@unionnick
Nick is my student and research assistant. He is one of the brightest, thoughtful, conscientious, kind,and hardworking students I have had in the thirty plus years teaching at Cornell. The university should be celebrating students like Nick, not kicking him out.
NLRB’S Cemex decision is significant step in restoring the right to organize. Still missing is any effective penalty for employers who refuse to bargain, even when faced with a Cemex bargain order. To fully disincentivize union busting, we must have first-contract arbitration.
@MorePerfectUS
Imagine a world where, despite the ban on secondary boycotts, US unions all refused to service Amazon, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, REI, etc. until they bargained first contracts. 10 years ago, it would’ve been difficult to imagine, but after this year, we can dare to dream.
“The upsides of stronger unions are a more democratic society,” [Bronfenbrenner] said. “When you have stronger unions, you have less inequality in society. You have less discrimination. You have less corporate abuse of power.”
@JonahFurman
To understand how and why we got there I highly recommend ”The Right to Manage: Industrial Relations Policies of American Business in the 1940s” by Howell John Harris. It is also fascinating reading because his sources are all primary corporate documents.
Bronfenbrenner notes the American public sided overwhelmingly with striking autoworkers: "This was about something that was fair, and this was just, and that we're living in a time where corporations are taking too much." - CBS News
“Apple’s anti-union argument doesn’t stand up to much scrutiny. All the evidence out there says workers have a great deal to gain from unionization: better benefits, better working conditions, less workplace discrimination ” Bronfenbrenner said.”
They've seen opportunities for their generation disappear and are afraid they are going to be worse off than their parents," said Kate Bronfenbrenner, "They look around and see who is doing something, and they see the labor movement."
“Starbucks was a company that everybody thought could not be organized. Amazon was a place people thought you didn’t even try to organize; digital media workers didn't organize,” says Kate Bronfenbrenner, “People thought that young workers didn’t.”.
“I think the greatest leverage unions have is that workers are angry,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
“They recognize that their lives have been impacted by the decline in unions, that the world was better off when there were more unions and they would have had more opportunities if there were more unions.” Why Gen Z is the most pro-union generation
“They and the generations that follow them are saddled with college debt. They're looking at a world where they wonder if they should even have children because of climate change. They're concerned about broader social issues like reproductive rights…”
@DrSarahLiu
Based on your assumptions about privilege, higher paid, workers are more likely to honor picket lines than lower paid workers. In fact, the opposite is true; those who make the least are willing to sacrifice the most to help others.
Is going union going to cost the company? Yes," Bronfenbrenner said. "But there are other measures — if you have a union, you'll have lower turnover, workers will be more productive. You're less likely to see your best workers quit."
“What's different these days with Starbucks is that they're not just challenging workers and unions, they're challenging the legitimacy of the NLRB itself,”
says Bronfenbrenner. How big companies like Tesla and Starbucks are fending off unionization
“Strikes are contagious. Workers get courage from other workers, and strikes and organizing go in tandem,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, the director of labor education research at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
@TimH_B
I have had the same experience with students from Africa attending our Research Summer School. This occurs despite my sending letters to the embassy, supporting the application. But before Trump, we would have several African students a year. Biden has yet to change the policy.
“DOLLAR GENERAL, like many employers, has been aggressively anti-union,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
Just over a third of all new unions secure a contract within a year, but another third still don’t have a contract after three years, according to research by Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University
@_ericblanc
Union staff is not a proxy for organizing. Unions could have many staff but all be doing servicing & politics not organizing. Others could have few staff but spend resources on rank-and-file volunteer organizers and organize more.
I am excited to join the
@WorkRiseNetwork
grantee network with
@TomKochan
@MIT_IWER
@MITSloan
! Our research project will inform action on expanding opportunity and mobility for low-wage workers as we build a more equitable labor market. Learn more:
Employers unfortunately can still gag workers while they are employed, but thanks to the NLRB they no longer can gag them after they leave!! NLRB to Elon and other tech CEOs: No, you can’t gag workers in exchange for severance
The less staff the NLRB has, Bronfenbrenner said, the longer it takes to investigate and resolve complaints. “If a worker is fired for union activity or an employer illegally locks workers out, to deal with those cases can take years.”
“There’s essentially nothing under labor law that forces employers to bargain,” Bronfenbrenner said, “and the penalties … are usually just a posting on the bulletin board … For employers, that is less than a slap on the wrist.”
Bronfenbrenner noted that fake unions are a staple of other U.S. industries …and, almost always, they appear with the cooperation of the company involved. “Companies know everything there is to know about the labor movement” . including how to subvert it.
@Lfelizleon
This is a strategy as old as unions, Particularly in towns dominated by a very large corporation, companies give enough money to churches to purchase their long term loyalty, and rely on the church leaders to preach an anti-union message.
Kate Bronfenbrenner of Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said the success of the Waffle House workers’ campaign could inspire other service workers in the South.
Waffle House raises server pay following union-led pressure campaign
“COVID was a tipping point,” Bronfenbrenner said. “That combination of low wages and suddenly risking serious health conditions when you went to work spurred the organizing. Workers put up with a lot, but they don’t come to work to die.”
@EDKENNEDYESQ
The ripple effect would be even greater. We know that whenever there are large national strikes and organizing wins it helps boost organizing overall.
Last week Ithaca Starbucks, this week, Quickways—the NLRB is putting workers rights first by ordering reopening of facilities shut down in retaliation for organizing.
@rnknfl
The beauty of first contract arbitration is that employers want to avoid it, so they bargain in good faith. We have many examples in the US public sector and in Canada.
Kate Bronfenbrenner, ILR, says “If this goes in favor of these companies, it is not just the NLRB. It’s every single agency federal agency that uses administrative law judges.”
