2022 Labor round-up

2022 saw a surge in strikes, with 374 strikes starting in 2022, an increase of 39 percent, and the NLRB reported an uptick in union election petitions of 53 percent in Fiscal Year 2022.

Approval of unions is at the highest point since 1965, according to a 2022 Gallup poll, with 71 percent of Americans approving of labor unions.

In January 2022, over 8,000 Kroger workers in Colorado went on strike as the grocery chain saw record profits during the pandemic.

‘We have people living out of their cars’: 8,000 Kroger workers strike over wages | US news | The Guardian

Among the biggest stories of the labor movement this year is the explosion of union organizing at Starbucks in the face of aggressive opposition by the company, of which billionaire Howard Schultz returned as CEO as the number of Starbucks stores winning union elections boomed from a single store in Buffalo, NY in December 2021 to over 270 stores by the end of 2022. During that time, Starbucks Workers United have filed numerous unfair labor practice charges against Starbucks as the company has been dragging out bargaining a first union contract with workers.

Starbucks Workers United on Twitter: "The National Labor Relations Board has now issued 50 complaints against @Starbucks, encompassing over 1,000 violations of federal labor law by the company." / Twitter

Starbucks workers have held numerous major strikes throughout 2022 over unfair firings, cuts to hours, dragged out bargaining, store closures, and safety issues.

Working conditions deteriorated at Starbucks during the pandemic as workers started organizing the first Starbucks union at a corporate run store in 2021

‘Coffee-making robots’: Starbucks staff face intense work and customer abuse | Starbucks | The Guardian

Starbucks workers in New York are organizing to form first US union | US unions | The Guardian

Starbucks launches aggressive anti-union effort as upstate New York stores organize | Starbucks | The Guardian

‘This is a national movement’: union drives surge at US Starbucks stores | Starbucks | The Guardian

Union drive at Manhattan roastery shows spirit of Starbucks workers | Starbucks | The Guardian

Revealed: Starbucks fired over 20 US union leaders in recent months | Starbucks | The Guardian

A New York Starbucks abruptly closed – was it retaliation for a union drive? | Starbucks | The Guardian

‘They don’t care about us’: US Starbucks workers allege they were fired for union ...