Workers United News

Workers United – SEIU joins the global labor movement in strongly condemning the murder of Shahidul Islam, an organizer who was killed for standing up for the rights of garment workers in Bangladesh. Shahidul was a senior organizer with the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF) and President of BGIWF’s Gazipur district committee. Shahidul was beaten to death in retaliation for supporting workers at the Prince Jacquard Sweater Ltd. factory, where BGIWF had been organizing for the last few months. Workers United – SEIU expresses its deepest sympathies to the family of Shahidul Islam and to our sisters and brothers at BGIWF. We stand in solidarity with these courageous leaders fighting for respect and dignity at work.

The campaign to unionize Starbucks Corp. stores across the country has reached a new stage, with federal labor board prosecutors heading into hearings over accusations that the coffee chain violated labor law as workers at a growing number of locations have gone on strike.

The union backing organizing efforts at Starbucks is creating a $1 million fund to cover lost pay for baristas who go on strike, giving workers more firepower in their fight to unionize.

Employees at four Philadelphia Starbucks stores voted to unionize on Wednesday, joining dozens of others across the United States. At least 80 Starbucks stores have voted to form a union with Workers United and scores more have petitioned to unionize, said Alex Riccio, a staff organizer at the union who organized the Philly campaigns.

Our hearts ache for the mothers and fathers who lost their children, and the entire community of Uvalde, Texas who lost 19 children and two adults to a teenage murderer who had access to guns.

No company in America is busting unions as shamelessly as Starbucks is right now. President Joe Biden and his labor board could put a stop to it — if they choose to.