|
John,
As workers organize across the country for fair pay, benefits, and scheduling, greedy corporations are fighting back―union busting while simultaneously putting the profits of their wealthy investors and CEOs ahead of working people.
Since December 2021, workers at 329 Starbucks stores in 39 states have voted to unionize.[1] How has Starbucks responded? Instead of coming to the table to negotiate a union contract with fair wages, benefits, and scheduling, Starbucks has engaged in a ruthless union-busting campaign.
At a recent Senate hearing with Howard Schultz (the now-retired Starbucks’ CEO), Senator Bernie Sanders said: Starbucks is waging "the most aggressive and illegal union busting campaign in modern history."[2]
As documented in an Americans for Tax Fairness report, Starbucks made $4.1 billion in profits in 2021 while Howard Schultz saw his fortune balloon by nearly $1 billion during the pandemic. Meanwhile, Starbucks union-busting tactics include illegally firing union organizers, intimidating workers, and essentially “bribing” employees not to join the union.[3]
We’ve been fighting back against corporate greed by advocating for a 15% corporate minimum tax, a windfall profits tax, a higher corporate tax rate, and more.
But how can we help workers fight back in the face of such reckless corporate greed? The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act!
The PRO Act, would:
-
Penalize employers that interfere with their employees’ organizing efforts;
-
Make explicitly clear that employers cannot interfere with employee unionization voting procedures;
-
Enhance support for worker strikes and boycotts;
-
Repeal so-called “right-to-work” laws, which were created during the Jim Crow era to divide Black and white workers.
Sign now to join tens of thousands of voters across the country in demanding Congress pass the PRO Act to strengthen workers’ rights and fight back against greedy, union-busting corporations.
It’s not just Starbucks that’s union busting. Amazon has illegally interfered in a union election and arranged for the illegal arrest of union organizers outside of an Amazon warehouse in New York.[4][5]
Amazon is cheating its workers and taxpayers alike. Over the last four years the behemoth made about $79 billion in profits and paid just $4 billion in taxes, for a measly 5% income tax rate.[6]
Add your name now demanding Congress pass the PRO Act to strengthen workers’ rights in the face of rampant union-busting and corporate greed.
Together, we’re fighting for an economy that works for working people, not just the wealthy and corporations.
David Kass
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
[1] “MAP: WHERE ARE STARBUCKS WORKERS UNIONIZING?,” More Perfect Union, June 22, 2023
[2] “Sanders Grills Howard Schultz Over Alleged Anti-Union Tactics,” CNN, March 29, 2023
[3] “Billion-Dollar Union Busters: How Starbucks & its rich CEO are stifling worker organizing,” Americans for Tax Fairness, Aug 31, 2022
[4] “Amazon faces a second union vote at an Alabama warehouse next month after the NLRB found the company interfered with the first election,” Business Insider, Jan. 11, 2022
[5] “Amazon accused of violating U.S. labor law after union supporters' arrests,” Reuters, Feb. 24, 2022
[6] “Amazon Avoids More Than $5 Billion in Corporate Income Taxes, Reports 6 Percent Tax Rate on $35 Billion of US Income,” Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Feb. 7, 2022
|
