Portside

As Starbucks Workers United expands from shop to shop, workers face an onslaught of union-busting tactics. But union fever is spreading rapidly as workers at over 400 locations have filed petitions for union elections, with more planning to do so. 

Baristas nationwide are remarkably organized. Is the company’s C.E.O., Howard Schultz, using firings, store closures, and legal delays to thwart them?

Over the course of the pandemic, the vast majority of essential workers were women. The vast majority of those who lost their jobs in the pandemic were women. And now the vast majority of those organizing their workplaces are women.

After months of upheaval, Instacart employees voted to form the Silicon Valley app's first union in the United States.

Stop & Shop workers scored an important win over the New England grocery chain—and the 2020 Democratic field has taken notice.

As their membership and resources have continued to dwindle, unions are trying to figure out how best to respond to the current moment. With a Trump inauguration fast approaching and the Republicans taking control of the Supreme Court, the United States Congress, a majority of governorships, and over two-thirds of state legislatures, this choice has become even more urgent than it already was.

Leaders of the Jewish Labor Committee compare Trump's victory to the rise of the Third Reich in German. Stuart Appelbaum, executive vice president of the United food and Commercial, noted that “back in the 1930s, our founders saw the importance of building alliances and coalitions that could stand together for their values, and stand up against anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry.”

A new report links the drop in union membership with the rise in income inequality. But labor activists are finding new ways to help workers.

Raising the floor for our lowest-paid workers is an absolute necessity, and continued victories in this area should be a priority for workers everywhere. However, these victories are not enough by themselves. For community-labor coalitions to reach their full potential, they must go beyond the political agenda that Richard Trumka outlined prior to the AFL-CIO’s convention. They must also be able to defend the gains that unionized workers have already won.