tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/unionization-84882/articlesUnionization – The Conversation2023-11-07T19:01:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2164752023-11-07T19:01:44Z2023-11-07T19:01:44ZHow unionization is empowering Jamaican domestic workers to demand decent work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558102/original/file-20231107-25-rcwoyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C38%2C1226%2C852&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jamaica has the potential to become a regional leader in advancing decent work for domestic workers thanks to unionization efforts. Members of the Jamaica Household Workers' Union pose for a photo.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jamaica Household Workers' Union)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-unionization-is-empowering-jamaican-domestic-workers-to-demand-decent-work" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In thousands of households across Jamaica, domestic workers do the work of cooking, cleaning, gardening and caring for children, the elderly and people with disabilities. </p>
<p>While this work is essential to the functioning of the economy and to the well-being of many Jamaican families, domestic workers often experience low pay, poor working conditions and informal work arrangements. Due to their isolation in the home, they’re also vulnerable to sexual harassment and abuse. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---travail/documents/publication/wcms_802551.pdf">Estimates put the number of domestic workers in Jamaica at around 56,000, 80 per cent of whom are women</a>. </p>
<p>In 2016, <a href="https://caribbean.unwomen.org/en/news-and-events/stories/2016/9/jamaica-ratifies-domestic-workers-decent-work-convention">Jamaica ratified</a> International Labour Organization Convention No. 189, the Domestic Workers Convention. The landmark convention is the first international legal instrument to recognize domestic work as equivalent to all other kinds of work <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---travail/documents/publication/wcms_214499.pdf">and is founded on</a> “the fundamental premise that domestic workers are neither ‘servants’ nor ‘members of the family’ nor second-class workers.” </p>
<p>Jamaica is one of only 36 countries to have ratified the convention. To its credit, the Jamaican government has made progress toward making decent work a reality for domestic workers, <a href="https://jis.gov.jm/national-minimum-wage-moves-to-13000-june-1/">including by raising the national minimum wage</a>.</p>
<h2>Decent work deficits persist</h2>
<p><a href="https://brocku.ca/social-sciences/labour-studies/wp-content/uploads/primary-site/sites/147/Black-and-Marsh.-2023.-Acheiving-Decent-Work-for-Domestic-Workers-Online-version.pdf">A study I conducted with Lauren Marsh, of the Hugh Shearer Labour Studies Institute at the University of the West Indies,</a> has been published to coincide with the seventh anniversary of Jamaica’s ratification of the convention. It finds that domestic workers continue to experience deficits in decent work.</p>
<p>Without government action, we fear that progress toward achieving decent work for this marginalized, but essential, workforce will stall. </p>
<p>We surveyed more than 200 domestic workers, held focus groups and interviewed key stakeholders in government and civil society. </p>
<p>Overall, we found that while domestic workers are generally covered under Jamaica’s labour laws, many experience an “enforcement gap” — the difference between the rights and protections established in law and those that are actually respected by employers in the workplace. </p>
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<img alt="A woman walks along a shopping strip." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558106/original/file-20231107-15-aslw9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558106/original/file-20231107-15-aslw9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558106/original/file-20231107-15-aslw9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558106/original/file-20231107-15-aslw9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558106/original/file-20231107-15-aslw9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558106/original/file-20231107-15-aslw9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558106/original/file-20231107-15-aslw9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A woman shops in the historic downtown of Falmouth, Jamaica.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>And while the <a href="https://jis.gov.jm/domestic-workers-encouraged-to-sign-up-for-nis/">Ministry of Labour and Social Security is sensitive to the challenges facing domestic workers,</a> it currently lacks the capacity to adequately promote and enforce compliance with labour standards in the sector. </p>
<p>Furthermore, far too many domestic workers lack awareness of their rights. Just over half of survey respondents said they were not aware of any laws that protect domestic workers in Jamaica. This finding is troubling, as workers’ awareness of rights is key to their realization. </p>
<p>Domestic workers are generally frustrated with Jamaica’s slow pace toward making decent work a reality in the sector. For instance, nearly 90 per cent of domestic workers surveyed believe the government doesn’t adequately inform domestic workers of their rights; 82 per cent would like to see the government do a better job at enforcing laws that protect domestic workers. </p>
<h2>Raising awareness</h2>
<p>There is some good news. The <a href="https://jhwu.org/">Jamaica Household Workers’ Union</a>, with 7,280 members across 13 chapters, has done excellent work in raising domestic workers’ awareness of their rights and protections. </p>
<p>We found that domestic workers who are members of the union are more likely than non-union domestic workers to contribute to Jamaica’s social security scheme, twice as likely than their non-union counterparts to possess a written employment contract, making enforcing rights easier, and are far more likely than their non-union counterparts to be aware of their labour and social security protections. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1673375581176741888"}"></div></p>
<p>These findings suggest that strengthening collective representation for domestic workers is a promising route to ensuring that rights on paper are rights in practice.</p>
<p>Our report includes several recommendations that may act as a guide to action for achieving decent work for domestic workers in Jamaica. </p>
<p>First and foremost, the Jamaican government must invest in building the capacity of the <a href="https://mlss.gov.jm/">Ministry of Labour and Social Security</a> to enforce and promote compliance with labour standards in the domestic work sector — including through the creation of a domestic work section — and through public awareness campaigns to ensure employers and workers alike know their rights and responsibilities. </p>
<h2>Collective bargaining needed</h2>
<p>To strengthen collective representation and worker voice, the government should also work with employers’ groups and the Jamaica Household Workers’ Union to establish the legal and institutional framework and conditions necessary for <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---travail/documents/publication/wcms_436279.pdf">collective bargaining in the domestic work sector.</a></p>
<p>Decent work is fundamental to social justice, gender equality and fulfilling Jamaica’s commitments under the national development plan, <a href="https://www.vision2030.gov.jm/">Vision 2030 Jamaica.</a> </p>
<p>Relative to its Caribbean neighbours, Jamaica is making slow but steady progress toward making decent work a reality for domestic workers — and the Jamaica Household Workers’ Union is establishing best practices in domestic worker organizing and collective representation. </p>
<p>That means Jamaica has the potential to become a regional leader in advancing decent work for domestic workers. It’s a leadership role the government and civil society should fully embrace.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Black does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Domestic workers in Jamaica often experience low pay, poor working conditions and informal work arrangements. Here’s how unionization could change their situation.Simon Black, Associate Professor of Labour Studies, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2118682023-09-24T12:10:18Z2023-09-24T12:10:18ZSocial media is a double-edged sword for the public image of Canadian labour unions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548901/original/file-20230918-17-fektcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C30%2C3426%2C2176&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There is hope that social media can breathe new life into the labour movement.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/social-media-is-a-double-edged-sword-for-the-public-image-of-canadian-labour-unions" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Union membership in Canada <a href="https://doi.org/10.25318/36280001202201100001-eng">has been declining over the past four decades</a>. In 2022, the percentage of employees who are union members fell to 29 per cent from 38 per cent in 1981. This decline has been partly attributed to the stagnant or outdated image of unions, which makes it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/102425890701300204">difficult for some workers to relate to these organizations</a>.</p>
<p>There is hope that social media can <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---actrav/documents/publication/wcms_875935.pdf">breathe new life into the labour movement</a>. Social media platforms offer unions the opportunity to communicate with their members, advocate for their causes, address grievances and rally public support swiftly and efficiently.</p>
<p>However, social media is not a panacea for the challenges facing unions. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856231192322">Our recent research reveals</a> that rather than revitalize the public image of unions, social media can sometimes have the opposite effect, underscoring a serious concern: the potential for unions to become invisible online.</p>
<h2>Widening the divide</h2>
<p>Our research has identified four ways in which social media can distort the image of unions. First, it can increase the “us versus them” divide between unions and entities like companies, employers or governments. This growing divide can be partly attributed to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-just-bad-behavior-why-social-media-design-makes-it-hard-to-have-constructive-disagreements-online-161337">normalization of vehement or abrasive disagreements online</a>.</p>
<p>This effect is reminiscent of the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/">heightened political polarization</a> we are witnessing today with the widening chasm between left- and right-leaning groups. Social media has played a role in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2021.1976070">exacerbating this type of polarization</a>.</p>
<p>According to the union communication managers we spoke to, there is a higher tolerance for aggressive communication online. This phenomenon is fuelled by the fierce competition among organizations vying for the fleeting attention of social media users.</p>
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<img alt="Images of social media likes, follows, and comments float above a hand scrolling on a cell phone screen" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548897/original/file-20230918-21-ek67qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548897/original/file-20230918-21-ek67qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548897/original/file-20230918-21-ek67qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548897/original/file-20230918-21-ek67qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548897/original/file-20230918-21-ek67qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548897/original/file-20230918-21-ek67qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548897/original/file-20230918-21-ek67qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An argumentative online culture and the fleeting attention of social media users have led some unions to adopt briefer, less nuanced and more assertive communication styles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>The combination of these two factors — an inherently argumentative online culture and the pursuit of attention — has led some unions to adopt briefer, less nuanced and more assertive communication styles. The fervour generated by such polarizing content can rally supporters and drive conversations that amplify the union’s message.</p>
<p>Importantly, not all unions experience this effect to the same degree. Our findings indicate that unions with an activist background are more likely to be polarized online.</p>
<h2>Self-centeredness</h2>
<p>The second way social media can distort the online image of unions is by fostering self-centred behaviour. Social media has been shown to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000137">encourage narcissistic behaviour in its users</a> and our research suggests this also applies to organizations like unions.</p>
<p>Unions can unintentionally distort their online image by portraying their members in an overly positive way. Our research found that content praising union members tended to generate more engagement, such as likes, comments or shares. As a result, some communication managers gravitated towards this type of content to increase online engagement.</p>
<p>This tendency was most pronounced in unions with a homogeneous membership and strong professional identity, where fostering a sense of professional pride is easier.</p>
<h2>Becoming a caricature of themselves</h2>
<p>The third way social media can distort the online image of unions is through caricaturing, a process that exaggerates the characteristics of a union to the point of appearing absurd or grotesque.</p>
<p>This type of distortion likely stems from the pressure to maintain an active online presence by posting frequently. All the unions in our study posted between five to seven messages weekly on their Facebook pages. </p>
<p>However, not all the unions had fresh or engaging content to share regularly. As a result, their communications often became overly repetitive and focused on routine activities, such as union meetings, assemblies and the signing of collective agreements. This led to an exaggerated, caricatured online representation of the unions. </p>
<p>Unions most susceptible to self-caricaturing online were those with a more <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803110716472">bureaucratic mindset</a>, as they were less likely to have new and interesting content to share consistently.</p>
<h2>Disappearing behind the news</h2>
<p>The final way social media can distort the online image of unions is through what we call the “fading effect.” This occurs when communication managers over share news articles from external media outlets, rather than sharing news directly related to the union itself.</p>
<p>This can result in a decline in an organization’s visibility and relevance online — to the point where the identity of the union almost disappears. This effect becomes more pronounced when there is no accompanying text or references connecting the shared news articles to the union or its members. </p>
<p>Unions most susceptible to the fading effect are those with social media managers who lack expertise or those that have a <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100456590">servicing model of unionism</a> as opposed to the organizing model.</p>
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<img alt="An laptop open to a news article is seen over the shoulder of a young woman" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548903/original/file-20230918-27-77a0sh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548903/original/file-20230918-27-77a0sh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548903/original/file-20230918-27-77a0sh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548903/original/file-20230918-27-77a0sh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548903/original/file-20230918-27-77a0sh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548903/original/file-20230918-27-77a0sh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548903/original/file-20230918-27-77a0sh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Unions that only share news articles, instead of news about themselves and their members, risk fading into the background too much.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Invisibility on social media</h2>
<p>Social media can be a double-edged sword for labour unions. While certain distortion effects may yield positive outcomes, others have negative effects. Polarizing and self-centredness, for example, can be beneficial because they increase online engagement, but caricaturing and fading effects can decrease online engagement.</p>
<p>A lack of engaging online content poses a significant risk to unions, potentially rendering them algorithmically invisible. Studies have shown that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022185620979337">caricaturing and fading effects are prevalent among unions</a>, increasing the risk of the labour movement being marginalized in the digital public sphere.</p>
<p>Since communication plays a key role in bolstering the power of unions, there is a legitimate concern that social media could weaken their ability to defend workers’ rights, instead of strengthening it. </p>
<p>Our research underscores the need for unions to think about how they can transform their images online with more effective social media communication. As the labour movement adapts to the digital age, the balance between engagement and algorithmic visibility is vital for the future of workers’ advocacy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211868/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christian Lévesque receives funding from Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc-Antonin Hennebert and Vincent Pasquier do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While the digital landscape offers opportunities for unions to engage and mobilize supporters, it also presents challenges, including the risk of being marginalized in the vast online world.Vincent Pasquier, Professeur en GRH et relations professionnelles, HEC MontréalChristian Lévesque, Professeur de Relations du Travail, HEC MontréalMarc-Antonin Hennebert, Professor of Human Resources Management, HEC MontréalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2059812023-05-20T00:33:07Z2023-05-20T00:33:07ZUnionized bodies in topless bar! Strippers join servers and baristas in new labor movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527289/original/file-20230519-23-zdmud0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C303%2C5601%2C3487&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dancers at Star Garden in LA have voted for union representation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/general-view-of-the-star-garden-topless-dive-bar-on-may-18-news-photo/1491335689?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dancers at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in Los Angeles have <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1134667170/strippers-union-los-angeles-dancers-star-garden">voted to become the only unionized strippers</a> in the U.S. – joining a <a href="https://theconversation.com/america-is-in-the-middle-of-a-labor-mobilization-moment-with-self-organizers-at-starbucks-amazon-trader-joes-and-chipotle-behind-the-union-drive-189826">growing trend of young employees</a> seeking workplace protection though labor mobilization.</p>
<p>On May 18, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board announced that balloted employees at the topless bar had <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/18/business/stripper-union-california/index.html">voted 17-0 in favor</a> of joining the <a href="https://www.actorsequity.org/">Actors’ Equity Association</a>.</p>
<p>It makes Star Garden the first unionized strip club since the now-defunct <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/08/what-it-was-like-to-work-at-the-lusty-lady-a-unionized-strip-club/279236/">Lusty Lady in San Francisco and Seattle</a>. That 1996 union campaign was later the subject of the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264802/">documentary “Live Nude Girls Unite</a>.” </p>
<p>Lusty Lady shut its doors in Seattle in 2010, and three years later in San Francisco, making Star Garden if not the first then at present the only unionized strip club. But given the high-profile nature of the campaign – and the impact of union drives among young staff elsewhere – <a href="https://cob.sfsu.edu/directory/john-logan">I believe</a> that there is a high chance that Star Garden won’t be the last strip joint to unionize.</p>
<h2>Rusty nails and broken glass</h2>
<p>Star Garden is the latest in a string of organizing breakthroughs. In 2022, 2,510 petitions for union representation were filed with National Labor Relations Board elections – a <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/unfair-labor-practices-charge-filings-up-16-union-petitions-remain-up-in">53% increase from 2021 and the highest number since 2016</a>. And petitions for union elections have continued to increase in 2023. </p>
<p>Just as at Star Garden, many of the recent union victories have occurred in workplaces that previously seemed resistant to labor drives. Starbucks, Amazon, Trader Joe’s, Apple retail stores, REI, Ben & Jerry’s, Chipotle and Barnes & Noble are among the big-name companies that have seen staff unionize for the first time since workers voted to unionize at Starbucks in Buffalo in December 2021. And evidence suggests that a successful union drive leads to more. Workers at <a href="https://newlaborforum.cuny.edu/2023/03/31/a-model-for-labors-renewal-the-starbucks-campaign/">over 300 Starbucks stores</a> have now voted to unionize, and their efforts have inspired young workers throughout the low-wage service sector. </p>
<p>But in other crucial ways their campaign chimes with that of the other new union drives than have occurred recently in the United States. Star Garden employs the same kind of young, self-assured workers that have contributed to the dynamism of union campaigns at Starbucks, Trader Joe’s and others. Most of the dancers are in their 20s and 30s, and they have proved assured spokespeople for the union during <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/12/1120759940/star-garden-stripper-topless-dancers-union-striking-los-angeles-california">the campaign’s extensive coverage</a> in traditional and social media. </p>
<h2>Youth-driven campaigns</h2>
<p>In contrast to past generations of union drives, it is young employees that are spearheading the new push for unions. And they are doing so independently, with <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-starbucks-and-the-sparking-of-a-new-american-union-movement-180293">less outside mobilizing from established union leaders</a>. The Star Garden workers self-organized and repeatedly pressured management to act on their concerns before <a href="https://www.law360.com/employment-authority/articles/1524811/calif-dancers-moving-to-form-nation-s-only-strip-club-union">deciding to petition for a union election with Actors’ Equity Union</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Men and women in black T-shirts with 'Starbucks Workers Union' emblems on the front jump in the air." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Starbucks employees and supporters celebrate a successful union drive.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/UnionMembership/2b391175f2054871aff7d7f752e6f773/photo?Query=Starbucks%20union&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=140&currentItemNo=29">AP Photo/Joshua Bessex</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moreover, the issues cited by Star Garden workers as evidence of a need for union protection – sexual harassment by customers, unresponsive management and an unsafe working environment – are in many respects just more extreme versions <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/starbucks-workers-at-the-nyc-roastery-strike-against-unsafe-work-conditions/">of the problems</a> that have driven many retail and food-service-sector workers to mobilize.</p>
<h2>Anti-union tactics</h2>
<p>In common with workers at Starbucks, REI and Trader Joe’s, the Star Garden dancers concluded that having a union and collective bargaining was the surest way to remedy such problems. </p>
<p>And like many of those other workforces, the Star Garden strippers faced a long battle against management to achieve that goal.</p>
<p>The organizing campaign<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1134667170/strippers-union-los-angeles-dancers-star-garden"> lasted for 15 months</a> as a result of company’s efforts to fight worker organizing and then prevent a union vote. </p>
<p>Workers voted in a National Labor Relations Board election in November 2022, but management opposition prevented the labor board from counting the ballots until last week. Among other tactics, the owners of Star Garden are <a href="https://money.yahoo.com/huge-win-hollywood-star-garden-211500506.html">alleged to have retaliated</a> against workers for protesting an unsafe working environment and claimed that the workers were independent contractors, not employees. Employers also <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1134667170/strippers-union-los-angeles-dancers-star-garden">filed for bankruptcy</a> – an act that can void a union contract.</p>
<p>But the anti-union tactics failed. When the ballots were eventually counted, they showed that workers had voted unanimously for union recognition. In common with campaigns at Starbucks and elsewhere, the success at Star Garden suggests that traditional <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/union-busting-what-is-it">anti-union tactics</a> may be <a href="https://theconversation.com/america-is-in-the-middle-of-a-labor-mobilization-moment-with-self-organizers-at-starbucks-amazon-trader-joes-and-chipotle-behind-the-union-drive-189826">less effective with today’s younger workers</a>. </p>
<p>There is another common theme in the rash of union breakthroughs in recent years: They have generated headlines.</p>
