Union Doings: With Trump on horizon, Atlanta Starbucks and Amazon workers keep battling for union contracts, better workplaces

As President-elect Donald Trump releases his cabinet appointments and first 100 days goals, some surprising picks have labor rights watchers reading the tea leaves for a labor foothold in his administration. 

Labor organizers and working-class people alike are watching to see how the new Trump administration will impact national unionizing campaigns – like that of Starbucks Worker’s United (SBWU), which just marked its three-year anniversary. 

On a local level, labor rights organizers are continuing to apply pressure on Starbucks, Amazon and other big national employers for union contracts and better working conditions as the year draws to a close. Union elections typically slow down around this time, but some smaller elections are still taking place, setting the stage for contract bargaining in the new year. 

Here’s Atlanta Civic Circle’s fall roundup of local labor actions and news.

Starbucks Workers United secures an Atlanta win and loss 

Three years into a hard-fought union organizing campaign, Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) just won a unanimous union election for a Starbucks in Roswell after badly losing one for a Dunwoody store. But the national union is still battling with Starbucks for its first contract. 

This week, SBWU marked the third anniversary of unionizing its first Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York on Dec. 9, 2021. Since then, the union has organized over 500 stores across the country. 

That includes the Coleman Village store in Roswell. On Dec. 2 it became the 11th unionized Starbucks store in Georgia. All 14 participating baristas and shift-supervisors at the 930 Marietta Highway location voted to join SBWU. However, that followed a loss in Dunwoody. On Nov. 13, three-quarters of the workers at the 4441 Ashford Dunwoody Road store voted against unionizing. Out of 24 votes, only six were in favor of unionization.

But so far, none of the unionized Starbucks stores have won a contract. One reason is that Starbucks has insisted on negotiating contracts store by store, instead of collectively, for all SBWU member stores. Starbucks and SBWU agreed to a new collective bargaining framework for contract negotiations in February – but this week is slated to be the final one for bargaining under this framework.

Meanwhile, Starbucks just switched out its top leader. Starbucks removed CEO Laxman Narasimhan after just one year in charge and replaced him on Sept. 9 with Brian Niccol, the former CEO and chair of Chipotle. It was under Narasimhan’s tenure that SBWU and Starbucks announced their intention to “find a way forward” and create a solid framework for collective bargaining. 

SBWU delivered a letter on Sept. 23 to Niccol, the new Starbucks CEO, urging him to continue the progress that had been made since February in settling litigation between the unionized stores and Starbucks and continuing to negotiate in good faith. 

East Point Amazon workers win unfair labor practice charge over right to organize

Amazon has agreed to settle an unfair labor practice charge filed by two workers who are lead organizers for United4Respect at its ATL6 Sortation Center Warehouse in East Point. The settlement requires that ATL6 management post notices throughout the warehouse affirming workers’ right to engage in organizing activities. 

The unfair labor practice charge dates back to 2023 when the Amazon employees, Ron Sewell and Nancy Regimbal, were disciplined for meeting in a nearby parking lot to discuss unsafe working conditions. Both are affiliated with United4Respect, which helps working class people organize their workplaces. 

The workers alleged that Amazon management reprimanded them and officially wrote them up for being in the parking lot in the complaint they filed with the National Labor Relations Board,

“We stood up because we believe every worker deserves a safe and fair workplace, and we won’t be silenced for speaking out,” said Regimbal and Sewell in a joint statement. “This settlement is a step toward holding Amazon accountable, but it’s also a reminder of how hard workers must fight to protect their rights.” 

Last July, about two dozen Amazon ATL6 workers and pro-union activists picketed the facility, located at 4200 North Commerce Drive, over a lack of parking-lot security and other dangerous working conditions. The ATL6 workers highlighted the demand letter they’d delivered to Amazon management for improved conditions, ranging from predictable scheduling to floor mats for workers who are on their feet for an entire shift.

Activists from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Union of Southern Service Workers, the Democratic Socialists of America, and United 4 Respect helped to organize the rally for safer working conditions. The Amazon ATL6 workers have been organizing for better pay and working conditions since 2022.

What does Trump’s union-friendly pick for Labor Secretary signal amid shifting labor tides?

On the labor rights front, the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates didn’t necessarily line up along typical ideological lines. President-elect Trump received a significant boost from labor when Teamsters President Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention. 

On the other side, Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off her campaign touting her role as Veep in what President Joe Biden’s supporters have frequently called the most pro-labor presidential administration since the FDR administration. However, as her campaign continued, many pro-labor figures, including Bernie Sanders, charged that she abandoned the working class in her policy messaging, which hurt her on Election Day.

Trump is possibly signaling a more labor-friendly second term by tapping U.S. Rep Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Oregon) for Secretary of Labor. DeRemer, who narrowly lost her reelection bid, is one of only three Republican sponsors of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which has been endorsed by Biden. Labor unions strongly backed the PRO Act but business groups opposed it.

O’Brien, the Teamsters head honcho, endorsed the Republican Congressmember for the job, showing that the Teamsters have Trump’s ear, at least to some extent. She’s also won significant support from other unions, including the AFL-CIO, which said in a statement that Chavez-DeRemer “has built a pro-labor record in Congress.”  

But the AFL-CIO cautioned that “it remains to be seen what she will be permitted to do as Secretary of Labor in an administration with a dramatically anti-worker agenda.” 

The 12.5-million member union federation noted that Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025, but has also tapped other cabinet nominees with strong ties to the Heritage Foundation plan – which includes proposals to eliminate the right to organize, strip overtime pay, and weaken health and safety standards. “You can stand with working people, or you can stand with Project 2025, but you can’t stand with both,” the AFL-CIO statement concluded. 

Georgia gets a new NLRB regional director

In the waning days of the Biden administration, the NLRB has appointed labor lawyer Matthew Turner as director of the federal agency’s Region 10, which covers seven Southeastern states, including Georgia. A career NLRB lawyer, Turner has served as supervisory field attorney at the Region 10 headquarters in Atlanta since 2019. 

“Matthew is a talented labor lawyer who has dedicated his career to protecting workers’ rights to act collectively to improve their wages and working conditions,” said NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo in a statement. 

Turner was named to the post on Nov. 5. As a regional director, he’s responsible for critical duties of the NLRB, which oversees union elections and decides unfair labor practice claims filed by employees and employers. Those include conducting elections, investigating unfair labor practice charges, and litigating cases.

Upcoming union elections 

Workers at BFI Waste Services and ASJ-IT have upcoming union elections to look forward to during the holiday season and the new year. 

BFI Waste Services, a waste collection company located in Calhoun, has 39 employees eligible to vote on joining Teamsters Local 728. The election will take place by mail through December, and votes will be tallied Dec. 31.

Next up will be ASJ-IT, an information technology and logistics company, located in Augusta. There are 10 ASJ-IT employees eligible to vote on joining the IUE-Communications Workers of American. The union election will take place in the second week of January.