On Friday, Starbucks workers started a three-day strike at as many as 100 stores, following a one-day, 110-store walkout last month.
The workers are protesting the closure of some stores that have unionized, as well as Starbucks management’s refusal to negotiate in a timely way, as the company continues to drag its feet on reaching a first contract agreement at any of the more than 250 stores that have unionized so far. While Starbucks has lost a large majority of union representation votes held so far, the refusal to negotiate represents ongoing efforts to break the union. That’s on top of all of the union activists it has fired or disciplined at stores across the country.
“The main reason why we’re taking this action is because of unfair labor practices the company is engaging in that the NLRB is investigating,” Collin Pollitt, a Starbucks worker and organizer in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, said. “The most recent are the denial of credit card tipping to union stores, hours cuts and the closing of union stores.”
“They’re doubling down on their union-busting, so we’re doubling down, too,” union activist Michelle Eisen said in a statement. “We’re demanding fair staffing, an end to store closures, and that Starbucks bargain with us in good faith.”
● Public defenders in Maryland voted to unionize by some truly staggering margins. They were able to unionize after the state legislature passed a bill legalizing it, and overrode Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of the bill. They want improvements to pay, workload, and retention.
● This is infuriating on so many levels: private equity-backed child care chains see universal child care as a threat to their profit margins. Why? It could “place downward pressure on the tuition and fees we charge, which could adversely affect our revenues,” according to one. Sorry, parents, no affordable child care for you—Bright Horizons and Kindercare need higher profit margins!
● No union? You still have a right to strike.
● Unions were central to the fight to win a millionaire tax in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Teachers Association President Max Page explains how they did it through years of organizing.
● Proposed New York state minimum wage legislation would boost wages for nearly 2.9 million workers, the Economic Policy Institute’s Sebastian Martinez Hickey explains.
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Well, that was an awesome way to finish out the 2022 election cycle! Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard revel in Raphael Warnock's runoff victory on this week's episode of The Downballot and take a deep dive into how it all came together. The Davids dig into the turnout shift between the first and second rounds of voting, what the demographic trends in the metro Atlanta area mean for Republicans, and why Democrats can trace their recent success in Georgia back to a race they lost: the famous Jon Ossoff special election in 2017.
We're also joined by one of our very favorite people, Daily Kos Elections alum Matt Booker, who shares his thoughts on the midterms and tells us about his work these days as a pollster. Matt explains some of the key ways in which private polling differs from public data; how the client surveys he was privy to did not foretell a red wave; and the mechanics of how researchers put together focus groups. Matt also reminisces about his time at "DKE University" and how his experience with us prepared him for the broader world of politics.