It’s Yom Kippur, and first and foremost I’d advise anyone who’s fasting to go to bed, it passes the time faster. Second, I’d like to ask for your forgiveness for all my wrongdoings, such as this delayed newsletter. It will happen again, but I have other positive personal qualities. Third, just the usual disclaimer that I trimmed some lower-frequency stuff (and might have just missed a few other things) since we’ve got an epic mega-edition this week. Finally, if you’re in the Twin Cities or Alabama, I’d implore you to go to one of the upcoming Troublemakers Schools Labor Notes is putting on. Not to be missed!
STRIKES & NEGOTIATIONS
The country got within 20 hours of the first national freight rail strike in three years, with 120,000 workers ready to walk (or, just as likely, get locked out by the carriers) before Marty Walsh tweeted that it was all over. The main upshot is that it is not. But it is deferred, at least until mid-October or, more likely, December 9th. Where we stand is whatever happened in that room with Marty Walsh, Joe Biden, the heads of SMART-TD and BLET (and maybe the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen? Unclear) and the heads of the freight rail carriers, they managed to kick the can past the midterms, past the major harvests, and into December. Just this past week the Machinists District 19 announced a new TA as well, delaying their September 29th strike deadline all the way to December as well, and the IBEW announced that their members voted to ratify their deal, making them the third of the dozen unions to sign a deal. The biggest wildcard is the BMWE, the third-biggest union involved, whose vote results will be announced on October 10th, but who as far as I’ve seen haven’t announced whether they’re joining up on the December 9th strike deadline or if they’d consider walking earlier. In terms of the content of these TAs, there was nothing you could reasonably call “sick days” added, with just some very limited medical time off allowed (with 30 days notice, has to be a routine or preventative visit, and has to happen on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday) and no penalizations for hospitalization or surgery (which believe it or not is a new addition). It’s hard to see these all passing ratification, considering where members were at before the new TAs were announced and how little additional benefits are in the new deals, is my personal sense of things. Shout out to AP reporter Josh Funk for compiling all the voting deadlines, if you’re wondering when there may be news.
12,000 Kroger workers in Ohio with UFCW Local 1059 voted down their third tentative agreement and authorized a strike, which compelled Kroger to add literal pennies to the wage scale on offer. Workers will vote again this week, until they get it “right,” presumably; members tell me the union has now combined the contract ratification vote with another strike authorization vote, and is invoking the 2/3rds rule of the UFCW constitution (you can read it here, Article 23(D)5) that states unless 2/3rds of members vote no, they won’t strike. Meanwhile, around 800 Kroger workers in South Bend, IN with UFCW Local 700 approved a contract with Kroger, avoiding a re-run of the local’s difficulty in ratifying a deal in Indianapolis.
In the big long strikes department, Mel Buer of the Real News went on the Valley Labor Report to give an update on the UAW Local 807 & 180’s forever-strike at CNH in Burlington, IA and Racine, WI. Meanwhile, the UMWA strike at Warrior Met in Brookwood, AL drags on (what’s another hundred days here or there) and in I guess good news, the NLRB has downgraded the financial penalty the union has to pay the company back down to the $400,000 range as opposed to the $13 million they were recently assessed, per Warrior Met strike reporter extraordinaire Kim Kelly. At Ingredion in Cedar Rapids, striking members of BCTGM Local 100G marked their two-month anniversary on the line with no apparent movement at the table.
The Teamsters have found themselves in a mini-strike wave at Sysco, with some 200 workers with Local 317 in Syracuse, NY walking out this weekend, and another 250 have walked out in Boston with Local 653; when the latter group walked off, the union extended the picket line to 250 workers with Local 104 in Tolleson, AZ, where there’s been a low-grade labor dispute boiling since at least August, with at least one shift disrupted by a worker walkout. There isn’t a master Teamsters contract at Sysco, but the Teamsters can extend these localized strikes to raise the temperature at the employer as a whole as various local agreements expire or the employer commits unrelated unfair labor practice charges, plus it’ll be interesting to see what, if any, impact the activity has on new organizing at Sysco locations; there have been seven union election filings at Sysco locations in the past two years alone.
