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☆ Bernie Sanders successfully cajoled Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz into testifying before a Senate committee on labor practices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Interim Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has agreed to testify in front of Sen. Bernie Sanders' committee. Sanders chairs the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP), and wanted to subpoena Schultz to testify. Now, Schultz has agreed to testify on March 29 about the firm's alleged anti-union activities. Ahead of that vote — which was scheduled for Wednesday — Sanders said that Schultz has "finally agreed to testify." Sanders also thanked the members of his committee, "who, in a bi-partisan way, were prepared" to vote to subpoena Schultz.

☆ Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz agrees to testify at Senate hearing after subpoena threat
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has agreed to testify in a U.S. Senate hearing about the coffee chain's alleged union busting after pressure from Sen. Bernie Sanders. The Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP, Committee was scheduled to vote Wednesday morning on whether to subpoena Schultz, who previously declined a request to appear. Schultz is now scheduled to appear at a March 29 hearing. More than a year after Starbucks Workers United won its first election, none of the cafes have agreed to a contract with Starbucks yet. Starbucks has lodged more than 100 of its own complaints against the union, alleging intimidation and harassment.

☆ Bernie Sanders is holding a vote to subpoena Howard Schultz for fighting Starbucks unionization
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. Bernie Sanders announced he's holding a vote on issuing a subpoena for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. The Senate HELP chairman wants Schultz to testify on his company's fight against unionization. Sanders, the new chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, also wants the committee to authorize an investigation into major corporations' labor law violations. Schultz rejoined Starbucks as interim CEO in April 2022 and will transition out of the role this month, the company wrote to Sanders in February. "A multi-billion dollar corporation like Starbucks cannot continue to break federal labor law with impunity," Sanders said.

☆ Starbucks displayed ‘egregious and widespread misconduct’ in union fight, judge says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Starbucks has displayed “egregious and widespread misconduct” in its dealings with employees involved in efforts to unionize Buffalo, New York, stores, a National Labor Relations Board judge said in an order Wednesday. Starbucks workers attend a rally as they go on a one-day strike outside a store in Buffalo, New York, November 17, 2022. “I don’t think a union has a place in Starbucks,” Schultz recently told CNN’s Poppy Harlow. But we as a company have a right also to say, we have a different vision that is better,” he said. “This is truly a historic ruling,” Gary Bonadonna Jr., manager of the Rochester Regional Joint Board of Workers United, SEIU, said in a statement issued by Starbucks Workers United.

[1/3] Starbucks workers attend a rally as they go on a one-day strike outside a store in Buffalo, New York, U.S., November 17, 2022. Employees at more than 280 out of its roughly 9,000 company operated U.S. locations have voted to join a labor union since 2021. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has accused Starbucks of unlawful anti-union tactics at stores across the country, including allegedly firing pro-union workers. ISS concluded that "there seem to be credible reasons that may lend support to various accusations" raised by Workers United, the NLRB and Starbucks. Starbucks also said it "commenced efforts to conduct a human rights impact assessment" including labor rights, and that it expects to make the results available to shareholders.

☆ Here are answers to 5 key questions about the labor board’s severance agreement rule change
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Can my employer no longer ever require that I stay quiet in exchange for severance? Normally there is a six-month window akin to a statute of limitations to bring an alleged violation to the board’s attention. So can employers now never require me to stay mum about the company as a condition of receiving severance? It’s easy to forget, but there is no legal requirement for employers to offer laid off workers severance. “There’s a real risk to employees that the case will have a negative impact on the size of severance packages going forward,” he said.

☆ Employers can't force you to keep quiet to get severance, labor board decides, reversing Trump-era rulings
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Companies can't require employees to waive their rights as part of a severance agreement. In a ruling on Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board said such requirements are "unlawful." Workers can't be forced to "choose between receiving benefits and exercising their rights," NLRB's Lauren McFerran said. Nondisparagement clauses, it reasoned, could prevent former workers from being able to assist investigations into ongoing labor law violations. In a statement, McFerran said Thursday's ruling reflected an understanding that "employers cannot ask individual employees to choose between receiving benefits and exercising their rights under the National Labor Relations Act."

