Unionising the US workforce
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 28 February 2023
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There has been a surge in the number of workplaces in the United States voting to join a labour union. Amid this wave of unionisation, companies are pushing back hard. We find out what is happening in the US and how businesses and politicians are reacting.
We hear from a worker at outdoor clothing co-operative REI where staff have voted to unionise, plus Michelle Miller, who runs Co-worker, an organisation that supports employees who want union representation. Michael Strain, an economist at the centre-right policy organisation, the American Enterprise Institute, explains that workers are actually doing quite well at the moment as unemployment is low. And have you heard of union-busting? Rebecca Givan is an associate professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University in New Jersey - she explains what is happening.
Producer/presenter: Rob Young
(Photo: Workers on strike from the New York Times. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, Namulanta Combo here and I'm excited to tell you that my award-winning podcast, Dear Daughter, is back for a second season and it's available now. Find out more at the end of this podcast. |
| 0:15.4 | Hello, I'm Rob Young. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. Coming up, there's been a huge rise in the |
| 0:22.8 | number of American workplaces voting to join a Labor union. There was an initial huge surge |
| 0:28.6 | of people looking for support around paid time off or health and safety as employers |
| 0:35.5 | pretty consistently let workers down on those fronts. |
| 0:39.2 | Amid this wave of unionization, companies are pushing back hard. |
| 0:43.8 | Employers will do anything and everything to try to stop their workers from unionizing |
| 0:50.1 | or to get them to decertify their union if they're already organized. |
| 0:55.3 | That's all in today's Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 1:00.9 | Labor unions have long been contentious in the United States. |
| 1:05.0 | For four decades, they've been on the decline. |
| 1:08.0 | But unions have had a good couple of years. |
| 1:12.5 | I think unionising is in agreement with the co-op way, our United Statesated values. |
| 1:19.7 | One of them is courageously embracing change, and that's what we're hoping to do. |
| 1:24.5 | This video, posted online by the organization More Perfect Union, |
| 1:29.3 | features workers at a sportswear store in California, |
| 1:32.7 | explaining why they wanted a trade union. |
| 1:35.0 | I don't understand how you can be a forerunner in a progressive movement |
| 1:39.2 | if you're not also on the side of labor rights. |
| 1:43.9 | The branch in Berkeley is one of two stores run by the outdoor clothing cooperative |
| 1:49.3 | REI, where staff have voted to unionise, part of a wave of American workplaces over the past year |
| 1:56.1 | opting for union recognition. In REI's branch in Soho in New York City, shopworker Stephanie May was one of the |
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