Airlines and airports: In San Francisco, 1,000 airport food service workers with UNITE HERE Local 2 struck for three days and apparently won a $5 an hour raise and free family healthcare. Meanwhile, outside the airports, the Southwest Airline Pilots Association has asked for mediation (a formality under the Railway Labor Act but technically an escalation nonetheless) and picketed at airports, as did the Southwest flight attendants with TWU Local 556, who also asked for mediation in July. Delta pilots with ALPA are one step ahead of both of them, having initiated a strike authorization vote. And for all the UPS hubbub on the ground, their 1700 aircraft mechanics with Teamsters Local 2727 have quietly reached a new two-year TA, though still subject to ratification.
Public sector: Some fascinating and unusual public sector strike activity, with non-union public workers in Selma, AL’s cemeteries, Lowndes County, AL’s highway department, and workers in Hinds County, MS all striking. Thanks to the Valley Labor Report for covering the Alabama strikes, and to the ILR Labor Action Tracker for putting the Mississippi strike on my radar. In more conventional public worker activity, SEIU Local 521 city workers almost but didn’t strike in Santa Cruz, CA.
Over 1,000 mill workers for Weyerhaeuser in Longview, WA have been on strike with Machinists District Lodge W24 since mid-September; 100 more Machinists with Local 2018 who manufacture pipes for Elkhart Products in Elkhart, IN have been on strike for a couple weeks against what one worker described to a local reporter as “the worst contract I have ever seen.” Across the country, another wood mill (though not Machinists) owned by WestRock in Russell County, AL is facing down a strike of 450 workers with Steelworkers Locals 971, 1471, and 1972.
And speaking of potentially-striking USW members, 1,100 Steelworkers at Constellium in Ravenswood, WV are facing down a strike deadline (source = workers who’ve reached out to me, and I haven’t seen any reporting on it) as workers have voted down a contract over sick days (currently, the workers get none) and subcontracting; apparently a last, best, and final offer is being presented by the company before the strike deadline but only changes the wage offer. 2,000 Steelworkers for Cleveland-Cliffs mines in Minnesota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula have ratified a four-year deal; 12,000 other Cleveland-Cliffs workers are still voting on their separate contract, with results expected October 12th. We’ll see whether that moves anything over at US Steel, where the company has filed unfair labor practice charges against the union while 11,000 workers work under a contract extension since September 1st, during which time the company has apparently not responded to the union’s proposals. Bargaining is set to resume this week.
It wouldn’t be a newsletter without some Starbucks Workers United strikes – like the one in Atlanta, or the one in Ladue, MO, or the one in Raleigh, NC, or the 64-day strike workers just won in Boston. Meanwhile, the company is nowhere near done breaking the law, and has now forced out Jaz Brisack, one of the campaign’s most public leaders. In the meantime, the company now says it wants to bargain, giving a three-week window for bargaining at all 240-some stores that have won a union vote, which on the one hand sounds like progress and on the other hand sounds like they are trying to blitz the union with their army of corporate lawyers, maybe force some unfair labor practice charges, not actually, you know, settle an agreement that workers can live with.
And hell, why not some Amazon shop floor action as well, in classic spots like Staten Island, NYC, plus newcomers like Stone Mountain, GA and St. Charles, MO. More to say on Staten Island in particular, but some dust is settling as I finalize this week’s edition, so will kick to next week.
Workers with UAW Local 9 Brewery Workers began info pickets after having voted down a contract in September and having authorized a strike over the summer, but I haven’t seen any updates in the past couple weeks.
