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☆ Tesla broke U.S. labor law by silencing workers, official rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Daniel Wiessner | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

(Reuters) - Tesla Inc supervisors at a Florida service center violated U.S. labor law by telling employees not to discuss pay and other working conditions or bring complaints to higher level managers, a U.S. labor board official has ruled. The judge ordered Tesla to cease and desist from violating workers’ rights and to post notice of the violations in the service center and email it to employees. Tesla had argued that it had quickly repudiated the managers’ comments by posting a notice in the service center that Tesla policy allowed workers to discuss their pay. The judge said that attempting to silence employees violated their fundamental right under U.S. labor law to band together to advocate for better working conditions. The company is also appealing an NLRB decision that said it unlawfully barred factory workers from wearing union t-shirts.

☆ YouTube Music contractors won a historic union election, which means Google could have to negotiate with a labor group for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Contact workers who support YouTube Music won their union election 41-0. Contract workers who support YouTube Music have won their union election and will now prepare to bargain for a labor contract. The Alphabet Workers Union launched in 2021 and represents both full-time workers employed directly by Google as well as its large contract workforce. Some Google contractors can command high salaries, while many — like those at Cognizant — make as little as $19 an hour. The YouTube Music contractors initially began organizing to seek a guaranteed work-from-home policy, saying that it's too expensive to live in Austin on the wages offered.

☆ Ben & Jerry's workers in flagship Vermont store file for union election
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Natasha Piñon | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Ben and Jerry's workers at the ice cream company's flagship store in Burlington, Vermont, are filing for a union election Monday. Workers at the Burlington store have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for an election. That union, Workers United, has won union elections at hundreds of Starbucks locations across the country at a rapid pace. If the Burlington workers approve a unionization vote, their store would be the first Ben & Jerry's location in the U.S. to do so. Ben & Jerry's has even sued its parent company, Unilever , when its actions came into conflict with Ben & Jerry's stated social mission.

☆ YouTube TV contractors in early stages of organizing say they're being held in 'captive meetings' to discourage unionizing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

YouTube TV contractors are in the early stages of making a push towards unionization. The YouTube TV contractors' efforts follow that of their colleagues in YouTube Music. In response, Cognizant held two "captive meetings" with the YouTube TV team in the past two weeks to dissuade them from organizing, contractors say. Contractors working for Cognizant say they've been told they should not take these new signs down. In the past year, more than 300 Starbucks locations organized under the Starbucks Workers Union.

☆ Should you sign that severance package? Here are 5 things to consider first.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Some employees being laid off by Big Tech companies can expect generous severance packages. Employees should consider their options before signing a severance agreement, they said. Here are five things to consider when signing your severance agreement, according to labor lawyers:1. Consider what you are willing to give up in exchange for the severance paymentWhen employees accept a severance package, they're asked to give up something in exchange — like their ability to sue the company. "We have been receiving a lot of calls from workers laid off by tech companies," she said.

☆ FedEx is on the cusp of a seismic shift — and it will forever change the company as we know it
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

"We will be consolidating our operating companies into one unified organization," FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam told investors Wednesday. The shift will make FedEx's operational strategies more like competitors UPS and DHL. Regulatory risk brings up an old questionThere may also be some risks coming to the new, integrated FedEx from outside the company. In a stark difference between UPS and FedEx, UPS falls under the National Labor Relations Act and FedEx Express under the Railway Labor Act. Betting the future on slower servicesThe third risk analysts raised was market share.

☆ FedEx is rolling out the biggest transformation in its 50-year history. The potential reward is huge, but so are the risks.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The CWA in a statement said Activision's conduct showed a clear pattern of disregard for workers' legal rights. "In spite of Activision Blizzard's anti-union efforts, workers continue to organize, speak out about their working conditions and win union campaigns," the union said. Activision has said its social media policy is lawful and does not bar employees from exercising their rights under U.S. labor law. Small groups of workers at Activision subsidiaries in New York and Wisconsin have voted to join the CWA in recent months. Boston-based employees of Activision unit Proletariat in January withdrew a petition to have an election.

☆ Starbucks union pressures board members with billboards, posters – and a butter sculpture
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Nearly 300 company-owned Starbucks cafes have voted to unionize under Workers United, according to National Labor Relations Board data. Starbucks Workers United is deploying a butter sculpture, brass band, billboard and movie posters to put pressure on the coffee chain's board to accept the union. Beth Ford, chief executive officer of Land O'Lakes Inc. (L), and a butter sculpture of land o'lakes her. In the hopes of speeding up the process, just outside of Minnesota's Twin Cities, Starbucks workers will deliver a butter sculpture of Ford to Land O'Lakes' headquarters. "Community allies" will also take part, according to Starbucks Workers United.

