465 Days and Counting: When Union Wins Don’t Deliver : LRI INK

Subject: 465 Days and Counting: When Union Wins Don’t Deliver : LRI INK

April 24, 2025

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465 Days and Counting: When Union Wins Don’t Deliver

by Michael VanDervort

In May 2022, history was made over venti lattes and espresso shots. The downtown Birmingham Starbucks became the first Starbucks store in Alabama to vote to unionize.

The very next morning when Starbucks reopened after being closed for two days to run the union election on site, I walked into that store, curious to experience a "historic moment" in real life.

At first glance? It looked like... Starbucks. Customers were half-awake, ordering their usual drinks. The machines hissed. Indie pop floated low through the speakers. If you didn’t know what had happened the day before, you’d never guess anything was different.

But underneath the apparent normalcy, the energy had shifted.

The lead organizer, a shift supervisor, hugged customers offering congratulations.

“Best day of my life!” he enthused.

Some of the baristas displayed quiet pride, small smiles, and a little extra spring in their steps, but there was also an undercurrent of uncertainty. It felt less like a victory party and more like the end of one race and the start of a much harder one.

Because anyone who works in labor relations knows:

Winning a union election isn’t the finish line. It’s just when the hard part begins.

Fast-forward to 2025, and that same Birmingham Starbucks is making headlines again — but this time, the story isn’t about celebration.

According to recent reports, workers allege they face a "concerted anti-union campaign" from management while canvassing and campaigning at other area stores.

Their allegations include:

Punishment for wearing union pins, including being kicked off the floor and contributing to understaffing
Neglect of worker safety, including discouraging mask-wearing during health concerns
Retaliation against union members, including singling out individuals for their union involvement
Management pressure that workers say has chilled the organizing effort

Starbucks, for its part, denies the accusations, stating that it’s simply ensuring that all employees or "partners" are fully informed. But the tension on the ground feels very real.

If you’ve spent any time in a workplace after a union election, you recognize the pattern:

The adrenaline rush of “winning” fades fast. Negotiating a first contract drags.
Small frustrations grow. Doubts creep in.

Here’s a number that matters:
On average, achieving a first collective bargaining agreement takes 465 days or 15 months.

This Birmingham store has already waited longer. And there’s still no end in sight.

This is the hidden truth behind so many union promises. Winning an election doesn't magically change anything. Delivering real change is slow, painful, and often deeply disappointing.

And when frustration with the union grows?
That’s when good leadership can step in to reconnect with employees, rebuild trust, and win back the workforce that might otherwise drift away.

Three Lessons From Birmingham’s Starbucks

☕ Momentum is Fleeting.
Organizing campaigns are emotional sprints. But sustaining energy across months — or years — of contract negotiations? That’s the real test.

☕ Culture Wars Are the New Battleground.
Union vs. non-union isn’t just a legal status. It’s a tug-of-war over workplace identity, who speaks for it, who shapes it, who belongs.

☕ Election Wins Don’t Guarantee Anything.

Without rapid progress toward a first contract, workers’ belief in the union’s ability to deliver can erode fast.

Vote = Hope → Long wait = Frustration → Opportunity = Leadership

In 2022, I saw a moment of cautious hope: employees who believed change was coming because the union promised it.

In 2025, I see the reality:

Real change doesn’t come with a ballot box. It happens (or doesn’t) in the hard, daily grind afterward in every schedule, every discipline meeting, and every cup of coffee served.

The way leadership shows up after the vote makes all the difference.

Whether you're in labor relations, HR, or leadership, Birmingham’s Starbucks isn’t just a case study. It’s a mirror reflecting how complicated and fragile real workplace change can be.

And just like that first morning after the vote, you might miss the most crucial part if you’re not paying close attention.

If you manage people, lead a team, or work in labor relations — what lessons do you take from this story?

Blog Post

Check Out Our Community for Labor Relations Professionals on empowER™

by Michael VanDervort

Are you interested in connecting with other labor professionals in a private on-line community? We recently partnered with HR Acuity’s empowER™ community, the leading online community for employee relations professionals, to create a brand-new on-line forum space for labor relations professionals.

More than 130 people have joined in the first month.

empowER™ is an HR community of over 6,500 members, designed to foster collaboration, share strategies and tackle workplace challenges. This partnership brings labor relations professionals into the fold, creating a dedicated space to connect, learn and lead.

Ready to join the conversation? Sign up for free by clicking the button below.

Click Here to Join

Heads Up: Video Game Organizers Are Taking On Morphing Federal Labor Policy With UVW-CWA

by Kimberly Ricci

Recent shifts in federal labor policy were intended as business-friendly moves. Still, as we recently warned, Trump’s executive order aiming to eliminate collective bargaining for federal workers could drive up union activity in the private sector. The same goes for dismantling an agency that provides mediation services during collective bargaining disputes and how the NLRB has been essentially rendered non-functional through a lack of a quorum involving Gwynne Wilcox’s seesawing employment status.

These changes are motivating one deep-pocketed union to modify its toolbox of strategies. That would be the Communication Workers Of America, which previously embarked upon an aggressive plan to unionize tech workers through its CODE-CWA (Coalition to Organize Digital Employees) initiative. Over the past few years, the union claims to have organized 6000+ tech workers under CODE-CWA, and last year, they claimed to count 1,750 video game workers under that umbrella.

A new union offshoot: CWA is now launching modified organizing plans amid morphing labor policies. In mid-March at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the union announced their newest initiative, United Videogame Workers (UVW-CWA), which is being billed as “a direct-join, industry-wide video game union with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in partnership with the American Federation of Musicians (AFM).” This direct-join union appears to be CWA’s acknowledgment that the NLRB might not be operational for a while and cannot be depended upon to suit Big Labor’s purposes, so why not ignore this obstacle?