With all the healthcare union activity, one would think we were living through, like, a historic pandemic and massive nursing shortage. Last we checked in, the Minnesota Nurses Association was launching a massive three-day 15,000-worker strike, which ended without a contract (as expected) and negotiations still drag on after six months, per local reporting. In Northern California, 2,000 mental health workers at Kaiser with NUHW rejected a contract offer to end the strike and remain on the picket line. In other mental health worker news (and other Minnesota news), over 100 workers for Allina with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota are on a 3-day strike, while their counterparts at M Health reached a last-minute tentative deal, averting a strike. CWA Local 1168 and SEIU 1199 have a tentative agreement for 6,000 workers for Kaleida in Buffalo, while the 6,000 Michigan Nurses Association members who’d authorized a strike at the U of M not only have a deal but have ratified it. 1400 healthcare workers who were set to strike for five days with SEIU UHW at KPC Health in Southern California ended up settling, 30 Illinois Nurses Association nurses at Howard Brown Health in Chicago also got a last-minute deal to avert a strike. Nursing home workers at Sunnyside nursing home in Fresno, CA held a one-day strike with SEIU Local 2015, and workers with IFPTE Local 20 at Sutter Health in Santa Rosa, CA also struck for a day, as their contract has expired. Some 1800 workers with 1199 SEIU at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore are apparently geared up for a strike (though this local reporting mentions October 1st, and I haven’t found any updates for the past ten-ish days). Two PASNAP-represented units at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia held info pickets as their contracts expired at the end of the month.
180 members of AFSCME Local 397 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art are on an open-ended strike that includes such radical demands as raising the minimum wage to $16.75. The Philly workers are the latest of at least a half dozen museums that have organized across the country over the past year into AFSCME and UAW.
K-12: One of the biggest conventional local union contracts in the country has expired with little fanfare, as NYC’s 120,000 UFT members watch Eric Adams using his “swagger” to refuse to bargain and implement massive budget cuts. It’s all connected to broader municipal union negotiations and retiree healthcare, which was dramatically changed this year and means retirees (and future retirees, i.e., everyone) face uncertain but certainly ballooning costs. Elsewhere in K-12 unionism, though, things have mostly trended towards cease fire; the Seattle teachers strike has ended, as has the Ridgefield, WA strike. Peoria, IL educators ratified a contract after a strike threat, and San Francisco teachers have a TA, but some say more is needed.
Higher ed: Higher ed seems to be a little bit more restive, with some 150+ grad workers with Teamsters Local 170 at Clark University in Worcester, MA striking for a first contract, having won their union a few months back. 1500 blue collar workers with Teamsters Local 320 at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis are set to strike on October 10th if they don’t have a
deal by then.
At Labor Notes, Luis Feliz Leon looked at UNITE HERE Local 355’s strike threat at a big hotel in Hollywood, FL, and how just the credible threat is sometimes enough to get the goods. Sometimes, as CWA member Thomas Ham writes for Labor Notes, you need more than a threat, even if it’s over something as everyday as first-aid kits.
The expiration deadline of the contract covering 50,000 USPS workers with NPMHU (a Laborers affiliate) came and went with a brief bargaining update, and nothing in the two weeks since. There’s no threat of a strike here, but would be curious to know what exactly is holding things up, and how members feel about it, as that’s a large contract.
Despite the information blackout, the Wall Street Journal says all is not quiet on the western ports, as ILWU negotiations for 22,000 longshore workers drag months beyond their expiration date, and some localized disputes are cropping up, with workers weighing a picket in Seattle, skipping a shift in Tacoma, and refusing some work in Los Angeles. This Container News report has some more detail on the Seattle issue, but rumor is that there’s just a generalized slowdown, something that’s hard to report on but in step with longshore union culture. I’m not saying there is or there isn’t, but if you’re in the know and want to tell me one way or the other, I’m all ears.
POLITICS & LEGISLATION
Lee Harris has a fantastic and wide-ranging piece at the American Prospect on the shift to a green economy, unions’ role in it, and the Democratic Party.
