monday by the progressive media outlet More Perfect Union, 24 Starbucks employees from Arizona and California urged Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) to use his "authority as chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor" to "invite Howard Schultz to appear before your committee and answer to this behavior and disregard for federal labor law."

The letter was also signed by Lynne Fox, the president of Workers United, a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) affiliate that is vying to organize Starbucks locations nationwide.

"Since the first elections in Buffalo in late 2021, Starbucks has conducted an unprecedented, aggressive anti-union campaign of harassment, captive audience meetings, and illegal firings of union leaders and supporters," the letter notes, pointing to the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) formal complaint last month alleging that Starbucks illegally retaliated against two Phoenix employees for working to organize their shop.

"This past week, the NLRB has advised us that they have found merit that Starbucks unlawfully fired six of seven members of the workers' organizing committee in Memphis," the letter continues. "The company fired this group known as 'the Memphis 7' to spread fear of organizing at Starbucks stores across the nation. Many similar cases remain pending across the country."

[weatheriscool]

These corporations don't give a damn about the American worker. They'll do everything in their power from insourcing(illigals and h1b's) and outsourcing to busting unions...They're evil to the core.

We need to stop illegal immigration, outsourcing of jobs and start enforcing anti-trust to completely rebuild a respectable labor movement...I know it is hard to hear some of what I am saying but it is a fact.

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

These corporations don't give a damn about the American worker. They'll do everything in their power from insourcing(illigals and h1b's) and outsourcing to busting unions...They're evil to the core.

We need to stop illegal immigration, outsourcing of jobs and start enforcing anti-trust to completely rebuild a respectable labor movement...I know it is hard to hear some of what I am saying but it is a fact.

The whole focus on stopping illegal immigration and such has been dead since the 90's when outsourcing began. What can be done is see what other countries are labor friendly. So far, once again, Europe still holds that #1 spot. All unions here in the US would do is expedite demand for bots. Some may say it may not but I'm not sure of that because the US is far from worker friendly as the Europeans have been well aware.

The other option that still exists in the States which I am currently undertaking is seeing what new job opportunities exist in the near future to reskill into and use that to build up my long term great biz ventures I want to focus on. I'm looking to have flows of income because that is the safest way to live.

[caltrek]

These corporations don't give a damn about the American worker. They'll do everything in their power from insourcing(illigals and h1b's) and outsourcing to busting unions...They're evil to the core.

We need to stop illegal immigration, outsourcing of jobs and start enforcing anti-trust to completely rebuild a respectable labor movement...I know it is hard to hear some of what I am saying but it is a fact.

There are two separate issues identified here. Regarding H1b visas, I tend to be neutral. Regarding illegal immigration, I think that is a very complex subject. For one who is so adamantly concerned about inflation, I find it ironic that such adamant condemnation of illegal immigration is embraced. At least the focus is properly on corporations and not the immigrants themselves.

My sense is that "illegal immigrants" have very different impacts on urban versus rural areas. There may very well be a lot of instances of urban landscape and construction workers being displaced by such immigrants. In rural areas, at least here in California, the situation is decidedly different. On the whole, domestic workers are simply not interested in filling the jobs in the agricultural industry taken by such immigrants. I suspect that is true in Arizona as well. On occasions when strict control of such immigrants was suddenly and "successfully" employed, crops rotted in the field. There were simply a grossly insufficient number of workers willing to do the work. To attract the needed replacements, corporate agriculture would need to start paying wages equal or exceeding what are paid to attorneys, doctors, and other high-end professions.

One is tempted to argue that this would have a great upward effect on food prices, except that agricultural worker wages are only a fraction of the costs of foods in your supermarket. Other costs include transportation, retail clerks, and associated overhead (including corporate executive compensation). In any case, one can assume that increased costs would be passed along to consumers, and not absorbed by the corporate elite.

The only somewhat realistic alternatives that I have heard put forth to the use of illegal immigrants (other than legalizing their status) are mechanization (lately referred to as replacement by robots) or a dramatic reshaping of the agricultural industry. Mechanization is not exactly a new idea, being a process that is at least a century old. With all the effort toward that solution, illegal immigrants still serve a vital role in the agricultural industry. Reshaping of the agricultural industry would involve things like communes and co-ops, urban gardening, and perhaps (depending on how it is implemented) vertical farming. In today's political environment, that reshaping alternative comes across as utopian. Something worth experimenting with, but not likely to take hold in any dramatic fashion.

Edit: Corrections in punctuation and grammar.

[caltrek]

Workers Organize at More Tortillerías in Chicago
by Arturo “Tootie” Alvarez
April 15, 2022

https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/04/12/milagroworkers/

Introduction:

(Latino Rebels) CHICAGO — On Monday, workers at El Milagro announced various campaign victories as well as additional demands. Three days later, another Chicago tortillería is making headlines. Workers at Authentico Foods, which produces tortilla chips and tostadas under the El Ranchero brand and tamales and masa under the La Guadalupana brand, began organizing in March after hearing about the efforts of the workers at El Milagro.

