Labor Relations INK August 2022

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Subject: Labor Relations INK August 2022

August 25, 2022

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Traditional versus Grassroots Unions

Labor Relations Insight by Phil Wilson

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 surprisingly withdrew their petition to represent employees at a Trader Joes in Boulder, Colorado this week. The withdrawal is surprising because the first two Traders Joes locations to face elections, one in Massachusetts and another in Minnesota, both unionized in June and July.

The big labor story this year is Starbucks. One of the key questions following the Starbucks elections is whether those would spawn organizing in other sectors, and the elections at Trader Joes (and REI) might be examples of that happening. But another key theme illustrated by these campaigns is the tension between traditional unions and “grassroots” or independent unions.

The Starbucks campaigns have certainly had support from traditional unions and almost all of them have been filed by Workers United, which is an SEIU affiliate. But one of the key features of most of these elections is that they appear to be happening independent of a traditional union. The SEIU, for their part, seem to be standing aside in these elections.

The two Trader Joe’s election victories were won by these independent grassroots unions. And it looks like the workers in Boulder realized that aligning with a traditional union like the UFCW wasn’t the right move for them. It’s not clear at this point exactly what happened (this article and the twitter discussion that follows is completely confusing).

The UFCW filed Unfair Labor Practice charges against Trader Joe’s alleging a host of complaints the day before withdrawing the petition. Here’s my guess about what happened. UFCW Local 7 has been featured prominently lately in litigation over fines and discipline levied against workers who chose to continue working during a strike at King Soopers. This would certainly have come up during an organizing campaign.

My guess is that many employees at the Boulder store began to question whether they really wanted to align with UFCW 7 after seeing how they bullied the people they theoretically represent. A traditional union like UFCW 7 won’t take too kindly to tough questions about how they deal with discipline among their ranks. That often softens support. And once they see support begin to dwindle a typical move would be to file a bunch of charges and then pull the petition. This way they can save face by claiming the only reason they lost support was because of employer misdeeds.

It will be interesting to watch what happens next. Perhaps these workers have learned by looking up close that unionization isn’t really all it’s cracked up to be. Or maybe they’ll decide that they just picked the wrong horse, and instead do what their other teammates did in Massachusetts and Minnesota, and organize an independent union. They may believe that organizing an independent union avoids a lot of the problems with a traditional union. That’s not entirely wrong.

An independent union does avoid some of the problems with traditional unions. One big problem with traditional unions is they have a superstructure to support, and that demands institutional concerns and rules that don’t always align with the needs of any individual bargaining unit. As just one example, your dues money doesn’t just pay for experts to bargain your contract or representation at your shop. It pays for it at a bunch of other shops, plus organizing even more shops. An independent union avoids a lot of that expense.

A traditional union will argue that this trade-off is worth it. You get power and resources with numbers, and a bigger union is a much better match at the bargaining table against a big company. Sure, you have to put up with more bureaucracy and goals that don’t always perfectly align, but it’s how you get the real benefits of a union. Your mileage may vary, but there’s certainly some truth to that.

The other challenge with independent unions is you don’t avoid the basic problems of unions just by removing the traditional union superstructure. An independent union may not have bylaws or a constitution with a bunch of ways to control member behavior, but it still will have rules – even if they aren’t written down. And that can be even worse than having rules you don’t like.

Labor law and contract negotiations are complex. The other big disadvantage of an independent union is that you don’t have that expertise, and will be sitting across the table from people who do. A newly formed union can hire an attorney or other expert to help, or they can wing it and hope for the best. But hiring experts is expensive and still doesn’t guarantee a good result.

A lot of newly formed unions are just coming to terms with the fact that it isn’t easy and it takes a lot of time. Today’s employees don’t have a lot of patience, especially if they believed bargaining would quickly deliver all the things promised during an organizing campaign (which doesn’t happen whether there is a traditional or independent union doing the bargaining).

There are a lot of other challenges that come with organizing an independent union. I’ll be discussing this more over the next few months. Stay tuned.

Blog Post

A Two-Edged Sword

by Greg Kittinger

The United Mine Workers discovered that make-whole remedies for unfair labor practice charges can cut both ways. The National Labor Relations Board ordered the union to pay $13.3 million to Warrior Met Coal Mining for costs incurred during a lengthy strike. These costs included increased security, damage repair and lost revenues from unmined coal, and individuals were due almost $30,000, mostly for damage to vehicles. The union is challenging the computation of damages (which includes interest) and depending on the NLRB Regional Office’s final tally, the parties may litigate before an administrative law judge.

