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☆ Amazon workers in Albany, New York, vote against unionization
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Employees at an Amazon warehouse near Albany overwhelmingly rejected a unionization effort on Tuesday, delivering a blow to an upstart labor union seeking to organize workers at the retail giant. Officials said 949 workers at the ALB1 warehouse were eligible to vote on whether they should become part of the Amazon Labor Union. ALU’s victory at JFK8 was a watershed moment for the labor movement, establishing the first unionized Amazon warehouse in the U.S. Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Southern California last week filed a union petition with the hopes of joining the ALU. Amazon workers at facilities in California, Illinois and Georgia recently held walkouts, in time for Amazon’s fall Prime Day discount event, to urge the company to respond to employee concerns around working conditions.

☆ Amazon Workers in Upstate New York Await Results on Union Vote
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Sebastian Herrera | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Amazon.com workers in upstate New York could become the next group of company employees to unionize, with results from a union election at an Amazon facility near Albany expected Tuesday. The National Labor Relations Board is set to count ballots that will determine whether workers have chosen to join the Amazon Labor Union, which earlier this year won a landmark union vote at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, N.Y. The vote is a big test for organizers who have been eager to maintain momentum following the success in Staten Island.

☆ Amazon Workers Vote Against Unionizing in Upstate New York
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Sebastian Herrera | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Amazon workers and supporters at an Amazon Labor Union rally in Castleton-on-Hudson, N.Y., earlier this month. Amazon.com workers in upstate New York voted against unionizing, a setback for labor activists trying to expand their unionization push at the tech giant. The National Labor Relations Board said about 66% of employees who cast valid ballots at a company facility near Albany rejected the Amazon Labor Union, which earlier this year won a landmark union vote at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, N.Y.

☆ Amazon Workers Reject Union in Vote at Upstate New York Warehouse
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Sebastian Herrera | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Amazon.com workers in upstate New York voted against unionizing, a setback for labor activists trying to expand their unionization push at the tech company. The National Labor Relations Board said about 66% of employees who cast valid ballots at a company facility near Albany rejected the Amazon Labor Union, which earlier this year won a landmark union vote at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, N.Y.

☆ Amazon workers vote against forming union in upstate New York
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Amazon workers in upstate New York have voted against forming a union, dealing another blow to a grassroots labor group attempting to organize several of the tech giant’s US warehouses. Workers at the facility, called ALB1, were seeking to organize with the Amazon Labor Union, the same grassroots worker group that successfully formed the first-ever union at a US Amazon facility in Staten Island, New York, earlier this year. The Albany vote was the ALU’s third attempt to unionize an Amazon warehouse, after it fell short of securing a union win at a smaller Amazon facility also located in Staten Island. It also comes as Amazon has still not formally recognized the union in Staten Island or come to the bargaining table. But ahead of the Albany vote last week, Smalls appeared to play down the ramifications of the outcome, suggesting the organizing activity itself is a victory.

☆ A group of unionized Starbucks workers who were accused of assaulting and kidnapping a store manager are suing the company
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A store manager reported staff to police after they asked for a pay raise, the lawsuit says. A video posted on TikTok by Starbucks Workers United, purporting to show the incident, shows the store manager pushing past an employee. As well as being suspended, the workers were also banned from all Starbucks stores in the US. Despite the police's statement, neither Starbucks nor the store manager have retracted their statement, according to the lawsuit. More than 235 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize, according to Starbucks Workers United, following the first company-owned US store in Buffalo, New York in December.

☆ Amazon workers in Albany vote against unionization, labor leader calls it 'sham election'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Employees at an Amazon warehouse near Albany overwhelmingly rejected a unionization effort on Tuesday, delivering a blow to an upstart labor union seeking to organize workers at the retail giant. Officials said 949 workers at the ALB1 warehouse were eligible to vote on whether they should become part of the Amazon Labor Union. ALU's victory at JFK8 was a watershed moment for the labor movement, establishing the first unionized Amazon warehouse in the U.S. Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Southern California last week filed a union petition with the hopes of joining the ALU. Amazon workers at facilities in California, Illinois and Georgia recently held walkouts, in time for Amazon's fall Prime Day discount event, to urge the company to respond to employee concerns around working conditions.

