The Weekly Download

“Workers at Wells Fargo are organizing the first union at a major U.S. bank—in one of the least-organized industries in the country. The first branch where workers won a union vote, in 2023, was in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since then, workers have have voted to join the Communications Workers (CWA) at 29 more branches from Apopka, Florida, to Casper, Wyoming. So have 35 workers who review customer and employee complaints at the bank.”

“Production workers at Netflix Animation, animation artists at SpindleHorse and production workers at “Ted” have made the movie to unionize with Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839 (TAG). These campaigns underscore the significant momentum for labor organizing across the animation industry, from streaming features to prime-time productions to independent studios. A group of 60 production workers at Netflix Animation Studios (feature productions) has submitted a request for union recognition to the studio.”

“A simple but profound truth underpins the struggle for worker empowerment: knowledge is our greatest strength. For workers to effectively organize unions and engage in collective bargaining, they need to understand the forces arrayed against working families, including the dollars spent, the consultants hired, and the tactics deployed to oppose those efforts. However, for decades, much of the information workers are entitled to has been intentionally obscured. Under federal law, employers and the anti-union consultants and law firms they hire (known by critics as ‘union-busters’ or ‘persuaders’) are legally required to disclose their activities to the U.S. Department of Labor. But a new report from our non-profit watchdog LaborLab reveals a chronic, systemic failure to report with little to no enforcement from the agency tasked with ensuring compliance.”

“Amazon.com sued the New York State Public Employment Relations Board on Monday to block it from enforcing a new law that the online retailer considers an attempt to illegally regulate private sector labor relations. In a complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court, Amazon accused New York of engineering an "unconstitutional power grab" by letting the regulator known as PERB usurp the National Labor Relations Board's primary authority to address union organizing, collective bargaining and workplace disputes. The New York law known as Senate Bill 8034A was signed, on September 5 by Governor Kathy Hochul. She said it was needed to protect workers because of the lack of a quorum at the NLRB, where hundreds of cases have backed up since Republican President Donald Trump fired Democratic member Gwynne Wilcox in January. Amazon said PERB has already taken advantage of the law, by filing a charge over the August 9 firing of Brima Sylla, an employee at its JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island and local union vice president, though the NLRB had begun its own review.”

“UnityPoint Health has spent between $3.7 million and $6.1 million to quash a unionization effort among nurses at four Des Moines metro hospitals, according to an estimate from the nonprofit watchdog group LaborLab. …LaborLab — a group based in Montana that advocates for worker rights — estimates that it could be the most costly union campaign in hospital history…Nurses at Methodist, Methodist West, Blank, and Lutheran hospitals partnered with Teamsters Local 90 and started a union effort last year.”

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Randi Weingarten of the AFT and Roy Bahat of Bloomberg Beta to discuss the effort by the American Federation of Teachers and its local largest affiliate in cooperation with three of the leading American artificial intelligence companies to train elementary and secondary school teachers to use AI in their work.”

“Across the country, employers are increasingly using AI and other digital technologies in ways that stand to have profound consequences for wages, working conditions, employment, race and gender equity, and worker power. While regulation of these new workplace technologies is still in its infancy, there has been significant legislative activity over the last few years—several hundred worker-impacting bills were introduced in the 2025 legislative session alone. In this guide, we give an overview of current U.S. public policy that regulates employers’ use of digital workplace technologies. Based on a review of over 350 bills and laws across all U.S. states and at the federal level, we identify nine major topics of proposed or enacted legislation.”

“Dean Baker interviews Laura Dresser, Associate Director of Wisconsin’s High Road Strategy Center, about the power of state and local policy to improve working people’s lives. They discuss how Wisconsin’s anti-union legislation devastated labor organizing, successful state-level initiatives on minimum wage and community college programs, and the potential for progressive policies on childcare, transportation, and education when federal action is blocked.”

“Environmental groups and unions representing construction workers found common ground this summer over President Trump’s blocking of offshore wind projects. The Revolution Wind offshore turbine farm off the coast of Rhode Island is 80 percent complete, but its fate remains uncertain after the Department of Interior issued a stop-work order on August 22.”

“California is poised to create a path for more than 800,000 rideshare drivers at companies including Uber and Lyft to unionize and bargain collectively. The Legislature has passed a bill, which Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign, that will create union and collective bargaining rights for transportation network company drivers. This move could lead to one of the single largest increases in collective bargaining coverage in generations. Massachusetts passed similar changes in November, while drivers in Minnesota and Illinois are organizing to pressure legislators into introducing comparable bills in their states. This is the kind of policy experiment more states need to adopt.”

“Nurses and technicians at Temple Health plan to strike on Oct. 6 if they cannot reach a contract agreement with the health system, their union announced Wednesday. The strike notification, required by federal law, comes after nurses and techs represented by the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) voted to authorize a strike last Friday.”

“A coalition of progressive groups is hoping to pressure Starbucks into reaching a deal with its baristas’ union now that contract negotiations have stalled. The union Workers United has organized nearly 650 Starbucks stores representing 12,000 baristas around the country since late 2021. The two sides started to make headway in a series of negotiations last year, but they remain far apart on key issues as the union campaign’s four-year anniversary approaches. On Friday, more than 40 groups wrote Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol saying they would stand by the baristas if they went on strike. The letter was signed by the AFL-CIO labor federation, a dozen major unions, and groups like Greenpeace USA, the League of Conservation Voters and the Democratic Socialists of America.”

“Ready to get back to work, Machinists District 837 members at Boeing have overwhelmingly approved a union-proposed contract, and the union is urging the company to accept the offer and end the weeks-long strike. The four-year proposal reflects priorities continuously expressed by members to reach a fair agreement. It aligns 401(k) contribution percentages with Boeing employees around the country, more fairly raises wages for top-of-scale members and includes a $10,000 ratification bonus – an amount that approaches the level Boeing provided for members in the Pacific Northwest and non-union workers in South Carolina.”