American corporations often fiercely resist union efforts. A 2019 report by theestimated that US companies spend nearly $340 million a year on"union avoidance" consultants, and illegal firings are alleged to happen in up to 30% of union-election campaigns.
during campaigning. The Amazon representative said the company has filed evidence that the ALU"improperly suppressed and influenced the vote." He got a job at the store in his hometown of Christiansburg, Virginia, in 2017 with the goal of forcing the manager out. Four months later, he organized a strike that he says triggered an internal investigation into the claims. The accused manager was later fired.
Things were tense between Ryan and his family from his teenage years into his 20s. But his involvement in unions has helped them reconnect. He is pushing for benefits like hazard pay for workers who get sick with COVID-19 and seniority pay to reward long-term employees. She told Insider she took one meeting while sitting on the diving board of her backyard pool last year so she could keep an eye on her child who was swimming.
She leads unionizing efforts at the Missouri headquarters and says remote communication during the pandemic helped workers start a union drive across Wells Fargo's US offices, though her group hasn't decided whether to be part of the wider campaign or to form an independent union. McCool told Insider she was referred to as a"diversity hire" by a human-resources officer in an initial interview. She describes herself as having Hispanic, Jewish, and Middle Eastern heritage.
"My mother was always like: 'You stand up for what's right — it doesn't matter whether you're popular,'" she said.Simon Simard for Insider"I know what it's like to be trapped at a job," said Jamie Edwards, who worked strenuous hours with long commutes across five other retail jobs before joining a Trader Joe's store in Hadley, Massachusetts.