The Weekly Download

“Our mission at the Power At Work Blog is “to contribute to a discourse in the United States that emphasizes the importance of collective action and puts workers and worker power at the center of that conversation.” One part of that mission is to lift up movies and other popular culture that features worker power, unions, and workers’ collective action. At the same time, the Power At Work Blog team likes to have fun. And we love watching movies. So, we thought the best way to bring all these things together would be to invent #LaborOscars2024: the movie awards that focus on worker power, unions, and collective action. And, maybe the best idea of all is our subscribers and other friends are going to choose the winners! The power is in your hands!!!  Voting begins tomorrow, Monday, February 19th and continues through Monday, February 26th.”

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Charlotte Garden, Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School and contributor to the Economic Policy Institute's Unequal Power Project; Michael Z. Green, Professor of Law at the Texas A&M University School of Law and Director of the Workplace Law Program; and Jeffrey Hirsch, Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law and editor of the Workplace Prof Blog, to discuss the business community's legal attacks on the NLRB. Listen to their conversation as they discuss the pending Supreme Court case Starbucks v. McKinney, the constitutionality of the NLRB, and the legal infrastructure of labor relations.”

“Amid a recent surge in unionization and other workers' rights victories, wealthy U.S. corporations have fired union organizers, surveilled employees as they voted on forming a collective bargaining unit, and closed store locations to penalize labor leaders—but a court filing by Amazon on Thursday suggested a new tactic as the e-commerce giant seeks to dismantle the federal agency tasked with protecting employees.”

“Last December, a group of 238 Costco workers in Norfolk, Virginia, voted to unionize and join Teamsters Local 822. The local declared the vote ‘the union’s first organizing victory at the wholesale retailer in two decades.’ The voices of the pro-union workers who won this contested election — the vote was 111-92 — were quickly overshadowed, however, by a letter from Costco’s leadership that garnered much attention beyond the shop floor.”

“The grocery giants Albertsons and Kroger illegally colluded to weaken workers’ leverage amid strikes and contract negotiations in 2022, according to a lawsuit Colorado’s attorney general filed this week. As workers at 78 Kroger-owned King Soopers stores in Colorado were preparing to walk off the job that January, an Albertsons labor relations executive informed a counterpart at Kroger that his company would not poach strikers during the work stoppage, the lawsuit states.”

"Employees at 21 Starbucks stores across the United States informed the global coffee giant’s CEO on Tuesday that they are launching the largest single-day unionization in company history. The baristas — who are employed at Starbucks in 14 states — said in a letter to CEO Laxman Narasimhan that they’ve ​’decided to follow in the footsteps of over 396 other stores and nearly 10,000 partners to demand better.’ Their union, Starbucks Workers United, cited low pay, inconsistent scheduling, and safety concerns as reasons for filing for union elections.”

“On this week’s episode of Lever Time, producer Frank Cappello and reporter Amos Barshad are joined by union organizers Griffin Ritze and Fatou Souare, who are both involved in a current union drive at an Amazon warehouse in Kentucky. Griffin, an Amazon employee who was recently fired as alleged retaliation, and Fatou, a local community leader with the Kentucky African Women’s Association, speak to The Lever about the unique challenges of organizing a large, diverse workforce in one of Amazon’s largest locations — and what their efforts mean for the larger fight ahead against Amazon.”

“An overwhelming majority of eligible employees at the nonprofit publication Houston Landing have formed a union to advocate for stronger job protections and a seat at the table in organization-wide decisions. For the last eight months, the Landing’s journalists and staff have worked together to publish numerous community-centered stories that have deepened Houstonians’ understanding of their community. They are proud to have met and even exceeded company targets for impact, page views and engagement time, among others, just months after launch.”

“On Feb. 9, workers at the REI store in Castleton, Ind., voted to join UFCW Local 700 to build a better future for themselves and their co-workers. The REI Castleton workers’ successful unionization push comes on the heels of a growing unionization movement at REI, and this is the ninth location nationwide to unionize with the UFCW/RWDSU.”

“SIUE support and building service workers represented by AFSCME Council 31 showed up in force last week at the university’s Board of Trustees meeting to demand a fair contract after nearly two years without one. About 75 AFSCME members showed up at the Feb. 8 board meeting armed with signs and banners to drive home the fact that they have been working without a contract for nearly 600 days. They were joined by Labor allies, including the Illinois AFL-CIO, the Southwestern Illinois Central Labor Council and the Greater Madison County Federation of Labor.”

“On Friday, the employees of The Texas Tribune were formally recognized by their employer as a union, the Texas Tribune Guild. The union — which secured support from 90% of eligible staff members — is wall-to-wall, representing more than 40 eligible staff members, including reporters, photographers, designers, engineers, accountants, editors, and members of the development, product and revenue teams.”

“Just over one month ago, Taraji P. Henson joined Gayle King on Gayle’s podcast to discuss The Color Purple and her acting career. Nearly one million of us watched or heard Gayle ask Taraji about rumors of her quitting her acting career when Taraji began to cry as she explained why. Her tears are the tears that many Black women, specifically in the workplace, know all too well. They are the tears of trying time and time again to prove one’s worth to their employer. Despite efforts to go above and beyond, and produce quality work, Black women are often met with baseless and insulting reasons as to why they can not be paid adequately; and in the same sentence being told that white counterparts can.”

“The sweet, earthy scent of tomatoes hangs in the air as a crew of 44 workers speeds through rows of vines. They fill 32-pound buckets with fruit, then deliver them to co-workers waiting on the backs of flatbed trucks who dump the contents into crates to be sorted and packaged. During an eight-hour shift, each worker hauls an average of about three tons of tomatoes. They work at this pace all winter in this small farming community in southwest Florida — and all summer on a farm in Tennessee, where temperatures can reach the 90s.”

