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☆ Amazon Union Workers Join Forces With the Teamsters
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-18 | by ( Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After years of organizing Amazon workers and pressuring the company to bargain over wages and working conditions, two prominent unions are teaming up to challenge the online retailer. The partnership was made final in voting that ended on Monday after members of the Amazon Labor Union, the only union formally representing Amazon warehouse workers in the United States, voted overwhelmingly to affiliate with the 1.3-million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The vote was overseen by the Amazon union. Leaders of both unions said the affiliation agreement would put them in a better position to challenge Amazon and would provide the A.L.U. will fight fearlessly to ensure Amazon workers secure the good jobs and safe working conditions they deserve in a union contract,” Sean O’Brien, the Teamsters president, said in a statement early Tuesday.

Persons: “, fearlessly, ” Sean O’Brien Organizations: Amazon Labor Union, Brotherhood of Teamsters, Amazon, Teamsters, A.L.U Locations: United States, Staten Island

☆ Supreme Court Ruling in Starbucks Case Curbs Labor Regulation
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Santul Nerkar | Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Starbucks on Thursday in a challenge against a labor ruling by a federal judge, making it more difficult for a key federal agency to intervene when a company is accused of illegally suppressing labor organizing. Eight justices backed the majority opinion, which was written by Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a separate opinion concurring with parts of the majority opinion, dissenting from other portions and agreeing with the overall judgment. The ruling came in a case brought by Starbucks over the firing of seven workers in Memphis who were trying to unionize a store in 2022. The company said it had fired them for allowing a television crew into a closed store, while the workers said that they were fired for their unionization efforts and that the company didn’t typically enforce the rules they were accused of violating.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, “ Organizations: Starbucks, National Labor Relations Board Locations: Memphis, Tennessee

☆ Is Your Law Firm Using A.I.? Tell Us How.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Law firms are increasingly relying on generative artificial intelligence to produce research and draft documents. We’d like to hear from lawyers working with generative A.I., including contract lawyers who have been brought on for assignments related to A.I. Your answers may help us better understand the use of A.I. We won’t publish your name or any part of your submission without contacting you first. If you prefer to share tips or thoughts confidentially, you can do so here.

☆ Could the Union Victory at VW Set Off a Wave?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

By voting to join the United Automobile Workers, Volkswagen workers in Tennessee have given the union something it has never had: a factory-wide foothold at a major foreign automaker in the South. The result, in an election that ended on Friday, will enable the union to bargain for better wages and benefits. Labor experts said success at VW might position the union to replicate its showing at other auto manufacturers throughout the South, the least unionized region of the country. Some argued that the win could help set off a rise in union membership at other companies that exceeds the uptick of the past few years, when unions won elections at Starbucks and Amazon locations. “It’s a big vote, symbolically and substantively,” said Jake Rosenfeld, a sociologist who studies labor at Washington University in St. Louis.

Persons: ”, Jake Rosenfeld, St . Louis Organizations: United Automobile Workers, Volkswagen, Labor, VW, Starbucks, Washington University Locations: Tennessee, St .

☆ Big Labor Gamble: Push to Unionize Every U.S. Auto Plant
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-02 | by ( Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Shawn Fain, the United Automobile Workers president, unveiled the deal that ended six weeks of strikes at Ford Motor in the fall, he framed it as part of a longer campaign. “One of our biggest goals coming out of this historic contract victory is to organize like we’ve never organized before,” he said at the time. “When we return to the bargaining table in 2028, it won’t just be with the Big Three. It will be the Big Five or Big Six.”Four months later, the first test of that strategy has come into focus, and it features a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. According to the union, more than half of over 4,000 eligible workers have signed cards indicating support for a union.

