The Weekly Download

“The elusive promise of interracial solidarity poses an age-old question that is even more urgent now because of the current political climate: Can Black and White workers stick together against their bosses? Can they scale up their solidarity to a multiracial working class movement powerful enough to defy the wealthy and well-connected? In the sociology of labor and labor movements, the debate turns to a similar question: are American unions exclusionary toward, or protective of, Black workers? Some researchers highlight cases in which White workers and labor leaders have engaged in racist behavior. Others point out that unions have welcomed Black workers into their ranks and numerous unions have elected Black members to positions of leadership.”

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Jason Stahl of the College Football Players Association and Tremayne Anchrum Jr., CFPA Alumni Advisor and national champion Clemson Tigers alumnus, to discuss the effort currently underway to organize college football players so they will be able to bargain with their schools over their working conditions.”

“‘My first day, I saw my manager naked because I spray tanned her,’ said Tia-Marie Campbell, a spray tan technician who has worked at Sugared + Bronzed, a salon chain offering spray tanning and sugaring hair removal services, for three years. Delivering a comfortable, safe experience while navigating other demands on the job—applying the tan, ringing up the customer, and mopping the walls and floor after a procedure all before the next client walks in—is a balancing act. ‘You’re running around with your head cut off,’ said Allie Rooney, who works as both a sugaring aesthetician and a spray tan technician—sometimes both in the same shift. But despite the frantic pace, workers care deeply about the job. So, they chose to stick around and fight to make things better.”

“Production assistants have emerged victorious in their attempt to unionize The Pitt. Support staffers on the second season of the HBO Max medical drama opted to join a union aligned with LiUNA Local 724, the Hollywood laborers’ group, in a landmark election that took place Friday. Participating production and office assistants unanimously voted to join the union in the National Labor Relations Board election in a clear show of support for the effort, the labor group announced…According to the group, The Pitt is the first major TV production where production assistants and assistants have unionized.”

“Every day, millions of American workers play by rules they never wrote, rules that all too often fail to consider the human aspect of work. The home care worker whose algorithm-assigned schedule leaves no time between clients. The security guard whose digital tracker penalizes bathroom breaks. The worker whose employer uses surveillance tools to identify workplace organizing and illegally retaliates against them for exercising their legal right to form a union. The warehouse worker whose pace of work is set by software with no regard for their health or safety.”

“Artificial intelligence (AI) is rewriting the rules of labor. With every keystroke, scroll or verbal prompt, humans are producing the fuel that powers modern AI systems: data. Whether workers realize it or not, their behavioral patterns, digital communications, productivity stats and biometric inputs are now core inputs in automated systems that generate enormous value for companies—and often, that value is extracted without compensation. It’s time we call this what it is: labor. In my book, Data Is Labor, I argue that like the vehicles UAW Union Members produce, our digital exhaust—what we’ve casually called “data” for decades—is not just metadata; it’s labor output. And this is no longer theoretical. Today’s most advanced AI systems are being trained and fine-tuned on the lived experiences of workers. In other words, the AI systems replacing or surveilling workers are trained on those very workers’ labor—data-driven and uncompensated.”

“The coalition of business groups trying to prevent minimum wage increases for tourism workers in Los Angeles has now failed twice. The Los Angeles City Council passed the package earlier this year despite the coalition’s dire predictions of economic ravages to follow, and this week, the groups’ petition to force a 2026 referendum on the law was denied because of an insufficient number of valid signatures. Will the coalition keep coming?...The wage law was years in the making. The measure was championed by UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents hotel workers, and the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West, which represents airport workers. It took years for it to gain momentum, and the hotel workers’ union had to throw considerable political weight behind it, including campaigning for City Council candidates supportive of the effort.”

“Teamsters and their supporters rallied outside a New York Amazon facility Monday in protest of what they said was an ‘illegal’ firing of over 150 unionized drivers. According to the union, the fired workers were employed by the delivery service provider Cornucopia, one of thousands of providers the company contracts with to deliver packages. These workers joined the Teamsters last year as the union went on strike in nine cities across the US. Amazon claims these workers are not employees, but ‘contractors,’ and that firing them does not constitute illegal union busting. The union, however, described this as ‘a phony shell game,’ saying that the contractors ‘wear Amazon uniforms, follow Amazon rules, and work off Amazon’s routing software.’”

