Last Week in Labor: Aug 1-7, 2025

Welcome back to Words About Work, a newsletter about what it means to work for a living in America. Got a bit of a shorter digest for you this week-- Here's some of the headlines you may have missed.

Notable News in Labor

Blue Bottle coffee workers at four California stores vote to join union

You may remember some of my reporting from earlier this year about the Blue Bottle coffee workers' union organizing against the megacorporation Nestle out on the East Coast. Happy to report that they have won their election to fold four more stores on the West Coast into their union. I've been in contact with workers on both coasts and hope to write more about their recent trip to sit and talk with their international comrades farther down the supply chain--more to come there. Here's a great write-up from Suhauna Hussein at LA Times about their recent organizing effort.

Duke University workers hold the line and win

After two months of tough bargaining, Duke University workers represented by AFSCME Local 77 walked away from the bargaining table with a solid contract. Provisions in the recently ratified TA are:

• $500 ratification bonus
• Paid parental leave
• Expanded job tiers
• Wage scale expansion
• Union access during new employee orientation
• Equitable and expanded overtime opportunities

Howard Community College admits possible labor law violations over poster removal

From reporting at the Baltimore Banner,

Howard Community College has acknowledged that it “may have violated” the state’s Public Employee Relations Act in February when security officers accessed the offices of college professors and removed pro-union posters from the walls, windows and doors.

College officials also acknowledged that union members who refused to take down posters were “threatened” with disciplinary action. However, the college said, it did not take any action against employees.

Unions Respond to the Trump Administration

Unions respond to Trump Admin terminating VA collective bargaining agreements

Last week, the Trump Administration moved to strip hundreds of thousands of Veterans Affairs workers of their collective bargaining agreements. This large-scale unionbusting by the administration has left many workers outraged, with multiple unions responding. Here are a few statements released by U.S. labor in response:

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler:

This union-busting decision is an ambush on the people who care for our country’s veterans and their right to stand together in a union, and will without a doubt harm the lifesaving services veterans desperately need. It’s clear this is explicit retaliation against VA workers whose unions are standing up to the administration’s illegal actions in court and in the streets.

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE):

“Secretary Collins’ decision to rip up the negotiated union contract for majority of its workforce is another clear example of retaliation against AFGE members for speaking out against the illegal, anti-worker, and anti-veteran policies of this administration,” stated AFGE National President Everett Kelley.

The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM):

“The Trump administration’s claim that this move helps veterans is preposterous,” said Randy Erwin, NFFE National President. “VA healthcare professionals rely on their union membership to safely report mismanagement, expose cover-ups, and push back against political interference and corrupt private contracting. Eliminating unions eliminates those safeguards, which is exactly why they’re doing it. This is going to be a disaster for veterans’ care.”

National Nurses United (NNU):

This is just the latest salvo in the battle to break the spirit of working people in this country. But we will not be broken. We will continue to fight for and assert our constitutionally guaranteed collective bargaining rights and to speak freely against policies that hurt veterans and the public. That is our duty as nurses, and we will continue to be fierce advocates for our patients. This is in spite of Trump’s administration unprecedented, outrageous, and irresponsible attacks.

The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA):

"What Secretary Collins and the Trump administration just did to our VA workers shows pure contempt for our veterans. Terminating the union contracts of VA workers directly harms more than 120,000 veterans on the VA staff who serve their fellow veterans, and hundreds of thousands of civilian employees who dedicate themselves to giving vets the care they've earned. This is union busting. It's anti-vet. And it's spitting in the face of American values. Their intent is clear: break the VA to justify privatizing it so those funds can enrich their billionaire friends in the private healthcare corporations."

For more information about this latest development, check out this write-up from Julia Conley at Common Dreams.

Commentary & Analysis

What unionization could mean for California Uber and Lyft drivers--and riders

A new bill is making its way through the California state legislature that would allow ride-hailing drivers to unionize. From Levi Sumagaysay at CalMatters,

Drivers and other gig workers gained some benefits when Prop. 22 passed, but their complaints continue, many of them tied to the fact that they are not considered employees. And since the law effectively leaves no state agency in charge of enforcement, many gig workers don’t know where to turn to claim unpaid wages or health care stipends, to contest getting kicked off the apps, or to get help with other problems.

Some drivers and advocates say being able to collectively bargain could address those issues. But the gig-work industry warns that would mean big changes to their business model, which would push ride prices higher and affect the availability of rides.

Chris Smalls, Amazon Union Organizer, Describes Israeli Arrest & Assault After Raid on Gaza Flotilla

When US Labor Opposed Nuclear Weapons

Labor historian Jeff Schuhrke is back in Jacobin discussing the history of US labor's involvement in opposing nuclear weapons. "The labor movement has a key role to play in opposing the madness of a nuclear arms race and the possibility of nuclear war," he writes. "In the 1980s, progressive unions did just that." Here's more of an excerpt from his piece:

But there is also a long history of trade unionists and labor leaders speaking out against nuclear weapons and advocating for an alternative economy where, instead of depending on the military-industrial complex for employment, workers could have stable jobs producing socially useful civilian products.

“It is a terrible thing for a human being to feel that his security and well-being of his family hinge upon a continuation of the insanity of the arms race,” UAW president Walter Reuther said near the end of his life. “We have to give these people greater economic security in terms of the rewarding purpose of peace.”

Looking Ahead...

If you’ve got a…

• workshop,
• seminar,
• panel,
• conference,
• labor action,
• strike,
• protest
• walkout,
• negotiation,
• sit-in,
• or other item you’d like eyes on, shoot me a message.

I’ll add it to the “Looking Ahead” section and get it in front of folks who might be able to join you in solidarity. Seriously. Send me a message. Shoot me an email at melbuer@proton.me, send me a DM on Bluesky, send out your last carrier pigeon. If I get the message, I’ll add it to the digest.

A much shorter digest than usual--I've been working on some reporting in the realm of labor that should be coming out this next week. Stay tuned, and thanks as always for reading.

In love and solidarity,

Mel