The Authentico Foods workers sought to address multiple workplace issues including abusive managers, low pay, and insufficient breaks. When the company fired worker leaders rather than address their concerns, the workers followed in the steps of the El Milagro workers and contacted Arise Chicago, an advocacy group focused on workers’ empowerment.

In a press conference on Thursday, the workers were joined by religious leaders; Raise The Floor, a worker alliance and support center; and organizers from Arise Chicago.

“It’s unconscionable that, after two years of the pandemic, companies like these are still refusing to negotiate with their workers,” said Reverend Juan Gutiérrez of North Shore Baptist Church.

Sandra Fernandez, one of the worker leaders who was fired after working for Authentico Foods for four years, tried talking to the company about the lack of breaks and verbal abuse from managers. On March 19 she worked her entire shift, and at the end, a manager told her she wasn’t needed anymore. When she asked why she was being fired, the manager told her they had to let her go because they were remodeling.

Edit: Correction of date of article.

[caltrek]

The above article (see bottom of previous page) makes reference (in the portion not cited) to an organization called Arise Chicago. Here is an introduction from their web site.

https://www.arisechicago.org/about

About
Faith - Labor - Action
Arise Chicago builds partnerships between faith communities and workers to fight workplace injustice through education, organizing, and advocating for public policy changes.

The Foundation of Our Work

Drawing from sacred scriptures, Arise Chicago upholds the belief that every person is created in the image of God and therefore deserving of dignity and respect, including in the workplace. Arise Chicago was founded in 1991 by a diverse group of religious leaders who created a model to combat some of poverty's root causes (workers being paid improperly, workers receiving less than a living wage, etc.) by bringing the moral voice to both non-union and union workplace struggles. Learn more

The Arise Chicago Worker Center (Centro de Trabajadores)

The Arise Chicago Worker Center is a membership–based community resource for workers, both immigrant and native-born, to learn about their rights and organize with fellow workers to improve workplace conditions. Since opening its doors in 2002, the Arise Chicago Worker Center has collaborated with nearly 50,00 workers to recover over $8.3 million in owed wages and compensation. ACWC's workplace justice campaigns train workers to know their rights, file complaints with government agencies, organize direct actions, and access legal representation.

ACWC boasts the most comprehensive workers' rights publication in the state of Illinois (free, and available in English, Spanish, and Polish) regularly distributed throughout the Chicagoland area and provides a unique popular education-style workshop to hundreds of workers each year. With over 400 low-wage Polish and Latino immigrant worker members, majority of whom are women, it is the only ... Chicago-based organization that regularly involves the religious community in its campaigns and is the only worker center in the country with a Polish organizer focusing solely on the Polish community.

[caltrek]

'An Enormous Inspiration': More Than 30 Starbucks Locations Have Voted to Unionize
by Jake Johnson
April 26, 2022

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/ ... d-unionize

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Overcoming increasingly aggressive opposition from the company's management, workers at more than 30 Starbucks locations across the U.S. have now voted to unionize as the wave of organizing spurred by historic wins in Buffalo just four months ago continues to mount.

On Monday, workers at a Starbucks shop in the township of Hopewell, New Jersey voted unanimously to unionize and join Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. The store was the 30th Starbucks location to unionize in the U.S. and the first in New Jersey.

"Howard Schultz's big anti-union campaign seems like a dud that's backfiring."

"We are incredibly proud of the brave and strong Starbucks workers who voted to join Workers United," Lynne Fox, the international president of the union, said in a statement. "Our collective success in Hopewell today reflects the power that working people have to demand positive changes from their employers."

...

The Hopewell victory was followed by a union win in Baltimore—the first Starbucks location in Maryland to unionize—and announcements from several more shops in California, Washington state, and Texas that they intend to join the rapidly spreading movement.

[caltrek]

House Democrats Back Marijuana Industry Workers in Unionizing Push
by Julia Conley
April 26, 2022

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/ ... izing-push

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Workers in the marijuana industry joined union representatives and Democratic lawmakers Tuesday for a round table discussion about a growing push to organize workplaces in the sector and about federal legislation to protect workers' rights in all industries.

Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Donald Norcross (D-N.J.). met with employees from marijuana businesses in New Jersey, where legal sales for recreational use began last week.

Recreational use of marijuana has now been legalized in at least 18 states, with the pace of decriminalization picking up in recent years.

At the same time, workers at Amazon, Starbucks, John Deere, and other workplaces have garnered national attention for forming labor unions and staging strikes to demand fair pay, stronger safety protections, and a say in decision-making.

"I think that one of the things we look at is the cannabis industry really is prime for organizing right now—just like you're seeing with Starbucks, just like you're seeing with Amazon," Pocan told Marijuana Moment ahead of the round table.

[caltrek]

Workers at Second Staten Island Amazon Location Reject Union Bid
by Abigail Weinberg
May 2, 2022

https://www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/2 ... bor-union/

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) To cap off a disappointing day for Amazon labor organizers, workers at a second Staten Island Amazon warehouse have overwhelmingly voted not to form a union.

Following an aggressive union-busting campaign from Amazon that included mandatory anti-union presentations, the workers voted 380–618 against the union on Monday. The election was disheartening for labor activists in light of last month’s union victory at another Staten Island warehouse. (Amazon is now challenging the results of that election with the National Labor Relations Board.)

