"Starbucks has resumed bargaining with union leaders amid a fresh wave of organized stores after the world’s largest coffee chain agreed to open talks over labor agreements.
Starbucks has consistently denied violating labor laws. But the sheer volume of charges, rulings against them by administrative law judges and the labor board, and accounts from workers themselves detailing their experiences, has bolstered its reputation as an aggressive union buster.
“It was also a lesson that you can’t rely on the law alone,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of Labor Education Research at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. “All the unfair labor practices that were filed … the fact is that Starbucks came to the table because the union did a comprehensive campaign, talked to investors, held red-cup days and did much more than just file unfair labor practices.”"
The 9 to 5 working women’s movement changed workplaces across America and inspired a Hollywood hit movie. Ellen Cassedy was there. Join us on Wednesday, May 22, at 6:00 PM ET as she tells the story of how brave women took on the corporate titans and formed a women-led union. The chain of working women’s activism stretches from the garment workers of early-20th-century New York, through the 9 to 5’ers (and Dolly Parton) — and now today’s labor surge.
A dose of inspiration for Labor History Month!
Ten attendees will win a free signed copy of Ellen’s book, Working 9 to 5: A Women’s Movement, a Labor Union, and the Iconic Movie (foreword by Jane Fonda).
#Tesla#Sweden#Unions#LaborRights#LaborStrikes#EVs: "Globally, Tesla has fought off any attempts by unions to organize its workplaces and establish collective bargaining. Signing up its employees is a priority for the United Auto Workers, the industry’s largest American union, and for its counterpart in Germany, where Tesla operates a big factory outside Berlin. UAW President Shawn Fain, who won extensive wage concessions from Detroit’s three major automakers with a strike last year, has cheered on the Swedes and called their effort “a blueprint for future leveraging campaigns.” Encouraged by this support—and armed with enough funds to pay the idle Tesla workers for around 500 years—IF Metall has stuck to its guns. The strike has now lasted four times as long as the UAW’s in 2023.
If Tesla had reached a collective agreement when it arrived in Sweden a decade ago, it’s likely nobody would have cared. For IF Metall, which signs hundreds of such accords each year, it hardly would have warranted a public declaration of victory. And Tesla could have rationalized it as an obligatory acceptance of local customs—comparable to removing one’s shoes when entering a Swedish home.
Now the company’s approach risks tarnishing its image in a region at the vanguard of the green transition. Scandinavians are among the world’s fastest adopters of electric vehicles: EVs and hybrids accounted for 60% of new cars sold in Sweden last year. Norwegians, Danes and Finns also buy electric cars at rates far above those in the US. Global automakers are fighting for the business of these affluent customers, who also happen to be broadly supportive of organized labor." https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-04-29/tesla-strike-in-sweden-previews-elon-musk-playbook-for-us-unions
"Economic Democracy: arguments from the US" for #WorkersRights to self-management and against the employment contract
The #philosophy of economic #democracy shows that workers have an inalienable right to workplace democracy/worker coops. The #employment contract violates that right even if it is fully voluntary. An inalienable right is one that can't be given up even with consent
No Canadian jurisdiction with full up "right to work" laws...but we must be vigilant! These are anti-union laws meant to break the little power that unions have. That is their purpose, they have no other...
I wonder do 40%+ really know what they are supporting... or think they are supporting "right to a job"??
UAW announces union campaign at Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama | US unions | The Guardian
Over 30% of workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant outside of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, have signed union authorization cards, the United Auto Workers (UAW) announced on Tuesday.
The news is another significant boost to the UAW’s plans to unionize non-union auto workers throughout the US after securing historic contracts for workers at the big three US automakers last year.
There's. Electronics sales this week. And I need to buy things I've been putting off.
But every time I start doing that I spend hours looking into the ethics of the different brands.
I.e. look at the controversies section on Wikipedia, maybe search for news.
Time for an #introduction!
We are the Boston Public Library's Professional Staff Association, affiliated with the Massachusetts Library Staff Association and the American Federation of Teachers.
We're a #library#union currently in the middle of negotiating a new contract, since our current contract expired on September 30.
by Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott & Alex Mierjeski @ProPublica
#Thomas has attended at least two #Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a #political network that has brought multiple #cases before the #SupremeCourt.
I’m just learning about FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act).
From what I understand, the law permits an employee to “elect to use accrued paid vacation leave, paid sick or family leave for some or all of the FMLA leave period."
"When paid leave is used for an FMLA-covered reason, the leave is FMLA-protected."
After 2 years in detention, a #Chinese#journalist active in the #MeToo movement will go on trial this week, along with a #LaborRights activist who was #detained with her in 2021, one of their supporters said.
The Bay View massacre was the result of a strike held on May 4, 1886, by 7,000 building-trades workers and 5,000 Polish laborers who had organized at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to strike against their employers, demanding the enforcement of an eight-hour work day.
By Monday, May 3, the number of participants had increased to over 14,000 workers who gathered at the Milwaukee Iron Company rolling mill in Bay View. They were met by 250 National Guardsmen under order from Republican Governor Jeremiah M. Rusk. The strikers had shut down every business in the city except the North Chicago Rolling Mills in Bay View. The guardsmen's orders were that, if the strikers were to enter the Mills, they should shoot to kill. But when the captain received the order it had a different meaning: he ordered his men to pick out a man and shoot to kill when the order was given. Workers camped in the nearby fields and the Kosciuszko Militia arrived by May 4. Early the next day the crowd, which by this time contained children, approached the mill and were fired upon. Seven people died as a result, including a thirteen-year-old boy. Several more were injured during the protest. Several contradictory newspaper accounts described other possible casualties, but the count of seven deaths is substantiated by specific names (Frank Kunkel, Frank Nowarczyk, John Marsh, Robert Erdman, Johann Zazka, Martin Jankowiak, and Michael Ruchalski).
@Jigsaw_You@machinelearning Provocative article indeed, but it seems there's a distinct lack of accountability from #OpenAI. The relentless quest for #AI innovation should never come at the expense of human rights. Content moderation is no walk in the park - it's high time we recognize and address its implications. How about revisiting the practices and paying attention to the welfare of those on the frontlines of this digital warfare? #EthicsFirst#HumanRights#TechResponsibility#laborrights
📢 Great News from last week at Virginia Commonwealth University! Cleaners secured a 35% raise in their FIRST union contract! Their hourly wages will increase from $12 to $16.30 🎉 The Service Employees International Union’s property services division, 32BJ, negotiated this deal for 220 workers who keep public spaces clean at VCU.
The Hollywood writers strike is over after guild leaders approve contract with studios (apnews.com)
Leaders of the writers union declared their nearly five-month-old strike over after board members approved a contract agreement with studios.