<p>Star Garden may not have the big-name appeal to media outlets of, say, Starbucks or Amazon. But the nature of the business involved lends itself to widespread media and social coverage. In short, “strippers’ unionize” <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/05/06/la-strippers-look-to-form-first-exotic-dancers-union-in-decades/">makes</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/18/los-angeles-strip-club-dancers-unionize-actors-equity-association">for</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/business/strippers-union-labor.html">great</a> <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3606699-strippers-at-la-club-move-to-unionize/">headlines</a>.</p>
<p>The high profile of this and other drives is an important part of the story. Widespread social media and traditional news coverage can <a href="https://academicminute.org/2022/02/john-logan-san-francisco-state-university-why-are-unions-suddenly-such-a-hot-topic-and-does-it-matter">raise awareness of the potential to unionize</a> among other young workforces. It conveys to employees that organizing is something they can do, not just something they read about. </p>
<h2>Time for a new corporate strategy?</h2>
<p>There is also a takeaway from union drives by Star Garden strippers and other workers for corporations: The public may be tiring of old-style anti-union tactics, and it may be in their interests to work with employees seeking to unionize.</p>
<p>As Lilith, one of the Star Garden dancers, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fp0fzc">told the BBC</a>: “A union strip club is going to be a novelty in the United States. It will have customers from all over. … I think if both parties come to negotiate in good faith, we can create a really successful business together.”</p>
<p>From my perspective, it does prompt the question of whether it is time for company bosses to embrace unions. With <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/398303/approval-labor-unions-highest-point-1965.aspx">over 70% of the public approving of unions</a> – and a much higher proportion of young workers – companies like Star Garden, Starbucks and REI could potentially benefit from marketing themselves as “good employers” who respect their workers’ right to choose a union. </p>
<p>Vermont-based Ben & Jerry’s is one such company seemingly taking that approach. In January, it became the <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90890085/ben-and-jerrys-ice-cream-scoopers-union-fair-election-demands">first major national employer to sign</a> the Starbucks Workers United-initiated “Fair Election Principles,” which would guarantee workers a free and fair choice to unionize. The union recognition process at Ben & Jerry’s is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/04/17/benjerrys-ice-cream-union/">scheduled for the Monday of Memorial Day weekend</a>. </p>
<p>Star Garden may be the country’s only unionized topless bar. But it is part of a wider trend that is influencing attitudes toward mobilizing in young workforces across the country – from servers to ice cream scoopers and now strippers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205981/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Logan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Young motivated employees are pushing the movement for union representation among US workforces. Is it time for management to get on board?John Logan, Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies, San Francisco State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1903902022-10-11T12:19:54Z2022-10-11T12:19:54ZQuiet quitting and the great resignation have a common cause – dissatisfied workers feel they can’t speak up in the workplace<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489183/original/file-20221011-18-tv1c02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C120%2C7329%2C4768&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not always easy to raise one's hand in the workplace.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-businessman-raising-his-hand-at-a-meeting-royalty-free-image/1346946925">AnVr/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>U.S. workers have been at the forefront of three big trends in recent months. </p>
<p>First there was the “great resignation,” in which <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-resignation-is-a-trend-that-began-before-the-pandemic-and-bosses-need-to-get-used-to-it-170197">record numbers of workers were quitting</a> their jobs. That coincided with a <a href="https://theconversation.com/america-is-in-the-middle-of-a-labor-mobilization-moment-with-self-organizers-at-starbucks-amazon-trader-joes-and-chipotle-behind-the-union-drive-189826">flurry of unionizing efforts</a> at major U.S. companies, including Starbucks and Apple. Most recently, you’ve probably heard about “<a href="https://theconversation.com/thinking-about-quiet-quitting-heres-why-and-how-you-should-talk-to-your-boss-instead-189499">quiet quitting</a>,” an often-misunderstood phrase that can mean either doing your job’s bare minimum or just not striving to overachieve.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=paxuQXkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">management professor</a> who has studied worker behavior for over two decades, I believe these are all reactions to the same problem: Workers are dissatisfied in their current jobs and feel they can’t speak up, whether about organizational problems, unethical behavior or even just to contribute their knowledge and creative ideas. So in response, they generally either leave or decrease their effort while suffering in silence. </p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be this way; but it’s also not easy to change. Put simply, it will take courageous action from not only workers but lawmakers and companies as well.</p>
<h2>The problem of ‘organizational silence’</h2>
<p>Workplace courage is actually the <a href="https://jimdetert.com">main focus of my research</a>. That is, how often do workers speak up when they see a problem or have an improvement or innovation to suggest? In our field, we call the failure to speak up “<a href="https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.61967925">organizational silence</a>,” and my colleagues and I found it everywhere we looked in America’s workplaces. </p>
<p>An <a href="https://workplacecai.com/survey/">online survey</a> I’ve been conducting since 2018 suggests workers stand up to their boss or other higher-ups about illegal, unethical, hurtful or otherwise inappropriate behavior roughly one-third of the time. The frequency isn’t much higher when the questions involve speaking up about less thorny issues, such as operational problems or ways to improve the organization. The numbers are similar even when the other person is a colleague who has no power over them. </p>
<p>Colleagues who study whistleblowing likewise find that only a fraction of people who see serious wrongdoing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-005-0849-1">take sufficient action</a> to get it stopped, while others have documented how rarely workers say anything <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000296">when they witness microaggressions</a>. </p>
<p>My own small experiment related to this is illustrative. In my “Defining Moments” class, I teach students how to speak up competently in challenging situations. During the course, I record individual simulations in which students pitch suggestions for improving an unidentified organization’s diversity and inclusion efforts to two actors playing the role of senior executives. I instruct the male actor to express at least three microaggressions, such as “Sweetie, you take the notes,” toward his female peer during their short interaction with each student.</p>
<p>About half the students – who range in age from about 25 to 50 – never say a peep in response to the offensive comments. As for the rest, they react to only about half the microagressions they hear, and typically it’s in the form of helping the victim – “I’ll take the notes” – rather than confronting the remark itself.</p>
<p>These findings, collectively, demonstrate the significant problems that occur – and are likely to fester – when people stay silent. They also contribute to massive <a href="https://www.gallup.com/workplace/391922/employee-engagement-slump-continues.aspx">employee disengagement</a> and leave a whole lot of people feeling inauthentic and impotent at work – or just <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.82.3.314">regretful over their failures to act</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman with pink hair speaks into a megaphone surrounded by other union organizers wearing black" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487391/original/file-20220929-16-tugesw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487391/original/file-20220929-16-tugesw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487391/original/file-20220929-16-tugesw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487391/original/file-20220929-16-tugesw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487391/original/file-20220929-16-tugesw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487391/original/file-20220929-16-tugesw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487391/original/file-20220929-16-tugesw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Starbucks workers have unionized over 200 locations in the past year or so.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/starbucks-union-organizers-several-who-have-recently-been-fired-for-picture-id1421286284?k=20&m=1421286284&s=612x612&w=0&h=pg2Ji49c1_dtwx1giFIfJ26_wDoqIYewpVQQYYOaof4=">Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The four fears</h2>
<p>It’s not, for the most part, that people don’t recognize the problems they could or should respond to.</p>
<p>On the survey that immediately followed my microaggression simulation, for example, more than three times as many participants noticed the first problematic comment than spoke up about it. Managers I work with in all sorts of consulting engagements readily admit to a gap between what “should” and “would” be done in situations in which something difficult needs to be said to a boss, a peer or even a subordinate. Asked to explain the gap, I hear the same response that research consistently documents: People are afraid to initiate those conversations. </p>
<p>In part, this is the nature of working in America today. About <a href="https://www.betterteam.com/at-will-employment">three-quarters of all U.S. workers</a> are “at will,” meaning they can be fired for nearly any reason – or none at all. This is why you <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/er-doctor-who-criticized-bellingham-hospitals-coronavirus-protections-has-been-fired/">hear stories</a> of people <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/business/employee-fired-nursing-homes-new-york-times.html?referringSource=articleShare">being fired</a> for speaking up about issues that seem pretty important or reasonable. And for what it’s worth, there is no free speech in the workplace, as the First Amendment <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/employee-free-speech-in-the-workplace.aspx">does not apply to “private actors</a>.”</p>
<p>As I describe in my 2021 book “<a href="https://store.hbr.org/product/choosing-courage-the-everyday-guide-to-being-brave-at-work/10411">Choosing Courage</a>,” there are four common fears that keep people from speaking up or being completely honest when they do: </p>
<ol>
<li><p><strong>Economic or career consequences</strong> – push your boss to be more flexible about work hours or where you work from and you might find yourself off the promotion track or even told to find a new job.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Social exclusion</strong> – confront your peers about missed deadlines or their comments toward those of another race or gender and you might be eating lunch alone.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Psychological pain</strong> – offer a novel improvement idea that gets harshly shot down and you might start doubting yourself.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Physical harm</strong> – stand up to a customer or co-worker who is violating a policy or speaking inappropriately and you might get punched or threatened with a weapon.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Even if you haven’t recently experienced any of these negative consequences, you probably still have a set of internalized beliefs about the dangers of speaking up that, as my research with management scholar Amy Edmondson showed, leads toward <a href="https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.61967925">self-censoring</a> in situations where it might actually be safe to speak up.</p>
<h2>A way forward</h2>
<p>While I believe workers bear some responsibility when they don’t speak up, companies and other organizations are also at fault for creating cultures and conditions that don’t encourage honesty.</p>
<p>For example, there are systemic barriers to giving workers more of a voice – such as the <a href="https://www.uschamber.com/employment-law/unions/union-membership-drops-to-previous-low-in-2021">steady decline of union membership</a> since the 1950s and the lack of a sufficient <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/06/23/the-social-safety-net-the-gaps-that-covid-19-spotlights/">safety net</a> that decouples necessities like health care and a secure retirement from a specific employer.</p>
<p>Traditionally, unions have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_01225">sheltered workers</a> from some of the adverse consequences listed above, such as by preventing those who speak up about an ethical lapse from being arbitrarily fired or otherwise punished. </p>
<p>As I see it, there is a mixture of ways to turn this around. Lawmakers could strengthen laws intended to support workers who wish to form a union – particularly helpful at a time of <a href="https://theconversation.com/america-is-in-the-middle-of-a-labor-mobilization-moment-with-self-organizers-at-starbucks-amazon-trader-joes-and-chipotle-behind-the-union-drive-189826">labor revival</a> and fierce <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/starbucks-dials-up-anti-union-heat-by-accusing-nlrb-of-collusion">anti-union pushback</a> from some employers. </p>
<p>Corporate, nonprofit and government leaders could do more to actually encourage their workers to raise their voices by consistently soliciting their input and celebrating rather than punishing them for offering it. Incidentally, if leaders did more to create these conditions, employees would likely see less need for a union.</p>
<p>For workers who fear repercussions, there are skills they can learn to help them speak up more effectively and minimize the negative consequences of doing so. Sometimes merely changing the framing makes a significant difference – for example, asking managers to address a safety issue because it’s an opportunity to improve efficiency – can resonate better than pointing to the moral reasons to take action.</p>
<p>None of these steps are easy. They will require more courageous action by members of each of these groups. But I believe finding ways to help workers speak their minds about issues like safety, misconduct and performance is critically important because what happens in these instances shapes the places where people spend the majority of their waking hours – and whether they even want to be there.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190390/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Detert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows that workers rarely call out unethical behavior or even just operational problems, in large part because they fear serious consequences.James Detert, Professor of Business Administration, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1897602022-09-05T12:23:11Z2022-09-05T12:23:11ZAmerica’s next big labor battle could be Minor League Baseball<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482605/original/file-20220903-20-euu876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=186%2C7%2C2172%2C1342&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Minor league players often endure lengthy bus trips.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/players-for-long-beachs-new-minor-league-baseball-team-the-news-photo/569176245?adppopup=true">Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the Major League Baseball Players Association <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/29/sports/baseball/mlbpa-minor-league-union.html">sent union authorization cards</a> to approximately 5,000 minor league players in an attempt to unionize them, I was both surprised and not surprised at all. </p>
<p>If any industry is crying out for unionization, it’s this one. Minor league baseball players <a href="https://www.insidehook.com/article/sports/frontlines-battle-better-working-conditions-minor-league-baseball">are subject to some</a> of the poorest wages and most dreadful working conditions in America. Most of them toil for years before being washed out of the game <a href="https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-chances-of-a-drafted-baseball-player-making-the-major-leagues-a-quantitative-study/">without ever having reached</a> the promised land of the big leagues. </p>
<p>On the other hand, as someone <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p080975">who has written about baseball’s labor history</a>, I’ve noticed how nobody seemed to care all that much about minor leaguers until relatively recently. </p>
<p>Which begs the question: Why now? </p>
<p>Unionization, once a powerful weapon in the arsenal of the nation’s workforce, <a href="https://theconversation.com/america-is-in-the-middle-of-a-labor-mobilization-moment-with-self-organizers-at-starbucks-amazon-trader-joes-and-chipotle-behind-the-union-drive-189826">looks to be making a comeback</a> – at least marginally, after decades of declining membership and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/24/amazon-apple-google-union-busting/">strong-arm tactics</a> by management to defang it.</p>
<p>If unions can work their way into the strip mall coffee shop, why not Minor League Baseball? </p>
<h2>Big leaguers get their due</h2>
<p>It was hard enough to get major league players to work collectively on behalf of one another. </p>
<p><a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/marvin-miller/">Marvin Miller</a>, a former labor negotiator for the United Steel Workers of America, became the executive director of the <a href="https://www.mlbplayers.com/">Major League Baseball Players Association</a> in 1966. He soon realized that he faced a monumental task in encouraging big league, brand-name players to stand up for themselves against management. </p>
<p>By 1968 he was able to negotiate the first collective bargaining agreement for MLB players. <a href="https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/miller-marvin">Two years later</a>, he succeeded in not only raising the minimum major league salary 25% to US$10,000, but also securing for his players arbitration rights. <a href="https://baseballhall.org/discover/short-stops/free-agency-still-fuels-baseball">By 1976</a>, players with more than six years of service had won the right to become free agents and negotiate with any team of their choice. <a href="https://scholarworks.uni.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1120&context=mtie">Salaries skyrocketed</a>.</p>
<p>As the MLBPA scored victory after victory on the labor front, life for the minor leaguers remained as it had been, and the chasm between being a big leaguer and a minor leaguer grew more pronounced as the decades passed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man with mustache speaks in front of microphones." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482604/original/file-20220903-34667-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482604/original/file-20220903-34667-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482604/original/file-20220903-34667-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482604/original/file-20220903-34667-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482604/original/file-20220903-34667-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482604/original/file-20220903-34667-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482604/original/file-20220903-34667-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former MLBPA executive director Marvin Miller was able to score huge victories for big league ballplayers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/executive-director-marvin-miller-of-the-major-league-news-photo/90346172?adppopup=true">Focus on Sport/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over time, the grueling life of a minor leaguer became the stuff of legend, <a href="https://www.milb.com/news/beyond-bull-durham-10-movies-about-the-minors-313223890">explored in films</a> like “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094812/">Bull Durham</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0990413/">Sugar</a>.” Travel often remained as it always had been: by bus. Trips could last for days; it wasn’t considered cruel and unusual punishment to include clubs residing in <a href="https://www.milb.com/news/get-to-know-the-minor-league-teams-in-the-double-a-northeast">Maine, Virginia and Ohio</a> in the same league.</p>
<p>Players are only paid during the roughly five-and-a-half month season. According to <a href="https://www.advocatesforminorleaguers.com/">Advocates for Minor Leaguers</a> – which was subsumed by the MLBPA as part of the union organization push – until 2021, the minimum minor league salary came out to around $4,800, which amounted to about one-third of <a href="https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines/prior-hhs-poverty-guidelines-federal-register-references/2021-poverty-guidelines">the national poverty level of $12,880</a> for a single-person household. Meanwhile, the median minor league salary hovered around the national poverty level. On top of all this, players were responsible for securing and paying for their own housing.</p>
<h2>A weak attempt to appease</h2>
<p>In 2021, <a href="https://news.sportslogos.net/2021/02/15/a-breakdown-of-minor-league-baseballs-total-realignment-for-2021/baseball/">MLB began restructuring the minor leagues</a>, realigning and contracting them such that 43 out of 163 minor league clubs <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2020/12/09/mlb-announces-minor-league-affiliate-invites-some-teams-miss-cut/3805929001/">were eliminated</a>.</p>
<p>After this reorganization, MLB <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28702734/mlb-raising-minimum-salary-minor-leaguers-2021">finally upgraded minor league pay, at least somewhat</a>, <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2022/03/30/baseball-players-press-lawmakers-for-minor-league-labor-standards">increasing</a> the Single-A minimum salary from $290 to $500 per week and the Triple-A minimum salary from $502 to $700 per week over the course of the season. MLB also assumed responsibility for most player housing.</p>
<p>This improved things, but only incrementally. Most minor leaguers still toil for substandard wages under conditions that seem unfathomable given <a href="https://dodgerblue.com/average-mlb-team-payrolls-declined-despite-increasing-revenue/2021/12/29/">the gravy train</a> that is pretty much everything else Major League Baseball touches.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Baseball player slides into home plate to avoid a tag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482607/original/file-20220903-30403-3ahajh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482607/original/file-20220903-30403-3ahajh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482607/original/file-20220903-30403-3ahajh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482607/original/file-20220903-30403-3ahajh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482607/original/file-20220903-30403-3ahajh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482607/original/file-20220903-30403-3ahajh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482607/original/file-20220903-30403-3ahajh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some players in Single-A earn only $500 per week.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/catcher-alex-lavisky-of-the-lake-county-captains-prepares-news-photo/143087859?adppopup=true">David Dermer/Diamond Images via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To be sure, not all minor leaguers suffer under these circumstances. Early-round draft picks have the luxury of dipping into their <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/nationals/mlb-draft-2022-explaining-signing-bonuses-slot-value-and-more">substantial signing bonus money</a> to supplement their minor league incomes. But all minor league players remain subject to a litany of further indignities at the hands of their employers: Clubhouses – where players can spend up to 12 hours a day – <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/ben-verlander-minor-league-baseball-player-not-so-glamorous-life-behind-the-scenes">can be dingy shacks with dirt floors</a>. Off days are few and far between – <a href="https://www.mlbdailydish.com/2018/10/10/17919590/talking-about-the-grind-of-life-as-a-minor-league-baseball-player-with-minorleaguegrinders">sometimes as few as a single day per month</a> – and players are often made to feel disposable. </p>
<p>“Minor-league players need to be looked at as investments, not pawns,” one minor leaguer confided to a reporter for <a href="https://theathletic.com/2750280/2021/08/05/cockroaches-car-camping-poverty-wages-why-are-minor-leaguers-living-in-squalor/">The Athletic</a> in 2021. </p>
<p>“They act like we aren’t a part of the organization,” added another.</p>
<h2>The winds of change</h2>
<p>Suddenly, however, there’s been movement on the minor league front. </p>
<p>If nobody else saw this coming, MLB likely did. Why else did the league finally make incremental changes in 2021? </p>
<p>I doubt the MLB did this out of the goodness of their hearts. I believe they did it because, like Bob Dylan, they didn’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind was blowing. </p>
<p>In July, MLB settled <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/sports/baseball/mlb-lawsuit-pay.html">a $185 million class-action lawsuit</a> over minor league pay, <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/07/20/rob-manfred-minor-league-wages-all-star-game">agreeing to permit clubs</a> to compensate these players for their work during spring training.</p>
<p>Formerly, clubs were prohibited from doing so. Now they’re free to compensate their players for this time – if they so choose. </p>
<p>The MLBPA could sense the shifting winds as well. </p>