Persons: Shawn Fain, ”, Stellantis Organizations: United Automobile Workers, Ford Motor, Workers, Ford, General Motors Locations: Chattanooga , Tenn

☆ Starbucks and Union Agree to Work Out Framework for Contract Talks
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Starbucks and the union that represents employees in roughly 400 of its U.S. stores announced Tuesday that they were beginning discussions on a “foundational framework” that would help the company reach labor agreements with unionized workers and resolve litigation between the two sides. The union greeted the development as a major shift in strategy for Starbucks, which has taken steps to resist union organizing at the company since the campaign began in 2021, moves that federal labor regulators have said violated labor law hundreds of times. It said that, as a gesture of good faith, it was providing unionized workers with benefits it introduced in 2022 but withheld from union stores, like an option for customers to tip via credit card. Representatives of both Starbucks and the union, Workers United, said that while details must be worked out, they hoped to be back at the bargaining table in the coming weeks. Negotiations between the two sides had largely lapsed over the past several months.

Organizations: Starbucks, Workers

☆ Can a Tech Giant Be Woke?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-25 | by ( Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The December day in 2021 that set off a revolution across the videogame industry appeared to start innocuously enough. “My friend called me crying, saying, ‘I just lost my job,’” recalled Erin Hall, one of the testers who stayed on. “None of us saw that coming.”The testers conferred with one another over the weekend and announced a strike on Monday. Just after they returned to work seven weeks later, they filed paperwork to hold a union election. Raven never rehired the laid-off workers, but the other testers won their election in May 2022, forming the first union at a major U.S. video game company.

Persons: Raven, ‘, ’ ”, Erin Hall Organizations: Activision Blizzard Locations: Wisconsin, U.S

☆ Amazon Argues Labor Board Is Unconstitutional
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The company’s lawyers repeatedly denied in their filing that Amazon had broken the law. Then, under a section titled “Other Defenses,” they argued that “the structure of the N.L.R.B. The claims it made in the filing echo arguments that lawyers for SpaceX made in a federal lawsuit last month, after the labor board issued a complaint accusing the company of illegally firing eight employees for criticizing Mr. Musk. SpaceX sued in Texas, but a federal judge there on Thursday granted the board’s motion to transfer the case to California, where the company’s headquarters are located. was settled nearly 90 years ago by the Supreme Court.”

Persons: Jennifer A ., “, ” Wilma Liebman, Barack Obama, ” Organizations: Amazon, United, Constitution, SpaceX, Supreme Locations: ”, Texas, California, Jennifer A . Abruzzo

In rousing remarks, Ms. Haley painted a picture of a country and a world in disarray, casting herself as the choice for voters dissatisfied with both President Biden and Mr. Trump. She set up an epic showdown with Mr. Trump in South Carolina, where she is lagging far behind Mr. Trump in polls despite a home-state advantage. Painting herself as an outsider, despite her insider résumé, she pledged to take on Mr. Trump and the political class behind him. Her campaign has bought over $1 million in television advertising from Tuesday through Feb. 6 in South Carolina, according to AdImpact, a media-tracking firm. “I won South Carolina twice as governor,” she told reporters Friday at a retro diner in Amherst.

Persons: Nikki Haley, Donald J, Trump, Haley, Biden, “ We’re, Mr, “, —, Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi, ”, Joe, Doug Mills, Chris Sununu, I’m, ” Mr, Ms, Trump’s, Betsy Ankney, Nikki, Ankney, Mark Harris, Harris, Haley’s, Ruth Fremson, Ron DeSantis, Marco Rubio, Allie Cable, ” Richard, Wendy Clymer, Clymer, Maggie Haberman, Kellen Browning Organizations: Republican, Trump, Mr, “, United Nations, U.S, Capitol, New York Times, Granite, Gov, Committee, PAC, South Carolina Locations: New Hampshire, South Carolina, “ New Hampshire, Iowa, Hampton, N.H, Virgin, Charleston, S.C, Nevada, America, Florida, Amherst, Marco Rubio of Florida, Greenville, Concord, New York

☆ Supreme Court to Hear Starbucks Bid to Overturn Labor Ruling
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-12 | by ( Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear a case brought by Starbucks challenging a federal judge’s order to reinstate seven employees who were fired at a store in Memphis amid a union campaign there. Starbucks argued that the criteria for such intervention by judges in labor cases, which can also include measures like reopening shuttered stores, vary across regions of the country because federal appeals courts may adhere to different standards. A regional director for the National Labor Relations Board, the company’s opponent in the case, argued that the apparent differences in criteria among appeals courts were semantic rather than substantive, and that a single effective standard was already in place nationwide. The labor board had urged the Supreme Court to stay out of the case, whose outcome could affect union organizing across the country.

