The National Labor Relations Board on April 26 announced the results of Peoria’s Campustown Starbucks workers’ vote to unionize, and the results were 9-2 in favor of the union, with 1 voided ballot and no challenged ballots – one of the first Illinois Starbucks to vote to unionize.
“Workers’ power is coming back in a force that we have not seen in decades,” said Jon Gill, a Campustown barista. “It proves that workers can fight and win against massive corporations like Starbucks.”
UIS faculty reach agreement, avert strike. On April 30, faculty represented by United Faculty, a Springfield affiliate of the University Professionals of Illinois 4100/AFT, reached a tentative agreement with the University of Illinois — Springfield on a new four-year contract. The settlement came after about a year of bargaining had reached a stalemate. The previous collective bargaining agreement expired last August.
United Faculty/UPI represents about 130 members. UIS faculty’s first contract was achived after a four-day work stoppage in May 2017.
Apple workers organizing. Apple’s retail workers have started unionizing efforts in the South and East Coast. Workers at Apple’s Cumberland Mall store in Atlanta filed for a union election with the NLRB to join the Communications Workers of America, becoming the country’s first group of Apple retail workers to seek formal recognition for their union.
The newly formed union includes Apple salespeople, technicians, creatives, and operations specialists. More than 70% of the group of more than 100 eligible workers have signed union authorization cards.
Meanwhile, Apple workers organizing with SEIU’s Workers United have begun collecting authorization cards at New York City’s Grand Central Station location.
ISU workers ratify contract raising wages. After coming to the brink of a strike, more than 300 building, grounds and dining services employees of Illinois State University recently ratified their new union contract, said the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. More than 92% voted to approve the terms of an agreement reached last week as a campus-wide work stoppage loomed.
Highlights include wage increases from 12% to 26% over four years, and raising pay for the lowest-paid workers — many who previously made little more than $12 an hour — to almost $15 an hour in the next 12 weeks.
Government confirms union filings with NLRB up. Union election filings have increased in recent months, according to new data from the NLRB.
Between October 2021 and March 2022, union filings with the NLRB went up 57%, to 1,714 from 748 over the same period last year.
Steelworkers join other unions planning aid to Ukraine. The Steelworkers have joined the growing list of U.S. unions planning direct aid to fellow unionists in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Trade Union of Metalworkers and Mineworkers needs helmets, socks and bandages for its worker members who ordinarily work at the Kryvyi Rih steel-plant complex — including a mine and a coke factory — USW President Tom Conway said. The USW called for contributions from members and its locals and like responses from other unions in the U.S. and worldwide.
When Russian President Vladimir Putin first sent troops into the Ukraine, the International Trade Union Confederation and the International Labour Organization both condemned the onslaught and demanded a cease-fire, withdrawal and negotiations.
But Russia’s trade-union confederation dissented from the ILO condemnation, which passed 42-2 with eight abstentions and four nations not voting.
News briefs courtesy of The Labor Paper.