<p>After decades of silence, people with influence were at last beginning to take note of what was going on down on the farm. Reporters started digging, and former players started speaking up, <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2062307-an-inside-look-into-the-harsh-conditions-of-minor-league-baseball">publishing thoughtful and incisive pieces</a> detailing not only <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/ben-verlander-minor-league-baseball-player-not-so-glamorous-life-behind-the-scenes">MLB’s back-of-the-hand treatment</a> of minor league players, but also how the MLBPA <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/6/5/17251534/mlb-draft-minor-league-baseball-union-phpa">often ignored</a> or sold out their minor league counterparts in labor negotiations.</p>
<p>And then, of course, there have been the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/27/us-union-boom-starbucks-amazon">high-profile unionization efforts</a> at places such as Starbucks, Amazon, Apple, Chipotle and Trader Joe’s, which signaled that something was clearly afoot beyond the bushes.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/398303/approval-labor-unions-highest-point-1965.aspx">a recent Gallup poll</a>, Americans’ support for unions is not merely ticking upwards – it’s at a 57-year high. </p>
<h2>The real work begins</h2>
<p>The unionization effort is far from a done deal; the MLBPA merely distributed union authorization cards. Now it’s up to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mlb-sports-minor-league-baseball-spencer-jones-6c02bdb34e1f221fc21b3e230eeddf78">a critical mass of minor league players</a> to vote in favor of unionization. </p>
<p>How many of these highly vulnerable minor leaguers are going to be willing to risk angering the people who hold their precarious futures in their hands? How many of them are going to be willing to put their lifelong dreams on the line for a union card? How many are confident enough that their skills are such that they won’t be released in retaliation for organizing?</p>
<p>All I know for sure is that minor league baseball today finds itself in a place it has never been before: on the precipice of real, profound change. </p>
<p>Depending on how things turn out, perhaps one day the reality of being a professional ballplayer might actually resemble the fantasy so many young ballplayers have clung to for generations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189760/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mitchell Nathanson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If any industry is crying out for unionization, it’s this one.Mitchell Nathanson, Professor of Law, Villanova School of LawLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1848952022-06-23T14:50:35Z2022-06-23T14:50:35ZWhy Uber drivers aren’t unionizing in Québec<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468243/original/file-20220610-28309-qtm2nc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Uber model hinders any possibility of drivers acting collectively and generates significant cognitive dissonance among them.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As of mid-June, the Uber platform will extend its services to the entire province of Québec. On a global scale, Uber is in nearly <a href="https://s23.q4cdn.com/407969754/files/doc_downloads/2021/07/Uber-2021-ESG-Report.pdf">10,000 cities and 71 countries and has more than 3.5 million workers</a>.</p>
<p>This model, based on on-demand work and the algorithmic distribution of tasks, fundamentally transforms ways of thinking about, organizing and carrying out work, both on an individual and collective basis.</p>
<p>The expansion of Uber’s service across Québec provides an opportunity to examine the reality of the work being carried out by thousands of drivers and delivery personnel in the province. What is their work day like? How do they make social connections?</p>
<p>To try to answer these questions, I observed Facebook groups of drivers and interviewed about 50 Uber workers in Québec.</p>
<p>As a doctoral student in communications at Université du Québec à Montréal and a research student at the Université du Québec’s Institut national de la recherche scientifique, my research examines the profile and motivations of Uber drivers, their ideas about collective action and, more generally, the psychosocial issues involved in work that is mediated by algorithms.</p>
<h2>Many encounters, but solitary work</h2>
<p>Although Uber workers encounter many people on a daily basis (customers, restaurant owners, passengers), their activity is essentially solitary. Their work takes place without ever meeting another human from Uber. Their registration on the platform is done online and their daily tasks are distributed to them by an algorithm through the Uber app.</p>
<p>If a problem prompts a driver to contact the company’s technical service, the people they interact with are located in <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520970632/html">out-of-country call centres</a>. What’s more, the answers they get are most often formatted by scripts, reinforcing the robotic nature of their relationship to work.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="man wearing a mask driving a car with an Uber badge" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The organization of their work limits Uber drivers’ possibilities to socialize and hinders the possibility of forming a union.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As for the few moments when workers might meet — in restaurants waiting for orders or in drop-off areas at airports — drivers’ interactions are limited to brief exchanges about the number of orders they got that day, as expressed by Katia, an Uber Eats delivery driver in Montréal:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When I pass another delivery driver, I say “Hey Uber! Lots of business tonight,” or “Not much business tonight,” and that’s about it. After that, I probably won’t ever see them again, but if I do, I just say hello. I don’t even know their name.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A competitive atmosphere</h2>
<p>Uber drivers’ Facebook groups do provide a place to share information and vent about frustrating situations. However, these spaces play a very limited role in building a collective since they don’t make it possible for drivers to have extended conversations about work.</p>
<p>The architecture of the groups favours short-term interactions, with posts quickly fading into the thread. Constructive exchanges would require conversations over a long period of time in an atmosphere of listening and trust. However, the competition felt by drivers, combined with the brief and anonymous interaction mode of social networks, contributes to a hostile climate. As Diane, an Uber Eats delivery driver in Laval, says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think that the negative comments are made to discourage others because it’s not a group where we encourage each other. It’s a group where we try to discourage others, because it’s competition. If I want to earn a living, I have to run more races than you.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Collective action is a threat</h2>
<p>Surprisingly, this absence of a collective identity is not perceived as a problem by most of the workers I interviewed. Despite difficult working conditions over which they have no control, workers do not tend toward gathering and mobilizing in an effort to establish a power relationship with Uber.</p>
<p>While Uber drivers in other jurisdictions <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8816204/uber-union-reach-settlement-ontario-unionization-case/">have tried to unionize</a>, the idea of collective action is perceived as a threat by most of the Québec workers. The competitive climate pushes drivers to develop a repertoire of tactics and tinkering to stand out, as Bertrand, an Uber driver in Québec City, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We all go to the Facebook group for the same thing, to find others like us and see if they can give us tips and tricks to better understand how it works, to get information. But we quickly understand that, no, we are all in the same boat, we are all there for our own pocketbook.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Among the tactics used to optimize their income, some drivers will, for example, call customers to find out their destination before picking them up. If drivers feel the trip is unprofitable, given the distance to the customer, they will cancel the trip. Others use two phones to maintain access to the map and show the location of the surcharge zones.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Uber app on a Samsung phone showing several available cars" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Québec, many Uber users appreciate the app’s ease of use and the convenience of the service.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>No sense of belonging</h2>
<p>To many workers, a work collective that strives to harmonize practices and replace individual tactics with collective strategies, looks like a loss of competitive advantage.</p>
<p>Now that Uber drivers’ struggles against cab drivers is over — thanks to <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5096891/taxi-drivers-protest-montreal-quebec-city/">the adoption of Bill 17 in 2020</a> which deregulated Québec’s taxi industry — they no longer share a common enemy.</p>
<h2>Fraught consequences</h2>
<p>Each driver has to learn how the business works and cope with its challenges on their own, cobbling together their own tactics, conscious that not all drivers benefit from the same resources. Moreover, drivers are deprived of the opportunity to develop a collective reaction about their working conditions. </p>
<p>The absence of meaningful exchanges, opportunities to listen and the presence of other drivers hinders the development of any meaningful relationships and solidarity between drivers. Their activity is reduced to their relationship with technology.</p>
<p>In fact, without the power to act collectively in the face of rigid working conditions, the dysfunctions and health problems of workers are always treated <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278777956_Collective_work_and_rules_re-writing_process_a_way_of_workers%27_health">as isolated realities rather than as a consequence of the way their work is organized</a>. As Kader, an Uber driver in Montréal, puts it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve never opened my heart on the Facebook group. All I have to do is make one comment and I feel attacked by the others. Often, drivers who speak honestly are verbally attacked. Drivers are suffering. We could discuss it. But the climate we need to do this does not exist in the group.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The profiles of Uber drivers in Québec vary greatly. For example, the fact that it’s impossible to negotiate higher incomes does not have the same consequences for a Tesla engineer, who drives three hours a week to take their mind off things, as it does for an immigrant who works 60 hours a week to support their family.</p>
<h2>Low revenues and lack of transparency</h2>
<p>For some individuals being an Uber driver brings in extra income, but the model also takes advantage of the precariousness of a part of the population. Those who carry out the activity as their only source of income, often do so because they lack a better option. </p>
<p>Although the majority of the drivers I interviewed do not aspire to become employees and are reluctant to join a union, many deplore the low income and the platform’s lack of transparency over how the algorithm and the remuneration system work.</p>
<p>Faced with this situation, they see the government as the only stakeholder that could establish a power relationship with Uber and force the platform to offer better working conditions to its drivers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184895/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucie Enel has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie, and the J.A. DeSève Foundation.</span></em></p>When it comes to dealing with Uber’s difficult working conditions, Uber drivers are on their own.Lucie Enel, Doctorante en communication, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1825492022-05-10T12:04:18Z2022-05-10T12:04:18ZStarbucks’ caffeinated anti-union efforts may leave a bitter taste – but are they legal?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461638/original/file-20220505-1367-ilvqwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=52%2C0%2C5808%2C3860&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A long-brewing dispute?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-hold-signs-while-protesting-in-front-of-starbucks-on-news-photo/1391508710?adppopup=true">Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Good news greeted Starbucks workers on May 3, 2022, in the shape of a promise of new pay increases. But there was a catch: Employees at unionized stores – or those planning to unionize – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/03/business/economy/starbucks-howard-schultz-union-pay.html">shouldn’t expect to see a dime</a> of this hike.</p>
<p>As far as efforts to discourage workers from supporting union drives go, the move by Starbucks appears pretty blatant. And it comes as the coffee chain sees a <a href="https://perfectunion.us/map-where-are-starbucks-workers-unionizing/">massive surge of union activity</a>.</p>
<p>Since its first victory at two stores in Buffalo in December 2021, Starbucks Workers United has now filed for union elections <a href="https://abc7ny.com/starbucks-union-labor-workers-united/11825879/#:%7E:text=As%20of%20this%20week%2C%20workers,the%20Service%20Employees%20International%20Union.">at over 250 stores</a> – comprising over 6,600 employees – in over 30 states, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Moreover, the union has won 54 of the 64 elections conducted to date, many by overwhelming margins. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://cob.sfsu.edu/directory/john-logan">scholar of organized labor</a>, I find the growth of the union movement at Starbucks remarkable. But it has also prompted what I would characterize as a remarkably aggressive stance against unions among executives at the coffee chain. Starbucks management appears intent on halting unionizing momentum among employees – even if that means risking sanction from the federal watchdog. Indeed, on May 6, a regional director of the NLRB <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/starbucks-firings-threats-store-closures-labor-board_n_6275802ce4b009a811c39513">issued a complaint against the coffee chain</a> over prior instances of anti-union tactics that the labor official deemed to have strayed across the line of what is legal.</p>
<h2>Anti-union or pro-Starbucks?</h2>
<p>In announcing the promised pay raise to nonunionized workers, Howard Schultz, who returned to Starbucks as interim CEO in March 2022, suggested that federal law prohibits Starbucks “from promising new wages and benefits at stores involved in union organizing.” Union representatives counter that nothing in law stops Starbucks from offering such benefits to workers at unionized stores.</p>
<p>Moreover, they say that threatening to withhold wage increases amounts to an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/03/business/economy/starbucks-howard-schultz-union-pay.html">illegal attempt to coerce workers</a> and have <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/02/starbucks-union-files-nlrb-complaint-citing-ceo-schultzs-benefits-comments.html">filed a formal complaint</a> with the NLRB.</p>
<p>It is not the first time Schultz, who says he is not “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/09/starbucks-ceo-howard-schultz-has-history-of-opposing-unions.html">anti-union” but “pro-Starbucks</a>,” has picked a fight with workers looking to unionize. In April, he told workers at a public forum that if they are unhappy working at Starbucks, they <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/04/11/starbucks-ceo-lashes-out-at-unionizing-baristas/">should seek employment elsewhere</a> and claimed that American corporations nationwide are “under assault” by unions.</p>
<p>The CEO also blamed organizing at Starbucks stores on “<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/starbucks-union-fight-intensifies-under-ceo-howard-schultz-11651483981">so-called workers” and an “outside force</a>” – comments that appear at odds with the reality of what is going on at his stores. A quirk of the recent spate of unionizing efforts at Starbucks is that it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-starbucks-and-the-sparking-of-a-new-american-union-movement-180293">worker-driven</a>, in that it is young employees spearheading the drive and spreading the word to other stores.</p>
<p>This grassroots approach is nullifying many of the traditional anti-union tactics. Not only does it counter the claim that unionizing is being forced on workers from outsiders who may not have their best interests in mind, it also makes it harder for anti-union messages to go unchallenged. For example, <a href="https://cwad1.org/banning-captive-audience-meetings#:%7E:text=Captive%20audience%20meetings%20are%20mandatory,materials%20like%20videos%20and%20flyers.">group captive audience meetings</a> – in which employees are mandated to attend sessions at which they are urged not to join a union – have proved less effective in part because pro-union workers have ensured that at least one activist is present to counter what is being said. And I have been told by organizers that at several Starbucks stores, workers have made a <a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/starbucks-organizing-union-labor-coffee-historic-campaign">collective decision to refuse to attend</a> such meetings.</p>
<h2>Reputational risk</h2>
<p>In the face of diminishing returns for traditional efforts to persuade workers against unionizing, Starbucks appears to be upping the intensity. But going to war with its pro-union workers involves significant reputation risk for Starbucks – something the company itself has seemingly acknowledged. In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company <a href="https://www.levernews.com/starbucks-stunning-admission-about-its-union-busting/">warned investors</a>: “Our responses to any union organizing efforts could negatively impact how our brand is perceived and have adverse effects on our business, including on our financial results.”</p>
<p>Starbucks is already facing uncomfortable headlines over its anti-union practices and the mounting number of complaints that they have prompted.</p>
<p>Since the union campaign started in August 2021, Starbucks Workers United has filed 112 separate unfair labor practices charges against the company, prompting former NLRB chair William Gould <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/starbucks-store-unionizing-surge-tests-cash-strapped-labor-board">to note</a>, “I can’t think of anything that has generated this many cases.” </p>
<p>Then on May 6, 2022, a director for the NLRB’s Buffalo region issued <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/starbucks-firings-threats-store-closures-labor-board_n_6275802ce4b009a811c39513">a sweeping complaint against Starbucks</a>. It covered over 200 instances of what it claims to be unlawful anti-union behavior. They included allegations of terminating, disciplining and surveilling pro-union workers; closing pro-union stores for several months and promising increased benefits to staff who refuse to unionize.</p>
<p>Such NLRB complaints follow an investigation into claims of labor violations and indicate that the board has found merit in the complaints.</p>
<p>To provide relief, the<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/athena/files/2022/05/06/62759426e4b009a811c3ad5f.pdf"> complaint requires Starbucks</a> to put in place what amounts to a laundry list of remedies, including reinstating fired workers, providing training for Starbucks managers on workers’ rights and allowing equal time for unions to address employees.</p>
<p>It also calls on Schultz or Starbucks’ executive vice president Rossann Williams – who ran the anti-union campaign in Buffalo last year – to record themselves reading a notice explaining to staff that they have a right to form a union, and for that recording to be distributed to every store in the U.S.</p>
<p>Starbucks has indicated that it will contest the regional NLRB complaint. In a statement, <a href="https://www.bloomberglaw.com/product/labor/bloomberglawnews/daily-labor-report/BNA%2000000180a525d12ea5cfe767d9100003?bna_news_filter=daily-labor-report">the company said</a>, “We believe the allegations contained in the complaint are false, and we look forward to presenting our evidence.”</p>
<h2>An NLRB with more bite?</h2>
<p>Regardless of what the NLRB complaint says, or what the board rules in regard to the denial of promised pay increases, Starbucks’ apparent efforts to slow union momentum may have some success.</p>
<p>The Starbucks union recently suffered <a href="https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/05/03/breaking-news/effort-to-unionize-first-starbucks-store-in-hawaii-fails/">unexpected losses in Hawaii</a> <a href="https://www.tag24.com/justice/activism/starbucks-union-organizers-see-mixed-results-in-pittsburgh-estero-and-oklahoma-city-2445581">and Florida</a>.</p>
<p>Part of the problem facing worker-organizers is that it can take time to make charges of unfair anti-union practices stick.</p>
<p>The NLRB has for decades been hampered by delays in its processes. It can take months for a ruling to come down, and if a company appeals the board’s decision to a federal court, it can take years – by which time the <a href="https://www.jwj.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/UROCUEDcompressedfullreport.pdf">damage to a union campaign may have already been done</a>. </p>
<p>Labor organizers will be hoping that the recent complaint against Starbucks will portend a decisiveness and desire to move more quickly at the NLRB under the Biden administration.</p>
<p>President Joe Biden likes to tout his pro-union credentials. Indeed, he recently welcomed a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/06/starbucks-criticizes-biden-visit-with-union-leaders-requests-white-house-meeting.html">pro-union Starbucks worker</a> to the White House, prompting the company to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/06/starbucks-criticizes-biden-visit-with-union-leaders-requests-white-house-meeting.html">demand that it get a similar invitation</a>. </p>
<p>But Biden’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/09/08/remarks-by-president-biden-in-honor-of-labor-unions/">credentials as the self-proclaimed</a> “most pro-union president in American history” may hang on how his administration, through the NLRB, is able to crack down on anti-union practices when they cross over the line.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182549/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Logan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint over instances of anti-union practices at Starbucks. And that was before the company’s boss threatened to withhold wages.John Logan, Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies, San Francisco State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1810422022-04-12T17:22:43Z2022-04-12T17:22:43ZWhy did Amazon workers win the fight to form a union in Staten Island but not in Alberta?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457507/original/file-20220411-24-jbdsay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3500%2C2263&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Staten Island's Amazon distribution centre union organizer Chris Smalls celebrates with union members after getting the voting results to unionize their warehouse on April 1, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/why-did-amazon-workers-win-the-fight-to-form-a-union-in-staten-island-but-not-in-alberta" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Amazon workers in Staten Island have achieved something the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/technology/amazon-unions-virginia.html">company has been fighting for years</a> to prevent: a union.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2022/04/amazon-labor-union-alu-staten-island-organizing">breakthrough at Amazon’s JFK8 facility is being hailed</a> as the “most important labour victory in the United States since the 1930s.” That it was won by the independent <a href="https://www.amazonlaborunion.org">Amazon Labor Union</a> (ALU) is all the more significant, in light of the failures of larger and better-resourced unions like the <a href="https://ricochet.media/en/3846/how-amazon-beat-the-union-in-alberta">International Brotherhood of Teamsters</a> in Alberta, and the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/07/amazon-illegally-interfered-in-alabama-warehouse-vote-union-alleges.html">Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU)</a> in Alabama.</p>
<p>Union organizing drives are context-specific, and the ALU still has significant challenges ahead, including Amazon’s attempts to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/09/amazon-new-york-warehouse-union-victory-nlrb">overturn the result</a> and the difficulty of <a href="https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Turning-the-Tables.pdf">achieving a first contract</a>. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the victory in Staten Island and the defeats in Alberta and Alabama provide some key insights into the state of union organizing efforts at Amazon and beyond. </p>
<h2>Amazon working conditions</h2>
<p>Amazon is designed to have massive worker turnover. A 2021 <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2021/06/18/amazon-workforce-turnover-dominance-investigation/"><em>New York Times</em> investigation</a> found the turnover rate for warehousing and storage employees was 150 per cent. Whether or not this was the original intention, such a high rate of turnover is a <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/amazon-worker-turnover-anti-union_n_60ca1b3ee4b0d2b86a818d1b">major obstacle to organizing</a>.</p>
<p>Amazon workers are required to meet demanding quotas, which are enforced by intrusive <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy8n3j/amazon-delivery-drivers-forced-to-sign-biometric-consent-form-or-lose-job">digital tracking technology</a> and suffocating managerial oversight. Workers, unable to sustain the pace and strain, are fired or quit.</p>
