The Weekly Download

“She was 17, working as a barista, and living in her car. Days before her high school graduation, Starbucks fired Katie for union organizing. Her plans for a new apartment & college were put on hold. Now, thanks to a new federal labor rule, Starbucks may have to pay her tens of thousands of dollars.”

“Tesla fired at least 18 employees, including several leaders of a unionization campaign, a day after they announced plans to organize a Tesla plant in Buffalo, workers said in a filing to the National Labor Relations Board.”

“Falling on Valentine’s Day, the 110-plus actions were themed around the idea of Starbucks as a “toxic partner”—a play on Starbucks terming its workers “partners.” The informational pickets were the latest in a series of maneuvers by SBWU to attempt to push back against retaliatory actions by Starbucks.”

“The Ninth Circuit granted a preliminary injunction against the California legislature’s latest attempt to protect workers’ ability to enforce their rights in court in the case Chamber of Commerce v. Bonta. Tuesday’s decision joins a long line of Supreme Court and Circuit Court precedent that upholds arbitration agreements as “consensual,” regardless of their coercive nature, particularly in employment agreements.”

“Joe Oliveira and his coworkers relied greatly on donations of food and gift cards after going on an Unfair Labor Practice strike against multibillion-dollar specialty steelmaker ATI in 2021... As much as the strike tested workers, however, it pressured ATI even more and ultimately enabled Oliveira and more than 1,300 other members of the United Steelworkers (USW) to secure long-overdue raises and stave off the company’s attempt to gut benefits. Corporations so fear this kind of worker power that they’re asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rig the scales and help them kill future strikes before they even begin.”

“Service Employees International Union (SEIU) International President Mary Kay Henry talked about the state of labor unions in the U.S. and President Biden’s economic policies.”

“Over 2,000 Washingtonians tuned in to the public hearing on a bill that would increase the amount of hours an agricultural worker would need for overtime pay to 50 hours per week.”

“Union-aligned Democrats were set to introduce legislation Wednesday mandating a statewide $25 minimum wage for health workers and support staffers, likely setting up a pitched battle with hospitals, nursing homes, and dialysis clinics.”

“More than 700,000 federal employees across agencies are represented by AFGE, and while the challenges facing agencies differed depending on their mission, the meeting showcased a series of priorities that were shared across the workforce.”

“IAM Special Assistant to the International President for the Rail Division Josh Hartford and TCU/IAM Assistant National Legislative Director David Arouca, along with representatives from other major rail unions, joined U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Mike Braun (R-IN) for a press conference on Capitol Hill demanding paid sick time from rail companies for all rail workers.”

“HarperCollins Publishers and the union representing around 250 striking employees reached a tentative agreement providing increases to entry level salaries. If union members ratify the contract, it will run through the end of 2025 and end a walkout that began nearly three months ago.”

“Alexandria, VA Local 2141 became the first Virginia IAFF affiliate in more than four decades to ratify a contract with its employer when the Alexandria City Council voted unanimously Jan. 24 to approve the historic agreement.”

“Today, we welcome the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) to the AFL-CIO. The labor movement’s commitment to gender and racial diversity isn’t simply rhetoric. We’re a movement about action. The WNBPA’s affiliation is a historic step in our ongoing efforts to advance the rights and freedoms of women and people of color.”

“At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Refresco — a transnational corporation that produces and bottles soft drinks for major brands such as Tropicana and Gatorade — had a single response to its staff about the public health crisis unfolding at its Wharton, NJ plant an hour outside of New York City: show up to work … Outraged, the predominantly immigrant workforce formed a union, winning their first election in June 2021 in what was one of the largest blue-collar union victories during the pandemic.”

“Yet his new job, at Noble Knight Games in a Madison suburb, had a special draw. The store has the world’s largest collection of role-playing, tabletop and video games, old and new, and it’s full of gamers like him, for whom games, since childhood, have always meant good memories and experiences. But the appeal was tempered after hearing his new colleagues’ complaints about low wages.” 

“When Rich Schiavoni tells people that he is a member of the United Steelworkers union, they often will ask him what he makes.“I make college students,” is the answer he has at the ready, knowing that isn’t necessarily the response people expect.”

“On the 55th anniversary of the Memphis Sanitation Strike, Fred Redmond — the nation’s highest-ranking African American to ever serve in the labor movement — hopes to ‘unleash a new era of economic prosperity for Black workers.’”

“John Womack Jr.’s new book, Labor Power and Strategy (PM Press, 2023), edited by Peter Olney and Glenn Perusek and with responses from 10 organizers, labor activists, and educators, is a timely consideration of some basic strategic principles. Womack maintains that the primary power that workers have is structural power—that is, power based on their position in the production process. Associational power—developed via collective organizations like unions—derives from this structural power.”

“A new book coauthored by ILR School Professor Shannon Gleeson and Xóchitl Bada analyzes how labor unions, worker centers, legal aid groups and other immigrant advocates put tactical pressure on government bureaucracies to holistically defend migrant rights… The book is available to read online for free.”

“In Jonathan Weisman’s account in the New York Times, the economic legislation promoted by President Biden and passed by a Democratic Congress is little more than a political quid pro quo… This discourse is wrong, anti-worker, and destructive of worker power.”