Obvs the Amazon win has been the big US union news of late, but Starbucks workers have been doing great stuff as well:
They’re young, optimistic and they want a union
How a bunch of Starbucks baristas built a labor movement.www.vox.com
Amazon, Starbucks and the sparking of a new American union movement
Successful union drives at two of America’s biggest companies were led by committed individuals, rather than established unions.theconversation.com
Until December, none of Starbucks’ roughly 9,000 corporate-run US coffee shops were unionized—owing in part to the company’s aggressive resistance to organizing, but also to the relatively strong pay and benefits that give Schultz so much pride. (By August, all US employees will be guaranteed a minimum wage of $15 an hour.) Now workers at more than 60 locations in 17 states have voted to join Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, following the lead and advice of first-mover baristas in Buffalo. Employees at about 175 more Starbucks have petitioned the federal government for votes of their own.
White believed he could help push the pendulum back by targeting workers who might otherwise not receive organizing resources from a major union and building better tools for organizers, who typically rely on a hodgepodge of tech platforms and software to run their campaigns.
He contemplated going the traditional path and starting a nonprofit to help workers organize. But after talking to people at labor nonprofits, he concluded that “if the idea was to very quickly be able to spin up and meet a lot of worker interest — including software, which is notoriously expensive to build — being able to raise money quickly was important.”
So he turned to tech investors.
Bahat led Unit’s $1.4-million pre-seed round. A rare outspoken supporter of the labor movement among venture capitalists, Bahat has concluded that it’s the best path toward restoring economic justice in the U.S. economy.
“Work has failed millions and millions of people in the U.S., who have tried to work hard and been unable to provide a decent life for themselves and their families,” Bahat said, and “organizing is one of the ways that workers can demand more.” He recently attended the Labor Notes conference in Chicago, a gathering of the left wing of the U.S. labor movement, and is convening an Aspen Institute roundtable on organized labor.
He sees Unit as a sound investment, likening its business model to the recurring revenues of software-as-a-service companies such as Salesforce. “From my perspective as a businessperson, whenever a community has a want that’s going unfilled, there’s an opportunity for companies,” Bahat said.
Not sure what to make of this? Smacks of social entrepreneurship yet some good could come from it?One concern Bahat had was liquidity: Who would acquire a union-organizing startup, giving a payday to investors like him? What would it mean to go public?
White’s solution is to plan an “exit to community.” Once the company starts earning income, it plans to buy out its investors and give their equity to the unions it helped organize, effectively transitioning corporate control to the customer base. “Financial investors fundamentally should not be part of the long-term economy” of Unit, White said, but they were the shortest route to startup financing.
The organized labor movement has a new ally: venture capitalists
Aug. 12, 2022
Not sure what to make of this? Smacks of social entrepreneurship yet some good could come from it?
Labor Notes analysis of wtf's going on with the US rail stuff:
Joe Biden Thinks a Rail Strike has Been Averted. Do Rail Workers?
Just after 5 a.m. on Thursday, Marty Walsh tweeted that the railroad companies and the railroad unions had come to a tentative agreement, less than 19 hours from a potential shutdown: “Moments ago, following more than 20 consecutive hours of negotiations at [the Department of Labor], the rail...labornotes.org
Online meeting with Strike Map and BFAWU about the Starbucks union:the Starbucks union movement seems to be living
Map: Where Are Starbucks Workers Unionizing?
We're tracking every Starbucks store where workers are forming unions.perfectunion.us