Starbucks workers at 15 additional stores are petitioning for a a union election, pushing to organize cafes across the country. In Buffalo, the first store to unionize is negotiating a contract.
Large retailers have spent billions of dollars to woo workers. Smaller stores that can't do that expect staff shortages will lead to lost sales. They're asking shoppers to be patient.
At any moment, some 15 million Americans work in retail. Many stay for years. Now companies face a labor crunch, and workers wish these jobs were designed as durable careers.
The U.S. retail industry is setting records: workers quitting and workers hired. Wages are finally growing. And despite the pandemic devastation, brand-new stores are still opening.
Although the company has unionized workers in Europe, it has held off organizing efforts here. About 6,000 workers at an Amazon facility in Alabama can cast a mail-in ballot starting Feb. 8.
A labor board hearing is hashing out how and when a vote might take place to form potentially the first U.S. union at one of America's largest employers.
Warehouse workers in Bessemer, Ala., notify federal labor authorities of plans to hold a unionization vote, teeing up a major labor battle at the retail giant known for its opposition to unionizing.