At Vox, Rachel Cohen looks at the two big state labor referenda on the November ballot, in Illinois and Tennessee. I’m sure there are many local labor referendums, but one that stuck out to me was the San Diego building trades’s effort to repeal a ban on project labor agreements (which, in their best form, enforce prevailing wages and the hiring of union labor) in the city.
After what felt like an unprecedented amount of Democratic Party leadership pressure on Gavin Newsom (where was this heat for, like the PRO Act? I mean, it’s good, but man I guess they really hate Newsom), California now has a Farmworkers-backed labor reform bill that gives farmworkers card check (but also caps the number of elections at 75 per year? And other quirks).
Meanwhile, the Teamsters have shown that their union PAC, the DRIVE (Democratic, Republican, and Independent Voter Education) Fund still lives up to its name, with the Teamsters Ohio Conference endorsing prominently evil GOP Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. It’s worth noting that, like all brave union political directors, the Ohio Conference waited until DeWine was a lock to make a move, and also worth noting that according to one official of the Ohio Conference, “the conference’s major purpose was to supplement the salaries of officials in less prosperous locals.”
Rebecca Rainey and Ian Kullgren at Bloomberg looked at UNITE HERE’s midterm electoral campaign, which I thought was interesting both for its tactical combination of door-knocking and on-the-spot job fair, but also in the wake of the union’s probably decisive canvassing program in the 2020 elections.
And it’s not a union bill per se, but I thought, apropos of a massive hurricane, it’s worth highlighting Representative Cori Bush’s new bill to protect workers during climate disasters.
INTERNAL UNION POLITICS
OK, there were a lot of union conventions over the past few months, and for most of them I couldn’t find much business of substance beyond resolutions in support of this or that unobjectionably good thing and re-election by acclamation of various union gerontocrats, but there were some notable highlights from ATU’s convention last month, where the union doubled and expanded strike pay and committed to open bargaining and internal organizer trainings, nuts-and-bolts reforms that can meaningfully impact worker power on the job and in the union.
Citing financial mismanagement at the local, AFSCME has trusteed the 17,000-member Local 1549 representing 17,000 clerical workers in NYC city government, representing over 10% of the massive District Council 37.
NEW ORGANIZING
Note: because this is a three-week edition, I left out some of the smallest of the small filings. Believe it or not, I do have some basic considerations for brevity.
New election filings at the NLRB:
Big units: 1,000 more grad workers at MIT in Cambridge, MA are joining the UE; 4,000 others at MIT already voted yes in April, but this unit is the “fellows.” Elsewhere in Massachusetts higher ed, 500 grad student workers at the Worcester (MA) Polytechnic Institute are organizing with the UAW; further west, 78 residential advisors at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA are unionizing with UFCW Local 1459; elsewhere in higher ed, 668 non-tenure-track faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago have officially filed for an election (after announcing the campaign in May) with AFSCME Council 31, joining hundreds of others who’ve unionized at the Art Institute and its School over the past year. In Erlanger, KY, 900 DHL workers are officially unionizing with Teamsters Local 100, having filed a petition after openly organizing for some months. 550 workers for Utility Line Construction Services in Region 10, headquartered in Indian Trail, NC, are organizing with IBEW Local 379. 360 workers for virtual gambling platform Evolution (no, I don’t understand how there are 360 of them or what they do exactly) are unionizing with the UAW. As I covered for More Perfect Union, 274 workers in Philadelphia are forming an independent union at Home Depot, the first ever at one of the country’s largest employers. 240 physician assistants at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NYC are joining the existing 1199 SEIU unit there. A third Trader Joe’s store has filed to join the independent Trader Joe’s United, this time covering 185 workers in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; the filing comes just days after one of the lead worker organizers was fired. Read Eric Blanc’s interview with Jaz W in Jacobin. Relatedly, 125 workers at another location of New Seasons in Portland, OR are joining the independent New Seasons Labor Union. Having announced their campaign last month, 180 workers at GE Aviation in Auburn, AL have formally filed to unionize with IUE-CWA. 180 hotel workers at St. Louis’s Union Station Hotel are organizing with UNITE HERE Local 74. 142 more Starbucks workers at eight stores have filed to join Workers United over the past three weeks, in 17 in Chicago, Elmhurst, IL, Seattle, Albany, NY, Arlington, VA, Santa Clara, CA, Easton, PA, and Shavano Park, TX. 111 workers at a homeless shelter, Compass Family Services, in San Francisco are organizing with OPEIU Local 29.
