Last Week in Labor: November 10-16, 2024

Virgin Hotels workers on strike in Vegas, Philly poised for paralyzing strikes against the city, and more headlines for your Monday.

Good morning, Monday morning. Welcome back to another installment of Last Week in Labor, a weekly digest full of headlines and commentary about the U.S. labor movement. Tons of headlines for you today, along with a few bits of analysis that I didn’t include in last week’s digest.

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Alright, let’s get into it.

Notable News in Labor

Hundreds of hotel workers go on strike at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas

Last Friday, hundreds of hotel workers at Virgin Hotels walked off the job on strike. According to their most recent dispatch via their text-line, the Culinary Union reports that the hotels have begun hiring scabs off the street to replace workers who are walking the picket lines. Here’s some good coverage from last Friday about what’s at stake:

The strike at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas marks the first open-ended strike in 22 years for the Culinary Workers Union, the largest labor union in Nevada, with about 60,000 members.

The union posted on the social platform X on Friday morning: “@VirginHotelsLV casino is ON STRIKE! Virgin hotel workers are walking out RIGHT NOW at Virgin Las Vegas for a fair contract! Stand with the workers, DO NOT CROSS THE STRIKE LINE!”

Philly unions set the stage for major union fight, with another union voting overwhelmingly to approve a strike—

Last week, I told you about unions who represent SEPTA workers in Philly holding off their pickets while they worked to finish negotiating a contract. Now, another major city union has voted to authorize a strike, setting the stage for 3 unions to walk out on strike in the coming days and weeks. Should these strikes happen, thousands of essential city workers will walk off the job and join picket lines around the city. I’ll keep you updated as things move forward. Here’s some more coverage:

Thousands of Philadelphia city workers have voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike.

AFSCME District Council 33, which represents blue-collar city workers including many of those in the sanitation and water departments, voted this month to authorize a strike. Eighty-seven percent of those who voted were in favor of the strike, according to a post by the union on Facebook.

A note about AFSCME’s vote: they’ve authorized, but haven’t set a strike date yet.

Striking Benton County workers march from courthouse to city hall

Speaking of AFSCME, hundreds of workers in Oregon marched to city hall on the 3rd day of their strike. From local coverage,

Just after 4 p.m. Friday, the union issued a statement via email.

“We know Benton County has the money, they’ve never said they don’t. In making zero serious moves, the Board of Commissioners are harming our community and our families. It is up to the Board of Commissioners to settle this and they’ve done nothing except extend this strike” said Sara Siddiqui former Equity Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator and current Health Equity Coordinator for Benton County.

Boeing issues layoff notices to 400-plus workers as it begins drastic cuts

Boeing plans to lay off nearly 17,000 workers in the coming months, in response to financial and regulatory issues that drained their resources. CEO Kelly Ortberg said on a call with analysts that the layoffs aren’t a result of the 8-week strike, but you gotta wonder… Anyway, here’s the report.

Boeing has delivered layoff notices to more than 400 members of its professional aerospace labor union, part of thousands of cuts planned as the company struggles to recover from financial and regulatory trouble as well as an eight-week strike by its Machinists union.

The pink slips went out last week to members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, or SPEEA, The Seattle Times reported. The workers will remain on the payroll through mid-January.

Rite Aid, Workers Agree to Tentative Deal with Wage Increases, Protections for Benefits

In a huge win for UFCW-repped Rite Aid workers in California, a tentative agreement has been reached with the company.

The union representing over 3,500 Rite Aid employees said it reached a tentative agreement Friday that includes wage increases and protections for health benefits and pensions.

The workers are represented by seven locals that are part of the United Food and Commercial Workers union – Local 135, in San Diego and Imperial counties, along with 8GS, 324, 770, 1167, 1428 and 1442.

Members of the bargaining committee said they would “unanimously recommend” the pact to fellow employees.

UNITE HERE’S “Resort Fee Ripoff” Website Sends Alert to Travel Agents: Are Fees Costing You Commissions?

If you’re looking for good strategies to help pressure employers to stop sucking and bargain fairly with their workers, take a page out UNITE HERE’s playbook, and go after their relationships with crucial business partners. From coverage of this great messaging tactic,

While thousands of hotel workers entered the 55th day of strikes at Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt locations in San Francisco, UNITE HERE’s “Resort Fee Ripoff” website is alerting travel agents about the possible impact of resort fees on their guests and their commissions.

UNIONS GATHER TO SHARE, LEARN AND STRATEGIZE ON AI’S “PERILS AND PROMISES”

From coverage of the conference,

Unions from UNI’s ICTS and Media, Entertainment & Arts sectors gave real life examples that showed why consultation and unions are critical for advancing workers’ rights in the face of new technologies.

Expired contract sparks massive picket at UM-Sparrow Hospital

Healthcare professionals held pickets outside UM hospital (not a work stoppage) to call attention to negotiations—

Almost 1,000 University of Michigan Health-Sparrow nurses and other health-care professionals, as well as union supporters, rallied outside the hospital in Lansing this week. The picket comes amid growing concerns over expired contracts.

