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UNIONS
WORKPLACE ORGANIZING By Robert Reich ... Big corporations are fighting dirty to keep their workers from organizing – and they’re still losing. Imagine what could happen if they had to fight fair. Original article: https://www.nationofchange.org/2022/07/21/how-amazon-starbucks-and-other-companies-fight-unions/ Peter Burgess COMMENTARY I was the VP Manufacturing for a medium sized company in Georgia in the 1970s. We were unionized ... in fact we had seven different unions ... and while I was running the plant, we had little labor disruption and we were able to modernise a lot of work practices. When I moved to the NorthEast of the United States and was exposed to the very beliigerent unions of the region and the corruption of union leadership, I became less supportive of the union movement. From my general observation, union leadership failed its members big time. But for the past forty years since the early 1980s corporate management has also failed its workers even more. The OPEC oil shock of 1973 and the subsequent increase in the world prices for crude oil made life very difficult for corporate management worldwide but especially in the energy intensice United States. President Reagan took a lead role in empowering management over workers and making it difficult for unions and collective bargaining. Much improved technology enabled global outsourcing which favored business investors over local workers ... and since around 1980 US wages have stagnated while business productivity and profits had improved substantial ... like some 400%. Robert Reich understands this history ... but his voice has been but a small voice against the corporate union busting megaphone of business lobbies. There is more labor unrest now (2022) than in a very long time but the general public does not seem to be on board yet, and will likely move very slowly because the corporate anti-union messaging is very powerful as Reich explains. Peter Burgess | ||
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How Amazon, Starbucks, and other companies fight unions
Big corporations are fighting dirty to keep their workers from organizing – and they’re still losing. Imagine what could happen if they had to fight fair. By Robert Reich July 21, 2022 SOURCENationofChange You as a worker have a legal right to join a union, but there are many ways big corporations are skirting the law to stop you from getting your fair share. You could be working for a union-buster and not even know it. Here are four of the biggest union-busting tricks to look out for: One: Anti-Union Propaganda. Employers turn workers into a captive audience for false or misleading claims about unions. In 2019 Delta distributed pamphlets to flight attendants and ramp service workers warning that union fees would cost $700 dollars per year. But here’s what they didn’t mention: unionized workers earn $700 more per month. Weird how they left that part out, isn’t it? Amazon wallpapered its warehouses with anti-union ads. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz claimed he had no choice but to exclude workers at unionizing stores from new employee benefits. Apparently when you’re the boss you can just make stuff up. Two: Your employer hires fancy anti-union firms, lawyers, and consultants. The company claims it can’t afford to raise workers’ pay but spends millions on anti-union consultants. You might hear your bosses call this “Union Avoidance,” but it basically just means “Union busting, in a suit.” Three: Delay, delay, delay. It’s illegal for employers to cancel a vote on whether to unionize. But they skirt the law to keep that vote from happening as long as possible. And while they’re delaying, they play dirty tricks to stop a union’s momentum. Before a recent labor election in Buffalo, Starbucks flooded stores with managers to pressure workers. One Starbucks employee reported he was told to go to a meeting, only to be greeted by six managers pressuring him to reject the union. So that’s how many managers it takes to screw over an employee. Four: If none of these union-busting tactics work, your employer might just break the law. Starbucks recently fired more than twenty union leaders. Amazon fired a union leader for missing work – even though he was on leave to care for a COVID-stricken family member. U.S. employers are charged with violating federal law in over 40% of all union election campaigns. I’m sorry, I just have to pause for a second here. 40% of the time? Really? If I broke the law 40% of the time, I’d be in jail quicker than you can say “Pinkerton!” Are companies allowed to skirt the law like this? No! But labor laws take a long time to enforce – if they’re enforced at all. And the worst that can happen is a corporation has to rehire a worker who it illegally fired and provide back pay. No wonder some companies decide that breaking the law is cheaper than following it. It’s simply a “cost of doing business” for a giant corporation like Amazon. But here’s some good news: A bill called “The PRO Act” would strengthen protections for union organizers and make many kinds of “union avoidance” illegal. Call your lawmakers and ask them to support it today. They won’t just be on the right side of history. They’ll be on the right side of public opinion. A majority of Americans, including 77% of young people, support the right to join a union. Workers at Starbucks and Amazon have refused to be intimidated and have started to unionize. All over the country, American workers are growing wise to corporate union-busting tricks. Big corporations are fighting dirty to keep their workers from organizing – and they’re still losing. Imagine what could happen if they had to fight fair.
| The text being discussed is available at | https://www.nationofchange.org/2022/07/21/how-amazon-starbucks-and-other-companies-fight-unions/ and |