US labour watchdog attracts enemies from Amazon to SpaceX
Finally, a university President who understands free speech, Prof Patrizia Nanz, president of the European University Institute. I run a university – people like me should be backing students’ right to protest over Gaza | Patrizia Nanz | The Guardian
“Kate Bronfenbrenner, a professor at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said the jump is a direct result of the U.S. labor movement's growing momentum.”
@PolProseUnion
@rkgwork
I will always remember my first meeting with a Jones Day attorney in the early 1980s. I don’t remember his name. But I distinctly remember the gold cufflinks, and silk handkerchief. His greatest weakness was his utter disdain for workers.
@rnknfl
Yes, unions need to do everything in their power to force employers to bargain in good faith. But having majority support alone is not enough when employers, such as Starbucks, ignore the NLRB. First-contract arbitration would get them to the table.
@HaedenWright
Haeden, thank you for your interest in our program. I would be happy to talk with you about it. Email me at scrsummer
@cornell
.edu. (Kate Bronfenbrenner, Director Cornell/AFL-CIO Strategic Corporate Research Summer School.)
ACCORDING TO KATE BRONFENBRENNER, the director of labor education research at Cornell University . . . delaying things like union votes and negotiations is a strategic move for many employers.
“Cornell University’s Kate Bronfenbrenner will look into the differences between unionization efforts that are affiliated with the National Labor Relations Board and those that are not NLRB-affiliated.”
Bronfenbrenner says
“For the union to succeed . . . they have to understand the power within the company to figure out [how to] make the cost of not settling greater than the cost of settling.”
After union elections, the struggle continues
"This is a shot in the arm," said Kate Bronfenbrenner, a professor at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Experts at the start of the strike said there was no way they could win — but they did, she said.
“It’s not UPS who’s going to elect Joe Biden, it is hundreds of thousands of UPS drivers and auto workers and actors and writers. They are the votes he needs,” Bronfenbrenner told Sourcing .“ Can Biden Risk ‘Backlash’ from Butting in on UPS Union Talks?
Kate Bronfenbrenner"There's all this press about the economy is doing well, and there are tight labor markets, but they sure don't see it, they can't afford to buy a house, they're having a hard time making their car payment, sending their kids to college”
@RepJimCosta
Yesterday you committed genocide of millions of children in Yemen. The voters will never forgive you. The world will never forgive you. How can you ever say you care about families When you are now responsible for extending the greatest famine in the history of the world.
“I do believe there’s been a changed energy and mood in the labor movement. They’re excited, they’re angry, they’re ready to go,” Bronfenbrenner said. Will labor unions maintain their momentum in 2024?
“Because [under Janus public sector unions] have to spend so many resources signing up the members they already have, that is taking away resources from doing new organizing,” Bronfenbrenner said.
“The change,” [Bronfenbrenner] said, is that retail and food chain employees were buying into the idea to unionize—"workers that haven’t been organized by independent unions before.”
@AmazingJ_TV
@nlanc
@jamieson
The NLRB procedure is a rerun election. There have been extremely rare cases, where the employer behaved so egregiously, that the Board restricted how much the employer could campaign in the rerun. But that is unlikely with the current Board. Sadly, unions rarely win reruns.
BREAKING NEWS: The Amazon Labor Union has formally affiliated with the 1.3 million-member strong Teamsters Union. The affiliation was announced by Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien during the union’s General Executive Board meeting today in Washington, DC. The
“Amazon workers can look to this contract and see many things that they could only get with a union,” Bronfenbrenner told Sourcing Journal. Teamsters Talk Tough After UPS Contract Victory: ‘Amazon Better Pay Attention’ via
@sourcingjournal
@drvolts
It’s important not to assume that those going from college into labor have not worked before, during, or after their time in college. Many of the labor activist students at Cornell come from working class backgrounds, and support themselves with multiple jobs while in school.
@JonahFurman
The ground may be shifting a little more slowly than we hoped, but it is still shifting. In the South any shift is an earthquake to those in business and government who have had a monopoly on power for centuries. Thank you to the workers and the UAW for setting this in motion.
@JonahFurman
Make sure you tell them you have a newborn. In fact your pediatrician might be able to make it happen just for the protection of your child. Congratulations btw! Amazing isn’t it?
@josheidelson
2)Research shows that employers use every possible Illegal and legal means to find out which way workers are going to vote well before ballot. To diffuse employer coercion, 60% plus union voters publicly declare union sympathies when petition filed. Fear made secrecy impossible.
“I think the non-union auto companies must be cursing Shawn Fain and the UAW right now because, of course, they have to either match these changes or beat them to try to prevent an organizing drive succeeding in their workplaces,” Bronfenbrenner said.PBS
@MHarrisPerry
@TheTakeaway
@WNYC
This is so outrageous. So sorry this happened to you and all of us. Thank you for all the terrific work you have done and will continue to do.
@JonahFurman
@EricDirnbach
@KevinReuning
When looking at the data you have to distinguish between elections overturned by the Board in the context due to a hostile election climate (reruns) and second elections, where the unions files again, after a a loss. Win rates are slightly better in the latter.
Bronfenbrenner said there are always some workers disappointed with the final deal after a lengthy strike. Rank-and-file workers aren't "in the room" where negotiations take place and can't know when union leadership concludes they won't get a better offer
“‘Typically unions and management don’t share many policy goals, but that can be different in the cases where unions have a role in setting rates,’ according to Kate Bronfenbrenner, Cornell University’s School of Industrial Relations.”
@EliDFriedman
It would not surprise me if she chose an incendiary topic with the explicit purpose of provoking students to interfere with her speech. It would be great if everyone just ignored her.