Skip to main content

What I’ve Been Reading This Week: Labor Law Edition


The other week, I remarked that it has seemed to be the year of labor unions, due in no small part to the successful unionization efforts at several Starbucks around the country.  While we close out the first quarter of 2022, I think it is appropriate to give a nod to several labor law developments around the country.  Even for those readers that are not as intrigued by labor law, union elections, the National Labor Relations Board, etc., I would still encourage you to give the below articles a read.

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


Aw Nuts! Workers Soundly Vote Against Unionization of Hershey Plant

On March 24th, it was announced that workers at a Hershey plant in Stuart Park, Virginia had overwhelming voted against unionizing.  Of the approximate 1,400 eligible workers that could vote in the election, nearly 80% voted against forming a union.  To call this a strong “No” is an understatement.  While labor advocates had hoped this election would result in this Stuart Park plant becoming the third Hershey plant in the U.S. to unionize, those hopes are (indefinitely) on hold.


Second Mesa, Arizona Starbucks Votes to Unionize

Recently, workers at a second Mesa, Arizona Starbucks voted 11 - 3 in favor of unionizing.  With this unionization, this Mesa location becomes the eighth corporate owned location to unionize in recent months.  As readers might recall, Starbucks has only been able to defeat one unionization effort.  At this time, the successful vs. unsuccessful unionization efforts stand at 8 - 1.  Something tells me this will not be the last Starbucks location to unionize.  Stay tuned.


Google Fiber Contractors Become First Workers Under Alphabet Workers Union With Bargaining Rights

About a week ago, it was announced that with a 9 - 1 vote in favor of unionization, ten Google Fiber contractors in Kansas City, Missouri have become the first Google workers under the Alphabet Workers Union banner to have bargaining rights.  The Alphabet Workers Union, formed about a year ago, aims to provide Google workers with more rights, benefits, and pay from the company.  This development is noteworthy, not just for the fact that the Alphabet Workers Union is starting to gain some notoriety, but also given that unionization efforts at tech companies appears to be the next frontier for labor union fights.


A Closer Look at the Grassroots Unionization Push at a State Island Amazon Warehouse

Josefa Velasquez at The City recently wrote an interesting article about the grassroots unionization push that is ongoing at a Staten Island Amazon warehouse.  In the article, Josefa notes two individuals, Christian Smalls and Derrick Palmer, who are literally pounding the pavement and trying to get face time with the workers at the Staten Island warehouse leading into the election.  (Readers might recall Smalls used to work at the warehouse but was fired for violating Covid protocol.  His lawsuit against Amazon was recently thrown out back in February.)  The thought is that with Smalls and Palmer taking several unique steps to talk to workers and get the message out, including taking to Twitter, creating a TikTok account that documents the working conditions in the warehouse, and talking with the warehouse workers at bus stops that bring in and drop off the warehouse workers, this grassroots movement might help sway workers to vote to unionize.  While I am not sure it will achieve the desired result of unionization, it is bringing a lot of eyeballs to the election.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum, it was noted that emplo
Post a Comment
Read more

Happening Tomorrow: Connecticut’s Minimum Wage Increases

For those employers and employees alike in Connecticut, mark your calendars as tomorrow, the minimum wage rate increases in the state from $13/hour to $14/hour. This wage hike comes after Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont had signed Public Act 19-4 into law in 2019 which progressively raised the state’s hourly minimum wage rate every year for five years.  In fact, next year, the hourly wage rate will top out at $15/hour.  Beginning in January of 2024, the hourly wage rate will be indexed to the employment cost index. For additional information:   https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2022/06-2022/Governor-Lamont-Reminds-Residents-That-Minimum-Wage-Is-Scheduled-To-Increase-on-Friday
Post a Comment
Read more

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

A few years ago, I remember when the “Fight for $15” movement was taking off around the country.  Lo and behold, it appears that a $15/hour minimum wage is not the stopping point, which should be no surprise.  As the below article notes, New York is aggressively moving to ramp up hourly wage rates even higher.  While all the  below articles are worth a read, I called particular attention to that one. As always, below are a couple article that caught my eye this week. Disney World Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer Late last week, it was announced that workers at Disney World had rejected the most recent contract offer from the company, calling on their employer to do better.  As Brooks Barnes at The New York Times writes, the unions that represent about 32,000 workers at Disney World reported their members resoundingly rejected the 5 year contract offer which would have seen workers receive a 10% raise and retroactive increased back pay.  While Disney’s offer would have increased pa
Post a Comment
Read more