More than 70 years after the peak of the union movement, another generation of workers is spearheading a new labor union movement. Amazon, Apple and Starbucks, among other public companies, have felt the pressure from employees who have started to unionize.
ALU beats Amazon
On April 1, employees at Amazon’s JF8 warehouse in Staten Island, New York, became the first warehouse to unionize. Amazon Labor Union President Chris Smiles, a former employee fired during the COVID-19 pandemic for leading a protest bringing attention to harmful work conditions, led the effort.
“We went for the top dog because we want every other industry, every other business to know that things have to change,” Miles said during a victory speech outside the National Labor Relations Board office in New York. “We gone unionize, and we’re not going to quit our jobs anymore.”
Online retail giant files appeal
Amazon has filed an appeal to overturn the election. According to court documents obtained by the Associated Press, the online retail giant says the ALU tainted the voting process by passing out cannabis to employees and “intentionally created hostile confrontations in front of eligible voters.
ALU’s second unionization vote fails
The appeal follows Amazon’s first victory, when a union vote at a second warehouse in Staten Island, New York, overwhelmingly failed, according to The New York Times.
New generation, new labor union movement
“This is a reflection of the changing demographic of the workforce,” said Dr. Sean Edmund Rogers, Spachman Professor of Human Relations and Labor Relations at the University of Rhode Island. “You know, firms have had the upper hand for a long, long time. As I mentioned, labor union density has gone down in the United States for many decades right from its peak in the `50s or so, until now.”
Baristas take up union fight
Since the pandemic began, dozens of Starbucks baristas across the U.S. have elected to form a union. According to the non-profit organization, More Perfect Union, more than 30 unionized Starbucks are now in the country.
Geniuses expect to hold union vote
Apple is also reckoning with a union fight of its own. In recent weeks, stores in Atlanta and New York have started the process of filing petitions to hold union elections.
Union petitions up in 2022
According to the National Labor Relations Board, union representation petitions are up 57 percent (1,174 petitions) in the first half of the fiscal year 2022 (compared to 748 petitions in 2021).
Edmund Rogers expects the workforce will continue to trend towards forming unions.
“I don’t necessarily think this, you know, gets rid of, or replaces or even supplants the work that unions have been doing for a long, long time, but it speaks to new opportunities,” he said.
