Petitions to organize have come faster than even those involved first believed possible, according to Richard Bensinger, union organizer with Starbucks Workers United and a former organizing director of the AFL-CIO.
Workers started the unfair labor practice strike over claims of bad faith bargaining by Warrior Met Coal over a new union contract. The strike has cost the company an estimated $6.9 million.
Since the initial victory in Buffalo, workers at several other Starbucks stores throughout the country have filed for union elections, including in Boston, Chicago, Seattle and Knoxville, Tenn.
Starbucks corporate fought the Buffalo organizing effort. Massachusetts workers are preparing for a similar campaign by Starbucks.
The milestone comes some six months after a failed high-profile union bid by Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, who sought to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
The Covid-19 pandemic undercut feelings of job security at cultural institutions. Now there’s an uptick in efforts to organize.
Tucked amid the investments in child care, higher education and clean energy are below-the-radar provisions that would make it easier for workers to organize.
Some say the NLRB’s forthcoming rulings could even serve as a backdoor for enacting provisions included in Democrats’ Protecting the Right to Organize Act.
While locked in a contentious battle over tech staffers unionizing, Times management’s counsel mistakenly sent its game plan to the union.
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