A Grab-Bag Of Organizing Developments

by | Oct 27, 2022 | Industry, Politics, SEIU, Strikes, UAW, UFCW, Union Organizing, Unions

Unions now seemingly leave no possible organizing stone unturned. From retail to food-service, higher education to manufacturing, the art world, and even Capitol Hill, no industry remains immune to union infiltration. We do also note some prominent instances where workers voted down unions, but there’s a lot going on here:

  • Grocery store workers at two New Seasons stores in Portland, Oregon filed for union elections. This news arrives while workers at two other Oregon New Seasons stores began voting in their elections this month. All told, the stores could eventually employ over 500 union workers.
  • Medical cannabis workers for Good Day Farm in St. Louis also filed for an election following an organizing drive by United Food and Commercial Workers, which continues to aggressively target the cannabis industry.
  • Podcast engineers (along with producers and editors) at Pineapple Street Studios voted to join the Writers Guild of America, East, which has already unionized multiple brands under the Spotify umbrella.
  • Graduate students at Boston university are joining the organizing trend seen at universities across the U.S. Thus far, at least 40 graduate student unions have emerged, many falling under UAW locals, but the Boston University Graduate Workers Union aims to join the SEIU.
  • Adjunct professors and librarians at Skidmore College in New York already voted to join the SEIU. They’re asking for similar benefits to those enjoyed by tenure track professors while maintaining that they carry similar workloads.
  • Condominium workers (including desk attendants, maintenance workers, and caretakers) in Minnesota will soon strike over their employer’s decision to not recognize their union effort.
  • Brooklyn Museum Workers (represented by the UAW and frustrated by slow-moving contract negotiations, ongoing since January) held a rally during an opening for two new prominent galleries.
  • Security guards for USENTRA (based in Warwick, Rhode Island) began to organize (and held multiple rallies near hospitals) in an effort to join the SEIU.
  • Congressional staffers voted to form the first such union on Capitol Hill. This took place in the office of Representative Andy Levin (D-MI), and similar efforts are underway in seven other Democratic congressional offices.
  • Kellogg workers at the Ohio MorningStar Farms plant voted against joining the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco, and Grain Millers International Union.
  • The Amazon Labor Union withdrew their petition for a vote at a California fulfillment center (the ONT8 facility) after filing the petition on October 12. This move follows the recent news of ALB1 warehouse workers voting against joining the union in Albany, New York.

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