Labor reporter for Bloomberg News and Businessweek, covering the present of work. Email: jeidelson at bloomberg dot net. Pronouns: He, him. (Usual disclaimers)
NEW
@BW
cover story on green jobs & Shawn Fain, the UAW's paradigm-busting, incumbent-ousting, trash-talking, scripture-citing, Malcolm-X-quoting, billionaire-bashing, EV-embracing, Biden-pressuring, Trump-blasting, Musk-taunting, history-making president:
Republicans have won the popular vote in 1 out of the past 7 U.S. presidential elections, and Republican appointees are poised to hold 6 out of the 9 seats on the U.S. Supreme Court.
"One advantage Ocasio-Cortez has over some colleagues is that she consistently attends even the most mundane committee hearings, since she does not spend any of her day calling donors for money."
@danielmarans
@PaulBlu
@AOC
Scoop: A former Starbucks store manager has testified that higher-ups shared a list of union supporters at his store and told him to punish them
@SBWorkersUnited
"Go through her files...I'm sure there's something in there we can use against her"
Scoop: Starbucks managers have told baristas their trans-inclusive health benefits could go away if they unionize, staff in several states say in interviews and a new labor board charge “I know specifically, you have used the trans health-care benefits.”
Laid-off Carrier worker Quinton Franklin: "I honestly thought that my job had been saved... That turned out to be a lie. So I definitely feel betrayed and defeated..."
New: Since Trump's election, the top 100 federal contractors have been offshoring a record number of jobs, says
@GoodJobsNation
analysis being released tomorrow based on federal data
Scoop: Starbucks is closing an Ithaca cafe where workers recently unionized and went on strike. Company cites facilities, staffing, and "time and attendance" issues. Union filed retaliation claim with labor board and seeks injunction "Blatant act of war”
New: My
@BW
cover story on how and why the the Starbucks union movement has spread with such stunning speed and scope, and what comes next Reported from Buffalo, Boston, NYC, Virginia, Knoxville, Memphis, Mesa, Santa Cruz, and Seattle
New
@BW
feature: Staff were told not to reveal infections at Amazon, McDonald's, Delta, Cargill, Target, Cheesecake Factory, & REI, among 100s of firms that prohibited or punished talk of Covid cases or concerns,according to workers, complaints & documents
NLRB rules that when majority of staff sign up to unionize, employer can still insist on secret ballot vote, but if boss violates law in ways major enough to require overturning the election, company has to recognize the union rather than having a new vote
Scoop: Labor Board prosecutors have determined that Starbucks illegally fired seven activists at a Memphis store, and will issue a complaint unless the company settles
#MemphisSeven
@SBWorkersUnited
New: Bernie Sanders is introducing bill to let workers unionize via card check, ban “right to work,” legalize secondary boycotts, & expand labor law definition of employee, w/ fellow 2020 contenders Warren, Gillibrand, Harris, Brown among cosponsors
Scoop: Tesla retaliated by firing dozens of Buffalo Autopilot employees the day after workers announced union campaign, organizers allege in complaint: Union seeks federal court injunction. “A form of collective retaliation... designed to terrify everyone"
New: Employees at Tesla’s Fremont California car factory have formed an organizing committee with the UAW. After the UAW’s big wins at the Big Three, will this time be different? w/
@danahull
Breaking:
@UAW
is launching simultaneous public organizing campaigns at 13 automakers including Tesla, Toyota, and VW, and says thousands of workers there have signed union cards
I once heard Barbara Ehrenreich describe to a group of students and activists how a working class relative of hers was sort of puzzled at how her book "Nickel and Dimed" had become a hit. His reaction, she said, was basically: Doesn't everybody already know this?
New: Musk’s tweet about losing stock options by unionizing could be grounds for Labor Board charges, former NLRB chair tells me: “The employee is going to hear it as, ‘If I vote to unionize, stock options will no longer be an option.”’
@dmatkins137
@ShayneRarma
@NASA
Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare.
Scoop: Starbucks has fired union leader
@wowestlake
after sending him home dozens of times for refusing to remove a suicide awareness pin He says he wore it to call attention to management actions that hurt workers' health, and to honor a coworker who died
Following abrupt closure of newly-unionized DNAInfo and Gothamist,
@WGAEast
says it has reached agreement providing 3 months of benefits; 4 months of pay; members' "right to use their own work" including articles published there; no requirement to sign non-disparagement clauses
In an internal email, a Whole Foods higher-up told managers they couldn't let workers wear "Black Lives Matter" apparel, because that would be “opening the door for union activity.”