On the other side of the coin, Chipotle ran afoul of New York City labor laws and will have to cough up $20 million to current and former employees. The 13,000 employees who worked for New York City outlets from 2017 to current are eligible for compensation based on the chains failure to comply with the city’s requirements to post work schedules 14 days in advance, pay a premium for schedule changes, and offer available shifts to current employees before hiring new employees.

In the recent Sanitary Truck Drivers decision, the D.C. Circuit Court opened the door for the NLRB to move joint employer standards back to the Browning-Ferris standard, allowing indirect control to be included as a determinant of joint-employer status. The Board recently announced that joint-employer is near the top of their list to address. Though not defining a timeline, the Board committed to “engage” in rulemaking on the standard for determining whether two employers, as defined in section 2(2) of the [NLRA,] are a joint employer under the Act.”

NLRB General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, is taking some heat from an unexpected source: the Starbucks workers union. Although Abruzzo has committed to put an end to captive audience meetings, implement card check recognition, and has filed 19 complaints against Starbucks accusing the company of 81 unfair labor practices, Richard Bensinger, one of the Starbucks union’s lead organizers, complains that Abruzzo has not been aggressive enough in going after Starbucks. The main source of contention is the company’s announcement that it would give raises and improved benefits to employees at its non-union stores, but not to workers at stores that have already unionized or petitioned for a union election.

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The Corruption Cookie Jar Never Runs Dry

by Kimberly Ricci

The UAW’s reputation for being notoriously corrupt inspires the most media headlines on this subject, but the cookie jar of temptation is a constant temptation for other high-profile unions as well. A few of this month’s notable developments speak to how union officials cannot resist lining their pockets while sticking it to their members (and competitors):

A 2019 GM racketeering lawsuit (alleging that Fiat Chrysler/Stellantis bribed UAW officials during contract negotiations) died in a U.S. Appeals court. However, the battle is not finished. GM, who claims billions of dollars in damages, vowed to continue the legal fight while Stellantis issued a statement to (oddly) refer to GM’s suit as a “third-rate spy movie” full of made-up accusations.
A New York City local Teamsters Welfare Fund came under the U.S. Department of Labor’s microscope following scrutiny of the fund’s alleged violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Affordable Care Act. The key violation in question? Teamsters Local 272 required plan participants to pay 90% of medical and pharmacy costs above a not-terribly-high annual threshold.

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Score Board

Who are the winners (and losers) of the labor movement? Don't guess, just check the LRI Scoreboard

View this month's scoreboard (archives also located here).

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The Starbucks Saga: Nearly Nine Months Into It

by Kimberly Ricci

On December 12, 2021, the first Starbucks location to organize surfaced in Buffalo, New York. The cup soon runneth over as the corporate giant’s baristas influenced workers elsewhere, not only at coffee shops but within other industries, to seek outside representation. Only a year ago, few could have imagined this fate for Starbucks, but it’s a telling example of how organizing campaigns can seemingly spread like wildfire.

Starbucks Workers United now claims 200 unionized cafes with eyes on more. The union also secured a $1 million strike fund, which it’s using to its advantage, from Minneapolis to Philadelphia and beyond. Starbucks has now seen strikes in 17 states as the union pushes for higher wages and increased focus on worker safety. The strike at Boston University’s cafe just turned into a month-long ordeal.

As if that wasn’t enough, Starbucks continues to clash with the NLRB, which has ordered the company to reinstate seven workers in Memphis after a U.S. district judge found enough evidence to rule that they were allegedly fired for their organizing activity. The NLRB also dismissed a Starbucks complaint against rallying Phoenix organizers who allegedly threatened customers and workers (by blocking entrances). Starbucks then lost an NLRB challenge, in which the company requested to disallow mail-in union votes that happened due to pandemic conditions. Starbucks followed that by requesting to pause mail-in union votes nationwide while accusing NLRB employees of conspiring with Starbucks organizers to exploit vulnerabilities within the ballot process.

What’s next? A first mini-deal materialized between Starbucks and Workers United when workers (from two Seattle stores that closed) won their bid to be reassigned with the same number of work hours to other area stores. No full-on union contracts exist yet; however, Starbuck is enduring a viral TikTok video (which shows New York workers refusing to work out of protest for an organizer’s firing) that amassed 20 million views.

