On the picket line

CVS workers strike in California

Union workers at CVS stores in California asserted their rights by holding a three-day Unfair Labor Practice strike at seven CVS store locations in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The workers are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Not one CVS union member crossed the picket line, which represents 7,000 CVS workers in southern California. 

The strike came after UFCW filed ULP charges against CVS with the National Labor Relations Board, citing unlawful surveillance of workers, retaliation against union supporters and prohibiting workers from engaging in union activity. UFCW has been in contract bargaining with CVS since May, and the contract expired in June. Worker demands included increased wages and affordable health care. 

Hundreds of workers participated in the three-day strike in October to pressure CVS to negotiate a decent contract. The workers had tremendous support from their communities and union members across the state. Millions of California union workers offered solidarity to the striking workers. This widespread effort forced CVS to agree to union demands. 

UFCW workers ratified a new contract this month after winning many gains. They include wage increases each year of the three-year contract, elimination of the two-tier wage system for store workers and improved health care benefits. Other contract language addressed quality of life and fairness on the job: requiring schedule posting deadlines, eliminating mandatory worker responsibility for cash register shortage, adjusting Workers’ Compensation and family leave policies and guaranteeing that a union representative will speak with every new employee about the union’s role and sign up members at a mutually agreeable location. 

Following the CVS strike and contract win, UFCW members at California Rite Aid stores, after months of struggling with the corporate bargaining team, ratified their new contract. UFCW represents 3,500 Rite Aid employees across Southern California.

Michigan nurses unionize

In one of the largest union elections in 20 years, almost 10,000 nurses working at Corewell Health System in Southern Michigan are now represented by the Teamsters union (IBT). Nurses at nine Corewell sites voted in favor of the union by a 63% majority. The Corewell nurses join 35,000 essential health care workers across the country who are Teamsters. The Teamsters union has a committee called Nurses for Nurses.

Nurses across the country are organizing for themselves and their patients, demanding safe patient-to-nurse staffing ratios. It has been proven that inadequate nurse staffing increases the mortality rate for hospitalized patients. 

Nurses were hailed as heroes for their tireless, selfless dedication early in the COVID-9 epidemic, but this amounted to empty platitudes when coming from the corporate bosses. Now, nurses are realizing they are crucial to a hospital’s success, and they are demanding an end to the corporate greed that is hindering them from doing the job their patients deserve.

Michigan restaurant worker solidarity wins severance package 

Bobcat Bonnie’s is a Southeast Michigan restaurant chain with several neighborhood locations. In October, workers in Ypsilanti presented owner Matt Buskard with a petition containing a list of grievances, including bounced payroll checks, unfair scheduling practices and inappropriate management behavior. However, Buskard announced his intention to close the store! 

The workers, who do not have a union, organized. They started a social media campaign under an Instagram account, Bobcats United (@bobcat.workers), to gain public support. Next, the workers put up a picket line at the Bobcat Bonnie’s location in Ferndale to pressure the owner to meet with them. It took only two days of picketing for management to agree to address petition grievances. 

Although Buskard would not agree to reopening the Ypsilanti site, the workers there will receive a two-week severance package — almost unheard of in the restaurant industry. Buskard also conceded to make significant changes immediately to address workers’ grievances at all locations. 

Bobcats United is urging workers to sign digital union cards with the Industrial Workers of the World. While some Bobcat Bonnie’s workers will find employment elsewhere after being laid off in Ypsilanti, they are all committed to organizing workers at other locations, holding management accountable and securing better working conditions.