Medium units: 89 school bus drivers for First Student in New Britain, CT are unionizing with Teamsters Local 671. 75 concrete production workers in Selkirk, NY are unionizing with Operating Engineers Local 158. 65 nursing home workers at Divine Rehab in Toledo, OH are unionizing with SEIU 1199 WV/KY/OH; 60 more at Heartwood in Tacoma, WA are joining SEIU Local 775; 56 workers at Allina’s Courage Kenny Rehab in Golden Valley, MN are organizing with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa; six more at Whitney Rehab in Hamden, CT are joining UFCW Local 371. 65 dispensary workers at Element 7 in South San Francisco, CA are unionizing with UFCW Local 5; 64 at RISE in Henderson, NV are joining Local 711; 25 at Chicago’s Windy City Cannabis are unionizing with Local 881; nine at Good Day Farms in Affton, MO are joining Local 655; and seven more at Jenny’s Dispensary in Bend, OR are joining Local 555. 64 workers at the Newberry Library in Chicago are unionizing with AFSCME Council 31. 61 workers at independent bookstore McKay Books in Knoxville, TN are unionizing with CWA. 55 workers for construction materials company Knife River in Stockton, CA are organizing with Teamsters Locals 439 and 150 (both are listed on the filing, probably working together); 17 inventory clerks at a Safeway in Tracy, CA are also joining Teamsters Local 439. 50 workers who make antifreeze and related products for Prestone in Alsip, IL are unionizing with the UAW. 45 workers at Presbyterian Hospital in Espanola, NM are organizing with NUHHCE District 1199NM (AFSCME), 39 therapists at CommonSpirit Methodist Hospital in Sacramento are joining SEIU UHW, and 11 clericals at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park, PA are joining NUHHCE District 1199C (AFSCME). 42 workers at Pacific Architectural Wood Products in Portland, OR are forming an independent union, Millworkers United. 35 strawberry farmers for Bowery Farming in Kearny, NJ (I don’t get it either) are unionizing with UFCW Local 888. After the big win at the local Heine Bros chain, 35 more baristas at Sunergos Coffee in Louisville, KY are joining (oddly enough) the National Conference of Firemen & Oilers (primarily a railroad union), which is somehow an affiliate of 32BJ SEIU (primarily a janitorial and doormen union); 28 at Ultimo in Philadelphia are joining Workers United, as are 10 more baristas at Little Dog by the Met in Brunswick, ME. 32 A/V workers at Houston’s Wortham Center are joining IATSE Local 51. 31 food service workers at Eglin Air Force Base, FL are unionizing with OPEIU Local 4873. 26 workers at the Utica, NY zoo are joining CSEA Local 1000 (AFSCME).