Organizations: Starbucks, National Labor Relations Board Locations: Memphis

☆ Why Doctors and Pharmacists Are in Revolt
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The breaking point came when the height of the pandemic passed, but conditions barely improved, according to many workers. Although health systems had promised to add staffing, many found themselves running deficits amid inflation and a shortage of doctors and nurses. Dr. Quee, the union president, said that inquiries from doctors were up more than threefold since the second group of Allina doctors unionized last month — and that as a result, the Doctors Council was hiring more organizers. “Two days ago, pharmacists called me from Florida,” she said. “We’ve never done pharmacists before.”In September, Dr. Smith, who long ago shifted from CVS district manager to frontline pharmacist, took on an additional role: labor organizer.

Persons: Sharif, “, unionizing, Quee, ”, “ We’ve, Smith Organizations: Doctors, CVS, renegades Locations: Allina, Florida, Kansas City, Mo

☆ U.A.W. Strike Gains Could Reverberate Far Beyond Autos
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Even before the strike ended, unions at other companies appeared to be doing just that. In an interview in late September, David Pryzbylski, a lawyer who represents employers, said union officials in two separate contract negotiations had invoked the U.A.W. “Outside the U.A.W., it’s putting wind in their sails,” Mr. Pryzbylski said. The element of strategy that the U.A.W. brought to its strike may also prove instructive to other workers and unions.

Persons: David Pryzbylski, Mr, Pryzbylski, “, Peter Olney Organizations: U.S . Chamber, Warehouse Union

☆ Why the U.A.W.’s President Has Taken a Hard Line
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Shawn Fain sought the presidency of the United Automobile Workers union last year, he ran on a platform that promised: “No corruption. The platform helped propel Mr. Fain to the top job — where he has led a mounting wave of walkouts in recent weeks to demand more favorable contract terms. It was devised by a group called Unite All Workers for Democracy, which was officially formed in 2020 as a caucus — essentially, a political party within the union. The group set out to topple the ruling party, known as the Administration Caucus, which had run the union for more than 70 years. In 2022, Unite All Workers hashed out its party line, recruited candidates and ramped up a campaign operation to elect them.

Persons: Shawn Fain, Fain, Fain’s, — Organizations: United Automobile Workers, Detroit, All Workers for Democracy, Administration Caucus, Workers

Altogether, about 45,000 workers at Ford, G.M. and Stellantis are on strike across the country, including 8,700 workers at Ford’s Kentucky truck plant in Louisville, the company’s largest, and almost 10,000 others at Ford factories in Illinois and Michigan. The tentative deal with Ford could increase pressure on the other companies to reach an agreement with the union. In the past, once the union reached a deal with one automaker, tentative agreements with the others quickly followed. Last week, Ford’s executive chairman, William C. Ford Jr., said the union’s demands risked damaging the ability of Detroit automakers to compete against nonunion companies like Tesla and foreign rivals.

Persons: Shawn Fain, William C, Ford Jr, ”, “ Organizations: Ford, Detroit automakers, Toyota, Honda Locations: Ford’s Kentucky, Louisville, Illinois, Michigan

☆ Strike Is a High-Stakes Gamble for Autoworkers and the Labor Movement
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Since the start of the pandemic, labor unions have enjoyed something of a renaissance. They have made inroads into previously nonunion companies like Starbucks and Amazon, and won unusually strong contracts for hundreds of thousands of workers. Last year, public approval for unions reached its highest level since the Lyndon Johnson presidency. Strikes by railroad workers and UPS employees, which had the potential to rattle the U.S. economy, were averted at the last minute. The strike by the United Automobile Workers, whose members walked off the job at three plants on Friday, is shaping up to be such a test.