@BW
New
@BW
feature: Bezos said he’d gladly lose business for backing BLM. Then Whole Foods fired staff who wouldn't remove BLM masks. Now the company, defending itself from a complaint that could expand all workers’ rights, is effectively putting BLM on trial
Scoop: Tesla workers at Buffalo factory are launching a union campaign: Tesla Workers United Architects of Starbucks union are spearheading the effort. Autopilot workers say monitoring of their keystrokes & idle time causes some to avoid bathroom breaks.
New:
@BernieSanders
today is releases a sweeping plan to fundamentally overhaul US labor law, including establishing sectoral bargaining, ending at-will employment, and reversing key provisions of Taft-Hartley “I think the momentum is with us,” he tells me
Scoop: Labor Board prosecutors have determined Amazon held illegal Staten Island anti-union meetings and made illegal threats in them, and will issue a complaint unless Amazon settles, the agency says
Scoop
@BW
: REI has told workers unionizing hurts its "vibe" and would "put what you have at risk," & that union has "red flags" like not spending much on “social impact.” REI talking points say it’ll “ensure” no one has a better experience because of union
"The 500 million N95 air-filtering respirator masks President Donald Trump said the federal government ordered could take up to 18 months to be delivered, according to the grant application."
@shiramstein
Scoop: Speaking of free speech and the New York Times, the NYT has settled allegations by NLRB prosecutors that it banned workers from showing support for unionization if they were overseeing interns
Exclusive: NewsGuild just filed a Labor Board charge accusing the New York Times of illegally interrogating tech workers and restricting their rights, including by telling staff to take down pro-union Slack avatars and Google Meet backgrounds
@nyguild
New: NLRB says around 6,000 Amazon Alabama warehouse workers will vote by mail on unionization starting February 8, rejecting Amazon's push to hold the voting in-person
My feature in new
@BW
: How the American Worker Got Fleeced It's about a lot of what I've spent the past months/years covering:failed labor law, fissured work, the despotic U.S. workplace, & how the pandemic has brought things to a head, & offers an opening
Exclusive: Leader of today's Amazon warehouse coronavirus-related strike was just fired. He says it was retaliation. Amazon says it was enforcing safety rules by terminating him.
Scoop: Trader Joe's is following SpaceX in arguing that the US National Labor Relations Board, which is prosecuting cases against both companies, is unconstitutional:
Security guards at the Amazon warehouse had keys to the on-site mailbox the company encouraged employees to use to mail their ballots, a worker testified today at the Labor Board hearing
@spencersoper
@mattmday
New: The Labor Board opened its hearing today on union's bid to overturn the Amazon election result over alleged company misconduct, including telling employees if they unionized "Jeff Bezos would not lose any money by...shutting the facility down."
Scoop: Labor Board prosecutors have determined that "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard illegally threatened staff and enforced a social media policy that conflicts with workers’ rights Will issue complaint unless there's a settlement, NLRB says
Breaking: Labor Board sues Starbucks, seeking a federal court injunction to reinstate 3 activists in Arizona
Also asks that Starbucks be required to share with staff nationwide a video of court order being read by or with a high-level corporate official
Uber, Lyft, Instacart, Postmates, and DoorDash have put about $180 million – & a slew of in-app messages – behind their push for California Prop. 22, one of the most nationally consequential things on any ballot this year. Here’s some context on how we got here & what's at stake
CNN reporting Labor Sec. Alex Acosta is no longer in the running to become attorney general following Miami Herald's Jeffrey Epstein investigation
People who know Acosta have long said his real ambition is to become a federal judge
Union says Bernie Sanders campaign staff have ratified a union contract that guarantees days off (not on call) each month, $20 minimum and full health benefits for interns, rest breaks, vacation time, and protections for trans and immigrant staff.
