Hi – it’s Jack from Civic Action reaching out with an update on some big news that I wanted to make sure you heard: Workers at Starbucks and Amazon are fighting to unionize – and they’re winning. 

Last year, a Starbucks location in New York voted to unionize, and more than 70 locations have followed since then. Now, over 250 locations are expected to vote in the months ahead. Despite attempts at union-busting from the corporation, only NINE locations have voted against unionizing so far.

Over at Amazon, workers are getting the ball rolling on a similar union effort. Even though Amazon has done everything in its power to crush collective labor movements, Amazon workers at a Staten Island warehouse successfully voted to unionize – the first U.S. Amazon location to do so.

It’s not just employees at Starbucks and Amazon who are standing up to exploitative employers. Workers at companies as wide-ranging as Verizon retail stores, Amy's Kitchen organic food factories, and Apple Stores are now trying to form a union. Plus, employees at Kellogg’s, Nabisco, John Deere, Frito-Lay, and Kaiser Permanente have all gone on strikes over the last year, fighting for, and often securing, better working conditions and benefits. All this has happened while the rate of American workers quitting their jobs reached a 20-year high last November.

Of course, these workers have a right to be fed up: Decades of trickle-down policies – created under the false premise that cutting taxes and regulations for the rich and corporations helps our economy – have led to lower pay, worse hours, and a weaker middle class. In fact, from 1975 to 2018, the wealthiest 1% of all Americans have taken $50 TRILLION from the paychecks of the bottom 90%.

That’s why Civic Action is dedicated to building our economy from the middle out so that our economy works for everyone, not just the super-rich. As we cheer on unionizing efforts at Amazon and Starbucks, we’re also advocating for policies that would support workers – like raising the minimum wage, restoring overtime pay, banning noncompete agreements, and outlawing union-busting.

Across the country, workers are building an unprecedented grassroots movement to shift power from employers to employees. While we’ve made some great progress, there’s still a long way to go – and we’re ready to work. 

Thanks for being part of this team,

Jack Sorensen
Civic Action