Small units: 16 workers tasked with decommissioning the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Generation site in Plymouth, MA are joining the Laborers (and maybe some are joining the Carpenters and Iron Workers, though the listing is ambiguous). 15 tree trimmers for Lewis Tree Service in Farmington, NH are joining IBEW Local 1837. 14 distillery workers at Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey in Denver are unionizing with UFCW Local 7; the local is also organizing eight workers at oil change chain Grease Monkey in Broomfield, CO. 18 workers at the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Times Square, NYC are unionizing with the UNITE HERE Hotel & Trades Council in two elections; 16 hotel workers at the Hampton Inn in Glen Allen, VA are joining “Hotel Workers United” which I have no idea if that’s a UNITE HERE front or an independent thing or what; and seven clericals for Interstate Management Company, which I think is a hotel/motel operations contractor, are joining UNITE HERE Local 1 in Chicago. 15 mechanics at a Kia dealer in Duluth, MN are unionizing with Machinists District Lodge 77. 11 workers for demolition company Dyno Nobel (yes, that Nobel) in Ishpeming, MI are joining the Steelworkers. 11 workers at Deep Roots tattoo shop in Seattle are joining UFCW Local 3000. Eight facilities workers at Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas are joining Operating Engineers Local 501. Eight meatcutters at various Roth’s Fresh Markets stores in Oregon are joining UFCW Local 555. Five digital journalists for KCBS radio in San Francisco are joining what appears to be an independent union, the Digital and Multimedia Workers Union. Five warehouse workers for construction equipment dealer Ziegler in Columbus, MN are joining Operating Engineers Local 49. Four sprinklerfitters for contractor TP Mechanical in Dayton, OH are joining UA Local 669. Four school bus drivers for First Student in Fairhaven, MA are joining UFCW Local 1459 (which is jurisdictionally odd). Four hospice workers in western Washington are joining Machinists District Lodge 751.
NLRB election wins…: 727 nurses at Ascension Seton Hospital in Austin, TX have won the biggest hospital union in Texas, joining NNU in 385-151 vote; Texas Observer has the story. In one of the biggest manufacturing NLRB wins in the 21st century (I haven’t dug into all the stats, but I’m pretty sure this is in the top 10), 692 workers at Bobcat in Bismarck, ND voted 348-288 to join the Steelworkers; it’s the biggest NLRB win in the state since at least 2007, as far as the NLRB’s site goes back. The Starbucks Workers United campaign added 236 members after ten stores voted a combined 93-28 to unionize in Houston, San Antonio, and New Braunfels, TX, Louisville, Albuquerque, Albany, NY, Springfield, OR, Greeley, CO, Westlake, OH, and Mount Pleasant, MI. 217 non-tenure-track faculty and librarians at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY voted 102-54 in two votes (full-time and part-time) to join SEIU Local 200. 182 workers who make electrical transformers for VTCU in Pocatello, ID voted 66-45 to join Operating Engineers Local 302, the biggest NLRB win in the state since 2019. 180 workers at homelessness services agency Step Up On Second Street in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and San Bernardino narrowly won their union with SEIU Local 721, 56-43, in a rerun of an election the union lost in May. 168 workers for Accent Controls at three naval bases in Southern California voted 81-1 to join the Machinists District Lodge 725. 121 workers at the Dia Art Foundation in NYC, the Hudson Valley, and at the Lightning Field in New Mexico voted a whopping 101-6 to join, you guessed it, UAW Local 2110. 103 workers at Las Vegas construction contractor Black Iron Reinforcing voted 33-26 to join the California District Council of Iron Workers. Another 103 workers at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA joined AFSCME Council 93, 38-9. 87 school bus driver for NRT Bus in Framingham, MA voted 39-36 to join Teamsters Local 170. 73 workers for Alcatraz Cruises in San Francisco voted 52-11 to join the Inlandboatmen’s Union (ILWU), and 13 more at P&R Water Taxi in Honolulu voted 6-5 to do the same. 69 workers for Diversified Gas & Oil in West Virginia voted 44-21 to join the Steelworkers. 55 workers at the Oakland (CA) Zoo voted 46-4 to join Teamsters Local 853. 46 workers at a Rise dispensary in Effingham, IL voted 28-8 to join UFCW Local 881, but Teamsters Local 777 isn’t out of the Illinois weed game yet, as 42 dispensary workers in Schaumburg voted 39-1 to join; and 17 dispensary workers at Zen Leaf in Phoenix voted 9-1 to join UFCW Local 99. 