Striking meatpacking workers are back on the job, for now:
The first meatpacking strike since 1985 has ended after three weeks, but there’s no deal yet. Around 3,800 JBS workers are back on the job at Swift Beef Co. plant in Greeley, Colorado after the UFCW and the employer agreed to resume negotiations next week, although the company made clear its “Last, Best and Final offer remains on the table.”
Before this news broke, our own Phil Wilson appeared on the Working Lunch Podcast to discuss the practical risks of such strikes, including effects on supply chains and operations in frontline industries. We also recently profiled UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova, who led the JBS strike and brought her own controversial leadership history to the table.
A Writers Guild of America strike appears to be off the table:
WGA writers aren’t eager for a repeat of their 148-day 2023 strike, especially after retrospective looks at that walkout revealed that many jobs were forever lost during the strike. As we previously noted, those union members didn’t receive many meaningful results from their time off the job, and this time, both sides moved quickly toward a tentative deal.
The details are under wraps until union members ratify the proposed contract, but we do know that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) received their ask of a four-year contract rather than three. That will give some semblance of stability to studios, and the writers’ health plan is said to have received a funding infusion. What isn’t known? What the tentative deal says about AI after the last deal punted the issue.
Conversely, SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP did not make progress during their recent talks, but they will resume negotiations this month.
Rebooted Starbucks union negotiations are already looking contentious:
Only a few short weeks after Starbucks Workers United lowered wage demands to a $17 per hour minimum wage, and the two sides agreed to resume negotiating, things are looking adversarial again.
SWU filed a ULP against the company to allege bad faith bargaining, a claim that the company denies. In fact, Starbucks told Bloomberg that it released “comprehensive proposals that build on our already-competitive pay and industry-leading benefits” during this week’s talks.
Another tidbit: Last year, we noticed that SWU tends to “save up” union petitions and drop them in batches near the end of each month. This month, that pattern changed, and SWU has already filed representation petitions at nine stores while the month is still young. This move could be intended to pressure the company amid revived contract talks, and we’ll be watching to see how those negotiations continue to unfold.
The first unionized Apple store is closing:
The long, ongoing decline of American malls has been no secret, although Apple store sales have seemed immune, until now. The tech giant revealed that three of its retail stores will soon shutter, and one of those locations happens to be its first unionized store in Towson, Maryland.
Even though several other prominent retailers also recently shuttered their locations at the same mall, the Machinists union is still raising a fuss.
The union declared that it’s “outraged” over the store closure and added, “Apple’s claim that the collective bargaining agreement prevents relocation is simply false.” That CBA isn’t available to the public, and here, the union is offering its own characterization of the contract language regardless of what the document really says. No surprises there.
The DOL and NLRB’s budgets could take a hit:
If the Trump administration has its way, the DOL’s budget might plummet in Fiscal Year 2027 from $13.3 billion to $9.9 billion. If Congress approves those cuts, this would trim the DOL’s inspector general budget by 9%, which could hamper the ongoing investigation against Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and her staff regarding travel fraud allegations and the secretary’s alleged “inappropriate relationship” with a worker.
If the DOL cuts do happen, the agency’s headcount would fall from around 13,000 to about 10,740 with the results being felt the hardest at the Wage and Hour Division, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and US Mine Safety and Health Administration.
As the NLRB continues digging out of a case backlog, that agency’s budget could fall from $294 million to $285 million with the likely result not being layoffs but, instead, not filling roles left vacant during a 2025 staff exodus.