☆ Starbucks fires Alexis Rizzo, the Buffalo union worker who 'ignited a movement' to organize
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Starbucks has fired a Buffalo, New York, worker who “ignited a movement” from one of the first stores in the coffee chain to unionize, Starbucks Workers United said Friday. Alexis Rizzo had been shift supervisor at the Genesee Street store in Buffalo for 7 years, the union said. “This is retaliation at its worst,” a statement from Starbucks Workers United said. Nearly 300 locations have voted to join Starbucks Workers United. “What is outrageous to me is not only Starbucks’ anti-union activities and their willingness to break the law, it is their calculated and intentional efforts to stall, stall and stall,” Sanders said during the hearing.

☆ Starbucks fired the employee responsible for igniting the Starbucks Workers United union campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Starbucks fired Alexis Rizzo, the employee responsible for igniting the Starbucks Workers United union campaign, just days after the company's former CEO Howard Schultz testified on Capitol Hill about the coffee chain's alleged union-busting, CNBC confirmed. Starbucks Workers United announced Rizzo's termination in a tweet Saturday and said in a corresponding GoFundMe page that "this is retaliation at its worst." It was like my family," Rizzo told CNBC in an interview. Schultz faced a volley of tough questions from Sen. Bernie Sanders Wednesday about Starbucks' labor and union practices. Nearly 300 Starbucks cafes have voted to unionize under Starbucks Workers United, according to data from the National Labor Relations Board.

☆ A grassroots group took on Amazon and won. Then came the hard part
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Amazon still refuses to recognize the union or come to the bargaining table, dashing the Staten Island workers’ hopes of creating their first contract. Union organizer Christian Smalls (L) celebrates following the April 1, 2022, vote for the unionization of the Amazon Staten Island warehouse in New York. “I told Christian, ‘We have a problem, you need to stop traveling, you need to focus on the workers,’” Goodall told CNN. The company has claimed the independent federal agency tasked with overseeing union elections exerted “inappropriate and undue influence” with the Staten Island effort. An Amazon employee signs a labor union authorization for representation form outside the Amazon LDJ5 fulfillment center in the Staten Island borough of New York, on Monday, Feb. 7, 2022.

☆ Elon Musk broke the law with a tweet about Tesla stock options, court rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk broke labor law with a 2018 tweet about Tesla employees' stock options, a court ruled. The US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said Musk threatened staff in the wake of a unionization drive. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Tesla argued that because Musk said there was nothing stopping Tesla workers joining a union, it couldn't be regarded as a threat. "Because stock options are part of Tesla's employees' compensation, and nothing in the tweet suggested that Tesla would be forced to end stock options or that the UAW would be the cause of giving up stock options, substantial evidence supports the NLRB's conclusion that the tweet is as an implied threat to end stock options as retaliation for unionization," the panel wrote in its conclusion.

☆ A union said 5 Apple Store workers were fired illegally for trying to organize
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A union said five workers at Apple stores in two states were fired illegally. The Communications Workers of America union filed two Unfair Labor Practice charges. It was the first unfair labour practice charge filed by the CWA against Apple for alleged unlawful termination of workers for union organizing. No one working at Apple should be interrogated, intimidated, or silenced for trying to organize and win our fair share." It is unlawful for any companies to retaliate against workers for union activity, according to the NLRB.

Companies Tesla Inc FollowMarch 31 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday said Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk violated federal labor law by tweeting that employees of the electric vehicle maker would lose stock options if they joined a union. Amid an organizing campaign at Tesla's Fremont, California, plant by the United Auto Workers union, Musk tweeted: "Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union ... But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?" In Friday's case, Tesla had argued that the tweet about unionizing was not a threat and merely reflected the fact that union workers at other auto companies did not receive stock options. The labor board in a separate case last year said Tesla violated labor law by prohibiting workers at the Fremont plant from wearing shirts supporting the union campaign.

The Communication Workers of America union (CWA) has accused the "Call of Duty" maker of a series of illegal labor practices at the union has sought to organize video game testers and other employees at the company and its subsidiaries. The CWA in a statement said Activision's conduct showed a clear pattern of disregard for workers' legal rights. "In spite of Activision Blizzard's anti-union efforts, workers continue to organize, speak out about their working conditions and win union campaigns," the union said. Activision is already facing a separate NLRB complaint issued last year claiming the company used a policy limiting what workers can post on social media to bar them from discussing working conditions. Activision has said its social media policy is lawful and does not bar employees from exercising their rights under U.S. labor law.

☆ Starbucks shareholders want more information about the company’s anti-union efforts
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Starbucks’ investors have voted in favor of an independent review of the company’s aggressive anti-union efforts. The assessment would include remedies if it finds that Starbucks has broken its own stated commitment to workers rights. Starbucks workers rally in celebration of the first anniversary of the union's founding on December 9, 2022 in New York City. Over the past year and a half, Starbucks has been waging a bitter fight against unionization efforts. During a hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee about the company’s labor practices on Wednesday, one former employee said he was wrongfully fired after organizing.

