A Target store in Valley Stream, New York is once again in a battle over an attempt to unionize its workers. (The company was convicted of using illegal union-busting tactics when the union tried this last year.) Today is Target's shareholder meeting, in Chicago. What better time to hear from some beleaguered Target employees?
Since we're on the topic of basic fairness for the working people of America, here is a useful thing: a pro-worker group called Restaurant Opportunities Centers United has produced a handy pocket guide to many of America's most popular restaurants, to let you know exactly how badly their employees are treated. The short version, below.
Wisconsin governor Scott Walker made his name with a coldblooded campaign to destroy public sector unions. Pro-union Wisconsinites tried to recall Walker; they failed. This has led to some gloating and speculation from the usual suspects (Rich Lowry, nice blazer, hair boy) that the death knell has formally sounded for unions in America.
Last year, a Target store in Valley Stream, New York was the site of an long campaign by the UFCW to unionize the store's workers. Target has no unionized stores, and remains staunchly anti-union. The union lost the vote at Valley Stream, but last month a judge ordered a new election due to company misconduct. Let's take a look at just how brazen Target's anti-union culture of fear really is.
Last year, we spent a long time following the UFCW's battle to unionize a New York Target store—which would have been the first unionized store in the notorious anti-union company. That effort failed when employees voted against the union, but the UFCW alleged illegal intimidation on the part of the company. Now, a judge has agreed with them.
A few weeks ago, New York Times science and health reporter Don McNeil sent out a scathing email to colleagues attacking Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. for piloting a "ghost ship" and running off to the Himalayas with a management guru while the paper founders.
First there was Kim's whole wedding debacle, now there's the PR bombshell that some of the clothes the Kardashians sell on QVC and other products they endorse are made in China using what is akin to slave labor. Uh-oh!
Given Whole Foods' status as "one of America's best places to work (for herpes-union haters)," you might be surprised to hear that a couple years ago the company fired a whistle blower. And not just any old whistle blower, either, but a "poop leak whistle blower": a sewage sniffer-outer, a foe of feces fraud.
An Iowa convenience store owner tried to reward his most clairvoyant employees by awarding $10 to any cashier who correctly guessed which of their coworkers were soon to become an ex-coworker. Ten whole dollars! Enough to buy Doritos and gum for your entire family. Enough to buy ten Mega Lucky Power Lotto Ball tickets.
Groupon was hit with its second lawsuit in as many months from employees who said they were screwed out of their overtime. This comes shortly after the online discounter lost its COO, its sales chief, its IPO date, and its favorite bullshit accounting metric. It's almost as though Groupon is some sort of hive of misery and deceit!
Let's take a moment from our busy Sundays to remember the plight of New York City's fancy restaurant owners, who—because of "draconian state regulations" passed earlier this year—have become increasingly vulnerable to lawsuits filed by employees seeking back pay and tips. Why can't those workers just enjoy the privilege of working and "being seen" in popular restaurants?
A crew from Portland's KGW-TV stopped by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's headquarters in Longview, Washington to ask about the union's heated dispute with a grain terminal operator. During their truth-seeking quest they met a plaid-shirted man named Fuck You Cocksucker who threatened to break their cameras and punch their faces, insulted a "dumb motherfucker" cameraman's eyeglasses, and said he'd have them all arrested for trespassing.
H&M is having a little sweatshop trouble. Nearly 300 Cambodian workers passed out last week in a "spate of mass fainting attributed to poor working conditions."
The 45,000 or so unionized Verizon workers who have been on strike since August 7 will go back to work on Tuesday under an extension to their existing contract, while negotiators for both sides are still trying to agree on a new and not necessarily improved contract.
Speaking of hugely popular chain stores with a liberal reputation which are actually staunch enemies of unions: Starbucks! The Industrial Workers of the World have been trying, with little success, to organize Starbucks workers for years. This week, they're picketing select Starbucks locations in major cities, partly in sympathy with Chilean Starbucks workers who are already on strike. From an IWW press release:
