Subject: The New Skill Sets Of Unions In High-Turnover Workplaces: LRI INK

May 25, 2023

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The New Skill Sets Of Unions In High-Turnover Workplaces

by Kimberly Ricci

Over the past few years, we have seen that no industry remains invulnerable to union activity. Sure, much of this activity was aided by pandemic conditions, yet here we are.


Unions are wily, too. Salts are progressively infiltrating the retail and food industries, and the Communications Workers Of America continue to chip away at tech workers through their CODE-CWA initiative. Almost absurdly, the United Auto Workers are increasingly composed of higher education workers, yet one must recognize these games for what they are: union efforts to adapt and survive.


Manufacturing no longer remains labor’s predominant stomping ground, and different tactics will come with that change in focus. The NLRB and the most pro-union presidential administration in history will also aid new union methods.

Still, unions must secretly see these times as challenging since their high media visibility has still yielded record low union density in 2022. So, one can expect their strategies to continue morphing. For example, organizers are wrapping their arms around high-turnover service sector workplaces in aggressive ways:


  • Heavy recruitment, focusing on job switchers: The fledgling Union of Southern Service Workers strategically formed a cross-sector organization. As such, the union can more easily retain members who switch jobs, say from the fast-food to the retail sector, with relatively seamless transitions. Existing union members are encouraged to recruit heavily by merely walking into random businesses (convenience stores? Yes, anywhere) to discuss working conditions. At meetings, members are asked to bring multiple newbies into the fold.


  • Holding events outside the workplace proper: Barbeques, ice-cream outings, and technology-based communication methods, including group chats, can woo the uninitiated. Some organizers have also petitioned to bar managers from break rooms to ease the flow of union-friendly propaganda.


  • Social media is a prime avenue for sharing union agendas: Those handy hashtags and mobile-friendly apps can reach remote workers and those on the frontlines of restaurants and retail shops. These are much stealthier versions than chatting at the water cooler.


  • Continued targeting of so-called “progressive” companies: Workers United succeeded at Starbucks, where baristas are likely to be college-educated, liberal, and prone to joining activist causes. These workers likely feel disillusioned by the current macroeconomic situation, yet they don’t have the union background to realize that salters keep their own (monetary) interests at the forefront. In other words, these workers are perfect union targets.


Are these new organizing tactics successful with high-turnover workplaces? Only sometimes. The Amazon Labor Union has successfully organized a solitary warehouse, Staten Island’s JFK8. This week, however, the NLRB decided to grease the union’s wheels by declaring that Amazon must allow access to workspaces for organizing purposes.


Also, museum workers across the U.S. are turning to unions out of frustration over wages. Retail workers at companies like REI continue grassroots efforts after feeling that forward-facing roles during the pandemic went unrewarded. These developments are worth watching as eyes remain on high-turnover workplaces.

Links

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Union Bailout

 

National Labor Relations Board Alleges Student-Athletes Are Employees Of Private University, Pac-12, NCAA

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Labor Cop Tackles USC, NCAA In Athletes’ Rights Case

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GOP Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Curb Labor-Relations Board's Authority Over Small Businesses

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New Legislation Would Drastically Cut Power Of Federal Labor Board

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California OSHA Indoor Heat Illness Standard Moves Forward In Standards Board Process

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Construction Company Principal Sentenced To Three Months In Prison In Connection With Worker Death On Construction Site In Poughkeepsie

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Organizing

 

“Salt” the South! Young Socialists Are Needed to Help Organize the Auto Industry

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Companies Are Taking A Harder Line On Union Organizers, Workers Say

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New Seasons Improves Conditions ... For Its Nonunion Workers

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Acclaimed Moon Rabbit Restaurant To Close In Face of Union Fight

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NLRB Prosecutes Starbucks For Defending Itself With Unions

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Subpoena Of Starbucks Union Conversations With Reporters Violates Labor Law, Judge Rules

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Starbucks Union Drive Hits Cornell With Day Hall Occupation

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Downtown NOLA Starbucks Workers Win Union Election

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Apple Again Accused Of Unfairly Disciplining Union Supporters; Company Denies Claims

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Amazon Covid Changes And CEO's Anti-Union Comments Broke Law, Labor Board Alleges

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Healthcare

 

Union To Strike At Group Homes Serving 1,500 Disabled Clients

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Resident Doctors Go On Strike At Elmhurst Hospital In Queens 

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HCA Healthcare And SEIU Reach Agreement To Avert Strike In California

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HCA Hospital Violated Labor Law In Pulling Union Recognition, Judge Says

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SEIU Healthcare Files Antitrust Complaint Against UPMC 

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Unions Accuse UPMC of Wielding Market Power Against Workers

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Media/Tech/AI

 

CNET Journalists Seek To Unionize, Saying AI 'Threatens Our Jobs And Reputations'

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Who Is Teamsters Bureaucrat Lindsay Dougherty, Head Of The Union's Motion Picture Local

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Education

 

More Than 1600 Sign Petition For Harvard To Raise Student Salaries To Meet Middlesex County Wages 

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Transportation

 

Pilot Contract Talks Are Tough. Allegiant Pilot Contract Talks Are The Toughest Of Them All

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Charlotte Airport Workers Join Union That Seeks Higher Pay At American Airlines Hubs

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NLRB Orders N.J. Construction Company To Bargain With Union 

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UAW

 

Tesla Lawyers Want Court To Reconsider Musk Tweet Deemed 'Threat' Amid Labor Dispute

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Michigan Webasto Workers Vote To Join UAW 

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Striking Clarios Workers Overwhelmingly Reject Second UAW-Backed Deal 

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Striking UAW Workers Dump Tentative Agreement At Clarios, Strike Enters Third Week

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Constellium Workers In Michigan Strike For Safety And A Living Wage

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UAW Hits Ford Supplier With Strike 

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The Man Who Will Help Determine The Fate Of 45,000 UAW Workers At GM (Paywall)

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Negotiations Continue At 2 Auto Suppliers As Strike Nears Two Weeks

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Negotiations Resume At Battery, Aluminum Parts Plants Struck By UAW 

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Teamsters

                        

A Nationwide UPS Strike Could Be Weeks Away 

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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, Michael VanDervort, and Kimberly Ricci 


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About Labor Relations Institute

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