unions

Unionized nursing homes were safer in the pandemic, this week in the war on workers

Unions have increasingly bargained for the common good in recent years, as when teachers negotiate lower class sizes and more school nurses or counselors, or nurses negotiate for improved staffing ratios so they can give every patient the attention they deserve. Union opponents often try to claim that these are really self-interested measures that only …

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The New Labor Movement Is Young, Worker-Led and Winning

Labor Movement, unions / By max cyril

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.

Amazon Bites Back in Vote at Second New York Warehouse

Amazon, unions / By max cyril

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 …

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Starbucks is very unhappy about all the customers ordering drinks under the name ‘Union Strong’

labor, unions / By max cyril

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 …

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Amazon Workers Decide Not to Form Union at a Second U.S. Facility—But Organizers Pledge to Fight On

Amazon, unions / By max cyril

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 …

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The Campus Workers Withdrawing Their Consent

labor, union mobilizing, unions / By max cyril

A conversation with student and graduate employees about why workers are simultaneously on strike at two universities. Right now, a majority of residential advisers at Kenyon College, organized with the Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee, are on an indefinite strike over unfair labor practices. At the same time, over 1,750 graduate student workers at Indiana University with the …

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Amazon moves its army of union-busters to the next warehouse over, this week in the war on workers

labor, NLRB, unionbusting, unions / By max cyril

Following the Amazon Labor Union’s huge win in Staten Island, they’re going for it again. Workers at another, smaller warehouse—called LDJ5—will begin voting on April 25, and Amazon is once again going hard with its union-busting campaign. “All those union-busters that were there to union-bust 8,000 workers at JFK8 have walked across the street and are …

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Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Wisconsin AFL-CIO Supports Striking UAW Members at Vollrath Manufacturing

labor, Strike, unions / By max cyril

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story. On April 4, more than 250 members of UAW Local 1472 went on strike at …

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The Amazon Union Campaign Won By Following the Lead of Workers

Amazon, union mobilizing, unions / By max cyril

Amazon Labor Union shows us an essential ingredient of successful union campaigns: democratic autonomy. Jeff Bezos has been brought back down to Earth. No boss is invincible. The workers at Staten Island’s JFK8 Amazon fulfillment center proved it by beating the massively rich and powerful corporation 2,654 to 2,131 in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election on April 1. Meanwhile, a rerun …

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Starbucks Workers Are Facing Down One of the Most Intense Union-Busting Campaigns in Decades

unionbusting, unions / By max cyril

Workers at more than 100 Starbucks stores in 27 states have filed union petitions for elections. In response, the company has launched a relentless anti-union effort. In interviews, Starbucks workers tell In These Times that starting a union campaign is the first time they’ve felt hopeful in their adult lives. ?“A lot of us have gotten used to a sense …

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