International
Fledgling union efforts at Amazon, Starbucks dig in for long fight
AFP | Juliette Michel
Recent unionization drives at Starbucks and Amazon have lifted morale in the US labor movement, but organizers have yet to transform election victories into material change.
Moreover, some union backers such as Will Westlake have paid a price for their activism.
Formerly a Starbucks barista in Buffalo, New York, where the initial union votes took place in December 2021, Westlake was fired earlier this month — ostensibly for not removing a suicide prevention badge from his apron, which he has viewed as an expression of his solidarity with the movement.
But Westlake thinks his firing was payback for his union activism.
“I was number 123” on the list of Starbucks employees to lose their jobs as the campaign has spread to some 250 cafes nationwide, said Westlake.
Starbucks declined to comment on allegations from Starbucks Workers United that the company fired workers for union activism.
But such reprisals at US companies are “pretty routine in this country,” said Ruth Milkman, a sociologist at CUNY in New York.
Young activists
Milkman counts herself among the experts in labor relations who have been surprised at the spread of the union drives to a growing slate of corporations, including Apple, REI, Chipotle and Trader Joe’s — companies that union organizers have not in the past viewed as fertile to their efforts.
“This was kind of a different moment,” said Milkman of a period defined by a labor shortage, the pandemic and “a young labor force frustrated by their limited labor market options.”
US officials have seen a 53 percent jump in the number of union elections over the last year, according to the National Labor Relations Board.
But that increase takes place against the backdrop of a longtime decline in organized labor since the 1980s, with fewer than 10 percent of private-sector employees now unionized.
While union backers have won some high-profile election victories over the last year, in many cases, the successful votes have taken place at small establishments, such as an individual Starbucks cafe.
What’s more, “winning the election is actually the easy part,” said Cedric de Leon, a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
“The hard part is to negotiate the contract,” he said. “And there is nothing the government can really do to force the employers to negotiate in good faith.”
While two Starbucks cafes in Buffalo voted to unionize last December, the first meeting with management on the contract will take place only this month.
The outlook is even murkier at the Staten Island, New York warehouse that in April became the first Amazon site in the United States to unionize.
But Amazon is contesting the vote, alleging improprieties.
Commenting on a union election now taking place at an upstate New York warehouse, an Amazon spokesman said this week that the company will continue to fight the Staten Island election outcome because “we don’t believe it represents what the majority of our team wants.”
Culture of intimidation
Under the Biden administration, the NLRB has for its part cracked down on some anti-union conduct by big corporations, as with a complaint earlier this month against Apple after the company prevented the distribution of union fliers in a break room.
In August, a US judge ordered Starbucks to reinstate seven employees that the NLRB found were unlawfully fired by the coffee giant.
Such moves by companies represent an effort to instill in workers “a culture of fear and intimidation,” said de Leon, noting that support from President Joe Biden and other political leaders will not be enough to make real change.
But “250 Starbucks going out on a nationwide strike, that could be decisive,” he said.
The recent wave of union campaigns has come amid a tight labor market in a period of elevated consumer demand. A recession would alter some of those dynamics, although de Leon notes that previous economically weak periods such as the 1930s and 1970s have boosted unions.
Westlake said he is determined to hold companies like Starbucks to account.
“They are hoping that the public won’t care enough and that in two or three years, they will be able to fire all the union leaders and crush the union,” said Westlake, who has filed a complaint with the NLRB over his dismissal.
International
Mexico, Brazil and Colombia left out of Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” summit
Left-wing governments in Latin America, including Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, were excluded from the “Shield of the Americas” summit convened by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The meeting, held in Miami, Florida, brought together 12 presidents from across the continent to discuss strategies to combat drug cartels and organized crime.
In Mexico’s case, President Claudia Sheinbaum had recently rejected the use of military force as a solution to the drug trafficking problem. She has argued that her administration’s security strategy is producing results and emphasized that force alone is not the answer.
During the summit, Trump said that most narcotics entering the United States come through Mexico and referred to his previous conversations with Sheinbaum on the issue.
“I like the president very much, she’s a very good person,” Trump said. “But I told her: ‘Let me eradicate the cartels.’ And she said, ‘No, no, no, please, president.’ We have to eradicate them. We have to finish them.”
The remarks highlighted ongoing differences between Washington and Mexico over how to confront drug trafficking networks operating across the region.
International
Trump announces 17-nation alliance in the Americas to “destroy” drug cartels
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday the creation of a 17-nation alliance across the Americas aimed at dismantling drug cartels, during a regional summit held at his golf club in Doral.
Speaking to a group of allied leaders at the Shield of the Americas Summit, Trump said the initiative would rely on military force to eliminate powerful criminal networks operating throughout the hemisphere.
“The heart of our agreement is the commitment to use lethal military force to destroy these sinister cartels and terrorist networks. Once and for all, we will put an end to them,” Trump told the assembled heads of state.
The Republican leader argued that large portions of territory in the Western Hemisphere have fallen under the control of transnational gangs and pledged U.S. support to governments seeking to confront them. He even suggested the potential use of highly precise missiles against cartel leaders.
Before making the announcement, Trump greeted the roughly twelve leaders attending the summit, including close allies such as Javier Milei, Daniel Noboa and Nayib Bukele, whom he described as a “great president.”
The meeting forms part of Trump’s broader regional strategy inspired by his reinterpretation of the Monroe Doctrine, which seeks to reinforce Washington’s influence in the Americas, strengthen security cooperation and counter the growing presence of powers such as China.
Trump pointed to recent U.S. actions in the region as examples of his administration’s approach, including the operation that led to the capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro earlier this year.
The summit also takes place amid escalating international tensions following the conflict launched last week by the United States and Israel against Iran.
International
Trump replaces Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with Senator Markwayne Mullin
U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday the departure of Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, one of the key architects of the administration’s policy of deporting undocumented immigrants.
Noem, who has been assigned a new role as a “special envoy” to Latin America, will be replaced starting March 31 by Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, the president said in a message posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
According to media reports, Trump made the decision after Noem’s recent hearings in Congress, during which she faced tough questions regarding the awarding of a major public contract.
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International2 days agoTrump announces 17-nation alliance in the Americas to “destroy” drug cartels
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International1 day ago
Mexico, Brazil and Colombia left out of Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” summit
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