Amazon, Starbucks worker unions are in limbo, even as UAW and others triumph

[Hector]

It was a triumphant year for workers. Part-time UPS drivers got 55%
raises. Airline pilots 40%. And auto workers landed a 25% increase in pay
plus additional cost of living adjustments. The wins were widespread, from
Hollywood actors to nurses.

Most of those gains were secured by established unions with sizable
coffers. A different story played out at many newly-minted unions,
including those at the center of much hoopla just a year earlier.

Fledgling unions have struggled to negotiate contracts or even get to the
bargaining table. Here's a brief snapshot of where things stand at two
such unions, the Amazon Labor Union and Starbucks Workers United.

Amazon Labor Union: "They just pretend that we don't exist"
The Amazon Labor Union's stunning union election victory at a massive
warehouse on Staten Island in the spring of 2022 led to predictions of a
labor renaissance.

It was a triumphant year for workers. Part-time UPS drivers got 55%
raises. Airline pilots 40%. And auto workers landed a 25% increase in pay
plus additional cost of living adjustments. The wins were widespread, from
Hollywood actors to nurses.

Most of those gains were secured by established unions with sizable
coffers. A different story played out at many newly-minted unions,
including those at the center of much hoopla just a year earlier.

Fledgling unions have struggled to negotiate contracts or even get to the
bargaining table. Here's a brief snapshot of where things stand at two
such unions, the Amazon Labor Union and Starbucks Workers United.

Amazon Labor Union: "They just pretend that we don't exist"
The Amazon Labor Union's stunning union election victory at a massive
warehouse on Staten Island in the spring of 2022 led to predictions of a
labor renaissance.

It was a triumphant year for workers. Part-time UPS drivers got 55%
raises. Airline pilots 40%. And auto workers landed a 25% increase in pay
plus additional cost of living adjustments. The wins were widespread, from
Hollywood actors to nurses.

Most of those gains were secured by established unions with sizable
coffers. A different story played out at many newly-minted unions,
including those at the center of much hoopla just a year earlier.

Fledgling unions have struggled to negotiate contracts or even get to the
bargaining table. Here's a brief snapshot of where things stand at two
such unions, the Amazon Labor Union and Starbucks Workers United.

Amazon Labor Union: "They just pretend that we don't exist"
The Amazon Labor Union's stunning union election victory at a massive
warehouse on Staten Island in the spring of 2022 led to predictions of a
labor renaissance.

But that's not how things have turned out for Amazon workers. Far from it.

Twenty-one months later, not only has the Amazon Labor Union fallen short
on unionizing other warehouses, its efforts to get to a first contract at
the one warehouse it did unionize have stalled.

"From Amazon's perspective, they just pretend that we don't exist," says
Connor Spence, an organizer with the Amazon Labor Union who worked as a
packer at that Staten Island warehouse.

Amazon counters that it's not what the "majority" wants
In a statement, Amazon said it strongly disagrees with the outcome of the
March 2022 election, citing improper influence on the part of both the
Amazon Labor Union and the federal labor board that oversaw the election.

"We don't believe it represents what the majority of our team wants,"
wrote Amazon spokeswoman Eileen Hards.

As Amazon awaits a response to its latest challenge to that election, the
company has refused to sit down for collective bargaining with the Amazon
Labor Union.

Moreover, shortly after the election, the company announced a policy
that's made a second union election victory even less likely: Employees
who are off duty are not permitted inside buildings or in working areas
outside.

This fall, Spence was terminated over multiple violations of that policy.
He'd spent a lot of his off-duty time in the break room organizing a
walkout.

Amazon maintains that the policy is about employee safety and security.

"This has nothing to do with whether Mr. Spence supports a particular
cause or group, but rather his blatant disregard for our policies," wrote
spokesperson Hards.

Federal labor officials say Amazon's policy violates workers' rights
Spence, who's seeking reinstatement, contends that Amazon's policy is a
violation of workers' right to organize under the National Labor Relations
Act.

This position is backed by federal labor officials who have filed a
complaint over it.

It's not the first time such a policy has been challenged. Under a
nationwide settlement in December 2021, Amazon agreed to rescind an
earlier, similar policy, which prohibited employees from being on site
more than 15 minutes before or after a shift.

Spence doubts the Staten Island union victory would have happened had that
policy been in effect in the months leading up to the election. Now, under
the new, stricter policy, he says organizing is extremely difficult.

"It can take a lot of time. It can take a lot of resources," he says. "And
when the company has just such an unfair advantage, and the playing field
is as un-level as it is, it makes victory unlikely."

The issue is expected to get a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge
next year.

At Starbucks, 380 stores are unionized. Not one has a contract
More than two years have passed since the first Starbucks stores voted to
unionize in Buffalo, N.Y.

Close to 380 Starbucks stores have since followed.

But not one has a contract. Starbucks and Workers United, the union
representing the vast majority of unionized Starbucks stores, have each
accused the other of not bargaining in good faith.

LMAO! Starbucks embraced woke and it will eventually destroy the company.

They make a shitty over-priced product anyway.

https://www.npr.org/2023/12/26/1219882722/union-amazon-starbucks-contract-
worker-rights-uaw-nlrb?ft=nprml&f=1002