Blog Post

The Next Starbucks?
by Kimberly Ricci

People sure are in a rush to declare a Starbucks 2.0, although capturing lightning in a bottle will prove to be difficult, especially since the momentum of a campaign can give way to inertia. Bloomberg Law's data analysis shows that moving from union victory to a contract is a process that often takes well over 400 days. That frustration could be contagious, and here’s a follow-up tidbit from ex-VP candidate/Senator Tim Kaine: "About a third of victorious unions can’t get a contract in the first three years.”

For workers in industries with high turnover, organization can be difficult to achieve in the first place - getting workers to stick around for over a year until they see sought after change. That's an interminable wait, and the union might not ever secure the results that they promised. Momentum still exists for unions to find footholds and try to crank out more successful campaigns, so let’s dive into the latest highlights:

Trader Joes looks like the current most likely candidate for “the next Starbucks” title. After the first store unionized in Hadley, MA, a second store unionized in Minneapolis, MN. A third effort fizzled in Boulder, CO when the UFCW pulled the petition (see Phil’s Insight). In NYC, however, workers at the company’s only wine shop claim that the company shuttered the location after workers began to organize and believed they would have enough cards for an election petition.
Apple does not (at the moment) look like the next Starbucks. An initial wave of steadily building momentum (with dozens of stores starting to organize after a Maryland store became the first Apple Store to unionize) has fizzled out with no further announcements. Apple did bump up retail pay about 10% company-wide, which seems to have worked some magic, although it’s too soon to draw real conclusions because multiple unions (including the CWA) continue efforts.
Starbucks does continue to influence more baristas, too. In San Jose, California, workers at the Nirvana Soul coffeeshop announced that every one of the cafe's few dozen workers signed authorization cards.
The cannabis industry continues to be a major target for unions, and it’s no wonder why this is the case. Growing revenue that could lead to $41 billion (in 2026) and over 320,000 current full-time jobs in the industry adds up to a lot of potential dues. March 2022 saw the first cannabis shop union contract in Chicago with more follow-ups in process.
Restaurant workers continue to provide union fodder not imaginable only a few years ago. In Austin, Texas, workers at a trio of local pizzerias began to organize with Restaurant Workers United and filed NLRB petitions for votes. In Portland, Oregon, workers at a locally famous Voodoo Doughnut location organized as Doughnut Workers United and lost an initial election last year but filed for a do-over.

Another brick-and-mortar bookstore, the legendary West Hollywood Book Soup, has unionized after a grassroots effort spurred on by ongoing labor shortages.
Formerly known as an online bookstore, Amazon now serves as a retail giant, among other endeavors, and the company’s union activity has taken a turn. The Amazon Labor Union announced plans to focus on their JFK8 warehouse battle while suspending efforts at nearby locations. In San Bernardino, California, however, up to 150 workers at an Amazon air hub recently walked off their jobs while citing heat safety.

A United Food and Commercial Workers local president in Missouri recently penned an article about his union’s push for more “flex workers” in grocery stores. It’s a strategy (he advocates for treating retail grocery workers like Uber drivers) that the union hopes will recruit more members while allowing workers to float between stores in two local family-owned grocery chains in order to maintain hours needed for benefits. It’s an interesting read, especially in the age of self-checkouts and the growth of the gig economy, which unions would obviously love to harness.

Blog Post

New Teamsters Boss Takes An Aggressive Stance

by Kimberly Ricci

New Teamsters chief, Sean O’Brien, who took over for the retiring James P. Hoffa in March, did not waste time attempting to rejuvenate the (historically) deep-pocketed union, which saw membership plunge in 2019 and throughout the pandemic. As he took office, O’Brien signaled his strike-hungry ways (he even described himself as “militant” in that way), and he wasn’t kidding. In fact, O’Brien busted out of the gate with plans.

For one thing, UPS employees haven’t gone on strike since 1997, but this summer’s nation-spanning heatwave appears to give O’Brien ammunition to pull that trigger. O’Brien appears to be setting the stage for battle ahead of the UPS national master contract’s expiration date of July 31, 2023. Teamsters officials already sent UPS drivers to rally in New York City to protest the sweltering temperatures in which they work. Given that the Teamsters claim to represent the interests of 350,000 UPS workers, it’s no wonder that O’Brien (who’s already threatening strikes) wants to make his reputation here.

The Teamsters are pulling a few more substantial cards this month:

(1) O’Brien threatened to send 17,000 Costco workers (who make $17 per hour minimum wage or higher, company-wide) on strike after contract talks hit a rough patch on the issue of higher wages;

(2) The long-running Seattle-area concrete truck-driver strike ended in April, but contract discussions have grown no closer to a deal. This month, Teamsters Local 174 rejected the latest offer from concrete companies as “unjust” while vowing to hold out for greater retiree benefits and better pay.

