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What I’ve Been Reading This Week


While we await results on the second election at the Amazon warehouse in Alabama, I want to highlight an article relevant to that topic (as well as a few other articles on other matters.)  To call 2022 the year of unions, so far, is a fair statement.  On that note, the first article about Starbucks and its efforts to curb the ongoing unionization is worth leading things off this week.

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


Howard Schultz Returning to Starbucks Amid Unionization Surge

Recently, it was announced that Howard Schultz would return to Starbucks as interim CEO as the company following the retirement of its current CEO.  Of course, amidst the shuffle in its corporate structure, the company is trying to find a way to stymie the ongoing unionization efforts sweeping across its stores around the country.  In his nearly 30 year tenure with Starbucks, Schultz had a track record of preventing unionization of its company owned stores.  (As readers might recall, unionization efforts are surging at the company owned locations with nearly 130 stores taking steps to unionize over the past few months.)  Will Schultz find a way to curb the unionization efforts?  It is hard to say, but with the company already behind the 8 ball in its fight, it might not be a bad idea to bring back Schultz given his prior success in beating back unionization efforts.


Ahead of Two Union Elections at Amazon, the Company Goes on Offense

Readers will likely recall that there are a couple union elections that are underway/have been approved at two Amazon locations.  The first, in Bessemer, Alabama is underway with results expected to be announced shortly.  The second is a Staten Island location in which voting started today and ends next week.  While Amazon has been able to defeat prior unionization efforts before, that does not mean they are sitting back and taking a “victory” for granted.  As Noam Scheiber at The New York Times writes, Amazon has been making its case directly to its workers why unionization is not the best choice.  At the two locations where elections are underway, the company has held meetings with its employees suggesting that a successful unionization would not change things for the better.  Will these meetings achieve the desired result (for Amazon)?  Time will tell…but we should know shortly.


Pennsylvania Moves to Raise Tip Threshold For Tipped Workers

This past Monday, the Independent Regulatory Review Commission approved raising the tip threshold for tipped workers in the state.  Currently, tipped workers can be paid as little as $2.83/hour if they receive at least $30 in tips in a month.  However, under the revision approved on Monday, tipped workers can be paid as little as $2.83/hour if they receive at least $135 in tips in a month.  To call this a significant change is an understatement.  Before this new regulation can take effect, it must first be submitted to the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.  After approved by the Office of Attorney General, the regulation will be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin after which it will go into effect in 90 days.

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