How US corporations try to stop a resurgence of labor unions | Business Beyond

Are we seeing the US labor rights movement’s David and Goliath moment? A rising wave of social inequality, brought into stark relief by crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, has pushed workers for megacorporations around the world to campaign for more rights. We look at how the global labor landscape is changing, especially in the United States, as more workers move to unionize.
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#LaborUnions #LaborMovement #Unionizing

[@asleg2013]

Workers of the world, unite!

[@sockhal4595]

It’s always funny when americans mistake their country for the world. Unions have existed for long in Europe, and I remember americans making jokes about it such as we are a bunch of communists. Nah we just want to live like decent people, not like beasts hindered under the workload.

[@anthonyintawiwat3215]

unions, a long over due antidote to the "toxic" capitalism of profit over people? The direction is encouraging.

[@donaldmccallum8453]

Maybe to Communists!

[@annehersey9895]

This is wonderful! I am a proud retired worker who was able to retire well by belonging to a union. I didn't retire rich by any means but I get along without worrying about being homeless! This is such great news after years and years of union bashing by Republicans. I got tired of being called lazy and being told that the US had no place for Unions. The decline in unions corresponded with the decline of the once strong and thriving middle class! Politicians used to work very hard to get union votes and union membership was VERY powerful and the middle class needs to have that power again! UNIONIZE!

[@ToyotaGuy1971]

We've always had the power; its just time to pull it out again and do some "reorganizing" of this despotism....

[@kenmken]

So Genaira used her decade long experience of being an insider to unions as an asset to later fight against them? And what was up with her pointless statement about millenials being ambitious and that somehow being disadvantageous to unionization efforts? The dishonestly is oozing out of her

[@methos4866]

Yeah and she also comes off as super haughty. Like yeah we get it lady you sold out for money.

[@FourDollaRacing]

@@methos4866 Yes, another creepy lawyer...

[@rcwlson1]

That lawyer for employers was such a waste of space. Why did yall even bother interviewing her? Her response was vapid, pointless, and straight up toeing the line. What a despicable human being.

[@xiaomiredmi1410]

In the Czech Republic it is virtually impossible for an employer to prevent unionisation of its employees or fire them for doing so. It is a common practice among all bigger employers to negotiate wage growth and work conditions with unions annually.

[@maxheadrom3088]

The US is a very peculiar place!

[@donaldmccallum8453]

@@maxheadrom3088 That's right. We believe in personal freedom and self responsibility. Most of us, that is.

[@zakmatew]

@@donaldmccallum8453the freedom to not have freedom.

[@wilobrien9731]

@@donaldmccallum8453 Will "personal freedom and self responsibility" pay medical bills and hospitalization if God forbid you or a member or your family gets sick or injured?

[@annehersey9895]

It’s the same in the US. But Employers will fight it all they can. The good employers prevent unionization by giving decent raises, benefits, working conditions etc so the employees don’t feel the need to unionize. Then there’s the companies that are bad actors and practically drive employees to unionize.

[@coaldoubt2879]

Corporations are scared. That's how you know it's the right thing to do.

[@donaldmccallum8453]

Dream on!

[@coaldoubt2879]

@@donaldmccallum8453 it'll happen eventually. Capitalism is unsustainable.

[@romanturchmanovych4638]

8:23 never give up never surrender. They have shortage of workers and billions of dollars. They can afford it and should.

[@maxheadrom3088]

Unions were strong in the US since the late 1800s and the explosion in the 1930s was during the height of the Great Depression. President Roosevelt pushed legislation through Congress because he was affraid wages would fall so much because of excess labor force at the time. The decline of unions in the US started in a more sharper fashion during the late 1970s and early 1980s. That was the result of Globalization that flipped the balance in favor of corporations. Important to notice, though, the 1970's stagflation was caused by the mix of full employment and energy crisis. Globalization is not, in itself, a bad idea and it had very positive impacts around the world but developed nations workers were handed a very bad hand - ironically by their own domestic political forces. The best thing the US has is its people and the resurgence of Unions over there might save the world economy.

[@papasmurf1904]

As a longhaul truck driver (non union) I applaud the railroad workers recent agreement.....I strongly support unions because 20 years ago before I started driving truck, I spent 17 years working in a factory under the United Paperworkers Union umbrella......and, I will ALWAYS be pro union!!! ALWAYS!!!

[@jcortese3300]

Same here. My brother was a union worker, and when he came down with colon cancer, the anguish it saved him and his family was beyond reckoning because whenever he got a bill from the hospital, he just handed it to his union rep and it was dealt with. Who has the time and energy to spare wrangling paperwork when they have freakin CANCER?!

[@papasmurf1904]

@Apsoy Pike Everyone is indeed entitled to their own beliefs and opinions. I have sooo much positive things I can say about my personal experience and that of my late Father who was a teamster and drove truck all his life. As with anything, and I mean anything, there can be bad apples that rub off bad experiences on people. I wish you well. Thanks for your comment.

[@lousheehan9825]

Go Unions Go!!!!