New: Sanders campaign staff have joined
@UFCW
and secured recognition “We’re honored that his campaign will be the first to have a unionized workforce,” says
@BernieSanders
campaign manager
@fshakir
Exclusive: Conde Nast is converting the New Yorker's sub-contracted fact-checkers & editors into direct Conde employees after union pressure NewsGuild says it also secured a similar victory at the LA Times, resisting the increasing "fissuring" of U.S. work
Breaking: Over 300 Vox Media employees are mounting a one-day walkout today to pressure the company to finish bargaining a contract with them, a union spokesperson tells me. They are not writing or editing stories.
(Story on
@TheTerminal
- should be on web soon.)
Scoop: Hundreds of TV and film writers, including The Wire and House of Cards creators, urge Vox Media to settle a union contract with
@WGAEast
's
@vox_union
covering hundreds of editorial staff
Scoop: Amazon illegally called the cops on employees, prohibited discussing the union during work, and terminated an activist in the lead-up to a vote on unionization near Albany, US labor board prosecutors just alleged in a complaint
@amazonlabor
Exclusive: New York Times tech workers plan a half-day walkout Wednesday to protest what they say is illegal union-busting by management, and an effort to shrink their potential bargaining unit by a third
Scoop: Dozens of white-collar Starbucks employees, including managers, wrote a letter to company executives protesting alleged union-busting & return-to-office mandate. Workers say the collective action could be a precursor to unionization at Starbucks HQ
New: Since Trump's election, the top 100 federal contractors have been offshoring a record number of jobs, says
@GoodJobsNation
analysis being released tomorrow based on federal data
Scoop: Chipotle is telling its US employees not to put chicken in their own meals, so the company can "conserve our fan-favorite chicken" for customers. Workers say managers have threatened to discipline employees for having chicken in their employee meals
New: My
@BW
cover story on how and why the the Starbucks union movement has spread with such stunning speed and scope, and what comes next Reported from Buffalo, Boston, NYC, Virginia, Knoxville, Memphis, Mesa, Santa Cruz, and Seattle
New
@BW
feature: Staffing agencies have sued hundreds of foreign healthcare workers for quitting their jobs or refusing work, court dockets reveal. Now nurses are the ones suing, alleging human trafficking in a case that could change U.S. healthcare
New: In '20 & '21, ten activists got hired undercover at Starbucks around Buffalo, where–like others at Amazon–they laid groundwork for union triumph. Now they're training new recruits on how to do the same at all sorts of companies My feature in next
@BW
Exclusive: Employees at Amazon's Staten Island NYC fulfillment center are going public with a unionization campaign, backed by
@RWDSU
With billions in HQ2 incentives under scrutiny, “There’s never been greater leverage," the union's president tells me
Friendly reminder that federal law prohibits firing workers for organizing collectively to change their working conditions, not just for trying to unionize per se
After firing Trump's Labor Board general counsel Peter Robb - who deemed Uber drivers not to be employees with labor rights - Biden has chosen as Robb's acting replacement NLRB regional director Peter Ohr, who found that college athletes are employees with the right to unionize.
Scoop: Biden Administration has told Trump's Labor Board general counsel Peter Robb he can resign by tonight or else be fired.
NLRB general counsel has sweeping authority, and if left in place Robb's term would've run another 10 months.
w/
@IanKullgren
Contrary to this AP story, non-union workers also have the right to strike under U.S. law. Unionizing can provide more security & infrastructure to strike, but the legal right to strike (or protest your boss other ways) doesn't depend on being in a union.
New: A Bessemer, Alabama Amazon employee died Thursday after collapsing at work. He was taken to the hospital after being found in the bathroom of the warehouse, according to people familiar.
Scoop: Starbucks union has filed 20 more labor board charges, including allegations Starbucks threatened to shut down all its Buffalo region stores; fired activist Cassie Fleischer for organizing; and coerced staff via "captive audience" meetings
Scoop:
@WorkersUnited
just petitioned for unionization votes at two Boston-area Starbucks, days after winning a landmark vote in New York
Boston employees tell me they discretely circulated cards Friday and signed up a majority of co-workers within a day
New: Starbucks workers are gambling on a labor board process unions often avoid because of the wide berth it gives companies for union-busting and obstruction. But a victory at even one of the stores about to vote could be a watershed Reported from Buffalo
Exclusive: While Amazon disclaims liability for the treatment and actions of its sub-contracted drivers, confidential documents show it imposes extensive rules governing their fingernail cleanliness, tweets, training, data, NDAs, arbitration, and more...
