From Fox News, a story about the gathering unionization momentum at Starbucks, as "nearly 100 Starbucks locations around the nation have joined the Starbucks Workers United movement and are pushing to form a union.
"As of Wednesday, 97 locations in 26 states had filed for a petition to unionize, according to Starbucks Workers United, which has been seeking to organize a union with workers around the country."
And it isn't just Starbucks. The Washington Post reports:
"Employees at several Apple Stores across the country are quietly working to unionize, according to people familiar with the efforts, as growing dissent among hourly workers threatens to disrupt one of the most stolid tech giants.
"Groups at at least two Apple retail stores are backed by major national unions and are preparing to file paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the near future, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential plans. At least a half dozen more locations are at less-advanced stages in the unionization process, these people say.
"Spurred by wages that have stagnated below the rate of inflation, and encouraged by successful efforts by Starbucks employees to form unions, retail workers say they hope they can push the world’s most valuable company to share more of its record-setting profits with the workers who sell, repair and troubleshoot the products it sells."
- KC's View:
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To be clear, there are close to 10,000 company-owned Starbucks stores in the US, so there is a long way to go. But it wasn't that long ago that unionizing efforts at 100 of them would've been unthinkable. Now, not so much.
Apple has 270 stores in the US. Also a long way to go there. But there was a story this week about there is some investor resistance to a compensation package for Apple CEO Tim Cook that could total close to $100 million a year, which could make a unionization movement play out differently than in the past.
There's something happening here … and what it is seems to be becoming clearer with every passing day. I'm not sure it is as much about a rebirth of the union movement on a broad scale - I think that horse may already have left the barn - as much as it is a reflection of a further bifurcation taking place within American business. Even companies that traditionally have been seen as having progressive, pro-worker cultures are now seen as lacking.
It would be foolhardy for any company to think, "This cannot happen here."