45 coffee workers at several locations of Brewing Market in Boulder, CO voted 30-5 to join BCTGM Local 26. 42 crisis intervention workers (these are police alternatives for mental health and other crises, I believe) for White Bird Clinic in Eugene, OR voted 36 to zero to join Teamsters Local 206. 39 “doughnuteers” at Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, OR voted 16-6 to form Doughnut Workers United. 35 drivers for Bueno Beverage Company voted 17-15 to join Teamsters Local 948. 34 A/V workers for the Minnesota United Soccer Club in Golden Valley, MN voted 18-9 to join IATSE. 19 workers for military contractor Sonoran in Enid, OK voted 14-0 to join the Machinists. Another location of retail chain Half Price Books has unionized, with 17 workers voting 9-8 in Louisville to join UFCW Local 227, as that union drive quietly rolls on. 14 mountain bike patrollers for Mountain Capital Partners in Durango, CO voted 6-0 to join CWA Local 7781. 13 painters for Specialty Finishes in Seattle voted 6-0 to join Painters District Council 5. 13 social services workers at Jefferson Franklin Community Action Corporation voted 4-3 to join Teamsters Local 610; seven workers at a similar organization, Central City Concern in Portland, OR, voted 6-0 to join AFSCME Council 75. Twelve workers at a Tuality Healthcare clinic in Hillsboro, OR voted 7-0 to join AFSCME Council 75 and seven endoscopy techs at PeaceHealth in Springfield, OR voted 6-1 to join SEIU Local 49. Eight social workers at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital in Williamsville, NY voted 5-3 to join CWA. Eight A/V techs at several job sites for big hotel and conference center contractor Encore Group voted 4-1 to join IATSE Local 611. Seven concrete truck drivers for IMI in Scottsville, KY voted 6-1 to join Teamsters Local 89. Seven building services workers for a condo complex in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC voted 5-0 to join SEIU 32BJ. Six workers who do telecom work for a subsidiary of the East Central Oklahoma Electric Cooperative in Okmulgee, OK voted 5-1 to join IBEW Local 1002. Six staffers for energy efficiency non-profit Energy Wise in New Orleans voted 4-1 to join IBEW Local 130. All six diesel engine workers at Cummins in Horseheads, NY voted to join the Machinists. All four air traffic controllers at the Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee, WI voted to join PATCO (not the AFSCME PATCO but the OPEIU-affiliated PATCO, I believe, that is in an “alliance” with the Teamsters (?); I know people have schooled me on this before, I just, for all my obsessive attention to detail, have not been able to keep this one straight, and the most active/relevant air traffic controllers unions is NATCA anyway). Four workers who make hydrogen peroxide for Evonik in Tonawanda, NY voted 3-0 to join International Chemical Workers Local 76C (UFCW). Four building operations workers at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, PA voted 2-1 to join Teamsters Local 776.
…and losses: 302 workers who make Morningstar veggie burgers for Kellogg’s subsidiary Worthington Foods in Zanesville, OH voted overwhelmingly, 82-141, against joining the BCTGM. 73 Starbucks workers at three stores in Burbank, CA, Lafayette, LA, and Easton, PA voted a combined 23-30 against joining Workers United. 72 RNs at Sharon Hospital in Sharon, CT voted 23-33 against joining AFT. 70 drivers for convenience store supplier Core-Mark in Wilkes-Barre, PA voted 12-38 against joining Machinists Local 1363. 54 dispensary workers at 8 CBD Kratom shops in Manhattan, NYC voted 6-7 against joining UFCW Local 2013. 43 workers at Ethan Crossing drug rehab center in Springfield, OH narrowly lost their vote to join AFSCME Council 8, 20-21. 30 workers who operate a wastewater treatment plant in Hoboken, NJ voted 9-19 not to join IBEW Local 1158. 19 freight truck drivers for CPC Special Logistics in Rockford, IL voted 5-10 against joining Teamsters Local 325, and nine US Foods drivers in West Wareham, MA voted 3-5 against joining Teamsters Local 59. Nine workers for Eversource Energy in Berlin, CT voted 4-5 against joining IBEW Local 420. Seven transit supervisors subcontracted out from CT Transit in Stamford, CT deadlocked 3-3 on joining Teamsters Local 191. Six electrical workers and warehouse workers for Alpha Technologies which does I’m not sure what in Tempe, AZ voted 2-4 against joining IBEW Local 640. Four sprinklerfitters for Foothills Fire Protection in Scottsdale, AZ voted 1-3 against joining UA Local 669.
