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☆ 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."

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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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 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.

☆ 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 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ Tesla workers trying to form union at Buffalo facility
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Tesla workers in New York said on Tuesday they will launch a campaign to form a union, setting stage for the latest labor challenge for Chief Executive Elon Musk. In a letter to Tesla management, the employees announced their plan to unionize with the Workers United Upstate New York. If formed, the union would be the first for Tesla, which unlike some other US-based automakers has managed to avoid unionization at its US facilities. "We believe unionizing will give us a voice in our workplace that we feel has been ignored to this point," the workers said in a press release on Tuesday. "We are only asking for a seat in the car that we helped build."

☆ Tesla workers launch union campaign in New York
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 14 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) workers in New York said on Tuesday they will launch a campaign to form a union, setting stage for the latest labor challenge for Chief Executive Elon Musk. In a letter to Tesla management, the employees announced their plan to unionize with the Workers United Upstate New York. The union, if formed, would be the first for Tesla, which up until now has managed to avoid unionization at its U.S. facilities unlike some other major automakers. Employees said the right to organize a union is a fundamental civil right and the principles would prevent Tesla from threatening or retaliating against workers for organizing a union. Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Tesla employees launch New York union campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Tesla employees in New York have launched a campaign to organize a union with Workers United Upstate New York, according to a release posted to Twitter Tuesday. The union, Tesla Workers United, would be the first for Tesla if it is formed. "We want Tesla to be the company we know it can be," the workers wrote in the release. In 2018, Musk shared a tweet that said employees would lose stock options if they formed a union. The next step for organizers is to collect signatures from employees saying they want a union.

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.

☆ Google contractors who rate how effective its search is will visit its headquarters this week to protest 'poverty wages'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Google "raters" who test and evaluate search quality say they aren't fairly compensated. This means the raters are not technically Google employees, even though they are tasked with improving its services. In this latest action, workers in the Alphabet Workers Union have organized a visit to Google's headquarters to deliver a petition addressed to Prabhakar Raghavan, the senior vice president at Google overseeing search. Now many tech workers have considered joining unions as mass layoffs have swept the industry in recent months. In 2021, tech workers at The New York Times formed a union.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

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