☆ Apple workers vote to unionize second U.S. store
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Doyinsola Oladipo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Apple Inc retail workers voted to form a union at an Oklahoma location, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said on Friday, making it the tech giant's second U.S. store to organize. Employees at the Apple Penn Square store in Oklahoma City voted 56 to 32 in support of joining the Communications Workers of America Union (CWA), securing the needed majority, according to a tally by the NLRB. Apple workers near Baltimore, Maryland, voted in June to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The CWA in May withdrew an election petition on behalf of Apple workers in Atlanta, Georgia, claiming that Apple had repeatedly violated federal labor law and the rising number of COVID infections among store employees made a fair election impossible, according to the CWA. Some current and former Apple workers last year began criticizing the company's working conditions online, using the hashtag #AppleToo.

☆ Inside the cold war between Amazon and unions, which are wielding drones and secret agents to expose the company's labor practices
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Unions infiltrated Amazon construction sites in Oregon and Washington seeking regulatory violations. On a frosty morning in February 2021, Tom Tanner walked into an under-construction Amazon warehouse in eastern Washington seeking work. Campaigns to organize Amazon warehouse workers have grabbed national headlines. Amazon workers at the LDJ5 Amazon Sort Center join a rally in support of the union on April 24 in Staten Island, New York. Wendell Jeffson in a boom lift at the Amazon warehouse in Shelby, Michigan, when he was 17.

☆ Apple workers in Oklahoma vote for company's second U.S. union store
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A shopper looks at a wall fully occupied with iPhone case covers at the American multinational technology company Apple store in Hong Kong. Employees at an Apple store in Oklahoma City voted on Friday to join a union, marking the second unionized Apple store in the U.S. The vote is a defeat for Apple, which has opposed unionization efforts around the country. It's a win for Communications Workers of America, which now represents the workers at an Apple store after separate unionization efforts at stores in Georgia and New York City stalled. Apple's first unionized U.S. store, represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Maryland, is preparing to begin formal negotiations with Apple.

☆ Apple store workers in Oklahoma to vote on labor union
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Apple workers in Oklahoma City are set to vote this week on whether to form the second-ever labor union at one of the tech giant’s US stores. The Apple store workers in Oklahoma are seeking to gain representation with the Communication Workers of America union. Just under 100 employees at the Apple store in the Penn Square Mall are eligible to vote in this union election. Earlier this year, Apple store workers at a mall in Towson, Maryland, made history when they voted to become the first unionized Apple store in the United States. Patrick Hart, another worker at the Oklahoma City Apple store, echoed that sentiment.

☆ Amazon Labor Union faces next showdown in upstate New York
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The next month, that same group, the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), fell short at a smaller facility across the street. On Wednesday, workers at an Amazon facility near Albany, New York, will begin voting on whether to join the ALU and become the second unionized Amazon warehouse in the United States. It also comes as Amazon has still not formally recognized the union in Staten Island or come to the bargaining table. Chris Smalls, a leader of the Amazon Labor Union, leads a march of Starbucks and Amazon workers and their allies to the homes of their CEOs to protest union busting on Labor Day, September 5, 2022, in New York City, New York. “I think they have an uphill battle ahead,” Kochan said of the union vote at the ALB1 facility.

☆ U.S. government back and forth on 'gig' workers, contractors
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A DOL proposal in September 2020 made it easier for companies to classify workers as independent contractors if they operated an independent business and had opportunities for profit or loss. BIDEN ADMINISTRATIONThe administration of Democrat Joe Biden blocked the Trump rule in May 2021. A U.S. district judge in Texas in March 2022 blocked the Biden administration withdrawal and ordered the Trump rule to take effect. In June 2022, the DOL said it would develop a proposed rule on determining employee or independent contractor status. It held forums in June to hear from workers and companies.