Persons: Lyndon Johnson, haven’t, ’, Ram — Organizations: United Automobile Workers, —, Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Jeep Locations: Southern California, U.S

☆ Standoff Over Electric Vehicle Workers Poses Risk for Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden has been highly attuned to the politics of electric vehicles, helping to enact billions in subsidies to create new manufacturing jobs and going out of his way to court the United Automobile Workers union. The union, under its new president, Shawn Fain, wants workers who make electric vehicle components like batteries to benefit from the better pay and labor standards that the roughly 150,000 U.A.W. The Detroit automakers counter that these workers are typically employed in joint ventures with foreign manufacturers that the U.S. automakers don’t wholly control. The companies say that even if they could raise wages for battery workers to the rate set under their national U.A.W. contract, doing so could make them uncompetitive with nonunion rivals, like Tesla.

Persons: Biden, Ram —, Shawn Fain, Tesla Organizations: United Automobile Workers, —, Motors, Ford Motor, Chrysler, Jeep, Detroit automakers, U.S, don’t

☆ Labor Department Proposes Vast Expansion of Overtime Eligibility
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In a move that could affect millions of workers, the Biden administration announced Wednesday that it was proposing to substantially increase the cutoff below which most salaried workers automatically receive time-and-a-half overtime pay. Under the proposed rule, issued by the Labor Department, the cutoff for receiving overtime pay after 40 hours a week would rise to about $55,000 a year from about $35,500, a level that was set during the Trump administration. About 3.6 million salaried workers who fall between the current cutoff and the new one would effectively gain overtime pay eligibility under the proposed rule, the department said. Some employers may choose to raise workers’ pay above $55,000 to avoid paying overtime. Julie Su, the department’s acting secretary, said in a statement that the rule “would help restore workers’ economic security by giving millions more salaried workers the right to overtime protections.”

Persons: Biden, Trump, Julie Su Organizations: Labor Department

☆ UPS Employees Approve New Contract, Averting Strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Averting a strike that could have shaken the U.S. economy, the union representing more than 300,000 United Parcel Service employees announced Tuesday that its members had ratified a new labor agreement with the shipping giant. The union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said that its UPS members approved the five-year contract with more than 86 percent support. The Teamsters have said that the agreement includes wage gains of at least $7.50 an hour for current employees over its five-year term. It also raises the minimum pay for part-time workers to $21 an hour from under $17, and raises the top rate for full-time delivery drivers to about $49 on average. Under the previous contract, which expired on Aug. 1, full-time drivers made an average of about $42 an hour after four years on the job.

Organizations: United Parcel Service, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, UPS, Teamsters Locations: U.S

☆ From Detroit to Hollywood, New Union Leaders Take a Harder Line
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Shawn Fain is not a typical president of the United Automobile Workers union. Mr. Fain recently declined a symbolic handshake with the chief executives of the major Detroit automakers, a gesture that traditionally kicks off contract negotiations. He is seeking an ambitious 40 percent wage increase for rank-and-file members — in line, he says, with the pay gains of those corporate leaders over the past four years. Mr. Fain, who won his position in March, is the first president in the union’s history, dating back nearly 90 years, to be elected directly by its members. The change took place after a major corruption scandal engulfed two of his predecessors and several more union officials.

Persons: Shawn Fain, Fain, “, ’ ”, Shana Shaw, ‘ It’s, ’ Organizations: United Automobile Workers, Detroit, Chrysler, General Motors Locations: Stellantis, Missouri

☆ UPS Announces Contract Accord With Teamsters to Head Off Strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

United Parcel Service announced Tuesday that it had reached a tentative deal on a five-year contract with the union representing more than 325,000 of its U.S. workers, a key step in averting a potential strike when the current agreement expires on Aug. 1. “Together we reached a win-win-win agreement on the issues that are important to Teamsters leadership, our employees and to UPS and our customers,” Carol Tomé, the company’s chief executive, said in a statement. “This agreement continues to reward UPS’s full- and part-time employees with industry-leading pay and benefits while retaining the flexibility we need to stay competitive.”The union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, reported in June that its UPS members had voted to authorize a strike, with 97 percent of those who took part in the vote endorsing the move. The tentative agreement will now go before the membership for ratification. UPS handles about one-quarter of the tens of millions of packages that are shipped daily in the United States, and a strike could dent economic activity, particularly the e-commerce industry.

