Protect Public Sector Employment and Union Jobs

Published July 16, 2022

When there are more union worksites, even non-union employers pay more in competing for workers. Often public sector jobs set the bar for the private sector to match.

a. Starbucks workers organize

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is currently investigating Starbucks for union-busting activities and has charged Starbucks and their notoriously anti-union law firm, Littler Mendelson P.C., with 513 counts of unfair labor practices.  (Read More)

b. Campaign to save the U.S. Postal Service

During the Bush administration, Republicans passed the Postal Accountability Enhancement Act (PAEA) which essentially mandated that the USPS would have to fund retirement health care benefits for the next 75 years, within 10 years of that bill passing in 2006. (Read more)

c. Retail and Fast Food Organizing

The day that a group of Amazon warehouse employees on Staten Island voted to create a union on April 1, 2022, became a historic victory for labor rights, a further indicator that more U.S. workers are coming to the conclusion that collective bargaining is the best way to achieve their goals as a result of their dissatisfaction with salary and benefits, job security, and working conditions. (Read more)

d. Retaliation for Union Organizing

There has been a dramatic rise in retail industry workers’ interest in unionizing after successful votes at Starbucks, REI, and Amazon, and employees at Trader Joe’s have filed for a union election. (Read more)

e. Gig Workers Organizing

Popular app-based ride-sharing companies, Uber and Lyft, have paved the way for many workers to make income on a flexible schedule, however, their opposition to Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5), has pushed drivers to be classified as independent contractors rather than employees. (Read More)

Action Steps

  1. Write to your senators to fight for the PRO Act. Click here

Additional Materials

  1. Read about the U.S. Postal service during COVID-19 here.
  2. Read about U.S. Postal service during the 2008 recession here.

Additional Materials

  1. Read about the postal service here.
  2. Read about the campaign to pass the PRO Act here.