Duvall: Biggest problem facing agriculture is lack of labor
Congress must reform the guestworker program to ensure there are enough workers on the farm to produce America's food, said the president of the largest U.S. farm group on Sunday. (No paywall)
Paid sick leave an issue as rail shutdown bill advances to Senate
President Biden urged the Senate to vote by the end of the week to avert a nationwide rail freight shutdown that would wound the U.S. economy. On a bipartisan roll call, the House passed legislation on Wednesday to impose a contract on railroad labor unions. The so-called tentative agreement was reached in negotiations aided by the administration.
California farmworker bill will reduce intimidation during union elections, says union official
In a remarkable reversal, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Wednesday that will make it easier for farmworkers to vote in union elections, after indicating that he would veto the bill only weeks before. The governor changed course after facing mounting pressure from union leaders, workers, and political allies, including President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (No paywall)
Starbucks workers’ unionization drive spreads in company’s hometown
As waves of Starbucks employees strike and organize across the country, baristas are bringing the fight to the company’s hometown. On Monday, Seattle’s Starbucks Reserve Roastery filed for a union election, joining dozens of Starbucks locations that plan to unionize. Starbucks’ corporate headquarters is just a few miles away.
Scholar describes how high-end restaurants are riven with race and class divisions
When Eli Revelle Yano Wilson applied for a job as a server at a white-tablecloth restaurant in Los Angeles, management had plenty of questions for him. “Name three brands of IPA,” he remembers them asking. “How would you explain béarnaise sauce to a customer?” At a webinar hosted Wednesday by the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor & Employment, Wilson, now a sociology professor, confessed to the audience, “I still don’t really understand what béarnaise sauce is.“
Strike continues as Deere workers consider new offer
Deere and the United Auto Workers agreed over the weekend on a proposed six-year contract covering 10,000 union workers at the world's largest farm equipment manufacturer. The UAW said its members would remain on strike during consideration of the agreement.
With UAW on strike, Deere says, ‘We’ll keep running’
The world's largest farm equipment maker, Deere and Co., said managers and other salaried employees would keep its factories operating in the face of a strike by 10,000 union workers. "We'll keep running," the company said on Thursday.
As the pandemic exposes low wages and unsafe conditions at food-distribution centers, workers are striking
On January 23, after a tense, week-long strike led by Teamsters Local 202, 1,400 employees of New York City’s Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market—the world’s largest wholesale produce market—reached an agreement with management that includes the biggest raise Local 202 has ever won through bargaining. The victory was the latest in a series of actions by the Teamsters, as the pandemic has ignited long-simmering labor disputes at food-distribution centers across the country.(No paywall)
Farmworkers win rate hike from Driscoll’s supplier after walkout, petition
Farmworkers at a supplier for Driscoll’s, the largest berry distributor in the world, won a raise earlier this month — as well as some Covid-19 safety measures — following a series of actions demanding better pay and working conditions.(No paywall)
Meat plants should slow the line, separate workers, say unions
The government should order meatpackers to slow the work pace at typically crowded processing plants and separate workers to reduce the risk of coronavirus outbreaks, said two labor unions on Wednesday. During a House hearing, the president of one of the unions said that "some responsible employers, like Cargill and Safeway, have done what is right," while companies such as Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger have not. (No paywall)
Prospects dim for USMCA this year, says CoBank
U.S. farmers are harvesting crops for the second year in a row under the shadow of hefty tariffs, says agricultural lender CoBank, pointing to uncertainty over trade policy, late-maturing crops and African swine fever. “It is also increasingly unlikely that the United States-Mexico-Canada …