[@erikalesi7603]

It won’t push lawmakers to act. 99% of them support Capitalism and the top-down, traditional workplace. Basically Bernie Sanders and AOC are the only two that truly support the working class. Everyone else in the House and Senate, Repub or Dem, wants status quo.

[@reedraikes7471]

At least Biden has been the best union president in decades, not a very high bar. But he put Bernie in charge of the nlrb

[@maestoso47]

It’s a start. Hopefully it will spread and be equivalent to the 20th century labor changes.

[@Marco-zt6fz]

The reason why the workers organized to Union is, they are afraid that the workers fighting for they;re rights and fair payment, also for a better work life balance. When the companies in the US treat the employee better, they dont have to be worry about Union's. For exemple 4 weeks full payment vacation also fully payed Holidays. As well by sickness the employee cant get fired. The job is secure for the worker when he comes back to work. As well the time when he was sick, the worker is fully paid. Thats is normal thing in European countries.

[@donaldmccallum8453]

In the US, most workers joined unions because they were forced to. No union card no work. Not fair.

[@methos4866]

That Genaira lady sold out.

[@agarwalamit081]

Excellent news reporter.

[@awesomedude4428]

It's about time! GO MY American WORKERS!!

[@donaldmccallum8453]

Again yeah! GO, go to work and apply yourself with diligence. There is no free lunch!

[@himachalimunda1356]

Nice video

[@ToyotaGuy1971]

Whatever they try; it wont work. They built their castles in the sand. They'll reap what they sow. Glory to God. 🙏

[@danielr5185]

Go US workers!! ✊🏽

[@mukalytic384]

Well... It's about damn time!

[@donaldmccallum8453]

What is????

[@bicelisGeopolitics]

check Spain... in particular Canary Islands please!

[@rustyspottedcat8885]

So ... K.M. ... was right.

[@natasham1684]

Yay!

[@dennisaur66]

What about the corruption of the gig workers. There is no minimum wage for them.

[@donnacabot3550]

Union reps and their pocket buddies can be on the take too. CPRAIL Union in Calgary Alberta is full of that.

[@ElectricBuckeye]

Major companies can affoed to lose. Those who complain are worried about dividends. If you invest, id suggest moving into index funds.

[@ToyotaGuy1971]

lol

[@bigdaddyrat7854]

If the employer wasn't a greedy jackass, the employees would'nt need to unionize.

[@donaldmccallum8453]

If it weren't for all the greedy "jackasses" you wouldn't benefit from unionizing since there wouldn't be any jobs to squabble over. If you really like socialism I would like to suggest you move to Venezuela or Cuba or North Korea. But keep your head down and your mouth shut or you'll end up as compost before the echoes of your lame protests return to haunt you!

[@raymondmelly1951]

But how else can we make the wagies more complacent? Time for an anti union law *for the most productive tax payers

[@raymondmelly1951]

Idk if this one is a joke lmfao

[@raymondmelly1951]

Tear each other apart to refactor I think that one works well

[@freyjasvansdottir9904]

How is collective bargaining making workers more complacent? Workers who are unionised earn more than non union workers and hence pay more in taxes.

[@tuathaukui8565]

US force labours begin protest

[@russchamberlain8755]

This is why we humans should not really on a corporation. To provide all of our living requirements. The job is for extra vs 90% of the total wage just returned to that corporation.

[@donaldmccallum8453]

????? Post makes no sense.

[@dreeph]

Sumi is so hot.

[@omegaman4153]

Unions demand a "Living Wage." Exactly what is a "Living Wage?" You can't negotiate like that, you need to establish a figure. If a worker feels they should get more, then they should go out and find a job that pays more.

[@belmont8792]

DW in Dixie land.

[@vadneysean72]

I liked working non union, I made twice as much called prevailing wage. $28 USD in 1994. These micro unions won't work because Starbucks gives better pay to non union employees if they remain company employees. They just gave them raises and union has a contract. Anyone can do the job of an Amazon worker, unions are for trades

[@nolonger9112]

Wonder how it will be if companies decide replace all worker with robots. So union of worker will become union of unemployees?

[@strpe9701]

Bro at that point there’d be no point in having a job or having a monetary based based economy. If robots do everything for free then everything should be free

[@ianhomerpura8937]

Japan only resorted to full automation with robots when the population started to decline. Unionization was strong in Japan as well until the 1980s.

[@bookertee3057]

Increasing inflation. Raise in wages mean increase production from the union workers?

[@bps7209]

Unions were good until they weren’t good. In the late 70’s Companies decided there was nothing left to do but to leave.

[@JerzyFeliksKlein]

No they didn't. They moved simply because they could produce stuff cheaper in China. And no, not because of the labour laws but because the GDP per capita in China was $100.

[@bps7209]

@@JerzyFeliksKlein wrong China wasn’t even in the picture then.

[@JerzyFeliksKlein]

@@bps7209 It started picking up in the late 70's but it was mostly the 80's - Reagan, Thatcher and the Milton Freedman neo-liberalism.