[caltrek]

After a Week on Strike, Stanford Nurses Just Approved a New Contract
by Jackie Flynn Mogensen
May 2, 2022

https://www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/2 ... -contract/

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) After a week-long strike, the union representing nearly 5,000 nurses at Stanford Health Care and the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital has voted to approve a new, three-year contract with the hospitals. The nurses plan to return to work on Tuesday.

Both the hospitals and the nurses union, the Committee for the Recognition of Nursing Achievement, hailed the agreement as a success. “CRONA’s new contracts represent an enormous victory for nurses at Stanford and Packard, who have been fighting tirelessly for improved work and patient care conditions,” union president Colleen Borges, said in a statement. “We have won improvements across all the priorities nurses identified at the beginning of our contract campaign.” Eighty-three percent of the union voted in favor of the contract.

The nurses began striking on April 25 after weeks of negotiating with the hospitals. As my colleague Emily Hofstaedter wrote last month:

To avoid burnout and to continue to offer care during the chaos of the pandemic, the nurses say they need more staff, better mental health resources, better pay, and more paid time-off. More than ninety percent of the 5,000 nurses who belong to the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement (CRONA) union at the two hospitals voted for the strike.

According to the union statement, the new contract includes greater access to mental health care and wage increases of seven percent in 2022, five percent in 2023, and an additional five percent in 2024. Under the agreement, nurses in the union will be able to pre-schedule an additional week of vacation, among other benefits.

[weatheriscool]

Workers at Second Staten Island Amazon Location Reject Union Bid
by Abigail Weinberg
May 2, 2022

https://www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/2 ... bor-union/

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) To cap off a disappointing day for Amazon labor organizers, workers at a second Staten Island Amazon warehouse have overwhelmingly voted not to form a union.

Following an aggressive union-busting campaign from Amazon that included mandatory anti-union presentations, the workers voted 380–618 against the union on Monday. The election was disheartening for labor activists in light of last month’s union victory at another Staten Island warehouse. (Amazon is now challenging the results of that election with the National Labor Relations Board.)

Sad, Amazon needs to be regulated, unionized and broken up. It should at the very least be forced to have a large percentage of its company in the united states and pay taxes.

[caltrek]

Federal Labor Officials Accuse Starbucks of Unfair Labor Practices in Buffalo
May 7, 2022

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/06/10973522 ... r-official

Introduction:

(AP via NPR) BUFFALO, N.Y. — Federal labor officials filed a sweeping complaint Friday accusing Starbucks of unfair labor practices at its stores in Buffalo, New York, including retaliation against pro-union employees.

The National Labor Relations Board's Buffalo regional director outlined a host of labor law violations in a filing seeking reinstatement and backpay for the employees.

There's been a wave of unionization drives at Starbucks stores nationwide, with the first union votes coming in December at three stores in Buffalo.

Starbucks says employees getting new benefits, but not at stores that are unionizing
The coffee chain called the allegations "false" and vowed to fight them at an upcoming hearing.

"Starbucks does not agree that the claims have merit, and the complaint's issuance does not constitute a finding by the NLRB," spokesman Reggie Borges wrote in an email. "It is the beginning of a litigation process that permits both sides to be heard and to present evidence."

[weatheriscool]

Amazon fires 2 union organizers tied to first U.S. labor win
HALELUYA HADERO
,
AP Business Writer
Updated: May 10, 2022 8:24 a.m.

Amazon has fired two employees with ties to the grassroots union that led the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the retail giant’s history.

The company confirmed Tuesday that it fired Michal, or ‘Mat,’ Cusick and Tristan Dutchin of the Amazon Labor Union on Staten Island, New York. But it claims the “cases are unrelated to each other and unrelated to whether these individuals support any particular cause or group.”

Read more: https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/ ... 162061.php

[Time_Traveller]

Amazon fires 2 union organizers tied to first U.S. labor win
HALELUYA HADERO
,
AP Business Writer
Updated: May 10, 2022 8:24 a.m.

Amazon has fired two employees with ties to the grassroots union that led the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the retail giant’s history.

The company confirmed Tuesday that it fired Michal, or ‘Mat,’ Cusick and Tristan Dutchin of the Amazon Labor Union on Staten Island, New York. But it claims the “cases are unrelated to each other and unrelated to whether these individuals support any particular cause or group.”

Read more: https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/ ... 162061.php

This is why i do not trust Amazon one bit.

[caltrek]

Ok, I am not supposed to "share" this article (see below). I am also not a subscriber to the Financial Times. So, instead of "sharing" I will provide a link and a brief review. It is apparently written by Melinda Gates. Thats right, as in "the" Melinda Gates of Microsoft fame. She writes of the "informal workforce" of women in places such as rural India. She also discusses the ninety-three billion dollars mobilized "recently by the World Bank’s International Development Association, (so that) governments in low-income countries have the opportunity to take decisive action to support these women and jump-start their economies." Whatever you might think of the Bill Gates' ex-wife, it is an interesting read.

Read more here: https://www.ft.com/content/09ad7dd1-bdb ... 922ed5c#LI