Tell Starbucks: Stop union-busting closures
From the Stand: https://www.thestand.org/2022/11/tell-starbucks-stop-union-busting-closures/ SEATTLE (Nov. 29, 2022) — On Monday, Nov. 21, Starbucks announced it would close another store in Seattle. Again, it just happens to be one of the unionized locations, Broadway & Denny, which was the first store in the city to form a union with Starbucks Workers United in a unanimous vote back on March 22. Rather than negotiate a first contract in good faith with its unionized workers, Starbucks continues to bust the unions by retaliating against union supporters and closing unionized stores. This is illegal, but Starbucks continues to do it — despite complaints from federal authorities and members of Congress — because U.S. labor laws and the penalties for breaking them are so weak that the company has deliberately chosen to commit illegal acts to discourage further organizing. In fact, in the city where the company was born, they are stepping up the union-busting. With the latest store closure in Seattle, that will make four unionized stores that have been shuttered. The Broadway and Denny store is slated to be closed on Dec. 9, the one-year anniversary of the first Starbucks Workers United union election win in Buffalo, N.Y. TAKE A STAND — Starbucks Workers United Seattle is urging all to show their support for Starbucks workers by taking one or more of the following actions: — Send a direct message to Starbucks District Manager Taylor Pringle and his boss Regional Director Nica Tovey and tell them what you think of their actions in your own words. — Sign the pledge: “No contract, no coffee!” — Contribute to the hardship fund. A GoFundMe hardship fund has been set up to help Starbucks workers who have been retaliated against or had their store closed. As Starbucks continues to close stores, company executive are citing “safety concerns” and their desire to protect employees as the reason. Many in the commercial media are buying it and simply parroting the company line. But with the latest store closure announcement, The Stranger’s Conor Kelley decided to actually get up from his desk and go talk to some of the Starbucks workers. He found that the workers tell a much different story than management: “They say the closures all followed a similar pattern, one designed to bust up union activity rather than to address safety. Now, workers worry about following the company’s safety directives for fear of having their own stores closed.” In the face of Starbucks’ illegal retaliation, its employees have continued to join together in unions. The current wave of union organizing at Starbucks began in December 2021 with a store in Buffalo, N.Y. There are now 264 Starbucks stores in 36 states have won union elections, including 17 in Washington state. Just 59 stores have lost an election. Dozens more Starbucks stores have filed for a union and are awaiting NLRB-supervised elections, including three more in Washington. __ Tacoma Art Museum opts for union busting From the Stand: https://www.thestand.org/2022/11/tacoma-art-museum-opts-for-union-busting/ The following is from Tacoma Art Museum Workers United: TACOMA (Nov. 23, 2022) — In a rushed vote, the Tacoma Art Museum Board refused to voluntarily recognize our union, TAM Workers United (TAMWU), which has more than 80 percent support among our coworkers. A statement released by the museum illustrates a deliberate mischaracterization of what voluntary recognition of a union entails, despite our efforts to educate the board in person and in writing since going public with our union drive. The statement also bears the marks of the outside counsel the museum recently hired, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, one of the largest “union avoidance” firms in the country. “Voluntary recognition is a legal pathway to unionization, categorizing it as anything else is simply misinformation and union busting,” said Eden Redmond, an institutional giving manager at TAM. “It’s disappointing, but we have great support from unions across Washington, the community in Tacoma, and workers at TAM, and we’re ready to keep going.” “Again the board is making institutional decisions without the input from community or staff, showing they would rather rush to anti-union tactics than collaborate and hear from museum workers,” said Joe Liwag, a visitor services representative at TAM. “This vote is just another example as to why the museum needs to be unionized,” said Carrie Morton, a visitor services representative. “Decisions are made at TAM with little transparency and with little regard for the stakeholders or our community. The problems at TAM are systemic and an overwhelming majority of workers agree that the solution is a strong union.” TAKE A STAND — Show your solidarity by signing the community support letter. Also, be sure to follow TAM Workers United on Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates. The museum’s willful ignorance about what, exactly, unions do has been a source of concern for us since the start of our union drive, and was again present in the museum’s statement. Our good-faith attempts to educate the Board or at least delay a vote until they could become informed were in vain. “The Board described the union’s grievances as the result of bad behaviors and communication, and therefore outside the scope of what unions do,” Redmond said. “But that’s exactly what unions do- they make structural changes that secure workers rights no matter who is in power. We wanted to talk about a system, and they changed the subject to talk about individuals. This mischaracterizes our work and is a blatant union-busting tactic.” Stephen Rue, lead preparator at TAM added, “Given that Thursday’s meeting was the first time the TAM Board has met since the unionization effort was made public one month ago, it is clear their denial was made in haste without fully understanding the legal process of voluntary recognition nor all the issues at stake.” We understand that unions are not granted by employers, though they can be. They are voted into existence by workers themselves. If we need to create our union that way, without the good will of our employer, we are determined to do it. “TAMWU will continue forward, united as workers spanning all departments of our museum, to bring to the community the message that denial of voluntary recognition is unacceptable and unionization is key to fixing the systematic wrongs that the TAM Board is now hiding behind as reason for their refusal.” Since the pandemic began, the Governor has put in place various Executive Orders requiring employees to be vaccinated for Covid-19 – or to have a valid exemption from the vaccine, and an approved accommodation, in order to remain employed. WPEA does not have a contractual requirement for members to be vaccinated in Higher Education. The vaccine requirements have been the result of the Governor’s Executive Orders.
