Starbucks and the union representing thousands of its employees said that they’re involving a mediator to revive contract talks, which had stalled over wage increases.
In a joint statement, both sides said that they’d made progress over the last nine months, and that they were “committed to continuing to work together — with a mediator’s assistance — to navigate complex issues and reach fair contracts.”
Workers United represents Starbucks workers at more than 500 company-owned stores in the United States.
Teamsters reach tentative deal with Costco. A threatened strike at 56 Costco stores across six states was avoided Feb. 1, as the company and the Teamsters, representing 18,000 Costco workers, reached a last-minute Tentative Agreement.
The strike would have been the largest ever at an American retail chain, and the first at the big box retailer.
The deal still must be ratified by rank-and-file Teamsters employed by Costco.
Illinois legislature passes protection for warehouse workers. Illinois’ General Assembly in late January passed a bill protecting workers at warehouses like Amazon’s by requiring companies to disclose productivity expectations and to ensure workloads don’t prevent workers from taking breaks for meals, rest or bathroom visits.
The bill covers warehouses with 250 or more workers at a single warehouse distribution center, or 1,000 or more employees at such facilities statewide.
Between 2021 and 2022, Amazon warehouse workers across Illinois were injured at a rate of 8.2 per 100, which was 30% higher than other warehouse workers in the state, according to a National Employment Law Project analysis of OSHA data. Separately, recommendations on warehouse safety came out this winter from a task force after six workers were killed when a tornado struck an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville in December 2021.
Gov. JB Pritzker is expected to sign the measure.
Trump purges, neutralizes labor board. In January, President Trump fired Jennifer Abruzzo as General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, the government agency that protects workers’ rights.
“Abruzzo has dedicated her career to fighting for workers’ rights and holding employers who violate our rights accountable,” commented Communications Workers of America official Dan Mauer.
Within hours, Trump also fired NLRB board member Gwynne Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve on the NLRB confirmed by the Senate to serve through August 2028.
The Board now only has two members, short of a quorum required to take action.
Stellantis says it will reopen plant near Rockford. The Stellantis factory in Belvidere will produce a new midsize pickup truck when it reopens, according to North America COO Antonio Filosa. That could put about 1,500 UAW-represented workers back on the job at the assembly plant.
UAW President Shawn Fain said the Belvidere plant would reopen in 2027.
The union filed grievances about delays in reopening the Belvidere plant, as well as efforts to build a parts distribution center and electric vehicle battery plant there. The UAW threatened to strike on that issue, saying that Stellantis had committed to reopening Belvidere in the union’s new contract, reached in 2023 after a six-week strike.
SEIU returns to labor federation. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has rejoined the AFL-CIO after nearly 20 years apart.
“It’s not a reaction to, or a statement about, Trump,” said SEIU president April Verrett, but “an affirmation that we’re doing the right thing and that now is the time.”
The reunion of SEIU (representing 2 million workers) and the AFL-CIO (a group of unions representing 12.5 million workers) has been in the works for about two years.
Disagreeing about priorities, they’d parted ways decades ago.
— News briefs courtesy of The Labor Paper: “Like” us — www.facebook.com/The-Labor-Paper