SummarySummary Law firms Laid-off workers can't sign away labor rights, board saysDecision overrules Trump-era precedentFeb 22 - The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that laid-off workers cannot be required to sign agreements that contain confidentiality clauses and other provisions that could deter them from exercising their rights under federal labor law in exchange for receiving severance. The board in a 3-1 decision on Tuesday overturned a pair of Trump-era rulings that said severance agreements only violate federal labor law when employers engage in other unlawful conduct when asking workers to sign them. The NLRB's Democratic majority said those rulings were misguided and "granted employers carte blanche to offer employees severance agreements that include unlawful provisions." The board said it was illegal for the company to offer the workers severance agreements that included confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions because they could be discouraged from filing complaints with the NLRB or publicizing labor disputes. He said there was no evidence that the decisions tossed out by the majority had led the board to uphold illegal severance agreements.

☆ NLRB prohibits employers from including clauses that silence workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Employers can no longer include a broadly written confidentiality clause that requires you to keep mum about the terms of your severance agreement. And they can no longer include a broadly written non-disparagement clause that prohibits you from discussing the terms and conditions of your employment with third parties. With the exception of railroads and airlines, US business employers are subject to the NLRB’s authority. While the labor board’s ruling this week could be appealed, the ruling is effective immediately. That means employers must review — and, if necessary, revise — their severance agreements to ensure they don’t include overly broad language that would restrict workers’ rights in the two ways the board ruling indicates.

☆ Howard Schultz: Unions ‘a manifestation of a much bigger problem’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

New York CNN —Fifteen years ago, Howard Schultz reprised his role as Starbucks CEO, returning to the helm to help put the struggling company back on course. Even before he officially rejoined the company, Schultz was already alarmed by the union push. In the months since returning as CEO, Schultz has doubled down on his opposition to the union. “The fact that Starbucks workers are continuing to organize and win shows just how much workers need and desire a union,” Starbucks Workers United said in a statement to CNN. As a CEO, Schultz has been responding “very typically,” Givan said, in how strongly he’s opposed the union.

☆ Tesla denies Workers United's accusations, saying it laid off 27 workers in New York for 'poor performance' before it learned of unionization efforts
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tesla said it laid off 27 employees in Buffalo, New York due to poor performance. Tesla rejected the allegation it had laid off the workers due to a unionization campaign. The claim that Tesla pressures employees to do so is categorically false," said Tesla. Tesla, Workers United, and the NLRB did not immediately Insider's requests for comment sent outside regular business hours. In 2021, the NLRB ruled Tesla repeatedly violated labor laws by trying to prevent workers from unionizing and from talking about working conditions.

☆ Tesla accused of firing union supporters days after organizing effort starts
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Tesla has fired more than 30 supporters of a nascent union at its Buffalo facility, just days after the organizing effort was announced, according to the union. The union, Tesla Workers United, has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging the company illegally fired its supporters. “I feel blind sided,” said Arian Berek, one of the fired employees quoted in the union’s statement. Starbucks Workers United’s first victory came in Buffalo, and it is particularly strong in Western New York. In the past, Tesla has been accused of illegally firing union supporters at its plant in California, its first to build cars.

Dozens of employees at a Tesla factory in upstate New York have been fired just days after launching a union campaign, organizers alleged Thursday. In a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, Workers United said Tesla fired more than 30 workers from its Autopilot unit at a Buffalo plant as a retaliatory measure and to discourage union activity. Employees at the Buffalo facility on Tuesday launched organizing efforts under the union Tesla Workers United. Workers received an email Wednesday evening laying out a new policy that prohibits them from recording workplace meetings without the permission of all participants, Tesla Workers United said in a release Thursday. In 2017, Tesla fired a union activist named Richard Ortiz, and in 2018, Musk tweeted a comment found to have violated federal labor laws.