☆ Being in a union means you could make $1.3 million more over your lifetime
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The authors found that being in a union means a $1.3 million bump to lifetime earnings. "We find that a person who spent the entirety of their career in a labor union were predicted to earn about a million dollars more over the course of their career compared to somebody who was never in a labor union," VanHeuvelen told Insider. The result was the $1.3 million premium for workers who spent their whole careers in unions, even though those workers were more likely to retire earlier. Workers who are never in a union were projected to earn around $2.1 million their whole careers, while those who were in unions for their whole careers were estimated to make $3.4 million. The number of union representation petitions filed in fiscal year 2022 increased by 53%, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

☆ Amazon workers at Southern California warehouse file for union election in potential first for the state
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Workers stand in line to cast ballots for a union election at Amazon's JFK8 distribution center, in the Staten Island borough of New York City, U.S. March 25, 2022. Amazon workers at a warehouse in Southern California have filed a petition to form a union with the National Labor Relations Board. Employees at the warehouse, located in Moreno Valley, California, are seeking to be represented by the Amazon Labor Union, a grassroots group of current and former Amazon workers that successfully unionized a Staten Island warehouse, referred to as JFK8, earlier this year. The move adds to a recent upswing of labor organizing among Amazon workers. Workers at a major Amazon air hub in nearby San Bernardino recently held walkouts to demand pay increases and highlight safety concerns.

☆ Waymo workers form union in the latest push to organize Silicon Valley
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Food service employees at the autonomous driving company Waymo are forming a union, the latest push by support workers to organize at Silicon Valley's most prominent companies. The workers are employed by Sodexo, which contracts service work for Google and other companies. "We are confident this one will also reach an amicable agreement for workers, the union, and our client very soon." The workers are part of Silicon Valley's ranks of contractors who support and supplement the work at tech companies. Her team unionized in 2020, and some of them have been joining meetings with the Waymo workers to show them the ropes of organizing and talk up the union.

☆ North Hollywood strippers set to vote on joining a union
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-09 | by ( Natasha Chen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Los Angeles CNN —Strippers at the Star Garden topless dive bar in North Hollywood will soon receive ballots to hold an election for collective bargaining, which may result in the first stripper union in the US in more than a decade. On Nov. 7, the NLRB will count the votes from Star Garden dancers, entertainers and DJs, determining if they will join the Actors Equity Association, a union of performers and other show business professionals. The facts are clear: The workers at Star Garden are entitled to a union election,” said Andrea Hoeschen, assistant executive director and general counsel for Actors’ Equity Association. “Most of the purportedly eligible voters have never been employees of Star Garden; they were in fact, and in law, merely lessees with no employment relationship,” Gaylord and Linker wrote. Since then, the dancers have been picketing most weekends outside the Star Garden, dressed in themed costumes, urging patrons to go to different clubs.

☆ Amazon suspends 50 workers who refused to work after warehouse fire
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Amazon suspended dozens of workers at its only unionized warehouse on Tuesday, one day after they organized a work stoppage following a fire at the facility. About 50 workers at the facility in Staten Island, New York were suspended with pay, according to Connor Spence, one of the suspended workers. Spence is a picker at the warehouse, known as JFK8, and the secretary treasurer for the Amazon Labor Union, the grassroots workers group behind the successful union push. The incident in Staten Island also comes about a week ahead of a separate union election – also organized by the Amazon Labor Union – at an Amazon facility near Albany, New York. According to Spence, the roughly 50 workers at JFK8 have been suspended with pay until Amazon conducts an investigation into what happened.

