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What I’ve Been Reading This Week


In subsequent weeks, I will take some time to highlight dueling right to work ballot measures in Tennessee and Illinois this coming November.  For the time being, I want to whet the appetite of readers with a note about the ongoing effort to pass a right to work law in New Hampshire.  Spoiler alert:  many, many attempts have failed…but right to work proponents in the state appear to slowly be inching toward getting a legislative victory.  Maybe…

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



In recent weeks, a Starbucks location in Houston voted to unionize.  Subsequently, Starbucks terminated a worker that had been paramount in leading that unionization effort.  Following that termination, workers at the Houston area Starbucks location went on strike, arguing the employee was unlawfully terminated as a result of his efforts to unionize the store.  As The Houston Chronicle reported, Starbucks has pushed back on that claim and stated the employee’s termination came about because of violations of the company’s attendance and punctuality policies.  Will this quell feelings among these workers (and others) that the termination was instead as a result of the employee’s unionization efforts?  In a word:  No.



Liz Young over at The Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article in which she noted that employers are proactively taking steps to make working in warehouses more desirable as companies fight over a tight labor pool.  The article notes that employers such as REI and McKesson have revamped their warehouses to include more natural light, fitness centers, and outdoor work areas in an effort to attract and retain workers.  This is quite a change from the dreary, rote compositions of many warehouses, to say the least.



Despite there appearing to be an appetite in New Hampshire to approve a statewide right to work law, with at least 30 attempts being made to pass legislation in the New Hampshire General Court (the state’s House and Senate), no successful bill has been approved.  As this article points out, recent attempts to pass a right to work law in 2017 and 2021 fell 32 votes and 24 votes, respectively.  This is noteworthy given Republicans have control of both the House and Senate.  However, slowly but surely, Republicans that have voted against the right to work legislation have either chosen not to run again or were voted out in primaries.  (In fact, of the 21 Republicans who voted against the right to work bill in 2021, less than half will return next year.)  This has led to accusations that outside money has come into the state to influence the elections and get Republicans elected that will approve a right to work bill.  Will New Hampshire become the next right to work state?  It is too soon to tell but it certainly appears it is trending in that direction.

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