New: “It was just like a slap in the face to me and my son,” Tesla ex-employee allegedly fired for failing drug test says of Musk’s live-on-camera marijuana use She says before test she’d discussed w/ Tesla her outside-work, doctor-recommended use of drops
New Joe Biden statement: “I strongly support California's Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act (AB 2183), which will give California’s agricultural workers greater opportunity to organize and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.”
Latest: “It looks like employees are getting their notices and at least some will be paid until January 4,” says the attorney who sued Twitter under WARN Act. “I am pleased that Elon Musk learned something from the lawsuit we brought against him at Tesla"
Scoop: Activision Blizzard violated federal labor law via interrogations of staff and coercive rules, statements, and actions, the Communications Workers of America union alleges in a U.S. labor board complaint
@CWAUnion
@CODE_CWA
Speaking of "cancelation," U.S. workers can legally be fired for almost any reason, or no reason. A groundbreaking NYC law changes that for 70,000 in fast food; executive action could do the same for millions
My feature in next
@BW
, based on 40 interviews
Scoop: Starbucks illegally fired an employee for engaging in union activism and proceeding in a labor board proceeding, a US labor board judge just ruled
@SBWorkersUnited
@SEIU
Scoop: Biden Administration has told Trump's Labor Board general counsel Peter Robb he can resign by tonight or else be fired.
NLRB general counsel has sweeping authority, and if left in place Robb's term would've run another 10 months.
w/
@IanKullgren
Bunch of Biden/Harris associates have advised Uber/Lyft or advocated compromise on how their gig workers are classified. One early test for Biden, who opposed Prop 22 and supported sweeping pro-labor reform, is whether he fires Trump’s NLRB general counsel
Scoop: The NCAA is an employer of college athletes (jointly with PAC-12 and USC), and violated federal law by misclassifying them as mere “student-athletes” rather than employees, US labor board prosecutors have determined
A US House committee has once again been renamed “Education & the Workforce” rather than “& Labor” now that GOP is back in control. GOP committee leadership says the term labor “is something out of a Marxist textbook” & “creates a sense of enmity between employees and employers”
Scoop: Cornell will end its contract to serve Starbucks coffee on campus, after Starbucks shut down all three of its unionized corporate cafes in Ithaca and students mounted a sit-in and passed a student government resolution urging the school cut ties
A coalition of city and state lawmakers, academics, and activists, including SF D.A.
@chesaboudin
@ NY Sen.
@JuliaCarmel__
, is urging that the AFL-CIO expel the International Union of Police Associations & ask AFL-CIO unions to exclude law enforcement:
.
@ewarren
: "lots of big changes that a Biden-Harris administration can achieve through executive orders & agency action on day 1...Issue enforceable OSHA health and safety standards for covid-19...Raise the minimum wage for all federal contractors to $15"
King County
@MLKLabor
council just voted to expel the Seattle Police Officers Guild. Proposal passed with 55% support. "Any union that is part of our labor council needs to be actively working to dismantle racism in their institution and society at large," council head says.
New:
@WGAEast
union urges AFL-CIO expel cop union AFL-CIO head Trumka has urged law enforcement unions discuss "internal reforms & the development of a code of excellence to create systemic change from within the union” including monitoring and enforcement
In 2017, former Labor Secretary Tom Perez beat Congressman Keith Ellison to become chair of the Democratic National Committee. Today Ellison is the Minnesota AG who led the murder prosecution of George Floyd's killer Derek Chauvin; Perez is a partner at a management-side law firm
Former Labor Secretary & DNC Chair Tom Perez is now partner at Venable, "assisting clients with legal, legislative, & regulatory matters"
Venable's work includes "helping employers control costs, avoid disputes, & defend themselves"
Workers have voted to unionize Starbucks' Seattle "roastery" mega-cafe in NLRB election, 38-to-27, the union announces. "The bonds we share between workers are our greatest strength," employee says. "We can resist and thrive, even among a storm of disinformation & fear-mongering"
hey I just met you
and this is crazy
but if you're going to claim the story is factually inaccurate then how about offering an example of a fact in it that is not accurate
Citing FDR,
@BernieSanders
campaign site now has "Anti-Endorsements" page listing criticisms of him or his plans from Lloyd Blankfein, Kenneth Langone, Andy Puzder et al
AP: “Amy Coney Barrett served for nearly three years on the board of private Christian schools that effectively barred admission to children of same-sex parents and made it plain that openly gay and lesbian teachers weren’t welcome in the classroom.”