☆ Tesla reportedly laid off dozens of workers after union announcement, NLRB complaint alleges
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Kate Duffy | Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tesla terminated dozens of employees at a site that had just announced a union campaign, an NLRB complaint alleges. Workers United claims Tesla is attempting to "discourage union activity," Bloomberg first reported. Spokespeople for Tesla and Workers United did not respond to a request for comment from Insider ahead of publication. In 2017, some Tesla workers sought to unionize with the help of the United Auto Workers Union (UAW), but the initiative was unsuccessful. More recently, the NLRB ruled in August that Tesla's policy that restricts workers from wearing a union insignia is "unlawful."

☆ Tesla fires employees in retaliation to union campaign - complaint
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 16 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) on Wednesday laid off dozens of employees from its Autopilot department at its Buffalo plant in New York, a day after workers launched a campaign to form a union, according to a complaint filed with a government agency. Earlier this week, Tesla workers in New York said they will unionize with Workers United Upstate New York, which would help give them a voice at their workplace. The Workers United Upstate New York union in a filing with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Wednesday accused the world's most valuable automaker of hitting back by terminating some of the employees "in retaliation for union activity". The employees had asked the electric carmaker to respect their right to organize a union and called on the company to sign the Fair Election Principles, which would prevent Tesla from threatening or retaliating against the workers. Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Howard Schultz declined Bernie Sanders’ request to testify before Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Dayun Park | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Howard Schultz has declined Bernie Sanders’ request to testify before Congress. While Starbucks Workers United has sought better pay and benefits, the company has apparently put efforts into retaliating against workers who tried to unionize. About 100 Starbucks stores across the U.S staged a three-day strike in December, following a one-day strike in November, to protest unfair labor practices. One of the main reasons Starbucks workers organized is to hold billionaire executives, like Schultz, accountable for their actions,” Starbucks Workers United said in a statement to CNN. A total of 338 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since 2021, 282 have been certified across 36 states and 56 didn’t get certified.

☆ Bernie Sanders hints at subpoena for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Sen. Bernie Sanders hinted that lawmakers could subpoena Howard Schultz to compel the outgoing Starbucks CEO to testify in front of a Senate panel about how the coffee chain is handling its baristas' push to unionize. "One way or another, he will be there," Sanders, a pro-union Vermont independent, told reporters on Capitol Hill. Sanders, who chairs the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement Wednesday that he intends to hold Schultz and Starbucks accountable and looks forward to seeing Schultz appear before the committee. Schultz declined an invitation from 11 senators to appear at the March 9 hearing, Reuters first reported Tuesday evening. To date, regional offices of the federal labor board have issued 76 complaints against Starbucks, alleging illegal labor practices.

☆ Apple has infringed on worker rights, NLRB investigators say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington CNN —Apple has illegally imposed rules on its employees that prohibit them from discussing their wages and engaging in other protected activity, according to investigators at the National Labor Relations Board. The findings by NLRB agents determined that “various work rules, handbook rules, and confidentiality rules at Apple” are unlawful because they “reasonably tend to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees” who attempt to assert their labor rights, NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado told CNN Tuesday. The NLRB does not have the power to impose penalties, but can force employers to implement “make-whole remedies,” according to its website. According to Bloomberg, the cases in question were brought by two former Apple employees, one of whom cited an email from CEO Tim Cook vowing to crack down on information leaks at the company. Apple pushed back at those claims in a filing with the NLRB.

In a decision issued on Monday, Administrative Law Judge Benjamin Green said Amazon supervisors told workers that they would miss out on regularly scheduled raises and improved benefits if the company was forced into lengthy union negotiations. U.S. labor law prohibits employers from making threats or promises in order to discourage unionizing. Workers at Amazon's JFK8 fulfillment center in Staten Island voted to join the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) last April, a first for the company in the United States. Green said Amazon also violated federal labor law in 2021 by removing a post from an internal message board asking workers to sign a union-backed petition to make Juneteenth a paid holiday. Amazon has faced dozens of complaints from workers and the ALU as the union attempts to organize warehouses across the country.