Decertifications and raids: 475 subcontracted airport ground services workers for JetStream in Charlotte, NC are at the center of what looks like a turf war between the Machinists and SEIU 32BJ; it looks similar to the dynamic playing out in Newark for contractor Swissport, where, again, the Machinists filed and 32BJ “intervened” (though that latter term can be deceiving; that’s how the Board lists a union that’s getting raided or trying to get on a ballot on someone else’s petition or occasionally a union assisting in a drive). 160 workers who make excavator buckets for Werk-Brau in Findlay, OH stuck with Iron Workers Local 851 against a decert attempt, 46-20. 95 workers who build manufactured houses for Wisconsin Homes in Marshfield, WI stuck with the Machinists in a failed decert vote, 45-37, while 67 steelworkers at PCC Structurals in Portland, Clackamas, and Milwaukie, OR voted 17-46 to drop the Machinists. 53 public safety officers and drivers at the William D. Backus Hospital in Norwich, CT decertified their independent union, 13-34. 42 janitors for subcontractor Eurest/Compass working at I believe Johnson & Johnson HQ in New Brunswick, NJ are organizing with 32BJ but either being raided by or raided from the dubious Novelty and Production Workers Local 1931. 20 school bus drivers for M&J Bus in Suffield, CT voted 9-7 to keep their union, UFCW Local 1459. 19 workers at a Volvo truck parts distribution center in Reno, NV voted 9-6 to remain with the UAW. 19 workers who I believe do textile manufacturing for M. Chasen & Sons in Irvington, NJ voted 7-4 to stick with UE Local 155.
Outside the NLRB, I wrote about how Geico workers in Buffalo are organizing their independent union, against harsh and maybe illegal employer resistance. At In These Times, Hamilton Nolan looked at the independent union phenomenon writ large, and what it means about the existing unions. And if an insurance union isn’t exotic enough for you, how about a bank union? Workers at Wells Fargo and a 1400-employee credit union in New York are also organizing.
Elsewhere outside the NLRB, the first three US Congressional offices staff voted to unionize in Reps. Andy Levin, Ilhan Omar, and Ro Khanna’s offices. In Cottage Grove, MN, 342 school support staff voted 303-10 to join Teamsters Local 320, and 502 aircraft mechanics for Spirit Airlines voted 245-59 to join AMFA (h/t to @UnionElections on both of those, as I don’t always keep up with non-NLRB vote counts).
Lots of higher ed news, even beyond the NLRB stuff above: Boston University grad workers have gone public with their big campaign to organize with SEIU Local 509; grad workers at Duke in Durham, NC have dropped cards in their campaign to join SEIU, which was inconclusive after their last vote in 2017; and the UE signed up over 1,000 University of Chicago grad workers in a single day (all credit goes to me, for having worked for like seven weeks on the 2017 AFT organizing drive at the U of C, which, um, planted the seeds, or something).
Two exciting union efforts are looking to grow their ranks, with a date set for the next Amazon Labor Union election outside Albany, NY and the workers who unionized the first Chipotle union in Lansing, MI looking to spread their movement across the fast food chain with the help of EWOC.
Regarding UFCW Local 1459 organizing bus drivers... they represent 66 of the most random units ever. When I was a grad student at UMASS Amherst in the mid 2000's, I worked at the Stop and Shop grocery chain, where they represented the clerks, and I was a meat cutter assistant, but represented by Local 371 of the UFCW (ya two locals for workers in each store). I got a job working as an organizer for Local 1459 for a short time, as part of my grad student program in Labor Studies, and we were reaching out to massueses and bus drivers... https://ufcw1459.com/units/