Jonathan DickinsonJan 1, 2023
Robert Reich

The first unionized Amazon warehouse in the U.S.
The first unionized Chipotle in the U.S.
The first unionized Apple Store.
The first unionized Trader Joe's.
260+ unionized Starbucks stores.
370+ worker strikes across the country.

2022 was a monumental year for worker power.

Dec 31, 2022 at 6:05pmWeb
Show threadRobert AppelbaumDec 31, 2022
@rbreich
Show threadex or current IDF unwelcomeDec 31, 2022
@rbreich still got the Teamsters? Not a nice union I hear.
Show threadAlley StoughtonDec 31, 2022
@rbreich Boston University Graduate Students voted to unionize: https://www.bugradworkers.org
BU Grad Workers Union

BU Graduate workers are coming together to fight for livable, sustainable, and equitable conditions at BU across all departments and programs.

BU Grad Workers Union
Show threadmargeoisDec 31, 2022
@rbreich out of self-defense...good instincts. united we stand...Happy New Year to you and yours and all your followers!
Show threadLewisDec 31, 2022
@rbreich This is the real reason musk bought twitter. He is suspending accounts with pro union content. Today Apple, tomorrow tesla.
Show threadCUDA813Dec 31, 2022
@rbreich wait for it
Show threadAndrewRiddell1Dec 31, 2022
@rbreich In many ways the US is so backward.
Show threadProffyOwlDec 31, 2022
@rbreich 😍
Show threadPankhurst2Dec 31, 2022

@rbreich

But long way to go. Only way Amazon can be a worker's rights entity is for more warehouses to Unionize. But Amazon continues to exploit the lowest rung workers. They want high turnover burn out bottom rung "runners" because they don't want them to stay and make money and have more rights like holidays and paid sick leave. Please listen to The Daily podcast and learn what happened for that one Amazon warehouse that voted to unionize.

Show threadEsther2007Dec 31, 2022
@rbreich Good start but these are still mostly low-paying and low-skilled retail jobs with a workforce that's easily replaceable.
Show threadAlyssa VoroninDec 31, 2022
@rbreich Love to see the freight rail workers go on a wildcat strike to kick off 2023.
Show threadTheCityDweller Dec 31, 2022
@rbreich And now all #Murdoch and #Koch Media shouting for a #recession - because they all cannot handle it that #Bluecollar wages are RISING. For the first time since 4 decades. "We need a #Recession to get more #unemployment". That is the #Republican politics for you.
Show threadPeter Jakobs ⛵Dec 31, 2022
@rbreich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5ZT71DxLuM
Union Town by Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman

YouTube
Show threadPeter Paaske JuulDec 31, 2022

@rbreich this always feels so weird, when you live and work in Denmark.

You get hired for a job at a big company. If you have a college degree, you are hired under the agreement between the company's organisation* and the academics union. If you don't have a college degree, there's an agreement with a trade union (it, transportation, journalists, metal workers whatevs) that you are hired under. 1/x

Show threadPeter Paaske JuulDec 31, 2022

@rbreich
If you are hired by a small company with no agreement, you often will agree to just following the existing agreement between a union and a big corp in the same sector. (So "Salem Coffee Cats" might just decide to follow whatever agreement Starbucks has)

The US tradition of sabotaging the ability to make useful, broad agreements baffles me repeatedly. 2/x

Show threadPeter Paaske JuulDec 31, 2022
@rbreich *) The companies are unionized as well. Why should they bother to make their own agreements with trade unions, when their whole sector may use their lobby organisation to make a general agreement with a trade union in one go? 3/3
Show threadRed FasterDec 31, 2022

@rbreich if corporate labor was required to suffer MORE the systemic problem would solve itself

Wrong kind of power.

Show threadJudyBPaintsDec 31, 2022
@rbreich The wage gap is ridiculously abusive today. Since 1978, CEO wages have increased over 1,300%, while workers wages have increased far less, like 20%. Interesting anger inducing article here:
https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-in-2020/
CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,322% since 1978: CEOs were paid 351 times as much as a typical worker in 2020

What this report finds: Corporate boards running America’s largest public firms are giving top executives outsize compensation packages that have grown much faster than the stock market and the pay of typical workers, college graduates, and even the top 0.1%. In 2020, a CEO at one of the top 350 firms in the U.S. was paid $24.2 million on average (using a “realized” measure of CEO pay that counts stock awards when vested and stock options when cashed in rather than when granted). This 18.9% increase from 2019 occurred because of rapid growth in vested stock awards and exercised stock options. Using a different “granted” measure of CEO pay, average top CEO compensation was $13.9 million in 2020, slightly below its level in 2019. In 2020, the ratio of CEO-to-typical-worker compensation was 351-to-1 under the realized measure of CEO pay; that is up from 307-to-1 in 2019 and a big increase from 21-to-1 in 1965 and 61-to-1 in 1989. CEOs are even making a lot more than other very high earners (wage earners in the top 0.1%)—more than six times as much. From 1978 to 2020, CEO pay based on realized compensation grew by 1,322%, far outstripping S&P stock market growth (817%) and top 0.1% earnings growth (which was 341% between 1978 and 2019, the latest data available). In contrast, compensation of the typical worker grew by just 18.0% from 1978 to 2020.

Economic Policy Institute
Show threadseismographixJan 1, 2023

@JudyBPaints @rbreich The sum of the U.S.A. inflation rates from 1978 until 2021 is around 160%.

https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/historical-inflation-rates/

Historical Inflation Rates: 1914-2025

The table displays historical inflation rates with annual figures from 1914 to the present. These inflation rates are calculated using the Consumer Price Index, which is published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor. The latest BLS data, covering up to September, was released on October 24, 2025.

