Portside

The pay and treatment at GEICO can be uneven. Department heads are given a pot of money to distribute raises to the workers they supervise, and women and people of color tend to get left behind.

There is growing interest in and a successful push for unionization in both chain and independent restaurants. Workers are being exposed not just to unions but to organizing. 

In an 11-3 vote, workers at the Starbucks on South Shepherd near West Alabama in Houston voted to form a union on Thursday.

The 1199SEIU president talked about how the old guard can learn from people like Amazon Labor Union President Chris Smalls.

The uptick in union organizing at brands like Amazon and Starbucks has rightly drawn attention from mainstream media. But worker organizing is underway at companies you’ve never heard of, too — and drawing little attention from outlets like the New York Times.

Workers at the beloved D.C. bookstore formed the union in January; the city’s first unionized bookstore. The bargaining agreement took less than a year, which came as a surprise to many given that most unions don’t sign a contract that quickly.

Starbucks is doing everything it can to stifle, delay, and repress the new union Starbucks Workers United — despite an order by a federal judge to cease and desist its myriad and repeated violations of labor law.

Efforts to unionize the insurance giant’s suburban operation is met with pushback from management.