<p>Amazon workers frequently skip washroom breaks in order to meet their quotas, resorting to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-warehouse-workers-have-to-pee-into-bottles-2018-4">urinating in bottles</a>. Despite the flippant denials of Amazon spokespersons, they later had to apologize when <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/mar/25/amazon-delivery-workers-bathrooms-memo">leaked internal documents</a> proved they were aware of this issue.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man speaks into microphones while people holding protest signs that say 'Amazon Recognize the Union Now' stand behind him" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Amazon JFK8 distribution centre union organizer Jason Anthony speaks to media on April 1, 2022 in Brooklyn, N.Y.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2018, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/11/amazon-warehouse-reports-show-worker-injuries/602530/">internal injury records</a> found that the rate of serious injuries in Amazon fulfilment centres was more than double the national average for the American warehousing industry. </p>
<p>These unsafe working conditions were <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/03/19/as-online-orders-surge-what-about-the-amazon-workers.html">exacerbated by the pandemic</a>. Crowded workspaces and limited paid sick days have caused outbreaks in warehouses, though the extent is difficult to determine, because, unlike Wal-Mart and various grocery chains, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-business-is-booming-at-amazon-canada-but-workers-say-the-pandemic-is/">Amazon refuses to release its numbers</a> on worker infections.</p>
<h2>Amazon’s anti-unionism</h2>
<p>When workers try to address these issues, Amazon uses <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-advantages-of-unionization-are-obvious-so-why-dont-more-workers-join-unions-164475">union substitution techniques</a> — such as paying comparatively higher wages — to dissuade workers from unionizing, as well as <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-labor-busting-law-firms-and-consultants-that-keep-google-amazon-and-other-workplaces-union-free-144254">union suppression</a> to beat back any serious unionization effort.</p>
<p>Amazon <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/amazon-workers-delivery-drivers-unionize-1.6215475">retaliates against workers</a> trying to unionize. In a well-known case, an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/may/05/amazon-protests-union-organizing-cracking-down-workers">Amazon vice-president resigned in protest</a> against the firing of workers who blew the whistle on the rising COVID-19 infections in warehouses.</p>
<p>Amazon also <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkpkxm/amazon-hires-trump-hotel-union-buster">spends millions on union-avoidance companies</a> who specialize in assessing which workplaces are most vulnerable to union efforts, providing anti-union media — such as posters, videos and websites — and <a href="https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/3/25/22996803/leaked-audio-amazon-workers-staten-island-captive-audience-meeting">conducting captive audience meetings</a>. </p>
<p>Employers and union-avoidance consultants use captive audience meetings to enforce anti-union talking points. These meetings are usually scheduled during working hours and worker attendance is mandatory. While legal, some <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1010463">labour scholars have questioned</a> whether this type of “forced listening” infringes on workers’ basic rights.</p>
<h2>“We literally work there”</h2>
<p>One of the reasons why Amazon workers in Staten Island were so successful is because they formed an independent, grassroots organization to unionize their particular workplace. Other efforts have been led by already established unions, like the <a href="https://rwdsu.sk.ca/">RWDSU</a> in Bessemer, Ala., or the <a href="https://teamsters.ca/local-unions/">Teamsters</a> in Nisku, Alta.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man handing flier to the driver of a car. In the background stands a massive building with the Amazon logo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A member of the Teamsters Local Union 362 hands out flyers to Amazon employees, outside an Amazon facility, to get support and distribute information in Nisku, Alta., on Sept. 14, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Union organizing is ultimately about relationships and trust. Organizers from within a workplace don’t have to develop relationships from scratch the same way organizers from outside an organization do. <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2022/04/amazon-labor-union-alu-staten-island-organizing">ALU organizers emphasized</a> that they “didn’t come from somewhere else to organize JFK8; we literally work there.” </p>
<p>This stands in stark contrast to the campaigns in <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/bessemer-alabama-amazon-union/">Alabama</a> and <a href="https://ricochet.media/en/3846/how-amazon-beat-the-union-in-alberta">Alberta</a>. In the latter case, the secretary treasurer of the Teamsters Local 362 acknowledged that “we didn’t have anybody on the inside” in the Nisku facility.</p>
<p>Independent, grassroots unions are able to avoid some of the baggage of more established unions. While the ALU faced specific criticisms by Amazon and its union-avoidance consultants, these largely revolved around the ALU’s upstart status. As Amazon’s <a href="https://www.unpackjfk8.com/unionfacts/#block-caa75241ac139189ca53">anti-ALU website</a> states, “the ALU has no track record that you can use to judge whether their representation would be worth it to you or not.” </p>
<p>The ALU also developed tactics that are much more effective when workers on the inside are organizing. For example, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-amazon-workers-beat-the-union-busters-at-their-own-game_n_624b0385e4b0e44de9c52704">ALU worker-organizers researched Amazon’s union-avoidance consultants</a> by scouring Labor Department reports and warehouse lists of third-party vendors. Then, in one-on-one conversations with their co-workers, they shared their research on how these consultants, whose typical rate is US$3,200 per day, “get rich ‘convincing poor people to stay poor.’” </p>
<p>The stark contrast between what Amazon was willing to pay these consultants and worker salaries persuaded many to support the ALU. These workers also organized their co-workers to fearlessly challenge anti-union talking points at the captive audience meetings, which inspired other, more cautious co-workers to do the same.</p>
<p>Despite the odds, the ALU succeeded where some of North America’s largest and established private sector unions have failed. The ALU has proven that one of the most powerful anti-union companies in North America can be unionized. This doesn’t mean that the already established unions can’t beat Amazon, but as the ALU has made clear, inside workers have to take the lead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181042/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Staten Island’s Amazon union has proven that one of the most powerful anti-union companies in North America can be unionized.Jordan House, Assistant Professor, Labour Studies, Brock UniversityPaul Christopher Gray, Assistant Professor, Labour Studies, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1729322021-12-10T13:38:27Z2021-12-10T13:38:27ZUnion battles at Amazon and Starbucks are hot news – which can only be good for the labor movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436962/original/file-20211210-137612-4iivn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C67%2C4980%2C3257&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Unions on the rise?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PicturesoftheWeek-NorthAmerica-PhotoGallery/510fa3d724d146cd96488b910fe65c4f/photo?Query=starbucks&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=2554&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Joshua Bessex</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Union drives have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/07/business/media/labor-unions-media-coverage.html">suddenly become hot news</a>.</p>
<p>In a closely watched Nov. 29, 2021, decision, the National Labor Relations Board <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/29/business/amazon-bessemer-alabama-election.html">ruled that Amazon had committed serious violations</a> of federal labor law during a union campaign at a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. In the decision, the NLRB <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/11/29/amazon-warehouse-union-revote/">attacked Amazon’s “flagrant disregard</a>” for election rules, saying it “essentially hijacked the process.” The online retail giant won the union vote, held earlier this year, by a 2-1 margin but will now be forced into a do-over election. </p>
<p>Meanwhile in Buffalo, New York, baristas at Starbucks <a href="https://apnews.com/article/starbucks-union-vote-buffalo-c7dc3c2ec8b838e9f4ed641f54fc9035">voted to unionize</a> on Dec. 9, making them the coffee chain’s only unionized workforce in the United States in what has <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/12/09/1062150045/starbucks-first-union-buffalo-new-york">been touted as a “watershed” moment</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://cob.sfsu.edu/directory/john-logan">labor scholar who has tracked unionization efforts</a> for 20 years, I believe we could be on the cusp of a new labor relations order, spurred in large part by increased media and public interest generated by these high-profile campaigns.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/02/amazon-union-warehouse-workers/">organizing drive</a> at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Union from January to March 2021 was one of the most closely watched union campaigns in decades. It generated media coverage of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/technology/amazon-unions-virginia.html">Amazon’s anti-union behavior</a> and even arguably helped <a href="https://www.cjr.org/analysis/when_longtime_labor_reporter_steven.php">revive the so-called “labor beat</a>” in newsrooms after years of languishing.</p>
<p>The NLRB decision provided negative headlines for Amazon. “Amazon made ‘free and fair’ Bessemer union election ‘impossible,’ labor official rules,” <a href="https://www.al.com/news/2021/11/amazon-made-free-and-fair-bessemer-union-election-impossible-labor-official-rules.html">ran the headline of the Alabama</a> news site Al.com. The Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/11/29/amazon-warehouse-union-revote/">ran with</a>: “Labor board calls for revote at Amazon warehouse in Alabama in major victory for union.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A worker holds a pro-union sign outside an Amazon factory." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C16%2C5478%2C3641&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A fork in the road for organized labor?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/union-supporter-stands-before-sunrise-outside-the-amazon-news-photo/1232002101?adppopup=true">Patrick Fallon/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Even if it were to win the second ballot without violating the law, Amazon is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-reporters-politicians-all-hands-salacious-criticism-2021-11">highly sensitive about negative media</a>, and company officials will likely loathe any coverage of another high-profile union election.</p>
<h2>Labor rights go mainstream</h2>
<p>The NLRB order itself was arguably less interesting – despite its huge potential significance at Amazon – than the fact that it resulted in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/29/business/amazon-bessemer-alabama-election.html">lengthy articles</a> in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/amazon-alabama-facility-ordered-re-run-union-election-us-labor-board-2021-11-29/">several major media outlets</a>.</p>
<p>Over the past year or so, organized labor has seemingly entered the mainstream again. It follows decades of apparent dwindling interest in union drives in the public sphere. A Google Ngram – which charts the use of terms in publications – shows a <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Unionization%2Cunion+drive&year_start=1950&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3">decline in the appearance of “unionization” and “union drive</a>” from the late 1970s to the late 2010s.</p>
<iframe name="ngram_chart" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=Unionization%2Cunion+drive&year_start=1950&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2CUnionization%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cunion+drive%3B%2Cc0" width="100%" height="200" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<p><em>Labor organizing terms have dwindled in publications.</em></p>
<p>This decline correlates with the growing weakness of unions over that period: Unions represent <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm">only 10.8% of American workers today</a>, down from 20% four decades ago. </p>
<p>Into this decline has come a recent wave of <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkd538/unions-are-cool-now">positive press for unions</a>. It corresponds to almost record-high rates of public approval in unions. In fact, at 68%, support for unions is at its <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/354455/approval-labor-unions-highest-point-1965.aspx">highest level since 1965</a>. In addition, most Americans think union decline has <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/15/majorities-of-adults-see-decline-of-union-membership-as-bad-for-the-u-s-and-working-people/">hurt working people</a>. </p>
<p><iframe id="SeKfv" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/SeKfv/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Labor law reform</h2>
<p>The issue of labor rights has seemingly garnered the nation’s attention like nothing I have seen in my lifetime or even in the past half-century. And growing awareness of the issue could have an impact on efforts to improve the legislative environment for unionizing.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.filesforprogress.org/datasets/2021/6/dfp-vox-attitudes-towards-unions-toplines.pdf">recent poll found that 59% of respondents</a> supported strengthening labor laws through proposals such as penalizing companies that retaliate against workers trying to unionize and eliminating “right-to-work” laws that allow employees to benefit from union contracts without paying dues.</p>
<p>In the past, lack of public awareness has helped torpedo labor law reform campaigns. In 2009-2010, during the campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act, it was rare to encounter anyone without a professional labor interest who had ever heard of the legislation, which attracted only <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/research/reaching-for-new-deal-read-more">lackluster support from the Obama White House and died in the Senate</a>. </p>
<p>At present, the Biden-supported legislation aimed at strengthening the right to choose a union, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, is firmly on the back burner despite <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/6/16/22535274/poll-pro-act-unionization-majority-bipartisan">support from a majority of voters</a>.</p>
<p>In the face of opposition from Republicans and three Democrats, the legislation is <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-shift/2021/12/06/pro-act-allies-hit-the-road-799282">seen as a long shot in the Senate</a>, which historically has been the graveyard for labor reforms. The PRO Act might similarly die there, although pro-union advocates hope that meaningful financial penalties for employer violations will at least <a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/update-house-passes-build-back-better-bill-retaining-heavy-new-penalties-employer">make it into the $2 trillion Build Back Better bill</a>. </p>
<p>For the PRO Act to become a live proposition, it would likely need to convert its popular support into pressure on members of Congress.</p>
<p>This is the only way, in my view, to achieve meaningful change and make unionizing easier.</p>
<p>Headlines that focus on the coercive power that big corporations like Amazon exert over workers participating in elections could go some way to <a href="https://www.al.com/business/2021/04/most-americans-support-alabama-amazon-union-drive-poll-finds.html">bolster support for union drives</a>. </p>
<h2>Labor is hot</h2>
<p>Unions are set to continue to be a talking point in the national media with the Starbucks vote. </p>
<p>The coffee chain had been engaged in what was been described as “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/nov/23/starbucks-aggressive-anti-union-effort-new-york-stores-organize">aggressive” anti-union tactics</a> ahead of the vote, including forcing employees to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/nov/23/starbucks-aggressive-anti-union-effort-new-york-stores-organize">attend mandatory anti-union meetings</a>. Although it involves only a few dozen workers, the Workers United-SEIU union victory at Starbucks in Buffalo is seen as one of the most important labor organizing victories in several decades.</p>
<p>Corporate America has employed <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1057/9781137319067_2">brutal anti-union campaigns for decades</a>. What has changed, from my perspective, is that such activities are now seen as newsworthy – at least when the companies involved are household names.</p>
<p>This coverage provides a stark contrast with past media coverage, which <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-political-science/article/abs/organized-labor-as-the-new-undeserving-rich-mass-media-classbased-antiunion-rhetoric-and-public-support-for-unions-in-the-united-states/6CF19F2860C07ABAF0B7C787D8731A0C">often depicted unionized workers</a> as “overpaid, greedy and undeserving of their wealth.”</p>
<p>In the words of a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/07/business/media/labor-unions-media-coverage.html">New York Times article</a> on Nov. 7, 2021, the “media loves labor now.”</p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-need-to-know">Sign up for Politics Weekly</a>.]</p>
<h2>Talking union</h2>
<p>In addition to Amazon and Starbucks, in recent months an expanding number and variety of employees have been talking about forming unions at their own workplaces. In the past few months alone <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/01/the-tactics-media-unions-are-using-to-build-membership">we have seen media</a>, <a href="https://www.kqed.org/news/11874325/tech-worker-organizing-is-nothing-new-but-actually-forming-unions-is">tech</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-04/museum-workers-embrace-unions-after-pandemic-job-cuts">museum workers</a> form unions and either stage or threaten strikes. </p>
<p>Coverage of the union campaign at Amazon is one reason talk of unionizing is seemingly spreading. But there are other factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, which has spurred numerous labor fights – big and small – and safety struggles by <a href="https://time.com/5928528/frontline-workers-strikes-labor/">Amazon warehouse workers and Amazon-owned Whole Foods workers</a>. Meanwhile, the advent of social media has made it easier to create buzz around pro-union campaigns, such as the <a href="https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2021/11/striketober.html">recent “#Striketober” hashtag campaign</a>.</p>
<p>Organizing, it appears, can be contagious – under the right conditions. </p>
<h2>Seizing the moment?</h2>
<p>It’s not yet clear that unions and their allies can capitalize on this apparent newfound public attention and convert it into increased membership levels or changes in legislation.</p>
<p>But I believe we are at a unique moment in U.S. labor history. The question is, will unions take advantage of the increased media attention – and the negative headlines for high-profile companies attempting to quash workers’ rights – and spur a new era of labor activism?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172932/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Logan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Union membership has dwindled over the past five decades. But could a flurry of positive headlines over union drives help reverse this trend?John Logan, Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies, San Francisco State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1644752021-08-04T18:42:46Z2021-08-04T18:42:46ZThe advantages of unionization are obvious, so why don’t more workers join unions?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414615/original/file-20210804-17-11xdoqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C32%2C3535%2C2586&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thousands of teachers from the Peel District School Board hold a one-day strike in Mississauga, Ont., in February 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s well established that unionized workers earn <a href="https://pressprogress.ca/why_joining_a_union_could_mean_a_big_raise_for_canadians/">better wages</a> and have better benefits than their non-union counterparts. Unionized workers also experienced much greater levels of <a href="https://labourstudies.mcmaster.ca/research/impact-of-covid-19/labour-market-employment-covid">job security</a> during the COVID-19 pandemic. But if the advantages of union membership are so obvious, why are <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/collective-bargaining-data/reports/union-coverage.html">fewer than one in three</a> workers in Canada unionized?</p>
<p>While there’s no consensus about which factors are most likely to sway support for unionization, dissatisfaction with working conditions and the desire for dignity and voice at work <a href="https://www.usw.ca/join/why">are often cited</a> as key reasons why workers seek out unions. </p>
<p>Wanting a union and securing a union, however, are two very different things. That’s because there are enduring obstacles to unionization that make it incredibly difficult for workers to turn their initial support for the idea of a union into reality.</p>
<h2>Barriers to unionization</h2>
<p>Labour laws play a fundamental role in either helping or impeding unionization. For example, independent contractors and the self-employed are <a href="https://cirhr.library.utoronto.ca/sites/default/public/research-projects/Lynk-11-Exclusions%20Under%20LRA.pdf">legally excluded from union membership</a> in Canada and, in many provinces, so are agricultural and domestic workers. For workers who can legally unionize, provincial governments — under pressure from the business community — have generally made it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0309816818815262">more difficult</a> to exercise that right in recent decades. </p>
<p>Employers intent on resisting unionization frequently exploit loopholes in labour law to build opposition to unions within their own workforces. While many union avoidance tactics are illegal, employers are often less fearful of the penalties they may face for engaging in “union-busting” activities than of the consequences of unionization. </p>
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<img alt="A banner outside an Amazon facility encourages workers to vote for unionization." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414620/original/file-20210804-25-bqvo8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414620/original/file-20210804-25-bqvo8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414620/original/file-20210804-25-bqvo8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414620/original/file-20210804-25-bqvo8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414620/original/file-20210804-25-bqvo8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414620/original/file-20210804-25-bqvo8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414620/original/file-20210804-25-bqvo8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Amazon fought hard against a unionization push, which was ultimately unsuccessful.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jay Reeves)</span></span>
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<p>Union avoidance is a multi-million dollar business. Lawyers and consultants <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/10/6/21502639/amazon-union-busting-tracking-memo-spoc">devise strategies</a> for managers to maintain union-free workplaces. These strategies can include active intimidation and surveillance of union supporters, exploiting divisions within the workforce to stir up opposition to the union or spreading misinformation about the implications of unionization. </p>
<p>These common union avoidance strategies are difficult to overcome, especially given the power imbalance between employers and workers.</p>
<h2>Union substitution, suppression</h2>
<p>Effective anti-union campaigns often rely on a combination of union substitution and union suppression. </p>
<p>Union substitution techniques are the carrots designed to increase worker loyalty to the employer, thus making employees less likely to identify with the union. Some non-union companies operating in highly unionized sectors try to keep wages and working conditions in line with those of unionized workers <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/steelworkers-drop-bid-to-unionize-hamilton-s-dofasco-1.737233">in an effort to dissuade</a> their own workforces from considering a union.</p>
<p>If union substitution represents the carrot, <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/fear-at-work-how-employers-scare-workers-out-of-unionizing/">union suppression techniques</a> are the stick. Union suppression seeks to plant anti-union seeds of doubt in workers’ minds and play on fears that unionization might result in job loss. Suppression techniques often include targeting pro-union employees for discipline and dismissal. </p>
<p>In recent years, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/target-anti-union-video-cheesy-but-effective">retail giants Target</a> and <a href="https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/anti-union-home-depot-video-mandatory-viewing-for-employees/">Home Depot</a> had their slick anti-union videos leaked on social media, providing insight into how much money and effort employers are willing to pour into such initiatives. </p>
<p>Walmart, meantime, uses a “<a href="https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicago-walmart-low-wages-unions/Content?oid=2043233">Union Probability Index</a>” to monitor employee behaviour and morale. If a store’s index gets high enough, head office sends teams into the store to ensure it remains union-free. And, as we saw in the cases of <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/walmart-has-everything-except-unions/">Walmart in Jonquière</a>, Que., and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/foodora-canada-closing-may-1.5546642">Foodora in Ontario</a>, some companies will shut down outlets or operations rather than tolerate a union. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-foodora-ruling-app-based-workers-face-uphill-union-battle-132744">Despite Foodora ruling, app-based workers face uphill union battle</a>