Blog Post

Healthcare Checkup
by Kimberly Ricci

Kaiser Permanente mental health care clinician strike (which is understood to be open-ended) continued for a second week as one of the U.S.’ largest healthcare employers grappled with canceling 1000+ appointments. The current strike remains centered in California but will expand to Hawaii, where mental health care workers will soon head to the picket lines.
On Hold: The SEIU-sponsored $25 minimum wage for California healthcare workers (at private hospitals) hit a roadblock after the Los Angeles City Council voted an ordinance into law, which was later signed by Mayor Eric Garcetti. Hospitals immediately opposed the ordinance (citing its cost as a burden) while asking for a repeal. The SEIU continues to push for the law to survive, and if the union gathers enough signatures, the issue could go to voters in November.
Some good news: The Mankato Mayo Clinic (in Minnesota) got the official greenlight from the NLRB to boot their union, which they allege foisted union fees upon them (Minnesota is not a Right To Work state) while waging unwanted representation, which the nurses described as a monopoly. The union fought the workers’ efforts all the way, even attempting to block a decertification vote.
Elsewhere, the Michigan Nurses Association sued the University of Michigan, which the union accused of refusing to bargain over workloads and wages for a new contract. In Buffalo, New York, almost 400 nurses walked out of the local Veterans Affairs center to protest staffing shortages and 20-hour shifts.
Covid 19 still very much looms and National Nurses United called upon the CDC to further weigh-in on protecting healthcare workers in the workplace

Blog Post

Fears Of The Future In Manufacturing

by Kimberly Ricci

The last time we checked in on this industry, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union wasn’t having a great time. Leadership had nowhere to hide from its long-running streak of corruption, and current (and possibly outgoing) UAW president, Ray Curry, presided over a mess of a constitutional convention, where strike pay got boosted and reverted, and he decided (for whatever reason) to skip out on his planned speech.

Let’s check in on the UAW and other unions who seem nervous about the future:

Robots launched some conflict between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA). The PMA made it clear that they’re good with the remote controlled cranes that assist with some of the heavier lifting at California ports. The ILWU, on the other hand, sees the issue as a sticking point for its 22,000 longshoremen in the state. The union’s attempting to put the brakes on what they see as automation and a threat to the jobs that currently pay their members an average of $195,000 per year.
The UAW’s getting ducks in a row to hold onto their dwindling membership numbers. First, the union issued a statement following the CHIPS for America Act (meant to prevent further auto-grade semiconductor shortages and resulting damage to the supply chain) in the U.S. Senate. Curry is also demanding pay scale guarantees for the 150,000 workers who work for GM and Stellantis. In doing so, Curry wants equal pay scales for those who work at new electronic vehicle battery plants or assemble gas- or diesel-powered vehicles and parts.
The United Steelworkers union filed three NLRB complaints to allege that Braeburn Alloy Steel (which is under a new owner) refuses to recognize the union after its contract expired in early July.

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Extra, Extra, Unions Keep Coming For News Workers

by Kimberly Ricci

Roundups for this industry frequently turn out to be a catchall for several realms, and this edition is no exception. There’s no reference to the God of Thunder this month, but we’ve still got a variety of developments to report.

About 130 tech and business workers at The Atlantic expressed their intent to unionize with the News Guild of New York, which already represents the publication’s editorial staffers. If successful, these workers will follow the example of the New York Times tech workers who organized earlier this year.
Hundreds of NewsGuild-CWA members from dozens of Gannett-owned publications walked out amid news that the company laid off at least 70 workers following “dismal” second-quarter financials.
The NLRB ended a battle between the Duke University Press Workers and the University, which had appealed a legal certification of the workers’ union due to challenged ballots. The university unsuccessfully pressed for a re-run election.
Animation workers continue to follow in their live-action counterparts’ footsteps in Hollywood. Post-production workers at Hollywood’s ShadowMachine (best known for Netflix’s BoJack Horseman) unionized with the Motion Picture Editors Guild.
The art world saw a 1-day strike at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass Moca), where 100 workers (including curators, technicians, and admissions staff) grew weary of contract negotiations between Mass Moca and their union, which is seeking a $18 minimum wage as part of a first contract.