☆ Tensions rise in West Coast port labor battles, with unions and management trading accusations
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Tensions are rising in West Coast port labor battles as unions and port management trade accusations about worker productivity and the awarding of job assignments. Jerome Roberts, GVP of marketing at supply chain consulting company Blume Global, told CNBC the one shift protest had no lasting productivity impact. Logistics companies fear the latest round of accusations will only increase tensions for a supply chain and national port infrastructure already dealing with multiple labor concerns. Project44, which also collects and analyzes port productivity for the CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map, has tracked some recent issues at Seattle operations. Container dwell times at the Port of Oakland have been improving over the month of September, according to Josh Brazil, vice president of supply chain insights at Project44.

☆ Why does work feel so dysfunctional right now? A psychologist, labor expert and CEO weigh in
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Jennifer Liu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"I'm not sure that work is any more dysfunctional now for many workers than it's been in the past," she tells CNBC Make It. Work has always been dysfunctional, our tolerance for it just got lowerWorkers are still quitting in droves during the Great Resignation. The discord we're seeing, then, is vocal pushback from employees — emboldened by a tight market and, yes, social media fervor — not wanting to return to traditional models of work, Klotz says. "Everyone is making money off of their work, and they're not getting return on the investment of their labor. To call that out and say, you know what, I don't necessarily need to go above and beyond if that effort isn't going to be valued — that's not quiet quitting.

☆ Workers at Home Depot in Philadelphia file for union vote
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN Business —Workers at an Home Depot store in Philadelphia have filed to have a vote to be represented by a union. in Philadelphia, has about 275 employees, according to the filing by an independent union, Home Depot Workers United, which is seeking the vote. Home Depot issued a statement saying it will work with the union vote process, but that it doesn’t support the union’s organizing efforts. Only 4.4% of retail workers are members of a union, according to Labor Department data, compared to 6.1% of private sector workers overall, and 10.3% of all US workers. There are more than five times as many private sector workers than there are workers in the public sector.

☆ Almost 300 Home Depot workers vote to unionize in Philadelphia
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Áine Cain | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Home Depot employees based in Philadelphia have filed a petition to unionize. The union is listed as "Home Depot Workers United." A National Labor Relations Board filing stated that the 274 workers are all based around Philadelphia. —Daily Union Elections (@UnionElections) September 20, 2022The union is listed as "Home Depot Workers United." According to the Teamsters, those workers were "the first Home Depot employees to join the union."

☆ Port Labor Talks Stall as Worker Disruptions Grow
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

West Coast port labor talks are stalled as dockworker disputes hit the region’s big trade gateways, according to shipping industry officials who fear the negotiations could take months to resolve. “What you are starting to hear is people are losing faith,” said one shipping industry official. In August 40,000 containers were diverted from the Port of Los Angeles to the neighboring Port of Long Beach because of one labor dispute. The concerns over the progress of the talks comes as labor disputes around the U.S. are growing. Shipping industry officials say they also want the government to get more involved in the port labor talks.

☆ Workers are getting bolder. The number of strikes tripled from last year as Americans see their wages shrink and bosses profit.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-17 | by ( Jason Lalljee | Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

More workers have gone on strike in the first half of 2022 than in all of 2021. In short, more workers have gone on strike in 2022 than in 2021 — and that's still with six months of data left to track. Post-vaccine 2021 into 2022 has marked an uptick in organizing and increasing pushback from workers on the previous status quo. They reached an agreement with railroad companies, avoiding the immediate possibility of strikes that could have crippled the US economy. Workers at companies like Starbucks, Trader Joe's, and Amazon are seeing historic union wins.

☆ Starbucks’s high-octane plan has warm impact
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-14 | by ( Amanda Gomez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Sept 14 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Starbucks (SBUX.O) is brewing up a high-octane solution for a low-impact problem. The $101 billion coffee chain spent a chunk of its investor day on Tuesday discussing ways to help its restless U.S. workforce. A judge in Tennessee last month ordered the company to rehire employees who supported unionizing – an order Starbucks plans to appeal, Reuters reported. The National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency tasked with protecting employees’ rights, is fielding complaints against the coffee chain. CONTEXT NEWSStarbucks held its investor day on Sept. 13.

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