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<h2>Shortage of unions</h2>
<p>Despite these aggressive union avoidance tactics, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/20/unions-canada-poll_n_4479321.html">public opinion polls</a> indicate that, if given the choice, many non-union workers would opt to unionize. </p>
<p>However, many of these workers, particularly those concentrated in relatively small workplaces in the private sector, simply can’t find a union willing to organize them. Organizing small workplaces is generally cost-prohibitive for unions and rarely results in broader bargaining power for workers in a particular sector.</p>
<p>Union supply problems explain why we’re <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410013201">more likely</a> to see unions in large workplaces with more than 500 employees than in smaller workplaces with fewer than 20 employees. </p>
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<img alt="Striking workers hold signs as one speaks into a megaphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414611/original/file-20210804-17-mufbei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2995%2C2124&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414611/original/file-20210804-17-mufbei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414611/original/file-20210804-17-mufbei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414611/original/file-20210804-17-mufbei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414611/original/file-20210804-17-mufbei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414611/original/file-20210804-17-mufbei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414611/original/file-20210804-17-mufbei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Swissport employees protest outside Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport in Montréal in December 2019. About 108 workers who are responsible for refuelling planes walked off the job.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
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<p>The lack of union supply, labour relations power dynamics and the union avoidance strategies of employers all work together to dissuade workers from exercising their right to unionize. </p>
<p>This outcome isn’t accidental. It’s <a href="https://irpp.org/research-studies/can-labour-relations-reform-reduce-wage-inequality/">no coincidence</a> that the rate of unionization has fallen in conjunction with the passage of anti-union labour law reforms in most provinces. Those reforms have made it more difficult for workers to exercise their legal right to unionize and easier for employers to interfere in union-organizing campaigns. </p>
<h2>What’s ahead?</h2>
<p>Governments could certainly change labour laws to facilitate unionization and crack down on employers engaging in union avoidance activities. </p>
<p>Many of the proposals contained in the former Ontario Liberal government’s now shelved <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/document/changing-workplaces-review-final-report">Changing Workplaces Review</a> could provide a road map for offering workers the necessary tools to exercise their rights more meaningfully, including a framework for broader based bargaining that would help workers in small workplaces. </p>
<p>Given growing levels of social and economic inequality in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to facilitate unionization is more urgent than ever.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Ross receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Larry Savage receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p>Wanting a union and securing a union are two very different things. That’s because there are enduring obstacles to unionization that make it incredibly difficult for workers to unionize.Stephanie Ross, Associate Professor and Director, School of Labour Studies, McMaster UniversityLarry Savage, Professor, Labour Studies, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1594172021-05-05T15:52:47Z2021-05-05T15:52:47ZSurvey shows some bosses are using the pandemic as an excuse to push workers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398724/original/file-20210504-15-ybmo2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4200%2C2999&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Workers manufacture partitions made from cardboard and chipboard material in Mississauga, Ont., in January 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A middle-aged woman in the public sector says she and her colleagues have been “underappreciated, overworked and mentally stressed out” as they faced pandemic-related challenges and stresses, without any pay increase. </p>
<p>An older worker in the not-for-profit sector says her employer asked her and her colleagues to do more work and expected them to feel grateful to keep their jobs at all, even with the government subsidizing three-quarters of their wages. </p>
<p>These are just two stories we heard as we surveyed hundreds of employed Ontario residents during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p>We all know, of course, about the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-unemployment-job-losses-1.5919133">pain of job losses</a>, the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-growing-cohort-of-overwhelmed-parents-unengaged-children-drop/">challenges of home-schooling</a> and the hardship and worry of doing <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/it-breaks-my-heart-essential-workers-in-ontario-plead-for-paid-sick-days-amid-covid-19-wave-1.5404771">essential work on the front lines</a>. But we know less about how work itself has changed and how the pandemic is altering the relationship between workers and employers. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-year-of-covid-19-has-illuminated-the-urgent-need-for-paid-sick-days-154224">A year of COVID-19 has illuminated the urgent need for paid sick days</a>
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<p>We wanted to look under the hood of the Canadian workplace to study how work has changed and become more stressful. Nearly 500 Canadians working in Ontario shared their thoughts with us <a href="https://labourstudies.mcmaster.ca/research/impact-of-covid-19/workplace-dynamics-covid">through an online survey between August and December 2020</a>. </p>
<h2>Work is harder, more stressful</h2>
<p>We learned that the changes associated with the pandemic are far more complex than simply having to deal with a deadly virus. The overall message is that work has become harder and more stressful. Many workers feel their employers are taking advantage of the pandemic.</p>
<p>More than two-thirds of respondents reported feeling less safe at work and more than three-quarters reported experiencing more stress and anxiety while on the job. Those numbers are even higher among women. Contributing to this rising sense of unease were significant increases in work tasks and work effort. Again, women were more likely to report having to do more because of COVID-19. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Workers at an ice cream shop wear face masks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398721/original/file-20210504-13-199ntlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398721/original/file-20210504-13-199ntlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398721/original/file-20210504-13-199ntlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398721/original/file-20210504-13-199ntlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398721/original/file-20210504-13-199ntlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398721/original/file-20210504-13-199ntlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398721/original/file-20210504-13-199ntlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers at an ice cream shop wear face masks to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Richmond, B.C., in January 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nearly one in four respondents reported some sort of negative interaction with their employer during COVID-19, ranging from difficulty getting paid to not being allowed to take time off and being bullied. </p>
<p>A recurring view among respondents was that employers were taking advantage of them because of the pandemic.</p>
<p>A male health-care employee reported his employer used the pandemic to override collective agreements and “bully” employees. </p>
<p>A young man in manufacturing suggested employers had unfairly cut hourly rates for skilled labour. “I strongly feel that employers are deliberately using mass unemployment as a veil to decrease already low wages even further,” he said. </p>
<p>A young female construction worker said her employer neglected and even laughed at recommendations for creating a safer work environment. </p>
<p>In other words, it’s not just the deadly virus stressing people out at work. In many cases, it’s how employers are choosing to treat people.</p>
<h2>Unions have protected workers</h2>
<p>Not all workers are having the same experiences during the pandemic. An important factor is whether they are members of unions. Unions have helped preserve jobs and incomes and protected workers from abuse during the pandemic. </p>
<p>Just under 10 per cent of unionized workers we surveyed had experienced weeks without paid employment, compared to more than 26 per cent of non-unionized workers. Non-union workers also tended to have much longer spells without paid employment. </p>
<p>This can partly be explained by the fact that many collective agreements require employers to discuss ways to mitigate job losses before laying people off.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two women GM workers carry truck fenders." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398723/original/file-20210504-13-1jmlady.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398723/original/file-20210504-13-1jmlady.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398723/original/file-20210504-13-1jmlady.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398723/original/file-20210504-13-1jmlady.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398723/original/file-20210504-13-1jmlady.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398723/original/file-20210504-13-1jmlady.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398723/original/file-20210504-13-1jmlady.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">GM workers place vehicle truck fenders on a rack at the General Motors assembly plant during the COVID-19 pandemic in Oshawa, Ont., in March 2021. Unionized workers have fared better during the crisis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unionized workers’ incomes also remained more stable than those of their non-union counterparts. Nearly 40 per cent of non-union workers reported their monthly incomes fell compared to less than 20 per cent of union workers. </p>
<p>Unions have helped reduce staff turnover during COVID-19, with 89 per cent of unionized respondents continuing to work for the same employer, compared to 72 per cent of non-union workers. Non-union workers were seven times more likely to report their employment had changed because their workplace closed, twice as likely to have changed jobs due to a temporary layoff and five times as likely to have experienced a permanent layoff. </p>
<h2>Changing power dynamics</h2>
<p>The higher rate of departure among non-unionized workers may have something to do with how the pandemic has changed workplace power dynamics. </p>
<p>Some workers told us their employers threatened them with job loss to make them work harder for less money, and even to do things that weren’t safe. One non-union administrator said her supervisor “held employment over our head as a threat and a way to force us to do additional work for them — even tasks that were not work-related. COVID-19 had our boss on a power trip and exploiting workers.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two men stand in front of a residential construction site." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398718/original/file-20210504-15-l7eyq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1920%2C1276&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398718/original/file-20210504-15-l7eyq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398718/original/file-20210504-15-l7eyq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398718/original/file-20210504-15-l7eyq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398718/original/file-20210504-15-l7eyq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398718/original/file-20210504-15-l7eyq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398718/original/file-20210504-15-l7eyq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many bosses and supervisors are using the pandemic as an excuse to mistreat or push workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pixabay)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2021/01/16/unions-say-more-workers-looking-to-organize-during-the-pandemic.html">uptick in attempts at unionization in 2020</a>, especially in private services that have been the most resistant to unions, suggests workers believe unions could help protect them from such manipulations. </p>
<p>COVID-19 is changing many aspects of our lives. Our study shows that in the short run, it’s changed workplace dynamics, mostly to the detriment of workers. </p>
<p>The extent to which these changes become permanent will depend in part on the ability of workers to have a meaningful voice in their workplaces — and to influence what happens next.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159417/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Ross receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and MITACS.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wayne Lewchuk receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>The pandemic has changed many aspects of our lives, and new study shows it’s also changed workplace dynamics — mostly to the detriment of workers.Stephanie Ross, Associate Professor and Director, School of Labour Studies, McMaster UniversityWayne Lewchuk, Professor Emeritus School of Labour Studies and Department of Economics, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1572172021-04-15T12:38:34Z2021-04-15T12:38:34ZThe rise of female UFC fighters obscures profound exploitation, inequality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395080/original/file-20210414-20-1s1wzs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4144%2C2866&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">China's Zhang Weili, on the right, has helped grow the popularity of the UFC in her native country.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/joanna-jedrzejczyk-of-poland-punches-zhang-weili-of-china-news-photo/1211078855?adppopup=true">Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The mixed martial arts pay-per-view event <a href="https://www.ufc.com/event/ufc-261">UFC 261</a> features two bouts that would have been unheard of just 10 years ago.</p>
<p>Russian-born <a href="https://www.mmafighting.com/2019/6/7/18650518/valentina-shevchenko-a-woman-of-many-nations-ahead-of-first-ufc-title-defense">Valentina Shevchenko</a> will fight <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj0-1NtaeAw">Jessica Andrade</a>, a Brazilian and an out lesbian, for the women’s flyweight title on April 24, 2021. That same night, <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/mma/news/rose-namajunas-makes-ufc-261-title-fight-with-weili-zhang-personal-with-politically-charged-comment/">Rose Namajunas</a>, an American of Lithuanian descent, will square off against <a href="https://www.bigmarker.com/sportico/Ask-Lawrence-Epstein-Anything?bmid=306da8a93532">Zhang Weili</a>, who has caused the popularity of the UFC to surge in her native China, for the women’s strawweight title. </p>
<p>The rise of women in mixed martial arts – which the late Sen. John McCain once derided as “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertszczerba/2014/04/03/mixed-martial-arts-and-the-evolution-of-john-mccain/?sh=6a6c0a922d59">human cockfighting</a>” – is remarkable, and reflects the diversity and global appeal of the sport.</p>
<p>But as I write in my new book, “<a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/65wrq5sn9780252043734.html">Fighting Visibility: Sports Women and Female Athletes in the UFC</a>,” it’s important for fans and spectators to look beneath the sheen of gender parity.</p>
<p>While women may glow under the bright lights of <a href="https://www.ufc.com/octagon">the Octagon</a>, exploitation and deep inequalities persist.</p>
<h2>Ronda Rousey, trailblazer</h2>
<p>In 2011, UFC president Dana White famously said that the promotion company <a href="https://www.tmz.com/videos/0-uld0k3fw/">would “never” include female fighters</a>. However a year later, the UFC signed Ronda Rousey for a “six-month experiment” in women’s MMA. </p>
<p>It paid off. </p>
<p>Rousey became a star unparalleled in women’s combat sports history. By 2015, she was the UFC’s <a href="https://www.bigmarker.com/sportico/Ask-Lawrence-Epstein-Anything?bmid=306da8a93532">highest-paid athlete</a> – male or female. Even though Rousey retired from MMA long ago, the UFC <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/65wrq5sn9780252043734.html">continues to court fans</a> by promoting its women fighters. </p>
<p>Lawrence Epstein, the UFC’s chief operating officer, <a href="https://www.bigmarker.com/sportico/Ask-Lawrence-Epstein-Anything?bmid=306da8a93532">recently told sports business publication Sportico</a> that female athletes are a “huge growth engine” that brings in different audiences for the company. He noted that featuring women had grown the “female fan base” in ways that have “been transformative to the UFC.” </p>
<p>The UFC’s interest in promoting women has been rare in a sporting landscape that regularly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-015-0497-6">objectifies, trivializes or downright ignores sportswomen</a> and their fans. </p>
<h2>Selling a message of empowerment</h2>
<p>The phrase “<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/why-on-screen-representation-matters-according-to-these-teens">representation matters</a>” is popular across an array of brands and platforms today, and consumers are ready to invest in <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/empowered">companies that promote women’s and girls’ empowerment</a> – including a stereotypically hypermasculine brand like the UFC. </p>
<p>The UFC has come to understand the power of promoting diverse female athletes for expanding their market and boosting profits. This doesn’t absolve them from the <a href="https://www.espn.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=4038031">sexism</a>, <a href="https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2020/9/2/21418354/ufc-fashionable-american-right-wing-politics-donald-trump-mma-news">racism</a>, <a href="https://www.scmp.com/sport/martial-arts/mixed-martial-arts/article/3129245/ufc-rose-namajunas-vs-zhang-weili-red-or-dead">xenophobia</a> or <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/604490/pdf">transphobia</a> that has characterized the promotion over the years. But it does show that the UFC is willing to give women a platform and sell a message of empowerment. </p>
<p>The promotion <a href="https://vimeo.com/142580820">often depicts female fighters as heroines</a> who, against all odds, have broken barriers in MMA and in sports more broadly. </p>
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<p>Seeing women be successful in the sport gives an impression that anything is possible and all the challenges female fighters have faced are behind them. </p>
<p>So yes, representation matters, and female fighters have, relative to other sports, high levels of exposure, especially given that <a href="https://theconversation.com/coverage-of-womens-sport-is-pathetic-at-the-best-of-times-the-lockdown-has-made-it-even-worse-140593">just 4% of all global sports media coverage features female athletes</a>. </p>
<p>But, as retired UFC fighter <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvImmEUvJ0E&t=868s">Julie Kedzie recently told me</a>, “It’s not enough to shatter the glass ceiling. You have to clear the glass.” </p>
<p>In other words, just because women are in the UFC, it doesn’t mean that they’re treated fairly. </p>
<h2>Representation doesn’t end exploitation</h2>
<p>The UFC <a href="https://www.mmafighting.com/2019/7/1/18761466/dana-white-addresses-equality-in-sports-for-women-champions-the-ufc-as-an-even-playing-field">likes to boast</a> that it is unlike any other sport, because female athletes can make as much as men. However, when taking Ronda Rousey out of the equation, there is little evidence to support this. </p>
<p>The UFC <a href="https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/03/endeavor-wants-full-ufc-ownership-in-push-to-go-public-ipo-business">isn’t a publicly traded company</a> – at least not yet – so it doesn’t have to disclose athlete pay. <a href="https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/8/15/9158725/mma-culinary-union-226-ufc-women-lower-pay-men-statistics">Due to the difficulty of obtaining a full picture of fighter pay</a>,the UFC can continue to make claims of parity.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/65wrq5sn9780252043734.html">most estimates</a> put fighter pay at 10% to 20% of the UFC’s overall revenue, with the bulk of that distributed toward UFC champions and stars – <a href="https://thesportsdaily.com/2020/12/31/2020-ufc-fighter-salaries-complete-list-fox11/">most of whom are men</a>. As a comparison, NFL and NBA players <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/65wrq5sn9780252043734.html">receive around 50%</a> of revenue the leagues take in.</p>
<p>In my research, I obtained a snapshot of fighter pay from some state athletic commissions. Although the picture is incomplete because not all states or countries require the UFC to disclose fighter pay, the data made available to me suggest that the median payout for female fighters is 68% of what male fighters earn. </p>
<p>Fighting can be lucrative for some. But when compared with an MMA empire <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/endeavor-raising-1-75-billion-202920031.html">worth billions of dollars</a>, the reward for individual fighters can seem minuscule – especially when taking into account the <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/65wrq5sn9780252043734.html">mental and physical toll</a> of the sport.</p>
<h2>A ‘climate of fear’</h2>
<p>Part of the issue around pay inequality is that the UFC has successfully thwarted <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/65wrq5sn9780252043734.html">fighters’ efforts to unionize</a> and create a path for collective bargaining. </p>
<p>The UFC saves a lot of money because their fighters are independent contractors. This means that fighters must pay for things leagues and teams typically cover in other sports. They fund their own training and coaching, health care, management, retirement investments, recovery therapies and taxes out of their UFC payouts or income from other jobs.</p>
<p>This means that outside of the handful of UFC stars, <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2685605-for-love-not-money-how-low-fighter-pay-is-undermining-mma">many fighters struggle to make ends meet</a>. </p>
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<p><a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/65wrq5sn9780252043734.html">In my book I interview</a> former UFC fighters Leslie Smith and Kajan Johnson, who tried to organize fighters before the organization ended its relationships with both athletes. They contend that the UFC treats fighters as employees and incorrectly classifies them as independent contractors. For example, fighters have to submit to random drug testing and wear UFC partners’ apparel for their fights, which is atypical of contractual relationships. Smith and Johnson believe that unionization is the best chance fighters have to gain more agency, pay and health care. </p>
<p>Lucas Middlebrook, a labor attorney who advised Smith and Johnson, told me that despite the promise of unionizing, “UFC fighters are proving to be a really difficult group to organize.” </p>
<p>“The reason for that,” he continued, “is the climate of fear that’s been created by the UFC. The amount of control that the UFC exerts over these fighters has done just that. It has created this perfect storm of fear of retaliation.” </p>
<p>A union would benefit all UFC fighters, but <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/black-women-will-be-most-affected-by-janus/">women and people of color</a> have historically gained the most from unionizing efforts because unions decrease pay gaps and work inequities. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>If you tune into the Weili vs. Namajunas or Shevchenko vs. Andrade bouts, you’ll see an MMA master clinic from women who wouldn’t have been allowed in the UFC a decade ago. </p>
<p>But will <a href="https://thesportsdaily.com/2020/11/22/valentina-shevchenko-career-earnings-fox11/">Shevchenko</a> get paid to win what <a href="https://thesportsdaily.com/2020/07/12/jorge-masvidal-career-earnings-fox11/">Jorge Masvidal</a> – a male athlete also fighting for a title – would be paid to lose? </p>
<p>I wouldn’t bet on it. </p>
<p>Increased visibility of female athletes is important. But the feel-good mantra of “representation matters” cannot hide the fact that female fighters – and male fighters, for that matter – deserve better working conditions and pay in the UFC.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157217/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer McClearen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The UFC is eager to advertise its promotion of female fighters – while also paying them less and stoking a climate of fear to discourage unionization.Jennifer McClearen, Assistant Professor of Media Studies, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1556262021-03-02T17:28:55Z2021-03-02T17:28:55ZBritish Uber driver win is promising, but gig workers still need basic rights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386152/original/file-20210224-19-5ehoy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C532%2C4541%2C2731&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Uber drivers of the App Drivers & Couriers Union celebrate as they listen to a British Supreme Court decision that ruled Uber drivers should be classified as workers and not self-employed contractors.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a landmark decision, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2019-0029.html">the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom</a> recently ruled that Uber drivers are employees of the company and not simply using its technology as self-employed contractors. </p>
