This story caught my eye on Twitter. Burger King employees in New Zealand allege they have been bullied into leaving, or not joining, a union:
In documents released by Unite, Burger King managers were congratulated for reducing union membership.
Some workers claim they have come under pressure in various ways to resign union membership, including one employee who was told they would not be promoted if they were associated with the union.
Meanwhile in the UK Carillion is continuing to come under pressure due to allegations that it has blacklisted unionised workers.
Scholars have condemned a crackdown in Guangong against grass-roots labour NGOs. These groups advocate for workers and try and educate them about their rights, and have been subjected to harassment and surveillance by the authorities.
Here Reuben writes about a victory won by striking cleaners at John Lewis, and notes that the police had to explain to John Lewis staff that it wasn’t within their remit to stop activists handing out leaflets outside the store. The threat of compulsory redundancies has been withdrawn, and the workers have been given a 10% pay rise, backdated to March.
Finally, a story about how Cathy Youngblood stood up to Hyatt:
One day in March 2011 at the Andaz West Hollywood, workers were ordered to clean 15 rooms a day, two more than previously. But they wouldn’t take it.
“We protested, we voiced our opinions, we marched up to the general manager’s office single file to show solidarity,” Youngblood says. “One of the people from HR came out and said if we didn’t go back to work and do what we were told we might face severe discipline, including termination. We didn’t like that, but we went back to work that day because we didn’t want to be fired.”
Following a complaint to the National Labour Relations Board, the workers won their case, securing a 13 room cap and other protections.
Although wealth inequality is on the rise, fear of unemployment is likely to make workers less assertive, and accept unfair practices. Reuben, in his post about John Lewis, quotes an activist pointing out, correctly, that “In an age of austerity this [victory] is no small achievement”.
