The Weekly Download

"Two economic releases today tell us that U.S. economic conditions remain strong for workers. The Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis reported an advance estimate that the U.S. economy grew 2.9% in the last quarter of 2022. That's a slight decline from the preceding quarter, but still strong economic growth. Solid economic growth is a clear indication that the American economy is strong and there are no signs that an unemployment-producing recession is looming."

"Self-organizing a union on a shoestring? Winning the supposedly unwinnable? Workers at a local burger chain out of Portland, Oregon, were doing it before it was cool. The Burgerville Workers Union, which went public in 2016 and won its first contract in 2021, has recently been influencing and supporting independent union efforts in the region—and it has a few lessons to offer independent unions around the country."

“The court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization posed an imminent threat to collective bargaining agreements, and the justices heard arguments earlier this month in a case that could deal a devastating blow to workers’ right to strike … These fights are deeply connected, and in many states where abortion has been restricted, workers’ rights are also severely limited. Working people have the ability to respond and that’s why we launched a new map to help workers make informed decisions to better advocate for ourselves and our families.”

VIDEO: "Ingredion workers in Cedar Rapids have been on strike for more than 6 months. The specialty ingredient manufacturer brought in record revenue of almost 7 billion in 2022 but tried to pay its workers less and cut their benefits."

"Minnesota Starbucks workers interviewed by Workday Magazine attest to “soft” union-busting tactics that are on par with trends across the country: not giving unionized stores the same wage increases as non-unionized stores, not installing credit card tip readers in unionized shops, cracking down on dress code violations that never used to be enforced, cutting hours, denying promotions, and spreading confusion about the union."

"Until fairly recently, games were considered a niche hobby, typically associated with children. But the industry has grown widely in recent decades. About two-thirds of Americans, most of them adults, play video games. The video game industry was worth nearly $200 billion in 2021 — more than music, U.S. book publishing and North American sports combined. It employs hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. alone."

INTERACTIVE DATA: "Union support hit near-record levels last year, with high-profile organizing at Amazon and Starbucks grabbing headlines. Yet at the same time union membership hit an all-time low in 2022.Why it matters: The shortcomings can be pinned on a powerful mix of forces: institutional labor's missteps, well-funded corporate pushback, and weak federal/local laws have all helped suppress U.S union membership."

"The Animation Guild, Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 839, has secured voluntary recognition for a group of unionizing production workers at Nickelodeon Animation Studios. The company agreed to recognize the bargaining unit of 177 workers that includes production coordinators, production managers, asset production coordinators and others. This will be the largest unit of production workers to join The Animation Guild so far and they will now begin negotiations for their first union contract."

BOOK REVIEW: “In ‘The Great Escape,’ Saket Soni, a labor organizer, recounts the ordeal faced by hundreds of Indian workers who were lured to this country on false promises of green cards and sorely mistreated.”

"Watch Burnes Center Senior Fellow Seth Harris in a conversation with Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, and Kate Bronfenbrenner, the Director of Labor Education Research and Senior Lecturer at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, as they discuss the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Union Members Report for 2022. This live event aired at 10:30 AM, January 19 — just 30 minutes after the release of the report."

“Union members and those represented by unions have higher wages compared to their non-union counterparts. Women receive a bigger bump than men, and the “union bump” is especially large for Latinas.”

"The IAM, along with other unions, wrote a letter to Majority Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi to endorse the bipartisan pro-union Tax Fairness for Workers Act (H.R. 2549 / S. 1157). The act provides an above-the-line individual tax deduction for workers’ union dues payments, delivers direct cash tax benefits to millions of middle-class Americans, helps increase union membership, and strengthens labor unions’ capacity to negotiate for increased wages, better benefits, and safer, healthier workplaces."

"We investigate to what extent workplace unionisation protects workers from external shocks as predicted by models of implicit contracts. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a plausibly exogenous shock hitting the whole economy, we compare workers who worked in unionised and non-unionised workplaces directly before the pandemic in a difference-in-differences framework."

"It is enraging but not particularly surprising that our health care system is failing the most essential of its workers. Nurses are the keystone holding up our rickety and raggedly uneven health care system. We desperately need more of them, but we have created a health care system — indeed, a broader society — that, as if by design, devalues them and takes them for granted."

"While the high-stakes labor dispute on U.S. freight railroads has receded from headlines since President Joe Biden and Congress imposed a new contract last month, rail workers are continuing their fight for dignity and better conditions — albeit without the threat of a national strike on the table."

"Jobs typically associated with women are considered to be “feminized labor.” Of course, not all teachers and nurses are women, but all workers in these professions still perform labor that’s devalued, because “women’s work” has historically not been rewarded and recognized in the way male-dominated work has. It’s not exactly blue-collar or white-collar work, but a third category often referred to as pink-collar work, a term coined by social critic Louise Kapp Howe."

"Apple has agreed to review its labor practices in the US after regulators and employees accused the company of union busting. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of its annual shareholders meeting, Apple said it would carry out an assessment of its "efforts to comply with its Human Rights Policy as it relates to workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights in the United States by the end of calendar year 2023."

"Staff at Activision Blizzard-owned video game studio Proletariat … announced their intention to form a union in December of last year … Earlier this week, however, Proletariat leadership shared an update: Instead of voluntarily recognizing the union, it will conduct an anonymous vote through the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)."

"The US Department of Homeland Security has released instructions on how migrant workers can claim protections from deportation or other immigration enforcement if they are involved in labor disputes."

“... [W]hile Glacier Northwest v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a fairly unremarkable case, the stakes for unionized workers could be enormous …Glacier Northwest, the employer behind this case, seeks to upend a more than 60-year-old rule protecting unions from lawsuits when workers exercise their federally protected right to strike.”

“While election results are pending due to legal challenges from club owners, the dancers are confident that they will win their vote to join Actors’ Equity (a union for live theater performers). Such a victory would make Star Garden the only unionized strip club in the country.”

"Although public support for unions has never been higher in the past 40 years, the opportunity to expand young people’s union membership rates and stop the decline of union participation remains a high priority for the American labor movement. In this report, we conducted exploratory research to better understand unions’ approaches to training young people and the experiences of young people (ages 16 to 24) learning a trade in registered apprenticeships."