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Workers at Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin recently unionized and are asking for brewery management to recognize the union. Employees have joined the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Union, and the union represents bartenders, servers, tour guides, cooks, and dishwashers. Members of the union notified the brewery owners in late October that over seventy percent of eligible employees signed union cards. The owners stated that they wanted to personally review the union cards, which is not permitted during the unionization process. The brewery petitioned for a National Labor Relations Board election over two weeks after workers sought union recognition. The union stated that the company is attempting to delay unionization and an NLRB election gives management time to spread anti-union information to workers.

HSBC has asked for middle managers at the bank to reapply for their current positions after the bank underwent organizational changes to reduce operating costs and increase efficiency. HSBC created a new merged corporate and institutional banking division and it is expected that hundreds of senior-level employees and managing directors will be let go due to this change. The bank will also eliminate the general manager position from the company’s organizational structure, and will instead replace this position with managing directors. Another major change to the bank’s structure is that global operations will be separated into two divisions, Eastern and Western. The Eastern markets include the Middle East, Asia, and Australia, while the Western markets include North America, South America, the United Kingdom, and Europe.

Boeing has cut over two thousand employees in the state of Washington, according to a recent notice that the company filed with the Washington Employment Security Department. The company has also filed layoff notices in other states as it conducts significant layoffs around the country. Boeing has faced many regulatory issues in recent months and has suffered major financial losses, in part due to the two-month worker strike. Boeing is expected to lay off a total of 17,000 workers and will impact workers in all Boeing divisions: Defense, Commercial Airplanes, and Global Services. The company stated that the layoffs were not conducted in response to the strike action, but rather due to overstaffing.

Three different teachers unions in Massachusetts took strike actions starting last week, and union members rallied at the Massachusetts State House to demand for state mediation in contract negotiations. The Beverly Teachers Association, the Marblehead Education Association, and the Union of Gloucester Educators represent educators in three school districts in Massachusetts’ North Shore region. Teachers are asking the governor to advocate for greater public school funding and to fix issues in the negotiation process with the school districts. The unions are seeking more paid parental leave, greater respect in the workplace, and increased wages for paraprofessionals. Under Massachusetts state law, it is illegal for teachers to take strike action, and the unions have incurred significant fines, but have stated that they will continue to strike until an agreement is reached.

The state of Pennsylvania has given the Governor’s Award for Safety Excellence to two companies: Chapman Corp. and the Gettysburg Foundation. The award is given to companies with exceptional workplace safety programs and was created to encourage companies to share successful workplace safety practices with other companies and develop even better safety standards. Chapman Corp. is an electrical, mechanical, and civil construction services company that also provides pipe and metal fabrication services, and employs over six hundred workers in the state. Some of the safety practices that Chapman Corp. uses include a virtual 3D lift plan that simulates crane lifts before being implemented, a program to fight compliance that typically occurs near the end of projects, and comprehensive practices that are implemented at all worksites.

Postal workers in Canada went on strike starting Friday last week, after the Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers failed to reach a tentative contract agreement. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers represents 55,000 employees, and the strike action is having major impacts on deliveries throughout the country. Workers are demanding higher wages, better working conditions, and improved safety standards, and the two parties have been negotiating for over a year without success. The Canada Post issued a lockout notice to employees in response to the strike action but stated that it would not actually block employees from working The Canadian government appointed the director general of Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services to mediate contract negotiations.

Hospital porters at the University Hospital Southampton located in Southern England have voted to authorize strike action, claiming that hospital managers have imposed restrictive rules that have negatively affected hospital employees. Porters have stated that the hospital now requires porters to ask for permission to go to the bathroom, and female porters need to request extra time if they are menstruating. The hospital has also allegedly removed chairs to prevent porters from taking breaks during their shifts. The porters are represented by the UNITE union and have planned to strike for 24 hours starting on November 28th. Strike action is set to continue in December and January, and porters will picket in front of the hospital every Monday and Friday during these two months. Hospital management released a statement saying that porters are provided three official breaks during their shifts, and no employees are required to report menstruation.

PacifiCorp, an electric utility company headquartered in Portland, Oregon, has informed employees that they will be required to return to office full-time. Currently, PacifiCorp employees are given the option to work remotely full-time, but beginning on January 6, it will be mandatory for workers to be in office. The company’s CEO stated that in-person work allows employees to support and learn from each other, and allows for more effective collaboration and communication. The CEO also announced that various employees would be receiving wage increases to stay competitive with other companies in the industry. The raises are separate from salary increases that come from end-of-year annual reviews. Various employees have expressed opposition to returning in person full time, stating that they have family responsibilities and children to take care of, and they need the flexibility of a hybrid working schedule.

A Wall Street Journal reporter stated that she was wrongly terminated because she joined a trade union. Her manager, a senior editor at WSJ, told her that she was being laid off due to restructuring efforts, but the reporter states that the layoff is connected to her involvement in the Hong Kong Journalists Association. The association advocates for freedom of press for journalists in Hong Kong, and the reporter was running for chairperson, and her supervisor requested that she drop out of the election. Press freedom is facing growing restrictions in Hong Kong due to laws and regulations from the Chinese government. The reporter has engaged in mediation with the Wall Street Journal regarding her layoff but did not receive her job back, and has now filed a case with Hong Kong’s Labor Tribunal.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has announced layoffs that will cut one thousand jobs, reducing the company’s workforce by four percent. The company stated it is making various changes to be better positioned to compete in the artificial computer chip market. The Artificial intelligence computer chip market is currently led by Nvidia, and Nvidia shares have increased by 200% in the past year, making it the world’s highest-valued publicly traded company. In contrast, AMD shares went down by five percent in 2024. Alongside producing artificial intelligence computer chips, AMD manufactures graphics processing units used in video games, AI accelerators for data centers, laptops, desktops, and servers.