The Amazon Labor Union, after making history in April when it won the first-ever unionized Amazon warehouse, JFK8 on Staten Island, New York, was routed in May in a second election at LDJ5, another warehouse in the same complex. Amazon waged a fierce union-busting campaign, and it worked. Out of 1,633 eligible voters, 998 cast …
Amazon Bites Back in Vote at Second New York Warehouse Read More »
Before the Russian-funded delivery startup collapsed, Buyk sold itself as a way for workers to escape the gig economy. Former workers say it failed to deliver. In early March, 28-year-old Michael Perez received an alarming email from one of his co-workers at Buyk, the Russian-funded, New York City-based ultra-fast grocery app. Because of the severe sanctions against …
Rapid Grocery Delivery Service Buyk Accused of Wage Theft by Former Workers Read More »
In response to public scrutiny of high injury rates and growing worker organizing efforts at its facilities, Amazon recently published a report on its workplace health and safety record titled “Delivered with Care.” In this blog post, we sort out fact and fiction in Amazon’s key arguments in that report. False Claim #1: Amazon’s injury rates should be …
Fact-Checking Amazon’s Bogus Workplace Health and Safety Claims Read More »
At 43 and 45 years old, husband and wife farmers Angie and Wenceslaus Provost, Jr., hope they live to see age 70. They don’t fear terminal illness or a farm accident that could consign them to an early grave. Instead, they fear stress could do them in. Years of trying to protect family land from encroaching banks and government agencies have worn …
“It tears you apart mentally and physically”: The Health Crisis Afflicting Black Farmers Read More »
From Starbucks and Amazon to political campaigns and digital media, workers in historically unorganized occupations are forming unions—and breathing new life into the U.S. labor movement. This year, May Day was celebrated during a historic moment for the American labor movement. Nearly every day, news reports announce another example of workers exercising their rights as nonprofit …
The New Labor Movement Is Young, Worker-Led and Winning Read More »
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is taking Starbucks’ union-busting campaign very seriously. The board’s regional director in Buffalo issued a complaint late Friday accusing the company of 29 unfair labor practices involving 200 violations of the law. The complaint specifically names interim CEO Howard Schultz for dangling improved benefits if workers didn’t unionize, and calls on Schultz …
Nationwide—The unemployment rate remained at 3.6% in April according to this morning’s monthly jobs report. Approximately 428,000 jobs were produced, and 5.9 million workers remained unemployed. The unemployment rate for Black workers declined slightly, from 6.2% to 5.9%, yet the Black unemployment rate remained substantially higher than the rate for white workers (3.2%). The unemployment rate for …
APRIL JOBS REPORT: STRONG JOB GROWTH AS WORKERS DEMAND BETTER JOBS Read More »
Last fall, after nearly two years of underemployment due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I began teaching at Mercy College in New York as an adjunct professor. I was excited to finally be back in the classroom doing the thing I loved: teaching. I knew the terms of my contract, and while I wished the compensation was better, I accepted the offer in …
I’m a Black, Queer Woman Working as an Adjunct Professor—And I’m Going on Strike Read More »
Starbucks keeps escalating its anti-union campaign, taking it ever more public and more blatant. From quietly shifting national-level managers into the first stores where workers organized, to firing pro-union workers, to interim CEO Howard Schultz whining volubly about the “assault” on Starbucks, the company has ratcheted up and up, and it’s not stopping. This week, Starbucks announced pay …
One month after making history by organizing the first U.S. Amazon warehouse, workers voted against forming a union at another facility in New York. Update (May 2, 2022): Following a hard-fought campaign, the Amazon Labor Union came up short at the LDJ5 complex, with 380 workers voting in favor of the union and 618 against. In response, ALU founder Chris Smalls wrote: “Despite todays outcome …
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
