Wages need 'big-time' catch-up in Canada as inflation rages: BMO

Noah Zivitz, BNN Bloomberg

The disconnect between wage growth and inflation is being put under the microscope by the chief economist of BMO Capital Markets.

In a short note to clients, Doug Porter pointed out that wages are only rising around three to 3.5 per cent year-over-year, less than half the rate of Canada’s “steaming” (in Porter’s words) cost of living after Statistics Canada’s consumer price index surged 6.7 per cent year-over-year in April. He described the gap between those two metrics as “simply unsustainable,” particularly given Canada’s tight labour market.

“Either inflation will need to moderate, and soon, or else wages are poised to play catch-up, big-time,” Porter wrote.

“With commodity prices still frothy, supply chains still struggling, and home prices still raging, we don’t expect any quick relief for inflation.”

Porter is one of many Bay Street voices sounding the alarm on inflation that’s racing further and further away from the Bank of Canada’s target range of one to three per cent.

Scotiabank Head of Capital Markets Economics Derek Holt said on Wednesday he thinks there’s a “solid case” for the Bank of Canada to hike as much as full point “in one shot.”

Rising inflation is making us poorer. 

Will wages ever catch up?


APRIL 21, 2022

Wages across all industries have failed to keep pace with inflation, which hit a three-decade high last month.

In March, inflation climbed to 6.7 per cent year over year thanks to the pandemic, supply-chain struggles, and the war in Ukraine.

During the same period, average hourly wages rose 3.4 per cent, just half the rate of inflation, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. Meanwhile, the cost of certain necessary goods is way up — groceries climbed 8.7 per cent. Gas rose a whopping 39.8 per cent.

Experts call the ratio between prices and wages purchasing power. That power diminishes as the gap grows, which is what is happening now.

Simply put, you’re making less money.

“Workers need a three per cent increase right now to make up for the losses, which is unlikely to happen,” said David Macdonald, senior economist with the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives.

Instead, he said, workers will likely take a temporary pay cut, in essence, as inflation soars for the next few months as wages fall behind. “It will be difficult to recoup this three per cent difference.”

Some industries are keeping wages up with inflation better than others.

Information and IT workers are seeing consistent wage gains, Macdonald said. Supervisors and wholesale trade workers are also getting salary increases. This includes producers and retailers managing supply chain issues, which have become an ever-present challenge requiring more time and greater resources.

Food and beverage manufacturing also saw an upswing in wages as in-person dining decreased and stacking products in grocery stores became more frequent and necessary to help with higher demand from consumers, Macdonald said.

And real estate agents saw “huge wage gains” with the high cost of housing. Macdonald expects they will continue to do well moving forward.

On the flip side, employees manufacturing durable items such as automobiles saw little in wage increases.

Public sector workers, which include education and health care professionals, also saw "very low wage gains" and likely won't see a substantial wage increase in the near future.

“With the new inflation numbers, now 75 per cent of workers are seeing real wage losses because of how much inflation has gone up,” Macdonald said.

Douglas Porter, chief economist and managing director of BMO Financial Group, said almost every industry will see wages go up at this point, some more than others. “It's reasonable to expect a pretty comprehensive broad based upward pressure on wages.”

He called the sizable gap between wage increase and inflation “highly unusual.”

"It's especially unusual given how tight the labor market is when you look at the low unemployment rate and the number of job vacancies," he said. “Ether inflation is going to run away rapidly or wages will rise rapidly. That gap between prices and wages can't be sustained for long.” If it does, people will be unable to afford everyday goods and the cost of living will be unattainable.

Porter said sectors with high vacancy rates will face the biggest pressure to increase wages. These include the accommodation and food services sectors, which have a 7.5 per cent vacancy rate, and health care and social assistance jobs which have 6.4 per cent vacancy.

“Wherever there is a high vacancy rate there will be increased wage pressures to attract more workers and for retention,” he said.

Anil Verma, a retired professor of industrial relations at the Rotman School of Management, expects the travel, food and hospitality sectors — which are having difficulties hiring — will pass the cost of increased wages on to consumers.

Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labor Congress, expects employees and unions across all industries will press for improved wages.

“At the end of the day workers can organize. There's more strength in numbers to negotiate collective agreements," she said.

Many workers have expired collective agreements that are now being negotiated, especially in the public sector, Bruske said.

Jim Stanford, director of the Center for Future of Work, said few collective agreements have a cost of living adjustment, meaning wages don't automatically change to offset inflation.

While employees will ask for higher wages, Stanford isn't optimistic employers will give the three per cent needed.

Look at public service workers in Ontario, for example. They have a pay cap of one per cent for three years, under Bill 124, and will find it legally challenging to ask for higher salaries, he said.

For some, it might be easier to negotiate a higher salary at a new job than to get a raise from an existing employer.

Perhaps with that in mind, some employers are being proactive in light of the latest data.

At Ascend Fundraising Solutions, a software company that helps charities raise money, CEO Daniel Lewis announced a cross-board five per cent bonus for employees the day before the latest inflation numbers were released.

“It's not an act of retention. It's just the right thing to do,” Lewis said.

Clarrie Feinstein is a Toronto-based staff reporter for the Star. Reach Clarrie via email: clarriefeinstein@torstar.ca

Rosa Saba is a Toronto-based business reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rosajsaba

Eyeing a raise as inflation soars? 

