Starbucks and Amazon are experimenting with a joint venture: combined Starbucks/Amazon stores. And the workers at the second such store to open are seeking to unionize.
“We’re unionizing at this Starbucks because we are doing Amazon work for Starbucks pay and we’re not given the proper resources to manage a store of this type in such a high volume area,” a worker said in a statement. “We have partners that were coerced into working at this store using intimidation and miscommunication and not given any proper benefits when transferred here.”
● At the third Trader Joe’s store to vote on unionizing, the workers voted no, with 94 opposed and 66 in favor.
● Major fast food companies have formed a front group called "Save Local Restaurants" and are gathering signatures to try to overturn California’s new law that increases the fast food minimum wage and gives workers a role in setting industry standards.
● Jeff Schuhrke reports on Why Starbucks cares so much about a little pin. It’s a suicide awareness pin, by the way.
● "Work-life balance is at the center of this dispute": Alabama Westrock paper mill workers fight on, Jacob Morrison reports.
● Dining hall workers at Pomona College planned a two-day strike as the college refuses to increase their wages to a livable level.
● Victory on overtime for New York farmworkers, the Economic Policy Institute writes, with workers in line for an additional $34 to $95 per week.
● Starbucks is still refusing to bargain with its workers:
The 2022 midterms are just around the corner, and you sent us a ton of fantastic questions for this week’s episode of The Downballot. Among the many topics we cover: which states are likely to report results slowly—and how will those results change over time; the House districts that look like key bellwethers for how the night might go, and which might offer surprises; why and how Democrats make the hard decisions on which races to triage; the top legislative chambers to keep an eye on; and plenty more!
Sign and send the petition to Starbucks company leadership and board: Stop union-busting and sign the Fair Election Principles.