☆ Apple executives including Tim Cook may have violated workers' rights, according to the national labor board
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A federal agency said it found evidence that Apple executives and company policy broke labor laws. The decision stems from cases filed by former employees who say Apple violated their rights. The NLRB will prosecute if Apple doesn't settle with former employees who have raised complaints. The federal agency confirmed to Insider that it found merit that charges concerning statements by high-level executives at Apple, as well as company policies, violated the National Labor Relations Act. According to Bloomberg, the federal agency's assessment stemmed from cases brought by two former Apple employees, Ashley Gjovik and Cher Scarlett.

☆ YouTube Music contractors must move to and work from its Austin offices by February 6. Staffers say this is a retaliatory move after they voted to unionize.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

These staffers, many of whom work remotely and do not live in Austin, work for Cognizant, a major contractor for YouTube's parent company Alphabet. Employees who spoke to Insider say the firm's requirement that they return to its offices was retaliatory following the team's decision to unionize with the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) in October 2022. When Cognizant set the February deadline last November, it gave employees outside Austin only about three months to move. The employees in Austin were fully aware of the intention to return to the office prior to the filing of a petition. Moreover, all associates working on this project were hired with the understanding that the jobs were based in an Austin office location.

☆ Union ranks had a very good 2022. It’s not for the reason you think
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

(Some workers at unionized workplaces choose not to belong to the union, accounting for the different totals.) Stephanie Keith/Getty ImagesBut there’s no denying 2022 was a very good year for union organizing. The attention that each company’s campaign is getting is important for generating “momentum” for union organizing activity. The other unionized jobs added in the leisure and hospitality sector were in hotels and other accommodations, as travel rebounded strongly during the year. Overall the public sector lost a combined 12,000 unionized jobs last year due to declines in unionized jobs at the federal and local government levels.

☆ Union membership dropped yet again in 2022 to the lowest rate on record, showing that workers still face an uphill battle in organizing
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The union membership rate fell in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Union membership has been mostly declining for decades, even though union workers tend to make more money. At the same time, the union membership rate, which tracks the percentage of workers in a union, fell to 10.1% — the lowest rate on record, per BLS. The union membership rate of 10.1% in 2022 was just half the 20.1% in 1983, the first year BLS compiled comparable data. Even so, the union membership rate for retail workers is just 4.3%, down from 4.4% in 2021.

Jan 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. labor board official is seeking a rare order requiring Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) to collectively bargain with workers at a Florida store, even after they voted against unionizing by a nearly two-to-one margin. Workers at the Estero, Florida store voted 21-11 in May against forming a union amid a nationwide organizing campaign that has involved hundreds of Starbucks locations. The campaign, Starbucks Workers United, has won elections at more than 260 U.S. stores and has lost about 70 elections since late 2021. The regional director is asking the board to issue a "bargaining order" forcing Starbucks to recognize and bargain with the union at the Estero store. Starbucks is facing similar claims in a pending case involving a Buffalo, New York store where workers voted against unionizing in 2021.

☆ U.S. union membership rate falls to all-time low despite organizing efforts, data shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Brendan McDermidWASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The United States' union membership rate, or percentage of wage and salary workers who belong to unions, edged down to an all-time low in 2022, data released by a government agency showed. The union membership rate fell from 10.3% in 2021 to 10.1% in 2022, according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday. However, the number of wage and salary workers who are members of unions, at 14.3 million last year, increased by 273,000, or 1.9%, from 2021, the data showed. The total number of wage and salary workers grew by 5.3 million, or 3.9%, most of them non-union workers. The data released Thursday shows that while unionization efforts have come into the limelight, they have not translated into greater representation of the workforce.

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