On November 1, 2022, those Executive Orders are expiring. When that happens, higher education employers are free to lift the vaccine requirements for employees. Some employees filling certain positions may still be required to be vaccinated, for example employees in positions funded by specific grants may continue to require vaccinated employees. As with other employers, higher education employers may decide to have certain rules and requirements that are stricter than what is required by law. On July 1, 2023, the terms and conditions of the new Higher Education contract between the WPEA and the State of Washington will be in effect. All contracts are a compromise - there are contract changes we do like that go along with the changes that we do not like. The 2023 – 2025 Higher Education contract is no exception. This new contract, unlike our current contract, will require vaccination for Covid-19. To be clear, the Employer’s higher education bargaining team, which included representatives from colleges covered by our contract, insisted that the new contract include a vaccine requirement for employees. As bargaining was drawing to a close and your WPEA bargaining team was still refusing to agree to any vaccine requirement in the new contract, the bargaining team for the Employer (which includes the Employer’s representative from your college) insisted that the vaccine requirement for employees be tied to certain economic benefits. For example, the $1000 lump sum payment to employees who receive the Covid-19 booster would only be included in the contract if the vaccine requirement for employees was also included. Your WPEA bargaining team including the classified staff from the various colleges deliberated and debated long, hard, and passionately on this choice. Not only was this a demand from the Employer in their last, best, and final offer, but your bargaining team understands that the overwhelming majority of our existing members are in fact fully vaccinated. Some unions walked away from the additional lump sum income for their members. WPEA’s bargaining team was not going to turn down additional income available to over 90% of our members if they choose to get a booster, despite other unions making the decision to deny their members that opportunity. In the end, your bargaining team decided that the economic benefit to you as members who had already been under the vaccine requirement for more than two years, was too great to pass up. Your team decided to go with the economic payments on the table that the Employer’s team had made clear would only be available if a vaccine requirement was also included. Your team represented the interests of our existing members and WPEA members ratified this agreement by an overwhelming majority. The administration of some colleges are stating that the WPEA required vaccinations in the new contract. To be clear, this is not true. The vaccine requirement was an Employer demand from the very beginning of negotiations. The only way your bargaining team could get the Employer to agree to a contract that did not include a vaccine mandate, was to agree to a contract with a lower economic package to our members. Your bargaining team is charged with negotiating the best possible contract for you as a member. The financial loss of this choice was not one that your bargaining team was willing to make. If you have any questions about the new contract or vaccine requirements, please contact the local bargaining team member from your college or WPEA Contract Administration Director Amanda Hacker at [email protected] Good day to you all,
Please be advised that due to limitations caused by a lack of quorum, the Executive Board meeting scheduled for this Saturday, October 29th, is cancelled. An emergency meeting on November 19th will be set to reschedule for this cancelled meeting. The Executive Board will ensure that all previously scheduled content is reviewed at that time. As for other meetings, please email [email protected] if you would like to give comment or suggestion at the next meeting. The union is YOU and your input in necessary for the Executive Board to make the decisions that best reflect and assist the membership. In Solidarity, Dana Spain Greetings:
I am writing today to share some updates about Eastern Gateway Community College (EGCC) and the UFCW Free College Program. As you may remember, earlier this year, EGCC was forced to suspend the Free College Program by the Department of Education due to the Department’s belief that the Program violates Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965. In response, EGCC filed an injunction against the Department of Education to allow the Program to continue while it is under review. I am pleased to report that a judge granted the preliminary injunction meaning that EGCC will be opening enrollment for the Free College Program today, October 25th to current students. While this is certainly great news for our members and their family members who are currently enrolled in the Program, we are still waiting for the Department of Education to issue a Final Program Review which will determine the ultimate future of EGCC’s Free College Program. Therefore, we are still asking local unions