Catherwood LibraryILR School

The resurgence and interest in the U.S. labor movement can be seen in the 58% increase of union election petitions, up from 1,197 to 1,892 in the last year alone, but companies have not been taking kindly to the trend, employing aggressive union busting tactics to discourage further elections from occurring. After the hundreds of union elections seen at Starbucks, followed by historical elections at Amazon and Apple, unionization attempts have started to occur at REI, Trader Joe's, Chipotle, and Lululemon - where, if successful, they would also be the first unions for those retailers. Companies have fought back aggressively, often by using union-busting law firms to teach managers how to bring up negative aspects of union contracts at the workplace - by implying that unionization doesn't always bring higher pay and benefits, that lower wages might occur. At worst, terminations have occurred after locations have unionized, and dozens of Starbucks workers have filed suit with the National Labor Relations Board for unfair labor practices. The NLRB is seeking increased funding to handle the surge in labor activity.