REUTERS/Julia NikhinsonWASHINGTON/NEW YORK, March 29 (Reuters) - Starbucks' former Chief Executive Howard Schultz defended himself and the coffee chain against allegations of "union busting" at a U.S. Senate committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday. Senator Bernie Sanders, Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, told Schultz that "Starbucks has waged the most aggressive and illegal union busting campaign in the modern history of our country." "These are allegations and Starbucks has not broken the law," Schultz told Sanders during the hearing. His return to Starbucks as its interim leader in April 2022 was "95% focused on the operations of the business" and his involvement in the company's union strategy has been "de minimis," Schultz said. Republicans defended Schultz, praising the company's competitive wages, health benefits, employee stock purchase program and other benefits.

[1/2] Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz looks on during its Annual Meeting of Shareholders in Seattle, Washington March 21, 2012. Senators blasted ex-Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz on Wednesday over the company's "union busting" when he was at the helm. Starbucks has denied allegations that it illegally fired pro-union baristas or spied on workers as hundreds of stores organized unions starting in late 2021. "These are allegations and Starbucks has not broken the law," Schultz told Sanders during the hearing. His return to Starbucks as its interim leader in April 2022 was "95% focused on the operations of the business" and his involvement in the company's union strategy has been "de minimis," Schultz said.

☆ Bernie Sanders questions Howard Schultz on Starbucks' labor practices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Senator Bernie Sanders, who has roundly criticized former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz over the company’s blatant attempts to shut down its own workers’ unionization efforts, will finally get to question Schultz during a Senate hearing Wednesday. It’s a relatively small number compared to the roughly 9,300 company-operated Starbucks stores in the United States. Howard Schultz at the Starbucks annual shareholder meeting in Seattle, Washington on March 22, 2017. “Starbucks respects the right of all partners to make their own decisions about union representation,” Schultz said. In prepared remarks for the hearing, Schultz argued that “Starbucks has engaged in good faith bargaining,” saying that delays are coming from the union.

☆ Starbucks is probably 'the best first job in America,' former CEO says as Congress probes the chain's treatment of unions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Aidan Pollard | Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Starbucks is "one of the best, if not the best, first job in America," former CEO Howard Schultz said. "Starbucks is probably one of the best, if not the best, first job in America." "It's unprecedented, and that's why Starbucks doesn't need a union," Schultz said. But Wednesday's hearing showed that some current and former Starbucks employees don't agree with that assessment. Jaysin Saxton, a former Starbucks barista who lost his job in August at a Starbucks in Augusta, Georgia, also spoke at the hearing.

☆ Starbucks’ Union Fight Moves to Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Heather Haddon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Starbucks Corp. and chain baristas are more than 18 months into a fight over unionizing cafes at the world’s largest coffee company. Neither side has gotten all that they wanted. Starbucks has managed to slow down new union petitions over the last year and a half. But the push has cost it operationally and financially, some company executives and labor attorneys say. Starbucks said it has spent millions of dollars on lawyers to oversee union elections, fight litigation and represent itself before the National Labor Relations Board, the federal body that oversees labor matters between U.S. companies and workers.

☆ Starbucks illegally refused to bargain with union on Zoom - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The general counsel of the NLRB determined that the coffee chain violated labor law by refusing to participate in collective bargaining sessions if some workers were present via video-conference, the report said. "Now that it's clear we have the right to bargain using a virtual component, we hope Starbucks is ready, too," Tyler Keeling, a Starbucks' union leader from California said in a statement. Starbucks and the NLRB did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. Employees at more than 280 out of Starbucks' roughly 9,000 company-operated U.S. locations have voted to join a labor union since 2021. The union is seeking better pay and benefits, improved health and safety conditions and protections against unfair dismissal and discipline.

☆ Starbucks, union at odds over hybrid negotiations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 28 (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O), which has faced criticism over its opposition to union organizing, said the labor union representing some of its stores has rejected in-person bargaining sessions and is insisting on hybrid negotiations. Starbucks Workers United, which represents thousands of U.S. baristas at about 200 cafes, conducted unauthorized virtual broadcasts of bargaining sessions without prior agreement from all parties, Starbucks said in a statement to Reuters on Monday. "Workers United is asking for a seat at the table, we're simply encouraging them take their seat in-person at the negotiating table, as required, to move the bargaining process forward," the company said. This comes after National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) prosecutors alleged that Starbucks violated labor law by refusing to engage in bargaining if some workers were attending remotely via videoconference, according to a Bloomberg report. "Now that it's clear we have the right to bargain using a virtual component, we hope Starbucks is ready, too," Tyler Keeling, a leader of the Starbucks Workers United in California said.

☆ Chipotle will pay a $240,000 penalty — roughly 1% of its daily revenue— for shutting down a store that tried to unionize
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The settlement is equivalent to the global revenue that Chipotle made in 15 minutes last year. The employees filed a petition to form a union last June — the first time Chipotle employees had taken that step. The payment will be split among the former location's employees, who will receive between $5,800 and $21,000 each based on their seniority, pay rate, and other factors, per the Journal. That math is based on Chipotle locations operating daily, and doesn't include locations closed on major holidays. Under the settlement, Chipotle will also offer the employees "preferential hiring" if they pursue jobs at the company's other locations in Maine.

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