Joshua Bessex/The Associated Press
I’ve never seen so much union activity in my half-century of newspaper reading.
Back in 1954 almost 35 percent of the nation’s workforce belonged to a union. Today, unions represent about 10.8 percent of the workforce. I predict that percentage will now start to grow. Unions have long held a strong presence in manufacturing and in government jobs, plus in schools. But I think the future will bring much more unionization into the retail labor force.
Businesses have resorted to higher wages to attract new workers and retain experienced workers. They wouldn’t have done this if it hadn’t been absolutely necessary. But it became necessary, for the COVID era has reduced the workforce.
Yet even with higher wages, many fields find themselves desperately seeking workers. For example, locally there is a shortage of dental hygienists.
Workers overall want more in return for their labor but on their own have a hard time achieving it.
To better their situation, they will increasingly turn to unions, if allowed.
Over at John Deere, about 10,000 workers went on strike in mid-October and eventually got most of what they wanted, then went back to work in mid-November. They received wages and bonuses, but the key point was they retained a defined-benefit pension plan for all workers. Management had wanted to create a two-tier pension system, doing away – as so many other companies have done – with defined pension benefits for newly hired workers.
About 1,400 workers at Kellogg’s went out on strike in early October. They are not happy with the current two-tier system implemented in the previous contract. That system calls for experienced workers, called “legacy” workers, to receive higher pay, better health coverage, and better pension benefits than less-experienced workers.
The sticking point is that Kellogg’s wants to do away with the 30 percent cap of what percentage of its workers can be designated for the less-rewarded segment of employees. In early December, management said they would hire permanent replacement workers. This week they posted ads to do so. This battle isn’t over yet.
Over at Nabisco (the maker of Oreos and other edibles), workers went on strike for five weeks this summer to prevent a two-tier working system in their health benefits. They succeeded for the most part, but agreed to let the company hire new employees to work 36 hours on Fridays through Sundays (three 12-hour shifts) at a much reduced rate to what the current workers get for weekend work.
As a lad, I was a bit anti-union. I thought most workers were treated well. As an adult, I became neutral on unions. But then along came Amazon.
In my opinion, if any company is rough enough on its workers to warrant unionization, that company is Amazon. The warehouse work is physically taxing (I wouldn’t last there an hour) and dangerous. The shifts lack sufficient break time. The injury rate is, to me, too high. Yes, Amazon has made itself successful by being as “efficient” as possible, but at what cost to its workers?
To me, efficiency should not outweigh being as humane as possible. Guess that’s why I’ll never be a successful businessman.
Workers are unionized at many Amazon warehouses – in Europe. But no union represents any of Amazon’s U.S. workers. To counteract attempts to unionize in the United States, Amazon has done its best to influence the workers’ votes. For instance, by hiring anti-union professionals to conduct meetings at which the workers’ attendance is mandatory. And by having anti-union professionals follow the workers around throughout their shifts, talking up the reasons to vote against unionizing. None of those tactics are illegal, but they show Amazon is happy to put as many intrusive obstacles as possible into the unionization process.
But sooner or later some courageous workers – perhaps at the cost of their jobs – will successfully unionize at Amazon.
Unlike Amazon, Starbucks has always treated its workers, I believe, nicely overall. (For instance, by providing affordable health insurance, including for its part-time workers.) But any shred of good treatment is always at risk of being upended by new corporate leaders or by vociferous shareholders seeking to maximize profits.
On Dec. 9, a Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York became the first outlet in the nation to unionize. How this will play out remains to be seen. Until management and the union work out a contract, speculation is pointless. However that contract will read, it might be used as a template by additional Starbucks stores throughout the land.
So unions are just starting to take root in Starbucks, and are coming close to taking root in Amazon. Soon enough, other mega-companies will be targeted, too.
Imagine unionizing workers at Walmart and McDonald’s.
That would be a major event.
Arthur Vidro is one of the Eagle Times’ recurring financial columnists. His “EQMM Goes to College” appeared in the May/June 2021 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.
