Vermont Hospital Workers Fight for Immigrant Neighbors By Natascha Elena Uhlmann
September 2, 2026
Introduction:
(Labor Notes) Health care workers fighting for a contract in Vermont have come to the table with not only their own demands for safe staffing and fair pay, but also a more unusual demand—one made in solidarity with farmworkers.
They want their employer, the University of Vermont Medical Center, to join the Milk with Dignity program.
“We’ve been in spaces with folks, seen them, heard their stories. They’ve come to our rallies,” said administrative assistant Melissa Lavallee, secretary of the union, Support Staff United (AFT-VT). “We’re doing for our neighbors what they do for us.”
Milk with Dignity, a framework authored by farmworkers through the local organizing project Migrant Justice, requires affiliated farms to commit to a number of labor standards. It’s modeled off of the Fair Food Program developed by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which organizes tomato pickers in Florida.
Farmworkers receive better wages, paid sick time, protection from discipline should they stop performing a task that could put their safety and “serious and immediate danger,” and education on their rights under the agreement.
Fourteen Hundred Solar Manufacturing Workers Join the Steelworkers By Lee Abbott
September 18, 2026
Introduction:
(Labor Notes) Workers at a Corning solar manufacturing plant in Michigan voted September 1 to join the Steelworkers (USW).
The vote was a close 520 to 512, following an intense anti-union campaign by the company.
Nakisha West, a wirecutter, voted yes for “fairness and accountability.” She and her co-workers use scorching heat and precision-cutting tools to turn polysilicon crystals, or boules, into slim squares, known as wafers, for solar panels.
“It’s a very dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it,” she said.
It’s been more than a decade since that “somebody” was a worker in the U.S.; nearly all the world’s wafers are produced in China. But in January 2025, Corning received $325 million from the federal government to build a solar plant across the street from its semiconductor plant in Hemlock, Michigan, which employs more than 1,000 more workers.
Canadian Walmart Workers Make History: A Union Contract By Kari Thompson
September 17 , 2026
Introduction:
(Labor Notes) Eight hundred workers at a Walmart distribution center in Mississauga, Ontario, succeeded where others have not: they are now working under a two-year contract with North America’s largest logistics giant.
The landmark collective bargaining agreement went into effect on July 1, nearly two years after workers won union representation, joining Unifor Local 252, motivated by low wages and unsafe working conditions.
As punishment two years ago, Walmart bumped the pay of every logistics worker in Canada—except those who unionized. This was an effective maneuver to halt further union drives.
“Walmart gave all the wage increases to all the non-union folks, and everything fell apart,” said Angela Drew Kimelman, a Unifor organizer who worked on organizing campaigns at multiple warehouses, including one in Cornwall, near Montreal.
But now, the new contract prevents Walmart from raising wages at other warehouses without doing the same at this one. The unionized workers have received a matching raise, and back pay for the months when other warehouse workers received raises that they didn’t.
It Is Time to Boycott Starbuck’s By Lisa Watson
September 24, 2026
Introduction:
(Other Words) Walking into a Starbucks means being greeted with the sounds of lively lobby conversation, milk being steamed, and baristas chatting with customers. As a customer you might love coming to Starbucks to customize your drink, enjoy the ambiance, or see your favorite barista.
I thrive in this environment and I love connecting with my customers as a barista. I love my job, but Starbucks has shown us it has forgotten about baristas like me.
That’s why I’m joining my coworkers in calling on everyone who supports working people over corporations to boycott Starbucks.
Starbucks has lost its way. Workers like my co-workers and me are trying our hardest to show up for our customers, but Starbucks continues to make our jobs difficult — from creating massive amounts of waste, extra costs, and work for us with the company’s failed AI inventory tool to introducing new beverage components that have put our health and safety at real risk.
The most alluring benefit to many Starbucks applicants — including me — is the promise of health insurance coverage. Now, Starbucks is raising health insurance premiums, forcing some workers to pay up to twice as much as before.
German Amazon Workers Organize to Get Paid for Every Minute By Luis Feliz Leon
September 28, 2026
Introduction:
(Labor Notes) Amazon workers at four delivery and sorting warehouses in Germany are organizing to make every minute count. They’re demanding that Amazon pay them for every minute of work, saying in a petition that the company is stealing their time.
Working even 10 unpaid minutes a day, the workers say, adds up to 4.5 workdays per year of free labor, or about $712 U.S. (618 euros) in stolen wages. And at the most extreme, stolen time can reach up to 45 minutes per day.
The petition identifies three ways Amazon is stealing workers’ time:
1) Threshold time, where if a worker clocks in up to 15 minutes early for a shift or clocks out up to 15 minutes late, the company rounds back down to the scheduled time
2) Changing times to put on safety gear and boots
3) Walking time to pick up and return equipment
Stella de Palma, a delivery worker at a warehouse near Berlin, said workers normally change before clocking in. “Some shifts are only allowed to clock in or out at certain time clocks, which means we have to walk all the way across the shop floor first,” de Palma said.
