A growing number of workers across the country are forming unions to demand respect from their employers and a voice in their working conditions, and New Yorkers are helping lead the way.
Workers at several Starbucks stores in Buffalo have helped brew what is becoming a national unionization fight at that company. After the workers voted to unionize, it caffeinated efforts for other Starbucks organizing efforts across the country, with workers at more than 140 Starbucks stores in 27 states moving toward organizing a union, at press time.
Starbucks executives have made it clear that unions are not their cup of coffee through numerous union-busting tactics, including holding ‘captive audience’ meetings, cutting hours for pro-union workers, distributing anti-union material and closing locations.
Similarly, workers at several Amazon warehouses on Staten Island are among those fighting for a union. Amazon management has engaged in less than prime behavior toward workers, including union-busting tactics, retaliating against workers who support unionization and forcing workers to attend anti-union meetings.
As this edition went to press, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., were set to again vote on forming a union. The NLRB had ordered a re-vote after finding that Amazon officials had improperly intervened in the election. A media report noted that Black workers, who comprise 85% of the Bessemer location workforce, are playing a key role in the campaign.
At the national outdoor gear chain Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), workers at a lower Manhattan store recently overwhelmingly voted to form the retailer’s first union. The workers sought to form a union to help address issues related to wages, paid time off, scheduling, training and workplace safety concerns.
Workers seek respect
The union drives at these companies are among a wave of unionization efforts among retail, food service, cultural and manufacturing workers who lack a voice at work, including workers at Apple, Target and Hershey’s. They join tech workers, “gig economy” workers, museum workers, and university graduate students and adjunct professors who’ve been organizing in large numbers.
Some experts believe the pandemic has been a major factor in this organizing boom. Even before the pandemic, many workers on these jobs faced low pay, lack of benefits or retirement security, safety and health concerns and a lack of respect from management. These conditions often resulted in high turnover due to a lack of recourse for the workers and at many workplaces, support for a union wasn’t strong.
For many workers, the pandemic led to job losses. Workers who remained on the job over the past two years or returned to work after the initial 2020 shutdown are continuing to face their pre-pandemic conditions, with added concerns over COVID safety protocols and understaffing.
But that’s not all that changed during the pandemic. Workers realized that they don’t have to tolerate poor workplace conditions; they have rights to good jobs, strong benefits, a safe and healthy workplace — and respect.
The best way to have all of these improvements? A union.
Workers are increasingly taking action to gain empowerment through the power of collective action and strength in numbers. The great news, and perhaps another contributing factor, is that unions have more public support today than they have in five decades.
A September 2021 Gallup poll showed that 68% of respondents approved of unions, the highest rate since 1965. Among younger workers, approval of unions was 77%.
Workers are waking up to the union difference. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2021, union members who work full time made $1,169 in median weekly earnings, while nonunion workers made $975. Union members are also far more likely to have health benefits, retirement and workplace safety and health enforcement. The union difference is far more prevalent for women and people of color.
“In these most difficult times we’re living through, workers have taken it on the chin far too often,” said CSEA President Mary E. Sullivan. “Now they’re coming to the realization that they don’t have to go it alone or suffer in silence. There are strong voices who will join them to demand higher wages, better benefits and working conditions. Joining a union means that you are never alone and the time has come for more workers to recognize that.”
“America’s workers are in motion,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said during a recent virtual session on the state of unions. “It’s so exciting; it’s such a moment. We are an unstoppable force for progress. Coast to coast, workers are speaking out, standing up and demanding changes for better wages and working conditions, and a better future for our families. America’s workers are looking to unions as the vehicle to get to that better future. It’s up to us to organize unions in every sector, and we are.”
Gain the CSEA Advantage
CSEA and other union members know that the best way to gain respect in the workplace is through a strong union. When unions are strong, workers have more power and our economy grows stronger. Unions are truly key to our continued recovery from the pandemic.
Like many labor unions, CSEA is standing with working people who are fighting for respect. Not only do we support workers who are fighting for unions across the country, we are standing strong with working people who want to form a union with CSEA.
When working people organize a union with CSEA, they gain collective power. By joining our union, workers can fight for better wages and benefits, safer workplaces, secure retirement and a voice on the job. There is strength in numbers and when we fight together, we win!
Many of our union’s activists are key to these efforts to grow our union and help workers in general gain a voice on the job. In this edition, we highlight Town of Oyster Bay Local President Jarvis T. Brown, who along with his local’s executive board, has helped members of his community form a union. Brown is only one of many great examples of how CSEA members can effect positive change.
— Janice Gavin
Do you know a group of workers who are interested in gaining power on the job?
Contact our union’s Organizing Department at (518) 257-1400.
