I became a labor historian in the spring of 2014. This was unexpected. I was already in the third year of a doctoral program in the history department at Columbia University, studying war and memory in United States political culture. For PhD programs, the end of the third year is a little late in the day to switch topics, let alone sub-disciplines.
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By William A. Herbert, Jacob Apkarian and Joseph van der Naald*
As this report documents, the recent uptick in union organizing has not been large enough to reverse the long-term decline in union density, yet the labor movement revitalization of the post-pandemic period is nevertheless an important development.
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Since winning two NLRB elections at Buffalo stores last December, the remarkable Starbucks Workers United union campaign has now spread to well over 100 stores in over 26 states. In response, Starbucks management has bombarded baristas with anti-union text messages, forced them to attend “captive audience meetings,” threatened to close unionized stores and tried to drive out activists at unionized stores in Buffalo, New York, attempted to pack bargaining units with newly-hired employees and limited their contact with pro-union workers, and allegedly fired union several union activists at stores in Memphis and elsewhere.
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