Are Unionization Efforts Picking Up at Tech Companies?

About two-thirds of Americans now say they support unions, reports CNBC, “the highest approval rating since 1965.” And suddenly in the last few months, “workers have been organizing at a pace this country hasn’t seen since the Great Depression.”
Amazon has captured headlines for union drives at its warehouses, including a successful effort on New York’s Staten Island. But activity is picking up elsewhere in retail and tech at big companies that are generally viewed as progressive, with no history of labor unions. As of Wednesday, 209 Starbucks stores have officially voted to unionize according to the National Labor Relations Board. First-ever unions have also formed at an Apple store in Maryland, a Google Fiber contractor, REI, Trader Joe’s, Kickstarter and Activision Blizzard….

The union movement at Apple stores is progressing at a slower pace. The first union win among Apple’s 270-plus U.S. stores happened on June 18, when workers in Towson, Maryland, voted 65 to 33 to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. No other stores have held a vote…. Three other stores have taken steps to unionize, although one in Atlanta withdrew its election petition in May. That same month, a memo was leaked showing Apple’s anti-union talking points, instructing store managers to tell workers they could lose benefits and career opportunities if they organized….

Communications Workers of America, which has about 700,000 members, helped organize the Atlanta Apple store, as well as workers at Google. In March, Google Fiber contractors in Kansas City held an NLRB election, becoming the first to officially unionize under what’s known as the Alphabet Workers Union. Nearly 1,000 other Google workers have also signed cards to join the AWU, but because the employees haven’t officially held an NLRB election, their group is known as a minority union. “There’s a lot of research that shows that most Americans want unions,” said Sara Steffens, secretary-treasurer of Communications Workers of America. “They just don’t want to go through this scary union-busting process….”

Google has also been accused of fighting back. The NLRB found that the company “arguably violated” labor law when it fired employees for speaking up. The Google Fiber contractors faced additional anti-union messaging in a letter from the contractor, which said “everyone will be stuck with the union and forced to pay dues.”
The article points out that union workers earn 16.6% more than nonunion workers on average — roughly $10,000 a year. “Workers are looking at how well their employers are performing and wondering why they’re not getting rewarded equally. For example, Google parent Alphabet recorded its fastest revenue growth rate since 2007 last year. Apple’s margin has been steadily rising and the company closed 2021 with its biggest quarter ever for sales, at almost $124 billion….

The article also notes that official figures from October 1, 2021 through June 30 showed a 58% increase in official attempts to unionize. “Whether the organizing momentum spreads more widely across the economy may depend on how vocal and successful workers are at Starbucks, Apple and elsewhere.”