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What I’ve Been Reading This Week


One of the more intriguing developments this week deals with Starbucks and their decision to reverse course on their vaccine mandate for employees.  While the second article on union membership (or lack there of) is worth noting, I think the article on Starbucks and their vaccine policy is worth leading things off for now.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.



Earlier this year, Starbucks had announced plans to require its workforce to get the coronavirus vaccine or risk termination.  After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down this mandate for large scale employers (such as Starbucks), Starbucks announced it would not move forward with requiring its workforce get vaccinated.  I would call this a noteworthy update as to my knowledge, Starbucks is the first company to rescind the vaccine mandate following the Supreme Court’s ruling.  The question then arises, will other company’s follow?



Union membership dropped last year to approximately 14 million workers, or about 10.3% of all workers. Following a brief uptick in union membership in 2020 (which many attributed to a steep drop off in non union workers at the beginning of the coronavirus), last year’s drop off continues the nearly 4 decade decrease in union membership.  Perhaps the one bright spot for labor advocates is the recent unionization of the two Starbucks locations in Buffalo (and perhaps other Starbucks in the coming months), given that Starbucks had successfully been able to beat back unionization efforts in the past.

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