to continue to hold off promoting the Program as a benefit of union membership until we are more certain about its future. Local unions should feel free to notify existing students that they are eligible to enroll in the upcoming semester. Those students should go to EGCC’s website for more information: https://egcc.edu/union-inquiry-form/. Please know that we remain determined to find a way to continue to make sure our members have access to the education programs they have earned and deserve. Thank you for all you do to support our union family and we will continue to share updates with you as we receive them. Sincerely and fraternally, Marc Perrone UFCW President If you or someone you know applied for a 2022 WPEA Scholarship, we are asking those to forward their submission again. Please forward the email that was sent, to ensure the date stamp of your submission to [email protected]. Previously, our email system did not forward those emails, and we never received them. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your hard work in preparing your scholarship information.
WPEA has decided to open a second round of scholarships for those that didn't apply during the first round. More information is to come this week - stay tuned! Join our Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) union siblings on September 13 in collective action!
Tomorrow, the Washington Federation of State Employees is taking to the I-5 overpass across the state to demand better working conditions and wages in their contracts. As a fellow Washington public sector union, our strength lies in solidarity. If you want to support labor and see change, join in! By following the link at the location nearest you, you can identify the meetup location and help show strength in the Washington state labor movement. Start times are between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m., depending on the location. Locations include: At several of our worksites, we work side by side with WFSE members. A rising tide raises all ships - let's be part of the change we want to see in our workplaces! For more information about the event, click here. Help celebrate Labor Day with some great events around Washington! Click Here to View Events.
Come celebrate the working people in our area, and the victories we’ve seen in the past year. Bring the whole family for free food and refreshments, children’s entertainment, and most of all FUN and SOLIDARITY! Tonight's steward training has been cancelled, due to lack of attendance. If you would like to attend the next training, make sure to check out your email for the invite.
OLYMPIA – People across Washington can now call 1-833-829-HELP for the latest information on Monkeypox virus (MPV). This call center is an expansion of DOH’s efforts to provide information to Washingtonians. Two weeks ago, DOH activated their Incident Management Team (IMT) to dedicate their time and efforts to the growing cases of MPV.
Through an ongoing partnership with Washington 211, call takers will answer questions about MPV risk factors, vaccine information, testing and treatment from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday, and 6:00 a.m.to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and observed state holidays. In addition to calling 1-833-829-HELP, callers can continue to dial 1-800-525-0127 and press # to be transferred to a Washington 211 specialist. Language assistance is available in 240 languages. Call takers will not be able to schedule vaccine appointments. “As we navigate the MPV outbreak in Washington state, we cannot underestimate the need for our community members to address their questions and concerns,” said Umair A. Shah, MD, MPH, Secretary of Health. “We are pleased to partner with 211 to meet this crucial need.” The best thing you can do to protect yourself against MPV is to know the risks and take precautions. Despite misinformation, we want to be clear that anyone who has close contact with a person with an infectious rash can get MPV; it is not exclusive to any community. MPV can also spread through touching objects, fabrics and surfaces that have been used by someone with MPV, and contact with respiratory droplets during prolonged face-to-face contact. If you have an unexplained rash, cover it, avoid skin-to-skin contact with others, and see a health care provider. They will determine what testing and treatment may be available. If you’ve been exposed to someone with MPV, contact a health provider or your local health jurisdiction to discuss whether you are eligible for vaccination. More information is available on the Washington State Department of Health MPV information page. It’s about time! The Freedom Foundation is finally taking the hint! WPEA was just informed that the Freedom Foundation has withdrawn their request for information on anyone in a WPEA represented position. None of your information will be released now. We know they may come back and ask again but that won’t change anything for us. They still can’t get your personal information no matter how many times they ask!
When the Freedom Foundation asks for your name and union affiliation, what do we tell them? |
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