Why it’s significant: UVW-CWA claims to have already gathered around 450 members within its first month of existence, although it must be noted that there are distinctions to be drawn with a direct-join union. This model allows workers to join throughout the gaming industry without an election and without being limited to a single employer. However, direct-join unions don’t hold the same bargaining power and exist under the expectation that management will come to agreements involving working conditions without bargaining.

Will those agreements happen? These are early days for the UVW-CWA, so it’s worth watching how Microsoft reacts if and when they are targeted and whether the tech conglomerate will extend its labor neutrality stance to this direct-join union. Other employers will have to make that call when the UVW-CWA comes knocking for their workers, and they will want to, as always, do everything possible to build and maintain positive workplaces so that their workers won’t feel the need to turn to third-party representation of any type, direct-join or otherwise.

The UVW-CWA’s objectives: At the GDC event, union organizers also went old-school by passing out a “zine” with the “We’re Done Playing” slogan. This zine contained the draft form of “a video game worker bill of rights to standardize working conditions, including hiring inequality, crunch, and contractor health care.” The CWA also railed against “the most anti-worker administrations of our lifetimes.”

Elsewhere in the gaming industry, traditional organizing activity continues. In March, a supermajority of Activision video game user researchers became the first of their specialty to unionize through an election. Also, 300 ZeniMax Workers United-represented quality assurance workers authorized a strike in early April. These examples are reminders that although these are nebulous times, Big Labor will continue extending its tentacles into workspaces through any means available.

Blog Post

IN THE NEWS |Wilson Quoted in Forbes on Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis

by Michael VanDervort

What do humble papal apartments and high-stakes boardrooms have in common?

🕊️ In a recent Forbes article by Edward Segal, LRI’s own Phillip B. Wilson reflects on how Pope Francis offered a masterclass in leadership — one rooted in humility, authenticity, and approachability.

Phil shares:

“Executives who are open to different points of view and want to collaborate can make it easier to connect with employees... Leaders often don’t like to be contradicted... Francis showed that true leaders don’t believe they have all the answers.”

🔥 The takeaway? You don’t have to wear Prada loafers (or live in a palace) to lead with impact. Accessibility, listening, and self-awareness aren’t soft skills — they’re survival skills in today’s workplace.

📖 Read the full piece and see why leaders from Rome to the C-suite should be paying attention:

➡️View the article here.

Blog Post

Unpacking Union Pushback In The Art World

by Kimberly Ricci

Organizing activities in the arts has been on the rise for years. Even marquee institutions haven’t escaped the wave, with unions like the United Auto Workers (UAW), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and others successfully targeting workers at the Guggenheim Museum, Mass MoCA, the New Museum in NYC, and dozens more across the country.

This surge in union activity has collided with economic headwinds: rising inflation, higher housing costs for workers, and increasing operating expenses for museums. While unions often promise better pay and greater job security, the reality on the ground tells a different story—especially regarding layoffs and budget shortfalls.

Here’s a snapshot of recent headlines that illustrate this tension:

Guggenheim Museum: UAW members protested the “abrupt” layoff of 20 staffers during the opening of a major exhibition by contemporary artist Rashid Johnson. Union reps claim ticket prices are up—but labor costs have been cut.
Toledo Museum of Art: Workers voted 86% in favor of joining AFSCME this week, adding around 100 to the union’s ranks. Notably, the museum’s glass technicians joined the Teamsters in 2007.
Seattle Art Museum: Security guards went on strike for 12 days after their independent union’s contract expired. They rejected a $23.25/hour offer—a $2 raise—but ultimately ratified that same wage in the final contract. After two weeks without pay, many question whether the strike delivered meaningful results.
Brooklyn Museum: AFSCME and UAW locals protested plans to lay off 50 workers. While the layoffs are currently on hold as the museum navigates a $10 million deficit, dozens of workers have already been offered buyouts. It’s a temporary pause, not a resolution.
Buffalo AKG Art Museum: Twenty-four workers, including a dozen union members, were laid off. The union says the cuts were retaliatory. The museum cites an “operational shift.”
Chicago History Museum: Union organizers claim several staffers were let go shortly after joining AFSCME’s Cultural Workers United. The union alleges a pattern of disciplinary actions tied to organizing activity.
Union for Contemporary Art (Omaha): The nonprofit (not a labor union itself) recently laid off staff hours after a newly formed union went public. The “Union Union” calls it retaliation. Leadership says the layoffs were part of a long-planned restructuring.

As budget pressures mount and institutions face hard choices, these stories highlight a key reality:

📉 Unions can promise better conditions—but they can’t prevent the economic consequences museums are navigating.

For leaders in the cultural sector, this is the moment to get proactive:

Communicate clearly and early about organizational challenges.
Understand the organizing pressures your workforce may be feeling.

🎭 The art world may celebrate bold expression, but behind the scenes, fiscal reality sets the rules.

Blog Post

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About Labor Relations INK

Labor Relations INK is published weekly and is edited by LRI Consulting Services, Inc. Feel free to pass this newsletter on to anyone you think might enjoy it. New subscribers can sign up by visiting here.

If you use content from this newsletter, please attribute it to Labor Relations Institute and include our website: http://www.LRIonline.com

Contributing editors for this issue: Greg Kittinger, Michael VanDervort, and Kimberly Ricci.

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About Labor Relations Institute

LRI exists to help our clients thrive and become extraordinary workplaces. We improve the lives of working people by strengthening relationships with their leaders and each other. For over 41 years, LRI has led the labor and employee relations industry, driven by our core values and our proven process, the LRI Way.

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Subject: 465 Days and Counting: When Union Wins Don’t Deliver : LRI INK