US Inflation Calculator | Easily calculate how the buying power of the U.S. dollar has changed from 1913 to 2023. Get inflation rates and U.S. inflation news.
Show threadMilesaboveitDec 31, 2022
@rbreich it's not only sad that we haven't evolved enough to not need unions, it's sad that Union supporters can't see what a detriment they are to workers and their paychecks. I worked in the union once and it was a very sad, limiting situation. It's better to find a new job than join a union in the long run. Quitting a company en mass will force it to change it's practices
Show threadLarry SadlerJan 1, 2023
@milesaboveit @rbreich
I've been a member of #ibew for over 25 years. I've got paid health insurance ( so long as I work for 30hrs a week) for any union contactor. I've got a guaranteed retirement. I can take classes through my local to keep me up to date with codes and new tech. I don't have to have every type of tool to do my work as an electrician. If I worked nonunion I would be required to have all of them. That's thousands of dollars.
Show threadJim GoodallJan 1, 2023
@grey_ghost @milesaboveit @rbreich IBEW LU804 member for 45 years. With wise investing, I was able to retire at age 61, 4 years ago. My union pension keeps me in great financial health. Being a UNION electrician is the only way to go! Thanks, IBEW!
Show threadLarry SadlerJan 1, 2023
@jimgoodall @milesaboveit @rbreich
Local 80 here out of. Norfolk VA
Show threadgavinisdie Jan 1, 2023
@rbreich I can't belive Unions are still a debated topic today, I thought until recently That issue was Solved in the Early 1900s
Show threadSydney “The Word” Falk  Jan 1, 2023

@rbreich

yes!

(also, this post is making the chemically aware giggle endlessly)

Show threadFreddyB Aviation PhotographyJan 1, 2023
@rbreich 5000+ nurses of CRONA an independent union had a successfully 1 week strike in 2022 that forced Stanford Hospital which made millions during the pandemic to make nursing a sustainable career https://www.npr.org/2022/04/25/1094689736/stanford-hospital-nurses-strike
Thousands of nurses at Stanford hospitals are striking over wages and mental health

The labor union representing the nearly 5,000 striking nurses says 93% of staff voted to authorize the strike, which does not have an end date.

NPR
Show threadThomas Barrios Jan 1, 2023
@rbreich this is awesome!
Show threadAM_PS4Jan 1, 2023
@rbreich More unionization in gaming industries, too, which have traditionally been exploitative.
Show threadAjin K ThomasJan 1, 2023
@rbreich Also: graduate workers organizing vigorously at Columbia University, Indiana University, the University of California, among others.
Show threadRed RabbitJan 1, 2023
@rbreich @mike only if they do something with that power and work in solidarity with each other. Otherwise it’s just thrashing in the water.
Show threadCJ the Awkward LeftyJan 1, 2023
@rbreich 260?! That's awesome. Go Starbucks workers!
Show threadSabrina Web  📎Jan 1, 2023
@rbreich why can I boost this only once?
Show threadBlort™ 🐀Ⓥ🥋☣️Jan 1, 2023

@sabrinaweb71 @rbreich

Just unboost and boost again.

Show threadShaneLeeJan 1, 2023
@rbreich I appreciate this reminder - we need to remember our successes.
Show threadBlort™ 🐀Ⓥ🥋☣️Jan 1, 2023

@rbreich It's long surprised me that there's no worldwide site workers can go to anonymously create/join a local union and talk with others in the same area/company.

Sure, there are issues about having to eventually meet in person to know you're not just talking to company shills, just like if you make a FB/WhatsApp/Telegram group or hand out leaflets outside the business.

It feels like avoiding having a well known central hub hides potential union members from each other more than management.

Show threadWord of Mouth Jan 1, 2023
@Blort
"Workers of the World, Unite!" ... The Wobblies would like a word...
@rbreich
Show threadBlort™ 🐀Ⓥ🥋☣️Jan 1, 2023

@notroot @rbreich

I'm the first person to admit I'm not deeply in the union scene and don't know most of what's out there.

That said, searching online didn't turn up the IWW for me (Google/Bing bias?) and the I in IWW standing for "industrial" doesn't sound like they represent post-industrial industries (although their website says they do).

Having to put in your real name and phone number as their step 1 though would be a deal breaker for me as a worker, though.

Glad they exist, though!

Show thread🌻Pushy Nurse🌻Jan 2, 2023
@rbreich Nurses around the country winning union contracts and improvements in safe staffing and improved wages. Nurses United!
Show threadnewsorpigalJan 2, 2023
@rbreich Don't worry, those unionized stores will be closed in 2023.
Show threadSteveJan 2, 2023

@rbreich
I'm curious why unions don't try to organize companies regionally, instead of location by location.

Starbucks responded to the unionization of a large Seattle location by closing it. If the union were to organize _all_ Seattle locations, closing shops would not be an option.

Is there a labor regulation that prevents regional unionization?

Show threadbendaJan 3, 2023
@Steve98052 @rbreich I wouldn't put it past Starbucks to shut down whole regions. but anyways, I think the problem is that they have one employer, so it has to be nationwide or else store by store.
Show threadKathe O'ReillyJan 3, 2023
@rbreich
Show threadGeddyLeeRothJan 23, 2023
@rbreich My dad was a mule driver for UPS in Cerritos and Baldwin Park so this is personally good news.
Show threadPixel RefreshFeb 7, 2023
@rbreich Keep going, humans!!!