After a Minneapolis Trader Joe's worker posted a sign in the break room saying, “We need a living wage, not a pizza party,” management launched an investigation and questioned employees about it, an employee tells me
@TraderJoesUnite
Scoop: Trader Joe's United has filed a labor board complaint alleging the company fired an activist in Brooklyn to try to discourage organizing:
@TraderJoesUnite
Follows complaints union filed about alleged union-busting in Massachusetts and Minnesota
Laphonza Butler, the former president of one of SEIU's largest locals and current adviser to Kamala Harris, has been advising and representing Uber in its dealings with organized labor as the company seeks a deal to avert drivers being classified employees
Exclusive: Teamsters, who had met w/ Uber about potential deal, joins letter telling CA gov they oppose any proposal letting tech platforms "exploit workers by treating them as independent contractors with substandard protections" or creating 3rd category
Scoop: U.S. labor board prosecutors plan to accuse Amazon of punishing an employee for advocating for a Juneteenth paid holiday, and threatening Staten Island staff that if they unionized it could propose paying them minimum wage
Last July in Oval Office, Biden told Fain it was time for a “come to Jesus” chat, & suggested he was doing his part to support autoworkers, according to people familiar, who say Fain told Biden "We don't agree." In September Biden joined UAW's picket line
NEW
@BW
cover story on green jobs & Shawn Fain, the UAW's paradigm-busting, incumbent-ousting, trash-talking, scripture-citing, Malcolm-X-quoting, billionaire-bashing, EV-embracing, Biden-pressuring, Trump-blasting, Musk-taunting, history-making president:
Starbucks' appeal of a decision ordering a union election, which was due last Friday, was mislabeled and filed with the wrong part of the labor board, Starbucks' law firm Littler said in a new NLRB filing today that ends "Thank you in advance for your...professional cooperation"
The Twin Cities have become an epicenter of Amazon worker activism, led by East African Muslim immigrants who organizers say make up the majority of staff in the 5 warehouses there Now workers plan to strike on Prime Day next week
Breaking: Reuters journalists are striking Thursday for the first time in decades, saying management refuses to bargain in good faith and is offering just 1% guaranteed raises per year
@newsguild
@nyguild
Numerous New York Times editorial employees are tweeting "Running this puts Black
@NYTimes
staff in danger" in response to New York Times' publishing Tom Cotton's "Send In The Troops" op-ed urging "an overwhelming show of force to disperse, detain & ultimately deter lawbreakers"
Scoop: Starbucks illegally refused to negotiate at 21 recently unionized cafes in WA & OR, labor board prosecutors allege Complaint says CEO Schultz should be forced to attend reading of a worker rights notice & Starbucks should have to negotiate regularly
New: My
@BW
cover story on how and why the the Starbucks union movement has spread with such stunning speed and scope, and what comes next Reported from Buffalo, Boston, NYC, Virginia, Knoxville, Memphis, Mesa, Santa Cruz, and Seattle
Scoop: DoorDash prohibited office employees from discussing working conditions, fired one because of organizing efforts, and used illegal interrogations and surveillance, US labor board prosecutors alleged in their first-ever complaint against the company
Latest: NLRB general counsel Peter Robb writes that he's declining the new Biden Administration's request he resign, saying it would "permanently undermine" the agency: Robb is a former management-side attorney who helped Ronald Reagan defeat PATCO.
Scoop: Biden Administration has told Trump's Labor Board general counsel Peter Robb he can resign by tonight or else be fired.
NLRB general counsel has sweeping authority, and if left in place Robb's term would've run another 10 months.
w/
@IanKullgren
IATSE members say time abuses seemed just baked into the job, until time home with families shifted their perspective, social media discussions heightened their agitation, and the overwhelming strike authorization vote gave them a new sense of strength
New: From Amazon to Hollywood to Chipotle to John Deere to Kellogg's, workers are resisting the ways they say companies steal, strain, and regulate their time "You're only existing to do that job," an IATSE cameraman told me
#Striketober