An Amazon facility in Staten Island.* One REI store in NYC. Forty Starbucks stores out of 15,000 plus nationwide–so far. The union organizing gets headlines for sure, but is this a union movement?
Maybe. A better indicator is the increase in union petitions with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which are up 57% in the first half of 2022. Who is organizing is just as key as the amount of petitions. For the first time in history, many of those petitions–driven by nationwide Starbucks’ workers–are from accommodation and food service workers. Unlike manufacturing, these jobs cannot be shipped out of the country. The Biden administration has made union support a priority, as illustrated by the recent NLRB move to end mandatory employee meetings, where employers present their “side” on a union petition.
In the US, only 6% of private workplaces are unionized (compared to 1/3 of public sector). Yet the public shift in favor of unions is a much greater number: 68% of people surveyed by Gallup last fall approved of union membership. For context, that is a number not seen since 1965.
What should employers do? Communicate your benefits and policies well. Listen to employee concerns. And if you do get a union petition, we can help guide you through the dos and don’ts during that time.
*Amazon has filed objections with the NLRB and a hearing was granted on its claims against the union, including intimidation of workers. Stay tuned!