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☆ YouTube Music contractors say their office is promoting anti-union messages on TVs ahead of the union election
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Contracting firm Cognizant is pushing back as contractors for YouTube Music begin union elections. In October, YouTube Music contractors announced their plans to unionize with the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), which represents more than 1,200 full-time Googlers and contractors doing work for the company through outsourcing firms. The YouTube Music contractors will hold a union election on Wednesday. Sam ReganCognizant required YouTube Music contractors to work from its Austin office starting February 6. YouTube Music contractors are voting to unionizeAfter the union election on Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board will hold a vote count on April 26 to determine whether a majority of YouTube Music workers voted in favor of collective bargaining.

The tool and die workers in a 62-9 vote rejected a campaign by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), according to results announced by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board. The 75 technicians would have been the first group to unionize at the Japanese automaker's largest assembly plant in North America. Nissan spokesperson Lloryn Love-Carter said, "Nissan respects this decision, and we remain focused on working with employees to drive our future forward together." “The IAM will continue to support these workers so we will be prepared for them to join our union when the time is right again," the union said. In 1989 and 2001, workers in Smyrna voted overwhelmingly against joining the United Auto Workers union.

Schultz will testify on March 29 before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the company and panel chairman Senator Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday. Schultz, who is stepping down from his post this month, had earlier declined an invitation from 11 senators to testify before the panel on March 9. The company previously rebuffed requests by Sanders for him to appear, instead offering for other executives to testify. "I look forward to hearing from him as to when he intends to end his illegal anti-union activities and begin signing fair first contracts with the unions," Sanders wrote on Twitter. 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.

☆ 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.

☆ Starbucks corporate employees sign petition to reverse return to office mandate and stop alleged union busting
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Dozens of Starbucks employees signed a letter Wednesday pushing back against return to office policies. The corporate staffers are calling to overturn a mandate to come in at least three days per week. Months after Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said he was pleading with employees to return to the office, the executive ultimately announced a policy in January requiring employees "within commuting distance" to return to the office at least three days per week. The return to office policy and alleged union busting is "fracturing trust in Starbucks leadership," the letter states. The letter makes official requests for the company to reverse the return to office policy and "commit to a policy of neutrality and respect federal labor laws."

March 1 (Reuters) - "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard Inc (ATVI.O) has been accused by a union of illegally firing two video game testers for using "strong language" in a protest at a new company policy that limits remote work. The case is the latest the union has brought to the labor board as part of a campaign to unionize the firm and its subsidiaries. Small groups of game testers at three Activision subsidiaries voted to join the CWA last year. The change received an overwhelmingly negative response from employees, the CWA said, and Activision fired two game testers who "expressed their outrage using strong language." "When faced with unfair treatment by unscrupulous employers like Activision, workers should have the right to express themselves," CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens said in a statement.

March 1 (Reuters) - "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard Inc (ATVI.O) has been accused by a union of illegally firing two video game testers for using "strong language" in a protest of a new company policy that limits remote work. The case is the latest the union has brought to the labor board as part of a campaign to unionize the firm and its subsidiaries. Small groups of game testers at three Activision subsidiaries voted to join the CWA last year. The change received an overwhelmingly negative response from employees, the CWA said, and Activision fired two game testers who "expressed their outrage using strong language." "When faced with unfair treatment by unscrupulous employers like Activision, workers should have the right to express themselves," CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens said in a statement.

☆ 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.

☆ Sen. Bernie Sanders calls vote on subpoena for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Sen. Bernie Sanders is making good on his threat of a subpoena for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on what Sanders has called union-busting activity at the company's coffee shops. Sanders said Wednesday that the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will vote March 8 on whether to issue a subpoena for Schultz, who previously declined to appear in front of the committee. Sanders said in a statement that Schultz has denied meeting and document requests and refused to answer questions from him and his fellow senators. "Unfortunately, Mr. Schultz has given us no choice, but to subpoena him," Sanders said in a statement. In response, Sanders, who chairs the Senate committee, hinted that lawmakers could compel Schultz to appear by issuing a subpoena.

[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.

☆ Elon Musk faces upwards of $130 million in legal costs to fight laid off Twitter workers over severance pay
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk last month offered thousands of laid off Twitter workers a limited severance deal. The former workers, laid off in November, say they were promised much better severance than what Musk finally offered them last month. In addition, laid off Twitter employees also filed a handful of class action lawsuits in federal court. It also effectively prohibits them from ever speaking about Musk, Twitter, or their experience at the company. Even those relatively few Twitter workers who signed off on Musk's severance agreement could speak freely about the company going forward.

☆ Elon Musk faces upward of $130 million in legal costs to fight laid-off Twitter workers over severance pay
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk last month offered thousands of laid-off Twitter workers a limited severance deal. In addition, laid-off Twitter employees also filed a handful of class-action lawsuits in federal court. Instead, Musk is offering laid-off workers one month of base pay as severance. It also effectively prohibits them from ever speaking about Musk, Twitter, or their experience at the company. Even those relatively few Twitter workers who signed off on Musk's severance agreement could speak freely about the company going forward.

☆ 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."

☆ Starbuck's interim CEO Howard Schultz said he doesn't believe unions have a place at the coffee giant as unionization efforts spread
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Starbucks' interim CEO Howard Schultz said unions have no place at the company in a CNN interview. He said that unionization efforts reflect a "much bigger problem" beyond individual companies. Schultz, who stepped in as interim CEO of Starbucks in April 2022, told Harlow: "I don't think a union has a place in Starbucks." Schultz argued that Starbucks worker unionization efforts in America are reflective of a much bigger macro problem beyond the company itself. Unionization efforts from Starbucks workers began in Buffalo, New York in 2021 as workers grew tired of stores being consistently understaffed, poor working conditions during the pandemic, as well a demand for higher wages.

☆ 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.

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.

☆ 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 Workers Say Dozens Were Fired in Retaliation for Union Drive
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( David Harrison | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Tesla Inc.’s plant in Buffalo, N.Y., where workers in a union drive earlier this week were fired, some of the workers said. Tesla Inc. workers at a Buffalo, N.Y. factory said the company terminated more than 30 employees this week after they announced their intention to form what would be the company’s first U.S. union. In a filing to the National Labor Relations Board, Tesla workers said the firings in the plant’s Autopilot department were in retaliation for the union organizing drive. More than two dozen employees sent a letter to the electric-care maker’s management Tuesday stating their intention to form a union and calling on the company to affirm that workers wouldn’t face negative repercussions.

☆ 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 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.

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