<p>Nicholas Humblen, a <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/19/uk-supreme-court-rejects-uber-s-appeal-ruling-that-drivers-are-workers-and-not-self-employ">Supreme Court justice, explained</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Drivers are in a position of subordination and dependency to Uber, such that they have little to no ability to improve their economic position or professional or entrepreneurial skill.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The ruling makes clear that platforms should be required to offer basic benefits for the people “collaborating” with them. This ruling can have an impact <a href="https://fair.work/en/fw/blog/landmark-case-recognises-uber-drivers-as-workers-what-are-the-implications-for-gig-workers-in-the-uk-and-beyond/">beyond those in the U.K.</a> </p>
<p>But where does the decision leave migrant gig workers?</p>
<p>These implications were discussed in a study <a href="https://www.ryerson.ca/cerc-migration/futureofwork/">recently presented</a> under the auspices of the <a href="https://www.ryerson.ca/cerc-migration/">CERC Migration program</a>, focusing on newcomer migrants who work in the gig economy, notably on platforms like Uber, TaskRabbit or Amazon Flex, to name a few.</p>
<h2>Lack of Canadian experience</h2>
<p>In Canada, <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2019025-eng.htm">new migrants are over-represented</a> in the gig economy compared to Canadian-born populations. The stories are familiar — a newcomer enters through Canada’s <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2019022-eng.htm">points-based immigration system</a>, rich in education and experience. But without Canadian experience, it’s next to impossible to land a job that offers career opportunities in their area of expertise. </p>
<p>While studying for a Canadian diploma, completing professional qualifications’ exams or volunteering in their field to get local experience, many newcomers take jobs in the platform economy. Such jobs offer a necessary stepping stone and are seen as a better alternative to typical, low-income work in the service or manufacturing sectors. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The Uber app on an iPhone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386164/original/file-20210224-21-1yn8fis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386164/original/file-20210224-21-1yn8fis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386164/original/file-20210224-21-1yn8fis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386164/original/file-20210224-21-1yn8fis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386164/original/file-20210224-21-1yn8fis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386164/original/file-20210224-21-1yn8fis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386164/original/file-20210224-21-1yn8fis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Uber app is seen on an iPhone near a driver’s vehicle in January 2020 in Vancouver.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The flexible nature of the work allows for a sense of control over one’s time and one’s finances — the more hours you work, the more you earn. But in time, they soon realize that there is no safety net for illness, income fluctuates unexpectedly with demand — you may drive for a whole day and earn just enough for your gas — and of course there are no career prospects. And yet newcomers feel platform work is worth it.</p>
<p>Why? Because the alternatives are even worse. Working for the low-skill service industry offers long hours, low pay, no flexibility, little security and no career prospects. The lack of meaningful alternatives facing newcomers can make platform work all the more attractive. </p>
<h2>Not a lifelong job</h2>
<p>Most newcomer workers who have spent a few years in the platform economy don’t believe the job is for life. To them, it’s only a means to an end. At the same time, the flexibility, freedom, and opportunity to generate extra cash can make platform work difficult to walk away from.</p>
<p>So where does the problem lie? From a short-term perspective, it’s the lack of a safety net for those who work in the platform economy. There are ongoing debates globally about whether platform workers should be treated as employees instead of <a href="https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/uk-supreme-court-to-rule-on-worker-rights-case-at-uber-on-feb-19">independent contractors</a> or even become <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/01/10275246/instacart-layoffs-union-employees">unionized</a>. None of these debates have yet resulted in a significant change, but there may be some hope on the horizon. </p>
<p>Changing the working conditions in platforms requires political will and regulations must apply to all platforms. It’s still a turbulent process – <a href="https://financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/foodora-to-close-canadian-operations-amid-union-push-by-couriers">Foodora simply abandoned Canada</a> when their workers made a move to unionize. And gig companies in California are taking advantage of the state’s Proposition 22 ruling to further <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-02-17/gig-economy-coming-for-millions-of-u-s-jobs-after-california-s-uber-lyft-vote">exploit workers as contractors</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/californias-gig-worker-battle-reveals-the-abuses-of-precarious-work-in-canada-too-149780">California's gig worker battle reveals the abuses of precarious work in Canada too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Uber driver wearing a mask stands beside his car that has a Unions For All banner on the passenger door." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386159/original/file-20210224-21-ck4dnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386159/original/file-20210224-21-ck4dnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386159/original/file-20210224-21-ck4dnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386159/original/file-20210224-21-ck4dnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386159/original/file-20210224-21-ck4dnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386159/original/file-20210224-21-ck4dnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386159/original/file-20210224-21-ck4dnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Uber driver and member of the Mobile Workers Alliance outside Los Angeles City Hall in January 2021. Drivers for app-based ride-hailing and delivery services are suing to overturn Proposition 22.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Increasingly precarious</h2>
<p>Migrants who face labour market barriers are stepping into platform work that is growing increasingly precarious. The aftermath of COVID-19 has the potential to create a flood of gig workers, as data from Statistics Canada show <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2020001/article/00021-eng.htm">an influx of gig employees</a> during periods of economic recession. There are dire implications if gig companies end up absorbing the migrant workforce.</p>
<p>The longer term solution in Canada is to restructure the labour market and look at how we are matching qualified migrants to work. The work available to highly skilled newcomers doesn’t match their education and experience. Canada has to do more to help newcomers find decent work.</p>
<p>One interesting initiative under consideration involves <a href="https://wenr.wes.org/2020/12/beyond-academic-credentials-competency-assessment-and-the-future-of-work">reassessing competencies</a> so that previous professional experience is more easily recognized in the labour market.</p>
<p>Another avenue to explore is educating employers on the skills possessed by newcomers and how they can be applied to the Canadian labour market. This should be easy in a country like Canada, where more than 20 per cent of the population was born abroad. Organizations like the <a href="https://iecbc.ca/">Immigrant Employment Council of BC</a> and the <a href="https://triec.ca/">Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council</a> are doing this work. Their efforts must be supported and boosted significantly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155626/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The British Supreme Court ruling in favour of Uber drivers offers some hope that gig workers, many of them immigrants, might finally be given basic rights. But there’s still lots of work to do.Anna Triandafyllidou, Canada Research Excellence Chair in Migration and Integration, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLaura Lam, PhD student, Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1517762020-12-16T19:04:59Z2020-12-16T19:04:59ZFact check US: Would a $15 minimum wage really help workers?<p>Since 2009, the United States federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 per hour. President-elect Joe Biden plans to not only increase it to $15, but also to extend it to workers who are not covered by the current legislation, such as farm and domestic workers, and index it to the median wage. While this would be done incrementally over the next five years, the proposed change is bold and has caused a stir.</p>
<p>The effects of an increase in minimum wage have long been hotly debated. In the 1990s, economists David Card and Alan Krueger showed that such an increase in the New Jersey fast-food industry <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w4509/w4509.pdf">did not in fact reduce employment</a>. Rather than firing staff, restaurants partially compensated for increased payroll costs by raising their prices.</p>
<p>In 2012, the movement <a href="https://fightfor15.org/about-us/">Fight for $15</a> was born out of the fast-food industry where minimum wage is very common. Wage increase is an efficient way to help ward off financial insecurity. However, it can also have a detrimental effect on employment if the increase is too high, in terms of the extra cost for businesses. What’s more, the economic situation from state to state varies greatly, meaning that setting a $15 per hour minimum would not have the same consequences everywhere.</p>
<h2>A measure that dates back to times of financial crisis</h2>
<p>After the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was inaugurated in 1933, introduced laws to protect workers rights and provide a safety net for low-income earners. The basic protections, such as minimum wage and paid overtime, meant that workers received a more equitable part of the added value generated by their work. More recently, in 2014, Barack Obama tried to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/sep/05/barack-obama-us-minimum-wage-republicans-tom-perez">increase the minimum wage</a> to combat the disastrous economic fallout of the subprime mortgage crisis. However, this measure was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-senate-minimumwage-idUSBREA3T0PT20140430">blocked by the Republican-led Congress</a>.</p>
<p>Donald Trump has <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/10/22/21529733/donald-trump-minimum-wage-debate">flip-flopped</a> several times on this subject. Initially, he was in favor of increasing the federal minimum to $10 per hour. Then, he left the decision to the states, before raging against it during the last presidential <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/10/23/debate-minimum-wage-increase/">debate</a>. In 2019, the Democratic House of Representatives <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/us/politics/minimum-wage.html">voted to increase the federal minimum wage</a> to $15 per hour by 2025. But that also came to nothing, as it was rejected by the Republican-controlled Senate.</p>
<p>However, the wind seems to have changed. Florida, which was won by Trump, also voted on an amendment during the presidential elections to increase minimum wage to $15. <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Florida_Amendment_2,_%2415_Minimum_Wage_Initiative_(2020)">60% of voters were in favor</a>.</p>
<h2>Same minimum wage, different purchasing power</h2>
<p>In 1938, the hourly minimum was set as $0.25, and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/04/5-facts-about-the-minimum-wage/">increased more or less regularly</a> over the next several decades, eventually reaching $7.25 in 2009. That is where it has stayed ever since. However, while the wage itself has stayed the same, those dollars correspond to an ever- <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=ex3l">decreasing</a> purchasing power due to inflation.</p>
<p>Nowadays, what the minimum wage can buy is even less than at the end of the 1990s. It was actually in the 1960s that minimum wage was worth the most, with a peak in 1968 when it was worth nearly <a href="https://www.epi.org/blog/raising-the-minimum-wage-to-15-by-2025-will-restore-bargaining-power-to-workers-during-the-recovery-from-the-pandemic/">$10 in today’s money</a>. This two-fold observation alone justifies Biden’s plan to increase minimum wage. However, the actual impact that such an increase will have remains to be seen, as each state will be affected differently.</p>
<h2>Few workers are being paid the minimum wage</h2>
<p>In 2019, the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2019/home.htm">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a> (BLS) estimated that 392,000 workers receive minimum wage – that is, less than 0.5% of workers paid hourly, and 0.28% of all workers (a percentage that has been regularly decreasing since 2010). That being said, it should be noted that 1.2 million workers are still paid below minimum wage, accounting for 1.47% of workers paid hourly (0.85% of all workers). However, this number does include workers who receive commission and tips and may receive a total salary that is much higher overall. The rest represents workers who are not covered by current legislation (such as farmworkers). In comparison, <a href="https://www.lefigaro.fr/conjoncture/la-part-des-salaries-remuneres-au-smic-au-plus-haut-depuis-11-ans-20191213">13.4% of French workers</a> receive minimum wage, which was last increased in 2019.</p>
<p>In reality, <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/state#wy">a significantly higher minimum wage than the federal minimum applies</a> in many parts of the United States, due to more advantageous local legislation. As it happens, states, counties and cities can set a higher minimum wage than the federal rate. The general rule is that the highest minimum applies in the geographic area in question. This still means that when no local legislation is more favorable, employers can apply the federal minimum wage.</p>
<p>In California, for instance, minimum wage was increased to $12 per hour on 1 January 2020. The state has been steadily increasing the minimum since 2017, with a <a href="https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_minimumwage.htm">plan</a> to reach $15 per hour on 1 January 2023. In San Francisco, the local government voted to <a href="https://sfgov.org/olse/minimum-wage-ordinance-mwo">increase the minimum wage</a> in 2014, a change that would affect all the city’s workers. In 2018, the target of $15 per hour was reached; since then, the minimum has increased in line with the consumer price index. On January 1, 2020, it was $16.07 per hour.</p>
<p>Right now, some 30 of the 50 states already enforce a higher minimum wage than the federal minimum, and <a href="https://joinhomebase.com/blog/state-minimum-wage-2021/">10 states</a>, three of which are led by Republicans, plan to increase it over the coming years, to $15.</p>
<h2>What impact would $15 per hour have on a federal level?</h2>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/minimum-wage-15-by-2025/">Economic Policy Institute</a>, raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025 would increase the salary of 20% of wage-earning Americans. But this increase could also have a negative effect on employment. A <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-07/CBO-55410-MinimumWage2019.pdf">report</a> from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concluded that this extra cost to businesses would indeed cause a drop in people living under the poverty line, but also the loss of 1.3 million jobs nationwide.</p>
<p>The truth is that the risk is not the same across the country. It depends on the state, those that are currently the furthest from $15 per hour being the most at risk. As it happens, states greatly differ in their economic situation. For example, in 2019, California had a minimum wage of $12 per hour, that is, 56% of the median wage (such that half of the employees earn less and the other half earn more). On the other hand, in Louisiana, average labor productivity is <a href="https://www.bls.gov/lpc/state-productivity.htm">21% lower</a> than in California. There, the federal minimum of $7.25 applies, that is, 44% of the median wage.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375141/original/file-20201215-22-s9khoe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375141/original/file-20201215-22-s9khoe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375141/original/file-20201215-22-s9khoe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375141/original/file-20201215-22-s9khoe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375141/original/file-20201215-22-s9khoe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375141/original/file-20201215-22-s9khoe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375141/original/file-20201215-22-s9khoe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375141/original/file-20201215-22-s9khoe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Source: BLS (OES survey), authors provided.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is, however, another argument for increasing the minimum wage at the federal level. The gap between minimum wage and median wage for full-time jobs is much lower in the United States than in most developed countries. For example, in 2019, the federal minimum was only 32% of the median wage, whereas in France, it represented 61% of the median wage.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375140/original/file-20201215-21-1yt6hdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375140/original/file-20201215-21-1yt6hdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375140/original/file-20201215-21-1yt6hdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375140/original/file-20201215-21-1yt6hdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375140/original/file-20201215-21-1yt6hdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375140/original/file-20201215-21-1yt6hdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375140/original/file-20201215-21-1yt6hdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375140/original/file-20201215-21-1yt6hdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Source: OCDE, authors provided.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Increasing the federal minimum wage could be an efficient way to assist low-income American workers in a post-pandemic world. The Republican Senate may yet block the Democrats’ proposal of $15 per hour in 2021, as they did in 2019. However, the fact that several Republican states plan to increase their minimum leaves hope for, perhaps, a more modest increase.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Rosie Marsland for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en">Fast ForWord</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>The Fact check US section received support from <a href="https://craignewmarkphilanthropies.org/">Craig Newmark Philanthropies</a>, an American foundation fighting against disinformation.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151776/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is a campaign promise by Joe Biden. What do we know about the effectiveness and limitations of this measure?Thérèse Rebière, Maître de conférences en économie, Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM)Isabelle Lebon, Professeur des Universités, directrice adjointe du Centre de recherche en économie et management, Université de Caen NormandieLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1447182020-09-02T14:02:26Z2020-09-02T14:02:26ZUnionized workers are more likely to assert their right to a safe and healthy workplace<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355889/original/file-20200901-16-zikxo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C40%2C2946%2C2043&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many essential workers believe joining a union could provide more protections. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CORRECTIONVirusOutbreakCaliforniaMcDonalds/61f94f359a0a4a6a8fb6a5e8a0a399d1/photo?Query=coronavirus%20worker%20safety&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=118&currentItemNo=21">AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Unionized workers are more likely than their non-union peers to speak up about health and safety problems in the workplace, according to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793920953089">just-published, peer-reviewed study</a> I conducted with <a href="http://eng.kiet.re.kr/optional/engemployee/view_pop.jsp?idx=3303">Jooyoung Yang</a>, who was a Ph.D. student in applied economics at the time of the research. </p>
<p>To reach this conclusion, we examined over 70,000 unionization votes from 1985 to 2009 and focused on elections where the tally in favor or against was very small. This allowed us to zero in on the impact of unionization itself on worker behavior. We then compared these workplaces with the number of inspections conducted by state or federal occupational health and safety enforcement agencies that resulted from an employee complaint. We found that unionized workplaces were 30% more likely to face an inspection for a health or safety violation. </p>
<p>The likely reasons why, in my view, are that unions can help organized workers <a href="https://www.coshnetwork.org/know-your-rights">learn about their rights</a>, file complaints and provide greater protections against illegal retaliation by employers. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>The health and safety of workers is always a concern, but the current pandemic makes the issue more important than ever, especially for essential workers in <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/pdfs/mm6935e2-H.pdf">health care</a>, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/grocery-food-retail-workers.html">retail</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/index.html">child care centers and schools</a>. But beyond them, all workers – including those with typically safe office jobs – are at increased risk of catching the coronavirus. </p>
<p>The costs of providing sufficient protective gear or taking other steps to ensure worker safety can be high, which means <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/2020/5/7/21250387/essential-worker-ppe-amazon-walmart-employees-protection-hazard-pay">some companies have at times resisted</a> doing all they can to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/24/covid-19-workers-dangers-unions">protect their employees</a>. What’s more, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-08-27/covid-pandemic-u-s-businesses-issue-gag-rules-to-stop-workers-from-talking">they are trying to prevent</a> their workers from learning about cases of coronavirus in their workplace and <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/how-trump-is-helping-tycoons-exploit-the-pandemic">have been lobbying governments</a> for immunity from any liability. </p>
<p>That means it’s even more vital that workers are able to raise their voices when they feel that their workplace is unsafe. Our research suggests belonging to a union can play a big role in ensuring those voices are heard. </p>
<p>This may also be why we’ve seen more workers <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/k7e4gn/coronavirus-has-caused-more-than-150-strikes-this-map-is-tracking-them-all">going on strike</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/opinion/coronavirus-amazon-wildcat-strikes.html">asserting their rights</a> to safer and healthier workplaces. </p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>Currently, I am working on two related follow-up projects.</p>
<p><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3673495">One aims to build</a> and analyze more comprehensive measures of labor rights violations by connecting records from the various federal agencies that protect workers, such as
the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Labor Relations Board. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3596666">The other</a> studies how workers share information with one another about their employers on Glassdoor and how useful the job search site is to job seekers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144718/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aaron Sojourner receives funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the McKnight Foundation and the study discussed here received funding from the U.S. Department of Labor. He is affiliated with the Constellation Fund.</span></em></p>The coronavirus pandemic highlights the importance of ensuring safe workspaces, and a new study suggests unionization leads workers to speak up about poor conditions.Aaron Sojourner, Associate Professor and Labor Economist, University of MinnesotaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1436702020-08-31T14:58:28Z2020-08-31T14:58:28ZWhat’s behind the new push for unionization by journalists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354977/original/file-20200826-14-162i31b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C399%2C3000%2C1580&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Digital news organizations like Buzzfeed and Vox are among those where journalists are unionizing.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Let’s consider who’s making the news. From essential workers to gig workers and those working from home, the COVID-19 pandemic has put labour issues on journalists’ agendas.</p>
<p>At the same time, journalists are increasingly viewing themselves as <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/154455/save-journalism">“workers first”</a> and forming unions to address longstanding issues in their industry. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.newmediaunions.com/timeline">By our count</a>, since 2015, journalists have unionized at more than 80 digital and legacy media outlets, including at BuzzFeed, VICE Canada, Vox, Canadaland and 28 brands owned by the conglomerate Hearst Magazines.</p>