Persons: ” Carol Tomé Organizations: Parcel Service, Teamsters, UPS, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Locations: United States

☆ Elon Musk cambia el logotipo de Twitter a una X
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Noam Scheiber | Ryan Mac | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Ahora enfrenta a un competidor bien financiado en Threads, el servicio similar a Twitter recientemente presentado por Meta, la compañía que es dueña de Facebook. Musk ha tenido una larga afinidad por la letra X. Es el autor de The Escape Artists. Más sobre Noam ScheiberRyan Mac es un reportero de tecnología enfocado en la responsabilidad corporativa en la industria tecnológica mundial. Ganó un premio George Polk en 2020 por su cobertura sobre Facebook y vive en Los Ángeles.

Elon Musk said he was about to make one of the most visible changes to Twitter since he took control of the social media company last fall: replacing its widely recognized bird logo. In a tweet early Sunday morning Eastern time, Mr. Musk said that “soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.”He added shortly after, “If a good enough X logo is posted tonight,” it would “go live worldwide tomorrow.”“X” is a term for what Mr. Musk has described as an “everything app” that could combine social media, instant messaging and payment services, akin to the popular Chinese app WeChat.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, “, adieu Organizations: Twitter

☆ UPS Contract Talks Go Down to the Wire as a Possible Strike Looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

UPS’s adjusted net income rose more than 70 percent between 2019 and last year, to over $11 billion. The contract talks broke down on July 5 in vituperation. The company noted that many part-timers graduated to jobs as full-time drivers, which pay $42 an hour on average after four years. In television interviews and at rallies, the Teamsters president, Sean O’Brien, has emphasized what the union calls “part-time poverty” jobs. He has frequently been joined by leaders of other unions and politicians, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat.

Persons: Sean O’Brien, “, Alexandria Ocasio, Cortez Organizations: Teamsters, UPS, New York Democrat Locations: vituperation

☆ How TV Writing Became a Dead-End Job
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For the six years he worked on “The Mentalist,” beginning in 2009, Jordan Harper’s job was far more than a writing gig. But by 2018, when he worked on “Hightown,” a drama for Starz, the business of television writing had changed substantially. The job of overseeing the filming and editing fell largely to the showrunner, the writer-producer in charge of a series. “On a show like ‘The Mentalist,’ we’d all go to set,” Mr. Harper said. They say the new approach requires more frequent job changes, making their work less steady, and has lowered writers’ earnings.

Persons: Jordan, “, ’, Mr, Harper Organizations: CBS, Starz

☆ Amazon Union Dissidents, in Challenge to Leader, Move to Force Vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Friday, the reform caucus sent the union’s leadership a letter laying out its proposal to hold prompt elections, saying it would go to court Monday if the leadership didn’t embrace the proposal. The group said in its letter that enacting the proposal could “mean the difference between an A.L.U. which is strong, effective, and a beacon of democracy in the labor movement” and “an A.L.U. which, in the end, became exactly what Amazon warned workers it would become: a business that takes away the workers’ voices.”Mr. Smalls said in his text that the union leadership had worked closely with its law firm to ensure that its actions were legal, as well as with the U.S. Labor Department. Jeanne Mirer, a lawyer for the union, wrote to a lawyer for the reform caucus that the lawsuit was frivolous and based on falsehoods.

Persons: Connor Spence, Brett Daniels, Brima, ” Mr, Smalls, Jeanne Mirer, Spence, ” Organizations: Amazon, U.S . Labor Department Locations: Staten

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