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Fast Times For Fast Food Workers

by Kimberly Ricci

We recently suggested keeping your eyes on fast food workers in California, which is ground central for potential industry transformation that could reach far and wide. Assembly Bill 257 – the Fast Food Accountability and Standards (FAST) Recovery Act – calls for rules on wages and working hours. More importantly, the bill could grant fast food workers (who work in chains with 30+ California locations) the automatic power to bargain. This power would even allow them to bypass their employers and bargain with the fast-food industry as a whole through a “sectoral bargaining” mechanism.

Fast forward to this month: SEIU California and Fight for 15 campaign still lead the push for this legislation, which would install a Fast-Food Sector Council to represent about half a million workers. The state’s Senate Appropriations Committee has passed the bill, which is opposed by the California Restaurant Association and the California Chamber of Commerce. Both organizations argue that existing inflation and ongoing labor shortages not only prevent boosting wages, but this bill would actually increase inflation and burden franchise owners, many of whom are women and minorities.

In other words, keep watching California, and don’t ignore Pennsylvania, where tipped workers just saw a boost to their minimum wage. This happened by raising the tip threshold (from $30 to $135 per month) that is required before a worker’s hourly rate can legally be dropped from $7.25 per hour to $2.50 or lower.

On the federal level, the House of Representatives is taking on minimum wage in a different way. If HR 8442 (the “Worker Flexibility and Choice Act”) becomes law, then gig workers (including rideshare drivers and some delivery drivers) will no longer have the right to minimum wage, among other protections.

Blog Post

Airline Union Turbulence Ahead

by Kimberly Ricci

This summer’s airport chaos doesn’t seem to be winding down anytime soon with delays, cancellations, and staffing shortages still running amuck. To no one’s surprise, unions want to leverage the situation, which isn’t going so well at American Airlines.

The clashes between this airline and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) keep stacking up, this time with the union negotiating on scheduling. The issue continues to meet challenge after challenge with the pandemic thinning out staff, and the union now seeks to eliminate on-call status for senior flight attendants.

Interestingly enough, the union helped to create this chaos by making it possible (during the pandemic) for senior attendants to be paid not to fly while junior attendants worked. Now, the union and the company are both blaming senior attendants for contributing to travel chaos by signing on to more appealing flights and then trading them to junior attendants for a kickback. No easy solutions are coming for that mess.

Meanwhile, Delta continues to be the least-unionized major U.S. airline, but flight attendants (which haven’t unionized so far) want to change their status. Card gathering is underway, and that means that Delta’s 23,000 flight attendants could soon vote on whether to join the same union that’s causing so much increased friction at AA.

Blog Post

One Hotel Union’s Unusual Tactics

by Kimberly Ricci

The UNITE HERE union has begun lobbying efforts with an unusual request for local lawmakers in a D.C. suburb (Alexandria, Virginia). One union leader went on record (with The Washington Post) to express the union’s key demand for the City Council to deny permits for new hotels if they cannot guarantee high wages and other demands.

Attempting to shut down a city’s flourishing development is an unusual strategy, to say the least, and the union’s effort has already failed with two new building projects. Further, Democratic Mayor, Justin Wilson, told WaPo that the city likely doesn’t possess the power “to set up scenarios where unionization can be guaranteed.” Still, it’s always worth watching this story and any other newly emerging union strategies.

Blog Post

A Slight Wrinkle For The USMCA Trade Deal

by Kimberly Ricci

When it comes to the goal of stamping out union corruption in Mexico, the Trump-era U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) has produced impressive results so far. The USMCA paved the way for Mexican-based workers to democratically elect new unions that aren’t secretly pro-company, and the deal also provides for favorable tariffs for agricultural products, which is undeniably good for companies like John Deere that export agricultural machinery to Mexico.

The deal hasn’t, however, quelled fears for U.S. workers who fear that their jobs will be exported to Mexico. This could potentially affect thousands of UAW members in Iowa, although Deere has declared area jobs won’t be eliminated due to current job postings in Mexico. A U.S. trade representative has also defended (pay wall) the USMCA amid these workers’ worries, which creates an interesting wrinkle for a treaty that’s otherwise been well received for its bipartisan effects.

Despite this potential complication of the USMCA, the positive effects continue. Mexico released updated union-democracy guidelines that follow up on two years of research from the rapid response framework outlined in the USMCA, which will hopefully continue to push back at notoriously corrupt unions south of the border.

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About Labor Relations INK

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

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Contributing editors for this issue: Phillip Wilson, Greg Kittinger, and Kimberly Ricci

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Subject: Labor Relations INK August 2022