<h2>Back to the future?</h2>
<p>Journalists’ unions are nothing new. In the 1930s, newspaper journalists unionized to protect editorial independence and collectively negotiate working conditions. By the 2000s, legacy media unions faced big challenges: traditional newsrooms were being <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/20/u-s-newsroom-employment-has-dropped-by-a-quarter-since-2008/">gutted by layoffs</a>. And digital successors, with their tech start-up feel, seemed to be culturally off-limits to unions. </p>
<p>So it was surprising when staff at New York-based <em>Gawker</em> <a href="https://gawker.com/why-weve-decided-to-organize-1698246231">announced</a> in the spring of 2015 it was unionizing, kicking off a wave of unionization in digital media. Since then, thousands of new members have joined <a href="https://newsguild.org/">The NewsGuild</a>, the <a href="https://www.wgaeast.org/">Writers Guild of America, East</a> and the <a href="https://cwacanada.ca/">Communication Workers of America Canada</a>. </p>
<p>Organizing has not let up amid the pandemic. The economic fallout from COVID-19 and the demands for racial justice elevated by protests against anti-Black racism give the media union movement renewed cause. </p>
<p>To understand why and how journalists are unionizing, we interviewed 50 media workers and union staff involved in this organizing push for our book, <a href="https://culturalworkersorganize.org/newmediaunions/"><em>New Media Unions</em></a>. Three themes emerged that persist as journalists continue to organize.</p>
<h2>Protection and voice</h2>
<p>Journalists organized to improve their livelihoods, including low pay and precarious employment. Unionizing enables media workers to negotiate legally binding collective bargaining agreements with employers. Contracts have raised labour standards, introducing salary minimums, increased benefits and a process for converting freelancers to full-time employees, for example.</p>
<p>Less than two months into the pandemic, 36,000 U.S. news workers had lost their jobs, been temporarily laid off or had their pay cut, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/business/media/news-media-coronavirus-jobs.html"><em>The New York Times</em></a>. Although news sites’ traffic soared as an anxious public sought information about the health crisis, companies’ ad revenue plunged and many outlets closed. </p>
<p>In hindsight, unionizing was a form of emergency preparedness. Before the pandemic, journalists acted to protect their livelihoods in a volatile industry where closures and cuts were commonplace. Severance packages became a bargaining priority. As union drives continue to launch, the pandemic has not diminished journalists’ resolve to build a safety net.</p>
<p>Journalists are unionizing to protect journalism, too. Contracts strengthen divisions between editorial and marketing departments, for example. And as local outlets are bought up by cost-cutting private equity firms, staff are organizing not just to preserve jobs but also local news, whose role as an essential service has been reaffirmed during the pandemic.</p>
<p>Having a formal mechanism to negotiate with management has given many journalists a say in how their employers respond to the pandemic. <a href="https://latguild.com/news/2020/5/1/la-times-guild-strikes-deal-to-avoid-newsroom-layoffs">The L.A. Times Guild proposed</a> pay cuts rather than layoffs, for example, which the Buzzfeed News Union used as a model to save jobs in their newsroom. </p>
<h2>Diversity and equity</h2>
<p>Racial and gender divides have also been an impetus to organize. Journalists we interviewed classified their workplaces on a narrow diversity spectrum, from “pretty white” to “mostly white” to “overwhelmingly white.” </p>
<p>Journalists are unionizing to change this composition to better reflect the communities they cover. Strategies including reforming informal recruitment practices — hiring from editors’ existing networks, for example — that perpetuate the industry’s homogeneity. </p>
<p>Research and <a href="https://level.medium.com/journalism-while-brown-and-when-to-walk-away-9333ef61de9a">first-person accounts</a> show that women and especially racialized journalists are undervalued and often unable to sustain media careers. Journalists organized for pay equity and have negotiated contracts with salary scales by job title, which close pay gaps. </p>
<p>Beyond contract language that addresses discrimination and harassment, new media unions have negotiated the creation of union-management committees, formal channels where workers can push companies on equity, including retention and promotion of racialized journalists.</p>
<p>When Black Lives Matter protests intensified this summer, journalists’ struggles for racial justice went public. Journalists at the <em>Los Angeles Times</em>, for example, have pressured management to hire more racialized journalists and used the #BlackatLAT hashtag to document the mistreatment of Black journalists. </p>
<p>And after the <em>The New York Times</em> published an op-ed that called for a military response to Black Lives Matter protests, staffers organized a public response, tweeting: “Running this puts Black @nytimes staff in danger.” It <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/5/21280425/new-york-times-tom-cotton-send-troops-staff-revolt">led to the resignation</a> of a senior editor.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1268326948339474432"}"></div></p>
<h2>Care and solidarity</h2>
<p>The new media union movement has prioritized an ethic of care. Journalists care deeply about the work that they do, and statements announcing union drives declare workers’ commitment to producing journalism for their communities. </p>
<p>Drives have also been based on friendship. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hands join on a table top." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354974/original/file-20200826-7216-jmlxnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many union drives stemmed from friends in newsroom discussing disparities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Piqsels)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many campaigns emerged from friends in newsrooms discussing working conditions. They expanded as journalists in secure positions learned that colleagues were paid less for doing the same work, or were unable to pay rent or access health care. Organizing involves making deep personal connections as journalists have one-on-one discussions about problems at work and what a union could achieve.</p>
<p>As journalists were laid off during the pandemic, this care translated into union members setting up relief funds. The Florida Times-Union Guild, for example, <a href="https://ca.gofundme.com/f/florida-timesunion-relief-fund">has raised</a> more than $15,000 for colleagues in need. </p>
<p>Organizing can blunt the competitive nature of journalism. Workers at outlets that compete for readers now share organizing and bargaining strategies and support union drives with tweets of solidarity. Unions also amplify journalists’ voices in the discussions of wider policy responses to the media crisis, as illustrated by the NewsGuild’s <a href="https://www.savethenews.org/">Save the News</a> campaign.</p>
<p>For several journalists we spoke to, union organizing is a way to care for oneself in a job that can take a toll. As one journalist told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Organizing has been good for my mental health. A lot of the time, we as journalists look at the state of the world and get very depressed. One of the cures for me has been to stand up for our newsroom and for other newsrooms. It has given me renewed hope in the industry.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Unionizing will not fix all the problems facing journalism. But a union remains journalists’ best collective tool to sustain media workers in times of crisis and beyond.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143670/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Cohen receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Greig de Peuter receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>Union drives continue to launch at news organizations in the United States and Canada. The COVID-19 pandemic has not diminished journalists’ resolve to build a safety net — and to protect journalism.Nicole Cohen, Associate Professor, Communication, University of TorontoGreig de Peuter, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1439862020-08-26T16:25:39Z2020-08-26T16:25:39ZHow women are changing the face of Canada’s union leadership<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354427/original/file-20200824-24-1queuc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3305&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">About 150 nursing union members show support for long-term care workers at the Orchard Villa Long-Term Care in Pickering, Ont., in June 2020. The facility was hit hard by COVID-19 infections.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Labour Day approaches, close your eyes and picture the typical union member in Canada. If you conjured an image of a man wearing a hard hat or working in a factory, you missed the mark. </p>
<p>The typical union member in Canada is actually a woman who works in the public sector. She may be a teacher, a nurse, an office clerk at city hall or a mail carrier. All of these jobs are more likely to be unionized than those in the majority-male manufacturing, warehousing or construction sectors. In fact, Statistics Canada’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.25318/1410007001-eng">Labour Force Survey data</a> reveals that, as of 2019, women made up 53.1 per cent of union members. That’s up from 45.8 per cent in 1998 and <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2013001/article/11878-eng.htm">29 per cent in 1978.</a> </p>
<p>There’s no question that <a href="https://www.unifor.org/sites/default/files/documents/document/workingwomenworkingpoor_letter_web.pdf">women benefit from unionization</a>. Being unionized boosts women’s wages more than it does men’s, when both are compared to their non-union counterparts. </p>
<p>Unionized women also experience a much smaller gender pay gap when compared to unionized men. In other words, unions help women overcome the effects of gender discrimination in the workplace. This “union advantage” is even greater for women who are affected by other forms of systemic discrimination.</p>
<p>Despite becoming numerically dominant within unions, women are still under-represented in positions of union leadership. The number of women leading national unions in Canada today can be counted on one hand. And women currently lead only three of the country’s provincial and territorial federations of labour. </p>
<h2>Glass ceiling persists</h2>
<p>The under-representation of women in positions of leadership is not unique to the labour movement. We see similar imbalances in corporate and political spheres. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Chrystia Freeland speaks at a news conference with Justin Trudeau behind her, wearing a mask." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354438/original/file-20200824-18-1mn8z4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chrystia Freeland recently broke the glass ceiling by becoming the first woman to hold the position of finance minister in Canadian history.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although unions are doing better than Canada’s <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2019/11/19/only-62-comfortable-with-female-ceos.html">corporate sector</a>, organized labour still has a long way to go when it comes to fully shattering the glass ceiling for women.</p>
<p>The glass ceiling is an often-used metaphor that refers to an invisible barrier that prevents women and other equity-seeking groups, regardless of their skills or qualifications, from advancing into leadership positions within organizations. While in theory, nothing prevents a woman from being elected to a top leadership position, the glass ceiling represents the subtle ways that organizations devalue and doubt women’s leadership skills based on gender stereotypes.</p>
<p>Despite these barriers, women have periodically risen to top leadership positions within individual public sector unions or labour federations over the years. But securing positions of leadership within unions has been a long, hard-fought struggle for women workers. </p>
<p>And even while being severely under-represented in positions of leadership, union women have undeniably had an impact. Their activism paved the way for the labour movement to <a href="http://www.yorku.ca/lbriskin/pdf/bargainingpaperFINAL3secure.pdf">campaign for and secure</a> pay equity, employer-paid daycare, paid maternity leave and rules banning gender-based discrimination in the workplace. </p>
<p>Unions could do much more to fight gender discrimination by having more women in senior leadership positions.</p>
<h2>Public sector unions are trail-blazers</h2>
<p>Not surprisingly, public sector unions, where women have always been most concentrated, were the first to see women elected to significant leadership roles. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman wearing glasses speaks into a microphone in a black-and-white photo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354429/original/file-20200824-14-1xw6dva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grace Hartman, right, then the president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, speaks at a news conference in July 1983.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CP PHOTO/Chuck Stoody</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) elected <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/grace-hartman">Grace Hartman</a> as its national president in 1975. She was the first woman to lead a national union in North America. In 1986, CUPE’s <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/shirley-carr">Shirley Carr</a> was the first woman elected to the presidency of the Canadian Labour Congress, Canada’s largest labour umbrella organization.</p>
<p>Public sector unions continue to be trail-blazers. In November 2014, <a href="https://bcfed.ca/governance/officers/irene-lanzinger">Irene Lazinger</a> of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation was the first woman elected to the presidency of the B.C. Federation of Labour. </p>
<p>In May 2019, <a href="https://www.cupw.ca/en/historic-election-cupw-postal-workers-elect-first-female-black-president">Jan Simpson</a> became the first Black woman to lead a national union in Canada when she was elected president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. And in November 2019, <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/11/26/1952887/0/en/Patty-Coates-first-woman-to-be-elected-President-of-the-Ontario-Federation-of-Labour.html">Patty Coates</a> of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation became the first woman to lead the Ontario Federation of Labour. </p>
<h2>Private sector unions lag</h2>
<p>In contrast, a woman has yet to be elected to the presidency of any major private sector union in Canada. However, there are signs that a long overdue breakthrough may be in the works.</p>
<p>Some private sector unions have redesigned their leadership structures to help women break the glass ceiling within their own ranks. In 2013, Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, adopted an <a href="https://www.unifor.org/sites/default/files/documents/document/unifor_constitution_eng_2017_ltr_size.pdf">executive structure</a> that guarantees the number of women on the union’s executive board be at least equal the proportion of women in the union overall. </p>
<p>In 2017, the Canadian section of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union achieved equal representation of women and men on its national executive board for the first time after delegates to the union’s convention adopted <a href="http://www.ufcw.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46:women&catid=8:women&Itemid=142&lang=en">a resolution</a> mandating the expansion of women’s representation. </p>
<h2>Two women vying for top union job</h2>
<p>Later this year, two women — <a href="http://www.ufcw.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32543:ufcw-832-activist-bea-bruske-announces-candidacy-for-clc-president&catid=10134&Itemid=6&lang=en">Bea Bruske</a> of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and <a href="https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/alberta-diary/2020/01/linda-silas-announces-bid-lead-canadian-labour-congress">Linda Silas</a> of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions — are expected to compete for the presidency of the Canadian Labour Congress. It will be the first election in the history of the congress where both major contenders are women.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman with dark shoulder-length hair speaks into a microphone behind a podium that reads Premiers Ministres." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354430/original/file-20200824-22-40bj0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, talks with reporters in St. Andrews, N.B., in July 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Why does gender representation matter now, more than ever? </p>
<p>So many of the issues we now face because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting disruptions in work, home and school are <a href="https://www.gendereconomy.org/primer-on-the-gendered-impacts-of-covid-19/">borne by women</a>. Racialized and poor women are even more at risk of COVID-19 exposure because of the service and care work they do and the lack of choices they have to engage in social distancing. </p>
<p>More than ever, we need a gendered and equity lens in leadership to understand how the pandemic is being experienced differently, and how union responses can protect those who are most vulnerable. </p>
<p>Unions must continue to enhance efforts to recruit and sustain a critical mass of women, particularly visible minority and LBGTQ women, into leadership roles in the years to come. These efforts cannot be mere tokenism. Rather, they must reflect a commitment to ensuring that the changing face of Canada’s unionized workers is reflected in the leadership of the union movement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143986/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Unions must continue to try to recruit and sustain a critical mass of women, particularly visible minority and LBGTQ women, into leadership roles in the years to come.Stephanie Ross, Associate Professor and Director, School of Labour Studies, McMaster UniversityLarry Savage, Professor, Labour Studies, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1425382020-08-25T19:18:13Z2020-08-25T19:18:13ZWhy police unions are not part of the American labor movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351761/original/file-20200807-22-13k8xdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=111%2C296%2C4762%2C3051&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Minneapolis Police create a blockade after a campaign rally for President Donald Trump on October 10, 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/minneapolis-police-create-a-blockade-after-a-campaign-rally-news-photo/1175240291?adppopup=true">Stephen Maturen/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, news reports have suggested that <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/06/27/police-unions-blamed-for-rise-in-fatal-shootings-even-as-crime-plummeted/">police unions bear some of the responsibility</a> for the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/30/us/derek-chauvin-george-floyd.html">violence perpetrated against African Americans</a>.</p>
<p>Critics have assailed these unions for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/06/09/limits-when-police-can-use-force-is-better-solution-than-banning-police-unions/">protecting officers who have abused their authority</a>. Derek Chauvin, the former police officer facing <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/03/868910542/chauvin-and-3-former-officers-face-new-charges-over-george-floyds-death">second-degree murder charges for Floyd’s death</a>, had nearly <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/30/minneapolis-officers-work-personal-background-detailed-2/">20 complaints filed against him during his career</a> but only received two letters of reprimand.</p>
<p>Many people who support labor unions in principle, who view them as a countervailing force against the power of employers, have only recently <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-06-15/police-unions-george-floyd-reform">come to view police unions as problematic</a> – as entities that <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-police-union-power-helped-increase-abuses">perpetuate a culture of racism and violence</a>.</p>
<p>But this sentiment reverberates through the history of the U.S. labor movement. As a <a href="https://ler.la.psu.edu/people/pfc2">labor scholar</a> who has <a href="https://theconversation.com/essential-us-workers-often-lack-sick-leave-and-health-care-benefits-taken-for-granted-in-most-other-countries-136802">written about unions</a> for <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjir.12526">decades</a>, I think this viewpoint can be explained by the fact that police unions differ fundamentally from almost all trade unions in America.</p>
<h2>Foot soldiers for the status quo</h2>
<p>For many veterans of the labor movement, <a href="https://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/history-policing-united-states-part-3">police have been on the wrong side</a> of the centuries-old struggle between workers and employers. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mayhem-in-madison-police-remove-protesters-lockdown-capitol-2011-3">Rather than side with other members of the working class</a>, police have used their legal authority to protect businesses and private property, enforcing laws viewed by many as anti-union. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351762/original/file-20200807-14-1ftxpa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351762/original/file-20200807-14-1ftxpa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351762/original/file-20200807-14-1ftxpa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351762/original/file-20200807-14-1ftxpa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351762/original/file-20200807-14-1ftxpa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351762/original/file-20200807-14-1ftxpa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351762/original/file-20200807-14-1ftxpa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351762/original/file-20200807-14-1ftxpa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Washington State Police use tear gas to disperse a crowd in Seattle on May 30, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/washington-state-police-uses-tear-gas-to-disperse-a-crowd-news-photo/1216441447?adppopup=true">Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The strain between law enforcement and labor goes back to the origins of <a href="https://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/history-policing-united-states-part-3">American unions in the mid 19th century</a>. Workers formed unions to fight for wage increases, reduced working hours and humane working conditions. </p>
<p>For employers, this was an attack on the existing societal power structure. They enlisted the government as the defender of capital and property rights, and <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/22/police-unions-havealwaysbeenalabormovementapart.html">police officers were the foot soldiers</a> who defended the status quo.</p>
<p>When workers managed to form unions, companies called on local police to disperse union gatherings, marches and picket lines, using <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-1897-massacre-pennsylvania-coal-miners-morphed-galvanizing-crisis-forgotten-history-180971695/">violence and mass arrests to break the will of strikers</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353650/original/file-20200819-42970-1xypttm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353650/original/file-20200819-42970-1xypttm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353650/original/file-20200819-42970-1xypttm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353650/original/file-20200819-42970-1xypttm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353650/original/file-20200819-42970-1xypttm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353650/original/file-20200819-42970-1xypttm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353650/original/file-20200819-42970-1xypttm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353650/original/file-20200819-42970-1xypttm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mounted New York City police officers battle with striking members of the International Longshoremen’s Association, March 24, 1954.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A narrow focus</h2>
<p>Police work is a fundamentally conservative act. And police officers tend to be politically conservative and Republican.</p>
<p>A poll of police <a href="https://www.policemag.com/342098/the-2016-police-presidential-poll">conducted in September 2016 by POLICE Magazine</a> found that 84% of officers intended to vote for Donald Trump that November. And law enforcement unions like the Fraternal Order of Police, the International Union of Police Associations and the National Border Patrol Council <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/10/09/police-unions-reject-charges-of-bias-find-a-hero-in-donald-trump/">all endorsed Trump’s candidacy in 2016</a>. </p>