“California ride-hailing drivers just won a crucial round in their pursuit of the right to unionize, but the political drama around the process and among the state’s drivers groups raises plenty of questions about what comes next. Lawmakers sent Assembly Bill 1340 to Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, but it’s merely a formality. The governor had already expressed support for the legislation in a deal he announced with Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas at the end of August. The state’s top politicians tied the unionization bill to Senate Bill 371, which is backed by Uber and Lyft and which the Legislature passed today. It drastically lowers the amount of uninsured and underinsured insurance coverage Uber and Lyft are required to provide, which they argue inflates costs for both drivers and passengers. In exchange, the ride-hailing giants dropped their opposition to the unionization bill. Critics of the deal say it mostly benefits the ride-hailing companies, which in 2020 wrote and passed a ballot proposition to keep drivers classified as independent contractors. Both firms are likely to drive a hard bargain with a drivers union, experts say.”

“Add another growing split to the increasingly divided United States: union membership. US states that protect unions’ collective bargaining rights have experienced an increase in new union members, while states with anti-union ‘right to work’ laws are responsible for declines in union members, a new report reveals. The report on the state of unions by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found significant discrepancies between the 26 states in the US with “right to work” laws compared with the 24 states and Washington DC that protect collective bargaining rights. The right-to-work states, concentrated in the south and central US, have a union density of 5.1%, compared with 14.2% for states with collective bargaining rights, concentrated on the coasts and in the north.”

“At 7:00 p.m. Tuesday evening, the Twin Cities campus workers joined the strike, with 300 to 400 workers on strike in the Twin Cities, according to Teamsters Local 320. A rally took place on the East Bank of campus near a courtyard near some of the major dorms on campus. The picket line was joined by workers, students, professors, and others in the university community. The high-energy rally continued despite the rainy conditions. ”

“Members of Machinists District 837, who have been on for strike for six weeks, are scheduled to vote on a new contract Friday morning. The new offer is a five-year contract that would provide for a 24 percent general wage increase – eight percent in the first year and four percent in subsequent years. Employees who are at the maximum pay rate would receive a five percent lump sum in years two and four. The new contract also includes a $4,000 signing bonus. Boeing says the new offer provides for 45 percent compounded wage growth over the course of the contract.”

“Hundreds of striking hotel workers at the Hilton Americas-Houston will remain on the picket line through Sept. 20, union officials announced Tuesday, marking an eleven-day extension of a ‘historic’ strike. Speaking to the Houston City Council on Tuesday, UNITE HERE Local 23 union official Willy Gonzalez said the workers are seeking a $23 hourly wage — a significant raise from the current base rate of $16.50. He said management so far has offered an immediate one-dollar raise to $17.50, followed by a 75-cent increase in January and additional 50-cent raises every six months.”

“It’s a little over one year since Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol joined the company and announced a new strategy to improve the in-store experience for both employees and customers. How much of that has been achieved in these last 12 months? Are workers noticing anything different? Especially workers at Starbucks stores that have voted to unionize, and are still awaiting a first contract from collective bargaining. To answer those questions, ‘Marketplace Morning Report’ spoke with both an organizer from the Starbucks Workers United union, and the company. Michelle Eisen is a founding member of Starbucks Workers United and worked as a Starbucks barista for 15 years. She spoke with host David Brancaccio.”

“Boeing Defense and the machinists union have reached a tentative deal to end a five-week-long strike in the St. Louis area, union officials announced on Wednesday. A vote on Boeing's five-year contract offer is scheduled for Friday, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. IAM District 837's roughly 3,200 members, who assemble Boeing fighter jets, went on strike on August 4 after voting 67% to reject the company's last contract proposal. ‘We’ve found a path forward on a five-year contract offer that grows wages by 45% on average,’ Boeing Defense Vice President Dan Gillian said in a statement. ‘It remains the best deal we’ve ever offered to IAM 837, and we encourage our team to vote yes so we can get back to work building amazing products for our customers.’ The deal includes a 24% general wage increase over five years and a $4,000 ratification bonus, among other terms. The previous offer was for four years and included a 20% wage increase and a $5,000 bonus. The deal would have raised compensation by 40% on average, according to the company.”

“Sean Astin, known for ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ faces Chuck Slavin in SAG-AFTRA’s presidential election with results announced Friday. The winner will lead Hollywood’s performers union through contract negotiations amid AI threats, fewer jobs and rising healthcare costs. The election serves as a referendum on outgoing president Fran Drescher’s leadership during the bruising 2023 actors’ strike.”

“Philadelphia native James A. Williams Jr., president of the 140,000-member International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, which has many immigrants and descendants of immigrants among its members, has been visiting members across the U.S. urging solidarity as the federal government revokes legal protections for immigrant workers from many countries and deports more foreign-citizen workers.”

“AFSCME President Lee Saunders, AFSCME Council 3 President Patrick Moran and AFSCME Maryland members joined Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Comptroller Brooke Lierman to discuss the effects that the so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will have on working families. At a town hall on Tuesday, they also talked about strategies to lessen the damage caused by the new law and how to protect public services for Maryland’s communities.”