[@bps7209]

@@JerzyFeliksKlein Well you’re probably not adding in inflationary pressures. Remember when Reagan became president inflation was already over 7%. As we should know when genie’s are difficult to put back in the bottle once they’ve been released. That was a real nasty one too. Just here in the Midwest most factories in my area had shut down or in the transition of moving their plants to Mexico or more friendly states. In the mid 70’s rarely did anyone go outside of our small community, by 1980 there were vacant store fronts. The bigger players could survive for sometime. Remember GE a monster to turn around. Well the US manufacturing was bigger and took time before many were to file bankruptcy. Take GM, they were a bubble just waiting to implode upon itself. By the time the financial crisis came along they were already doomed. They tried to buyout employees, but it was too late as the legacy cost alone was more than the company was worth. I knew because I owned GM stock and lucky enough when it surged higher to sell it. By the 2,000 the auto maker’s were already in trouble. Because when the good times of the 90’s the legacy costs were excessive from giving into the Unions. They were still surviving, but poor workmanship and cheap materials were showing and became too much by 2009 as sales declined dramatically. They are becoming the disaster that broke them now and we will see it all again. We seem to forget when times are good. Well here we are once again. It’s early though.

[@gtalover139]

Yeah and things have sure gotten better for us since haven't they? Union busting is never the answer

[@iceman4660]

What has the union ever done for me? The success of a union depends on what purpose it serves. From personal experience things are ok when they limit themselves to the well being of the employee. Things go awry when they directly involve themselves in politics. The issue of pay can always be side-stepped by employing employees, whether offshore or even automation, to do the jobs. Most of the issues would be resolved if the employment roles are sorted out. I haven't been in a union for over 30 years and i think i have been better off for that. In my experience most union involvement resulted in dead weight remaining staff because they were strike even though the dismissal was valid and justified

[@ToyotaGuy1971]

Bla bla bla; not going to work

[@magnasquids7864]

Most of those hungry people don't work. It's not because they're not unionized.

[@alexcipriani6003]

as someone that just joined KZbin a few month ago we can just assume you are a boot therefore disregard your opinion

[@magnasquids7864]

@@alexcipriani6003 You're saying that those hungry people are hungry because they're not unionized? I'm not against unions, but there will be more unemployed people with unions.

[@salsa564]

@@magnasquids7864 Where is the empirical economic evidence that shows what you’re talking about?

[@magnasquids7864]

@@salsa564 The obesity epidemic in areas with the most government assistance. Again, I'm not against unions. Just pointing out that I've never met a person in the US who worked and was hungry. We have millions of illegal immigrants. Are they coming here to starve?

[@salsa564]

@@magnasquids7864 just because you’ve never met anyone who worked and was hungry doesn’t mean it’s not happening

[@ofb7212]

Join a union if you wish. Just don't require employees who do not want to join to participate. Unions can be brutal to employees who are not interested in being in a union. They protect less productive workers and disicentivise workers to be more productive. If you do not like your job look for better job. Companies will change their working conditions if they can't find good workers to take the job.

[@FourDollaRacing]

No, contrary to your belief... utopia does not exist. Unions negotiate so employees aren't required to. The legal term for your ideology is "Right to Work" and many so-called Right to Work States are leading the efforts to Unionize!

[@kenmken]

okay corporate bootlicker

[@donaldmccallum8453]

@@Essentially_Nobody I might give a shot to answering your rant if and when you cite your sources in support of it. The ultimate "labor union" , the USSR, collapsed because of its abysmal employee productivity. That is, you can't be fired for your non-performance, so since you get paid the same regardless of your low productivity, what's the point of working hard? Once East and West Germany were reunited in the 1980's. East German factory workers were distressed to find out their new bosses actually were expecting them to work hard. Jobs were in short supply and workers were not, so if you wanted to eat you worked hard. The same is true today here in the good ole USA, so if you wish to prosper, get up off your couch and go work HARD somewhere. And don't come whining around me if your woke degree doesn't qualify you for a decent job. 'Nuff said

[@donaldmccallum8453]

@@Essentially_Nobody Did you mean vague generalities? Or quarrels? I can and do equate Unions with Communism and Socialism. I am a free man so I can if I want to. But Unions, Communism, and Socialism all work to enslave the worker class and enrich the "leader" class. Nearly classic feudalism.. If I was cherry picking I would have provided citations. That whole paragraph is a "word salad" that is all but incomprehensible. It would be difficult to find a whole country to classify as hard working after decades of socialistic infiltration of the west by the commies. So many people now feel entitled to the fruits of the labor of others. 4 day work weeks are for people without any backbone. If the idea is to spread a limited amount of jobs among an ever increasing class of lazy people then the idea is bound to founder. If the idea is to give the "workers" more free time with which to enrich their lives, then it will also founder because enriching their lives is hard work which few choose to do of their own volition. The only way to restore sense to the economics of people is to purge the socialists from our midst and let people return to the work ethic that those who won't work, they shall not eat. (2 Thessalonians 3). Yeah that's right, it is from the Bible and never more apropos than today.

[@Gserrano27]

Union strong 💪💪 TRUMP 2024

[@thepeff]

Either way you’re voting wrong.

[@Gserrano27]

@@thepeff it was a joke 🤣 Idk how you can be pro union and vote for trump