We just released our Q3 2024 petition and elections review, which provided a data-rich treasure trove for businesses to identify labor trends and prepare accordingly. Such a proactive approach to warding off union activity is always important, especially when Big Labor is chattering about a 2028 general coordinated strike on many industries.
Again, no industry is safe from union infiltration, and this reality is reflected throughout the retail, the arts, logistics, and higher ed sectors:
Apple: Only two of the tech giant’s U.S. retail stores have unionized thus far, but workers in Bethesda, Maryland, want to achieve the third by filing for an election to join CWA. This is happening on the heels of IAM and CWA reaching first contracts with workers at Towson, Maryland, and Oklahoma City Apple stores. Although those contracts were nothing to write home about, they yielded wage increases virtually equal to the 3% “standard” boosts seen annually throughout the U.S. workforce.
Meanwhile, the NLRB has accused Apple of illegally prohibiting workers from using social media and Slack to discuss wages and workplace conditions. Apple denies the accusation, and only a few years ago, we noted reports about Apple workers stealthily using Android devices for organizing. As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Starbucks: Starbucks Workers United recently crossed the 500-unit mark in its nationwide union drive against the coffeehouse giant. In response, current Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol declared that the company is committed to bargaining “constructively” and in “good faith” as the two sides “are making meaningful progress towards our shared goals.”
Also this month, the NLRB ruled that ex-CEO Howard Schultz violated the NLRA by telling a union activist, “If you’re not happy at Starbucks, you can go work for another company.” The board’s ruling included that the overall backdrop of mounting ULP filings against the company “provide[d] ample context for finding Schultz’s statement objectively coercive.”
Logistics: This month, 550+ Gordon Food Service workers joined the Teamsters, and 800 Walmart warehouse workers in Canada joined Unifor.
Performing arts: Since the start of the pandemic, ballet dancers from a dozen companies have joined the American Guild of Musical Artists, and that trend does not appear to be slowing anytime soon. These dancers seek higher wages, mandated rest time, and pension contributions for a career they say requires decades of training and carries a high risk of injury.
Chippendales performers don’t have as much advance training prep as ballet dancers, but they want higher pay, access to tips, sick leave, and health insurance. These dancers allege that they are paid a nominal fee per live show and are unpaid for group rehearsal hours, and Vegas-based members of the troupe filed a petition to join the Actors’ Equity Association.
Dartmouth College is still declining to recognize SEIU’s representation of the men’s basketball team seven months after the union vote and also
following the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that college athletes might be employees according to a new test. The NLRB is now considering whether to proceed further, proving that this issue – like many others in labor law – is anything but resolved.
