Illinois unions active last month: The IBEW won a 25-7 vote to represent Intralot lottery-machine techs in Bolingbrook; Operating Engineers are organizing parts engineers at Alta construction equipment in Ottawa and Spring Grove; SAG-AFTRA is organizing journalists at Univision’s WGBO-TV in Chicago; SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana is organizing nursing-home workers at Beecher Manor in Evanston; Teamsters Local 777 won an NLRB election 61-2 to represent Hopewell Transportation school-bus drivers in Carol Stream, and is increasing its activity at marijuana dispensaries, organizing in Lombard (Zen Leaf), Ottawa and Romeoville (both Verilife Cannabis), and Schaumburg (Enlightened Cannabis); UFCW also is organizing marijuana dispensaries: 22 workers at Zen Leaf’s Highland Park location and more than 30 workers at Curaleaf in Skokie, and the union also is organizing 76 chemical packaging workers at EMCO in North Chicago.
Starbucks Workers United broke a barrier in Buffalo in December with the first union win at the coffee chain. Workers at the city’s Elmwood store voted 19-8 to unionize, the National Labor Relations Board announced. Their first work stoppage was last month.
Amazon forced to tell workers they can unionize. About 1 million current and retired Amazon workers are getting emails notifying them of their labor rights, which the retail giant agreed to send as part of a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Amazon also pledged it won’t threaten workers with discipline or call police when workers engage in union activity in exterior non-work areas during off hours.
There have been more than 75 charges brought to the NLRB accusing Amazon of Unfair Labor Practices since the onset of the pandemic, reports the agency, which ordered another vote at an Alabama warehouse after Amazon’s illegal interference made a “free and fair election impossible” there, said NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo.
The Biden administration is committing $120 million to promote worker rights worldwide, said Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, announcing an interagency drive also involving the State Department.
“Worker organizing is democracy in action,” said Walsh, a member of the Laborers and former Mayor of Boston. “American workers can’t freely exercise their rights if others can’t.”
United Auto Workers members voted to directly elect officers by a one-member, one-vote arrangement. Reported results were 89,615-50,962, a 64%-36% margin.
“The UAW will seek to unify behind the new method of elections,” the international commented. “It is time to move forward on behalf of the over one million members and retirees of the UAW in solidarity.”
Only a handful of unions directly elect their international leaders, including the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the Laborers, the News Guild (a Communications Workers sector) and the Teamsters.
Big Cartel workers form first tech union in Right To Work state. Workers at Big Cartel received voluntary recognition of their new union, Big Cartel Workers Union, in a groundbreaking victory. Staff at the e-commerce platform are the first tech workers to form a union in a “Right To Work” state; the company is based in Salt Lake City. Affiliated with Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU), Tech Workers Union Local 1010 this winter will begin bargaining their first contract.
“Tech workers are becoming increasingly aware of the power a union brings them at work,” said OPEIU Organizing Director Brandon Nessen.
Workers in states with more unions better off: report. By many measures, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute shows that higher union density can result in higher wages, better benefits and more support for voting rights. The study found that the 17 states with the highest union density have median annual incomes $6,000 higher than the national average, a greater share of the population covered by health insurance, and fewer laws that restrict voting.