A trade union or labor union, often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages and benefits, improving working conditions, improving safety standards, establishing complaint procedures, developing rules governing status of employees and protecting and increasing the bargaining power of workers.
Recreational Equipment, Inc., doing business as REI, is an American retail and outdoor recreation services corporation. It was formerly governed, and continues to brand itself, as a consumers' co-operative. REI sells camping gear, hiking, climbing, cycling, water, running, fitness, snow, travel equipment, and men, women and kids clothing. It also offers services such as outdoor-oriented vacations and courses. Unlike other outdoor sports stores, it does not sell hunting or fishing equipment.
Union busting is a range of activities undertaken to disrupt or weaken the power of trade unions or their attempts to grow their membership in a workplace.
New Seasons Market is a chain of neighborhood grocery stores operating in the Portland, Oregon metro area, and southwestern Washington. Some of the products offered are organic and produced locally in the Pacific Northwest, but conventional groceries are also sold.
Littler Mendelson P.C. is a U.S.-based law firm that specializes in labor and employment law. They have been widely described as a "union busting" firm. The firm has offices in 28 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, France, Denmark, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Venezuela.
The history of union busting in the United States dates back to the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution produced a rapid expansion in factories and manufacturing capabilities. As workers moved from farms to factories, mines and other hard labor, they faced harsh working conditions such as long hours, low pay and health risks. Children and women worked in factories and generally received lower pay than men. The government did little to limit these conditions. Labor movements in the industrialized world developed and lobbied for better rights and safer conditions. Shaped by wars, depressions, government policies, judicial rulings, and global competition, the early years of the battleground between unions and management were adversarial and often identified with aggressive hostility. Contemporary opposition to trade unions known as union busting started in the 1940s, and continues to present challenges to the labor movement. Union busting is a term used by labor organizations and trade unions to describe the activities that may be undertaken by employers, their proxies, workers and in certain instances states and governments usually triggered by events such as picketing, card check, worker organizing, and strike actions. Labor legislation has changed the nature of union busting, as well as the organizing tactics that labor organizations commonly use.
The Indianapolis streetcar strike of 1913 and the subsequent police mutiny and riots was a civil conflict in Indianapolis, Indiana. The events began as a workers strike by the union employees of the Indianapolis Traction & Terminal Company and their allies on Halloween night, October 31, 1913. The company was responsible for public transportation in Indianapolis, the capital city and transportation hub of the U.S. state of Indiana. The unionization effort was being organized by the Amalgamated Street Railway Employees of America who had successfully enforced strikes in other major United States cities. Company management suppressed the initial attempt by some of its employees to unionize and rejected an offer of mediation by the United States Department of Labor, which led to a rapid rise in tensions, and ultimately the strike. Government response to the strike was politically charged, as the strike began during the week leading up to public elections. The strike effectively shut down mass transit in the city and caused severe interruptions of statewide rail transportation and the 1913 city elections.
Trade unions in Colombia were, until around 1990, among the strongest in Latin America. However the 1980s expansion of paramilitarism in Colombia saw trade union leaders and members increasingly targeted for assassination. As a result, Colombia has been the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists for several decades. Between 1986 and 2010 over 2800 labor leaders were killed according to one source, and over 4000 according to others. Most assassinations were carried out by paramilitaries or the Colombian military; some were carried out by the guerrillas. In 2009 only around 4% of workers in Colombia were unionized.
Philip Andrew Miscimarra is a partner in the labor and employment practice of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, and he is a former American government official who served as the chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). He first joined the NLRB as a board member appointed by President Barack Obama in 2013, and he was named chairman by President Donald J. Trump in 2017. Prior to his appointment to the NLRB, he worked as a Morgan Lewis partner in Chicago. After his service on the NLRB ended, Miscimarra joined Morgan Lewis in Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Miscimarra is also a senior fellow in the Wharton Center for human resources at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
Tensions between the multinational technology company Google and its workers escalated in 2018 and 2019 as staff protested company decisions on a censored search engine for China, a military drone artificial intelligence, and internal sexual harassment.
Some warehouse workers of Amazon, the largest American e-commerce retailer with 750,000 employees, have organized for workplace improvements in light of the company's scrutinized labor practices and stance against unions. Worker actions have included work stoppages and have won concessions including increased pay, safety precautions, and time off. There are unionized Amazon workers in both the United States and Europe.
The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees or CODE-CWA is a project launched by the Communications Workers of America to unionize tech and video game workers in January 2020. It sprung out of conversations with Game Workers Unite (GWU) and employed at least two full time staff, including GWU co-founder Emma Kinema and veteran SEIU organizer Wes McEnany. In 2022, Jessica Gonzalez joined, a former Activision Blizzard QA tester.
The New York Times Guild is the union of New York Times editorial, media, and tech professional workers, represented by NewsGuild since 1940. As of March 2022, the Times Tech Guild, is the largest tech union with collective bargaining rights in the United States.
Apple Inc. workers around the globe have been involved in organizing since the 1990s. Apple unions are made up of retail, corporate, and outsourced workers. Apple employees have joined trade unions and or formed works councils in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States.
As of June 2024, over 10,000 workers at over 400 Starbucks stores in at least 40 states in the United States have voted to unionize, primarily with Workers United. As of March 2023 none have yet enacted a collective bargaining agreement. This unionization effort started at a store in Buffalo, New York. About a third of Starbucks' Chilean workforce is already unionized, as well as 450 workers in New Zealand and eight stores in Canada. The longest Starbucks strike lasted 64 days, took place in Brookline, Massachusetts in September 2022 and resulted in the unionization of the employees at that location.
Tesla, Inc. is an American electric car manufacturer which as of January 2024 employs over 140,000 workers across its global operations, almost none of whom are unionized. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has commented negatively on trade unions in relation to Tesla. Despite allegations of high injury rates, long hours, and below-industry pay, efforts to unionize the workforce have been largely unsuccessful. As of May 2024, there are active labor disputes with Tesla in the United States, Germany and Sweden.
ABK Workers Alliance is a group of organized workers from video game company Activision Blizzard. Formed in response to a July 2021 state lawsuit against the company for harassment and discriminatory work practices, the worker advocacy group A Better ABK organized walkouts and demonstrations against the company's policy and practices. The quality assurance workers of subsidiary Raven Software went on strike in December after part of the team was fired. The striking workers announced their union as the Game Workers Alliance in late January 2022 and offered to end the strike pending their union's recognition.
Jaz Brisack is an American barista. They're also known for leading unionizing efforts at Starbucks, namely at a Buffalo, New York store.
Microsoft recognizes 7 trade unions representing 1,750 workers in the United States at its video game subsidiaries Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax Media. US workers have been vocal in opposing military and law-enforcement contracts with Microsoft.
Starting in 2022, workers from several Trader Joe's grocery stores have voted on whether to unionize. A store in Hadley, Massachusetts, became the first to unionize and created Trader Joe's United, an independent union unaffiliated with national unions. Stores in Minneapolis, Louisville, and Oakland joined them. Other workers have organized with the United Food and Commercial Workers. Trader Joe's, a chain with over 500 locations and over 50,000 employees, is known for its neighborhood store vibe and over-the-top customer service, which has sometimes clashed with its working conditions. Corporate management has a history of resisting staff unionization efforts. Driven by COVID-19 pandemic working conditions, American service sector organization increased, and Trader Joe's worker concerns over safety, pay, and benefits contributed to their union drive.
US$585.2 million (2022)