They've been negotiating for better wages and benefits as well as safe staffing levels. As University of Michigan Health invests nearly $130 million in new buildings, the picketers say a strong contract is needed to recruit and keep skilled staff.

In Amazon, SpaceX cases, US labor board's power is on the line

One thing I’ve been watching fairly closely is the progression of this SpaceX case, which could very well succeed in getting portions of the NLRA declared unconstitutional. From a recent report on what’s happening now that we’ve got a Trump admin 2.0 on the horizon…

Amazon, SpaceX and many other companies are going on the offensive by suing the National Labor Relations Board in order to block it from pursuing cases accusing them of illegal labour practices, part of a broader onslaught by businesses and conservative groups on the "administrative state."

The Amazon and SpaceX cases being heard by the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday are among the first of more than two dozen similar lawsuits - which claim the NLRB's structure is unconstitutional - that have reached influential US appeals courts.

US labor board bans mandatory anti-union meetings in ruling against Amazon

From Daniel Wiessner at Reuters,

Amazon.com (AMZN.O), made unlawful promises and threats during mandatory meetings to discourage unionizing at a New York City warehouse, a U.S. labor board said on Wednesday while banning employers from holding such meetings moving forward.

The National Labor Relations Board said that so-called "captive audience meetings," which have been legal for decades and are routine during union campaigns, illegally interfere with workers' rights to freely choose whether or not to unionize.

Commentary & Analysis

How a small group of Amazon workers took on big business and challenged traditional unions - The Guardian

Here’s a decent review of the recently released Union, a documentary, which chronicles the fight for unionization at Amazon in Staten Island, NY. I have yet to see the film but I’m looking forward to checking it out. I should note that it’s pretty tough to get a labor film funded these days, which makes this project even more important—telling labor stories in this medium is critical to raising the profile of the labor movement, and gives us something to learn from. From the review,

In such a world, an organisation such as the ALU, that shows the practical possibilities of building solidarity, of challenging corporations and of defending working-class interests without tumbling into bigotry or divisiveness, becomes more important than ever.

Labor Lab’s Newest Report on Amazon’s Union Busting

Labor Lab is a nonprofit research organization that gathers critical data on union-busting in the US. Their Union-Busting Tracker is something I check regularly in the course of my work, and it pulls back the curtain on the lengths that employers will go to try and prevent unionization in the workplace. The group released their most recent report on November 13th, which took a look at the “escalating attacks on [Amazon] Delivery Service Partner (DSP) drivers. The report reveals that Amazon, despite claiming DSP drivers are independent contractors, has directly targeted them with union-busting tactics.”

Amazon has invested substantial resources in labor relations consulting firms to counter unionization efforts among its employees. In 2023 alone, the company spent approximately $3 million on these services, with projections for increased spending in 2024. These firms have been deployed to dissuade DSP drivers from organizing, further solidifying the notion that Amazon exercises considerable control over their working conditions.

What Can Rural and Southern Workers Expect from a Second Trump Term? - TVLR

This Independent Labor Candidate Almost Won the Nebraska Senate Seat, What's Next? - TVLR 11/16/24

Callers Express Concern About a Second Trump Term - TVLR

Employers Can No Longer Lie About Effect of Unionizing on Employee-Employer Relationship - NLRB Edge

I once again want to recommend Matt Bruenig’s newsletter, which breaks down recent NLRB decisions and helps provide needed context about worker legislation and rules—things that are extremely important in the fight against the bosses. Here’s a recent case he broke down:

NLRB Edge11/12/2024: Employers Can No Longer Lie About Effect of Unionizing on Employee-Employer RelationshipSiren Retail Corp. d/b/a Starbucks, 373 NLRB No. 135, 19-CA-290905 (Published Board Decision…Read more2 months ago · 9 likes · Matt Bruenig

Labor by the Numbers

41 petitions for union representation were filed with the NLRB last week, including…

• 17 workers with Crimson Cup Coffee and Tea, repped by the Teamsters
• 19 RNs, medical assistants, patient care coordinators, and other workers at Trust Women in Wichita, KS, repped by SEIU
• 3 janitorial employees at Park Boulevard Apartments 2B in Chicago, IL, repped by SEIU (Editor’s note: Just goes to show ya that the size of your bargaining unit doesn’t matter—whether it’s three of you, or 300, you deserve a union.)

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 front of folks who might be able to join you in solidarity. Seriously. Send me a message. Shoot me an email at mel.buer.reports@gmail.com or mel@therealnews.com, send me a DM on Bluesky, send out your last carrier pigeon. If I get the message, I’ll add it to the digest.

Alright folks, that’s it for this week. Please take a moment to share this digest with friends and coworkers, and don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t so you can stay updated on what’s going on in labor around the United States.

Until next week,

Mel