“A coalition of U.S. labor leaders spoke out forcefully on Thursday against the Republican-led push for a "fiscal commission," denouncing the proposal as an attack on Social Security, Medicare, and other programs that tens of millions of current and retired workers depend on to meet basic needs.”

“Bob Batz, Jr., thought it would end quickly. ‘It's kind of cute now, that we thought getting into last December [2022] and January was a long time,’ Batz said. ‘Little did we know. [We said] ‘Oh, it’s Christmas and we're still on strike. We can't believe it.’ Batz is one of 31 Newspaper Guild workers striking the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, owned by the family company Block Communications, Inc. Journalists at the Post-Gazette have been on strike since October 2022—making this strike the longest of the digital age—along with four other units: mailers, advertising workers, and Teamster truck drivers and pressmen.”

“Last year saw a resurgence in collective action among workers. More than 16.2 million workers were represented by unions in 2023, an increase of 191,000 from 2022. Workers filed petitions for union elections in record numbers and captured significant wage gains through work stoppages and contract negotiations. Further, organizing efforts continued in a variety of sectors—including health care, nonprofits, higher education, museums, retail, and manufacturing (Shierholz et al. 2024).”

“The number of major strikes jumped 43% to 33 in 2023, according to the official Labor Department count released Wednesday, the biggest number of large work stoppages in America in more than 20 years…When contracts are reached to end or avoid strikes, they typically run for multiple years. For example, the three labor deals at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis that ended the six-week strike by up to 50,000 autoworkers last fall will run through April 30, 2028. So many of the major strikes and contract negotiations that occurred in 2023 will not occur again in 2024. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a chance of some major work stoppages this year. Here’s some possible strikes that could make headlines in 2024.”

“About 420 workers at one of the biggest breweries in the United States, Molson Coors’ Fort Worth facility, went on strike Saturday over pay and other benefits. The workers, represented by Teamsters Local 997, want larger pay raises than the company is proposing and the elimination of two-tiered health care and retirement benefits. By walking out, workers halted production at the only brewery that serves the western U.S. with Molson Coors products like Coors Light, Topo Chico hard seltzer and Simply juices.”

“Members of AFSCME Local 4041, who work for the state of Nevada, are celebrating a statewide grievance victory over changes to their schedule. Last fall, management at various state agencies unilaterally implemented temporary schedule changes during weeks with a state-recognized holiday for workers on four day, 10-hours-a-day schedule. These changes forced employees to change their whole lives, including child or elder care, to accommodate for holidays. AFSCME members argued this was against the holiday schedule provisions in their collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the state and immediately filed a grievance.”

“Macy’s workers in northwest Washington rectified this last year by prominently featuring Scabby when they launched a strike and boycott campaign against the retailer over low wages and safety issues. Scabby was also the star of their own mock Thanksgiving Parade. Members of Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 3000 had been working under an expired contract since last March.”

“Influential labor groups announced Tuesday they are opposing efforts to move the NBA's Washington Wizards and NHL's Washington Capitals from the nation's capital to northern Virginia, citing in part an apparent inability to reach a satisfactory deal for union workers on the construction projects. The opposition of the Northern Virginia AFL-CIO and member unions including UNITE HERE Local 25, which represents hospitality workers in the national capital region, creates another hurdle for Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and supporters of a proposed $2 billion deal to move the two franchises from Washington, D.C., to Alexandria.”

“The erosion of the real value of the minimum wage in the United States was a problem before the pandemic and has only gotten worse during recent years. Despite high rates of wage growth over the past two years, the stagnant federal minimum wage and declining rates of union density have contributed to the suppression of average real wages for many Americans…To reverse this trend, there is a pressing need for reforms that include regular adjustments to the federal minimum wage and stronger support for collective bargaining. In addition, sectoral bargaining legislation can offer a nuanced and targeted approach to wage setting where wages have eroded the most.”

“After months of negotiations, pickets, and a strike authorization, over 1,600 members of UFCW Local 3000 who work at PCC Community Markets in Seattle and seven surrounding cities ratified an industry-leading contract on Feb. 6.”

“Last week, the CWA District 9 DIRECTV (DTV) Field Operations Bargaining Committee opened negotiations for a new contract. Amongst other demands, members are seeking wage increases, pension contribution increases, improved medical benefits, and more funding for education. The current agreement expires on April 6.”

“Federation of Nurses/UFT members who are Registered Professional Nurses employed by VNS Health overwhelmingly ratified a contract on Jan. 29 that provides a 15% pay increase over two years, additional money for experience differentials and improvements in scheduling. The contract, which went into effect on Feb. 1 and runs through January 2026, features an 8% pay hike effective April 1, 2024, and a 7% increase effective April 1, 2025. The base salary for new hires, which is now $97,100, will increase to $112,209 by April 2025.”

“After months of negotiations over local issues, UAW Local 862 has reached a tentative local agreement with Ford Motor Co., averting a potential strike this week.” 

“Kevin Moore, a social studies teacher at George Washington High School in Chicago’s South Side, has a futuristic vision for the city’s public school buildings, one with links to the past but very much rooted in the climate change present. In an era of record-breaking heat waves, Moore sees the city’s ancient school buildings — some of which were built in the early 1900s — retrofitted with new zero-emission heating and cooling systems. He imagines those buildings, which also function as community spaces, with solar panels and gardens on their rooftops. He wants to connect those greener buildings to the neighborhood and the city with environmentally friendly public transportation. A Chicago Teachers Union member, Moore’s vision is part of the union’s new campaign, Green New Deal for Chicago Public Schools. The newly launched endeavor, which the union is working on with the student-led Sunrise Movement, aims to remake the city’s aging school infrastructure both for the era of climate crisis and the new green economy.”