Lots going on related to various labor relations efforts. Here is what we’ve been following lately.
Renowned architecture firm Snøhetta recently received good news when workers voted against joining Architectural Workers United. However, the union has vowed to circle back, given that the vote was relatively close (35-29), and this would have been a pivotal union victory (only a second win) within this industry.
Trader Joe’s could file a trademark infringement lawsuit against Trader Joes United over the merch sales bearing the union’s logo. The company wants an injunction to halt the use of the logo and “all profits” from the merch sales. Thus far, only 4 out of 500 Trader Joe’s stores have unionized, with no contract materializing yet.
The Sierra Club locked horns with the Progressive Workers Union during restructuring efforts resulting from a $40 million budget deficit. However, the environmental group’s planned layoffs and consolidations cannot happen without negotiating these changes through the union’s contract.
The Venetian and Palazzo hotels in Las Vegas ended a decades-long impasse against a UNITE HERE local, with workers now allowed to explore organizing.
Wells Fargo is fending off what could be a landmark organizing drive within an industry where fewer than 1% of workers are unionized.
American Dream Mall workers rallied in New Jersey to protest the firing of two union organizers among three dozen employees.
The Los Angeles Dodgers Stadium averted a strike from 450 SEIU-represented game-day workers, some of whom will receive up to 50% raises over five years.
Additionally, the NLRB’s aggressive anti-Starbucks tactics continue with a trio of updates:
- Starbucks has been ordered to reopen a shuttered cafe in Ithaca, NY, after the board determined that the company violated the NLRA by closing the store “in large part to discourage unionization efforts in Ithaca and elsewhere.”
- Starbucks’ hometown stomping grounds of Seattle is the focus of an NLRB lawsuit to force the rehiring of 33 workers. This decision arrived after the company reorganized three downtown cafes into a combined Heritage District and allegedly required 73 union activists to reapply with the company. The board put Starbucks on the hook for back pay and benefits for these fired workers.
- The NLRB also ruled that Starbucks illegally prevented subpoenaed Seattle baristas from testifying to the board. According to the NLRB, Starbucks threatened to discipline workers if they testified without arranging for a coworker to cover their missed shifts. The board also ruled that Starbucks illegally prevented workers from using break time to pass out union buttons.
Starbucks Workers United currently boasts 330+ unionized cafes (out of 9,000+ within the U.S.), with new petitions occasionally joining the fray. It’s a slower drip but one clearly aided by Biden’s board.