<p>This contrasts sharply with the 39% share of all <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-labor-to-stem-flow-of-union-voters-to-trump-11567422002">union voters who voted for Trump</a> and the fact that every other union which made an <a href="https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/55463/hillary-clinton">endorsement supported Hillary Clinton</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351765/original/file-20200807-14-1nkoc2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351765/original/file-20200807-14-1nkoc2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351765/original/file-20200807-14-1nkoc2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351765/original/file-20200807-14-1nkoc2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351765/original/file-20200807-14-1nkoc2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351765/original/file-20200807-14-1nkoc2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351765/original/file-20200807-14-1nkoc2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police surround a protester in Boston, Massachusetts on May 31, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-surround-a-protester-during-clashes-after-a-news-photo/1216621057?adppopup=true">Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Exclusively protecting the interests of their members, without consideration for other workers, also sets police unions apart from other labor groups. Yes, the first priority of any union is to fight for their members, but most other unions see that fight in the context of a <a href="https://aflcio.org/what-unions-do/social-economic-justice">larger movement that fights for all workers</a>.</p>
<p>Police unions do not see themselves as <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-to-know-police-unions-labor-movement">part of this movement</a>. With one exception – the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/11/police-unions-american-labor-movement-protest">International Union of Police Associations</a>, which represents just <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ftelea9716.pdf">2.7% of American police</a> – law enforcement unions are not affiliated with the AFL-CIO, the U.S. labor body that unites all unions.</p>
<h2>Alternative justice system</h2>
<p>A central concern with police unions is that they use collective bargaining to negotiate contracts that reduce police transparency and accountability. This allows officers who engage in excessive violence to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/10/police-unions-violence-research-george-floyd/">avoid the consequences of their actions</a> and remain on the job.</p>
<p>In a way, some police unions have created an <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/restorative-justice-police-violence/489221/">alternative justice system</a> that prevents police departments and municipalities from disciplining or discharging officers who have committed crimes against the people they are sworn to serve. </p>
<p>In Minneapolis, residents filed more than <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-problem-with-police-unions-11591830984">2,600 misconduct complaints</a> against police officers between 2012 and 2020. But only 12 of those grievances resulted in discipline. The most significant <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/30/us/derek-chauvin-george-floyd.html">punishment any officer received was a 40-hour suspension</a>.</p>
<p>Besides collective bargaining, police have used the political process – including <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/23/police-unions-spending-policy-reform-chicago-new-york-la">candidate endorsements and lobbying</a> – to secure local and state legislation that protects their members and quells efforts to provide greater police accountability. </p>
<p>Police officers are a formidable political force because they represent <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-gop-and-police-unions-a-love-story">the principle of law and order</a>. Candidates endorsed by the police unions can claim they are the law and order candidate. Once these candidates win office, police unions have <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/george-floyd-protests-police-abuse-reform-qualified-immunity-polls.html">significant leverage to lobby for policies</a> they support or block those they oppose. </p>
<p>Because of this power, critics claim that police unions don’t feel accountable to the citizens they serve. An attorney who sued the Minneapolis Police Department on behalf of a Black resident who was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/30/us/derek-chauvin-george-floyd.html">severely beaten by police officers</a> said that he is convinced that Minneapolis “officers think they don’t have to abide by their own training and rules when dealing with the public.” </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>George Floyd’s death has raised serious concerns about the current role of police and police unions in our society. Several unions have demanded that the International Union of Police Associations be expelled from the U.S. labor federation. Other <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/national-labor-groups-mostly-close-ranks-defend-police-unions-n1231573">unions oppose expulsion</a>. They argue that the labor movement can have a greater impact on a police union that is inside the “House of Labor.”</p>
<p>In any case, there is a growing recognition that police unions differ significantly from other unions. And there is a growing acceptance that they are not part of the larger American labor movement but rather a narrowly focused group pursuing their own self-interests, often to the detriment of the nation at large.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142538/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul F. Clark does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>George Floyd’s death has thrust police unions into the spotlight amid a growing recognition that they are not part of the U.S. labor movement but a narrow interest group pursuing their self-interests.Paul F. Clark, School Director and Professor of Labor and Employment Relations, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1442542020-08-24T12:19:45Z2020-08-24T12:19:45ZThe labor-busting law firms and consultants that keep Google, Amazon and other workplaces union-free<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354118/original/file-20200821-20-11nqvca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C48%2C2013%2C1141&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rite Aid hired anti-union consultants to try to prevent workers from successfully organizing. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/labor2008/3292916718/">Amy Niehouse/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>American companies have been very successful at preventing their workers from organizing into unions in recent decades, one of the reasons unionization in the private sector <a href="https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet">is at a record low</a>. </p>
<p>What you may not realize is that a handful of little-known law and consulting firms do much of the dirty work that keeps companies and other organizations union-free.</p>
<p>IKEA, for example, turned to Ogletree Deakins, one of the largest law firms that specialize in so-called union avoidance activities, to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ikea-accused-of-anti-union-tactics-2018-10">help it crush unionization efforts</a> in Stoughton, Massachusetts, in 2016. Google <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/technology/Google-union-consultant.html">hired IRI Consultants</a>, a firm known for its anti-union activities, for advice on how to deal with growing worker unrest. And just this summer, two liberal-leaning organizations – the <a href="https://scholars.org">Scholars Strategy Network</a> and ACLU Kansas – <a href="https://thebaffler.com/working-stiff/the-new-face-of-union-busting-kelly">recruited the services of Ogletree</a> when their employees tried to form unions. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.13.2.0057?seq=1">I’ve been studying</a> these firms for two decades and <a href="https://www.jwj.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/JohnLogan12_2006UnionAvoidance.pdf">have chronicled the key roles</a> they have played in undermining an American worker’s federally protected right to organize. Their tactics, abetted by <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/workers-rights-labor-standards-and-global-trade/">weak labor laws</a>, have turned what should be a worker-driven process into essentially a choice being made by companies. </p>
<h2>Avoiding unions 101</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-6186(06)15007-6">lack of effective federal reporting requirements</a> means there isn’t a lot of data on this union-busting industry. We do know that a lot of companies are using it. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354141/original/file-20200821-24-igubon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An old brochure from the Labor Relations Institute offered clients a money-back guarantee that it could successfully prevent employees from forming a union." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354141/original/file-20200821-24-igubon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354141/original/file-20200821-24-igubon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354141/original/file-20200821-24-igubon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354141/original/file-20200821-24-igubon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354141/original/file-20200821-24-igubon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354141/original/file-20200821-24-igubon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354141/original/file-20200821-24-igubon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Labor Relations Institute offered clients a money-back guarantee that it could successfully prevent employees from forming a union in a brochure from the 2000s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Logan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to a Cornell labor expert, about 75% of all U.S. employers <a href="https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=reports">have engaged the services of a consultant or law firm</a> to stymie efforts by workers to organize – and are spending an <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/unlawful-employer-opposition-to-union-election-campaigns/">estimated US$340 million a year</a> to do so. </p>
<p>Three of the biggest law firms that do this work are <a href="https://www.littler.com">Littler Mendelson</a>, <a href="https://ogletree.com">Ogletree</a> and <a href="https://www.jacksonlewis.com">Jackson Lewis</a>, which have grown from <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.13.2.0057">regional operations</a> into <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1095796019893336">global union avoidance behemoths</a>. Consultants such as IRI and the <a href="https://lrionline.com">Labor Relations Institute</a> have also developed a reputation for union avoidance expertise in recent decades. IRI even <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1180/Logan-IUR.pdf?1598029329">used to offer a “money-back guarantee”</a> if its efforts weren’t succesful.</p>
<p>Here’s a closer look at the main services they offer clients, which occupy the gray areas of labor law.</p>
<h2>Monitoring unrest in the workplace</h2>
<p>One major reason companies hire these firms is to conduct union vulnerability audits, intended to analyze a workforce to see which departments, locations or demographic groups are most likely to organize. </p>
<p>The tactic has been around since at least the mid-20th century. Management professor Sanford Jacoby documented how <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3115660">Sears Roebuck used vulnerability audits</a> to beat back unionization as early as the 1940s, while labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein showed how Walmart <a href="https://www.minnesotalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Lichtenstein_FinalPDF.pdf">has used similar tactics</a> to remain union-free since the 1960s.</p>
<p>Today’s audits, however, <a href="https://www.littler.com/practice-areas/robotics-artificial-intelligence-ai-and-automation">are more sophisticated</a> and data-driven. Anti-union monitoring software can help management <a href="https://onezero.medium.com/companies-are-using-employee-survey-data-to-predict-and-squash-union-organizing-a7e28a8c2158">squash organizing</a> before it starts, while heat maps that collect data from a wide variety of sources reveal granular detail about where the biggest risks are. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whole-foods-tracks-unionization-risk-with-heat-map-2020-1">Amazon recently used heat maps</a> to show which of its Whole Foods grocery stories and <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/6/29/21303643/amazon-coronavirus-warehouse-workers-protest-jeff-bezos-chris-smalls-boycott-pandemic">distribution warehouses</a> were most at risk of unionization.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A banner that read 'Vote no' was added to billboards that read 'keep 1 team' near a Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353964/original/file-20200820-14-dlvh5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353964/original/file-20200820-14-dlvh5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353964/original/file-20200820-14-dlvh5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353964/original/file-20200820-14-dlvh5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353964/original/file-20200820-14-dlvh5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353964/original/file-20200820-14-dlvh5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353964/original/file-20200820-14-dlvh5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nissan used billboards to convey its anti-union message during a unionization drive in 1989.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-ASSOCIATED-PRESS-I-TN-USA-APHST46-FOOTNOTE/bffd484e790d47869a8608cdc17aabf2/1/0">AP Photo/Mark Humphrey</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Union inoculation</h2>
<p>The anti-union firms <a href="https://www.jacksonlewis.com/sites/default/files/media/pnc/1/media.1511.pdf">advise companies</a> to treat unions like a “virus” and to “inoculate” employees with messaging about the purported consequences of organizing early and often. </p>
<p>And to that end, another important service these firms provide is supplying companies with anti-union materials, which <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1057%2F9781137319067_2">can be anything</a> from managerial training and websites targeting employees to “vote no” buttons and anti-union billboards – strategically located on the way to work. </p>
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<p>For example, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/business/economy/nissan-united-auto-workers-mississippi.html">Nissan</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-uaw-election-analysis/thirteen-billboards-one-paint-shop-worker-helped-defeat-union-at-vw-plant-in-chattanooga-idUSBREA1L13220140222">Volkswagen</a> and <a href="https://www.al.com/business/2013/08/anti-union_billboards_put_up_n.html">other carmakers</a> have used billboards as part of their campaigns to prevent unionizing at plants in the U.S. And last year, Delta Airlines put up posters <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/5/10/18564745/delta-anti-union-video-game-poster">advising employees</a> that buying a video game console would be a better way to spend money than on union dues. Rite Aid, as part of an effort to stop workers at a warehouse in Lancaster, California, from organizing beginning in 2006, hired <a href="https://www.oliverbell.com/who-we-are/about-oliver">Oliver J. Bell & Associates</a> to provide its managers with training resources, according to a <a href="http://www.teamsters952.org/riteaid_report(1).pdf">report by labor rights organization Jobs with Justice</a>. </p>
<h2>Captivating workers</h2>
<p>A third technique is what union avoidance consultants call <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40342475?seq=1">direct explainer activity</a>, such as conducting mandatory anti-union staff meetings.</p>
<p>Workers who experience them describe these “captive” meetings as a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40342475?seq=1">form of legalized intimidation</a>, which is one reason <a href="https://cllpj.law.illinois.edu/archive/vol_29/">many other democratic countries</a>, such as Germany and Japan, restrict them. </p>
<p>Law firms generally avoid engaging in activities that involve direct contact with employees because, technically, it must be disclosed under the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/olms/regs/statutes/lmrda-act.htm">Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959</a>. This has created an opening for other types of consultants to specialize in this kind of persuasion. Weak enforcement means that reporting is patchy, even among consultants who talk to employees.</p>
<p>As the pandemic and concerns of benefits and safety <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/business/coronavirus-unions-layoffs.html">has prompted</a> <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/nonprofit-workers-turn-to-unions-during-pandemic-uncertainty">more workers to try to organize</a>, firms have continued to <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/union-busting-during-a-pandemic-could-prove-lethal-to-workers/">conduct these meetings</a>. HCA Healthcare <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/05/06/coronavirus-hca-healthcare-nurse-union-busting/">reportedly hired consultants</a> to run meetings at a hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, as part of its recent campaign to prevent 1,600 nurses from forming a union. </p>
<p>Using these and other tactics, consultants claim overwhelming success rates in preventing unionization, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/03/business/tougher-tactics-to-keep-out-unions.html">often 95% or higher</a>. While it’s impossible to empirically verify these claims, <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780230303348">most labor relations researchers believe</a> they are highly effective.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144254/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Logan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Unionization is at a record low in part thanks to the tactics these firms use on behalf of companies and other organizations.John Logan, Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies, San Francisco State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1343452020-04-05T11:52:59Z2020-04-05T11:52:59ZCoronavirus crisis poses risks and opportunities for unions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324710/original/file-20200401-23130-1brti6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4584%2C3026&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Two health-care workers arrive at a walk-in COVID-19 test clinic in Montréal on March 23, 2020. Unionized nurses are among those on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout pose serious challenges for Canada’s workers. </p>
<p>Naomi Klein’s 2007 bestseller, <em>The Shock Doctrine</em>, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/03/18/coronavirus-and-shock-doctrine">documented how political and economic elites have exploited crises</a> to advance an agenda of privatization and austerity. </p>
<p>In such moments, elites often take advantage of the public’s fear and uncertainty to push through changes that would normally be met with fierce opposition. With picket lines and large demonstrations out of the question in this time of social distancing and self-isolation, unions are especially vulnerable. </p>
<p>Some Canadian employers have already used this moment of crisis to turn the screws on union members. </p>
<p>In Québec, Premier Francois Legault used the pretext of COVID-19 to unilaterally <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/covid-19-quebec-teachers-in-shock-after-government-suspends-collective-agreements-1.4859384">suspend key provisions</a> in collective agreements with the province’s teachers’ unions. </p>
<p>In Saskatchewan, a bitter and prolonged lockout over pension contributions was extended after the Co-op Refinery pointed to COVID-19 as cause for <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/multimedia/unifor-wants-to-end-lockout-at-regina-refinery-1.5506818">rejecting the terms of settlement</a> proposed by a widely respected independent mediator. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324716/original/file-20200401-23109-1mb6klb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324716/original/file-20200401-23109-1mb6klb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324716/original/file-20200401-23109-1mb6klb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324716/original/file-20200401-23109-1mb6klb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324716/original/file-20200401-23109-1mb6klb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324716/original/file-20200401-23109-1mb6klb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324716/original/file-20200401-23109-1mb6klb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unifor 594 members walk the picket line at the Co-op Refinery in Regina in January 2020. Refinery owner Federated Co-operatives Ltd. locked out about 700 unionized workers in early December after they took a strike vote.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michael Bell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Ontario, after weeks of rotating strikes were cut short by the pandemic, some teachers’ unions have quietly <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2020/03/12/catholic-teachers-reach-tentative-contract-deal-with-province.html">reached tentative settlements</a> with the province, presumably in an effort to avoid deeper cuts in the future. </p>
<h2>Gains will likely be rolled back</h2>
<p>Fortunately, some employers, like select grocery chains, have <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6713693/grocery-stores-coronavirus-canada/">temporarily increased wages</a> in response to COVID-19. Over the long term, however, businesses are likely to use the economic fallout from the pandemic as a pretext for rolling back those gains and demanding unprecedented concessions from their employees. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324713/original/file-20200401-23143-184g852.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324713/original/file-20200401-23143-184g852.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324713/original/file-20200401-23143-184g852.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324713/original/file-20200401-23143-184g852.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324713/original/file-20200401-23143-184g852.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324713/original/file-20200401-23143-184g852.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324713/original/file-20200401-23143-184g852.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A plexiglass barrier aims to protect a cashier at a grocery store in North Vancouver, B.C., on March 22, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moving forward, unions are likely to find it incredibly difficult to negotiate gains for their members who will be expected to “share the pain” of an economic recession not of their making. </p>
<p>Public sector workers will also become targets. After governments bailed out select corporations during the 2008 financial crisis, they turned to taxpayers to foot the bill and demanded that health care, education and social service workers did more with less. We can expect a similar dynamic in the years to come. </p>
<p>We should expect some employers and governments to take advantage of the pandemic and its economic fallout by casting unions as selfish for trying to defend the interests of their members. Unions, however, have an unprecedented opportunity to turn that well-worn narrative on its head. </p>
<p>Unions can and must become champions of converting new temporary income supports, social protections and employment standards into permanent measures designed to rebuild Canada’s tattered social safety net. This approach will demonstrate that unions are fighting for the common good rather than simply for the welfare of their members. </p>
<h2>Oppose bailouts unless workers benefit</h2>
<p>Unions should also call on their members to oppose bailouts of big corporations that don’t also bail out workers and give employees more say over how industries deemed “too big to fail” are run. </p>
<p>In this way, unions can demonstrate the important role they play in ensuring that governments prioritize everyday people over corporate executives. </p>
<p>Finally, unions must continue to lead the resistance to service cuts and demands to privatize health-care services. Why? Because the COVID-19 pandemic is a prime example of why Canada needs a strong and expanded public health-care system.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324719/original/file-20200401-23121-7tlehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324719/original/file-20200401-23121-7tlehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324719/original/file-20200401-23121-7tlehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324719/original/file-20200401-23121-7tlehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324719/original/file-20200401-23121-7tlehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324719/original/file-20200401-23121-7tlehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324719/original/file-20200401-23121-7tlehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Health-care workers see a patient in their vehicle at a COVID-19 drive-thru assessment centre at a hospital in Mississauga, Ont., on March 30, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We can expect some politicians and business leaders to dismiss collective bargaining as a distraction in a time when we should be focused solely on “flattening the curve.” </p>
<p>But it’s worth remembering that the strength of our collective response to COVID-19 is in part shaped by the strength and resiliency of union members who labour every day to help us overcome the pandemic. Nurses, cleaners, grocery store clerks and other unionized workers have been on the front lines of this fight. They should emerge from it with a greater level of respect. </p>
<p>Unions, in their continued defence of decent jobs and expanded services, play a key role in promoting the public good. They play this role by acting as a critical counterweight to the power of economic elites who have always prioritized profits over people. </p>
<p>While some elites will no doubt try to use this crisis as a pretext to push for privatization and austerity, unions must be a strong voice in defence of public services and social investments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134345/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nurses, cleaners, grocery store clerks and other unionized workers have been on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19. They should emerge from it with a greater level of respect.Larry Savage, Professor, Labour Studies, Brock UniversitySimon Black, Assistant Professor of Labour Studies, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.