It’s a great time to ask, experts say

By Craig Lord Global News
Posted April 20, 2022 

Soaring inflation amid a tight job market could mean good news for Canadian workers hoping to bring home a little bit more to cover the surging cost of living, according to career experts.

Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that the annual rate of inflation hit a whopping 6.7 per cent in March, setting a new 31-year high, while the country’s labour market is at its lowest point on record, dropping to 5.3 per cent last month.

Experts say this has created a perfect window for anyone eyeing a bump in compensation to offset the rising cost of living.

“There’s probably never been a better time to ask for a raise,” says Michael French, national director at recruitment agency Robert Half.

Sarah Vermunt, career coach and founder of Careergasm, echoed French. She tells Global News the current economic conditions are a “rare opportunity” where job seekers and those feeling underpaid have a chance to boost their salaries.

“It’s actually a great time to ask for a raise because your company very likely wants to keep you in this job market. So you have a little more power than you usually do if you’re looking for a raise right now,” she says.

READ MORE: Bank of Canada interest rate hike: How it connects to inflation, job market

A recent survey from Robert Half shows employees are feeling the heat from inflation and might be well aware of their bargaining power.

Of the more than 500 Canadian workers surveyed in early March, half said they plan to ask for a raise this year.

Of those respondents, 31 per cent said adjusting for the higher cost of living was their top reason for wanting a boost, followed by accounting for additional responsibility (18 per cent) and reflecting current market rates (16 per cent).

A survey from accounting firm MNP earlier this week illustrated how hard inflation is hitting Canadians’ wallets.

Some 31 per cent of respondents to that poll said they already don’t make enough to cover their bills and debt payments.

But with the ongoing labour crunch, Canadian employers also have to devote closer attention to how much they’re paying.

A separate Robert Half survey showed 69 per cent of companies are experiencing “pay compression” — longer-tenured employees seeing their salaries look closer to those of new hires as market rates rise.

French says giving an employee a raise, rather than letting them slip away and having to hire a replacement, can be a time and money saver for companies.

“If you’re not keeping up with the market or in many cases, leading the market, you have people leaving you and the most expensive thing you can do is have turnover during COVID,” he says.

But how should you go about asking for that raise? Here are the top tips and biggest mistakes to avoid when looking for a pay bump.

How much money should I ask for?

Before launching into any conversations about compensation, it’s important to know where market rates for similar roles are, Vermunt says.

“Given the job market now, it’s probably higher than it was a year ago. So that’s important to research,” she says.

Websites such as Indeed, Glassdoor and Robert Half itself all have salary trackers that will show you where the industry has set the bar for your position.

When should I ask for a raise?

Vermunt says one of the biggest mistakes people make when they’ve been wanting a raise for a while is to ask when they’re already at their wits’ end.

“Going into the conversation in an overly emotional state is a recipe for disaster. Do not do that. Wait until you have a moment to have a planned conversation,” she says.

Set a meeting in advance for a downtime during the week, Verument recommends. Call it something informal like “career goals” to make sure both you and your manager are in the same frame of mind before launching into raise talks.

Show your value

Don’t focus on arguments related to your tenure at the company, or how much you need the raise right now, Vermunt suggests.

Those kinds of points don’t show your company why you’re worth the extra money.

Instead, focus on three to four examples that show how your performance has materially benefited the company: a time when you earned the company more money, reduced costs, moved the needle forward — anything quantifiable that shows why you should continue to be an investment priority.

“You want to make it about your performance,” Vermunt says.

Avoid ambushing your boss, but put the onus on them

Though your instinct might be to avoid showing your hand, French says the last person who should be surprised by a raise request is your manager themselves.

If you’ve set your expectations for career advancement well, your manager can help you “craft the path to get there,” he says.

“They should be the first person you’ve talked to and they’ll actually, in most cases, help you sort of craft the path to get there,” he says.

“Talk to your manager, have a very frank, transparent conversation, and it usually will pay dividends for you.”

READ MORE: Canadians young and old left behind in pandemic jobs recovery

Vermunt notes that not every raise comes after the first ask. If you’re rebuffed at first, ask for tangible steps you can take to earn the higher pay and set a follow-up meeting in six months’ time to double back on your request.

“That then puts the onus on them to say what they’re looking for if they’re willing to give a salary bump and it gives you something concrete to work towards to then be able to use as evidence when you reopen the conversation a little while down the road,” she says.

“It holds them accountable for doing what they say they’re going to do in the future.”

Look for ‘Plan B’

Sometimes, even when you’ve put in the work and proven your worth, the company’s budget doesn’t have any wiggle room for you.

In cases like that, French encourages workers to look beyond the bottom line when they’re negotiating.

There are some perks and benefits employers can offer in lieu of a raise, such as more flexibility in your work schedule, extra vacation or other quality-of-life improvements.

“What else could they be doing for you? Don’t just focus on the money. Focus on the entire package,” French says.

Vermunt agrees.

“I personally think it’s also important to think about what your Plan B is if they say no or if they give pushback,” she says.

Can I push up a starting offer?

For some people, Plan B looks like alternate compensation. For others, it’s striking out to find a new job.

While Canada might be firmly in a job seeker’s market at the moment, Vermunt says the quitting point is different for everyone.

But even for those who have tested the job market and found themselves with a new offer in hand, Vermunt notes there’s always room for a raise there, too.

READ MORE: Meta’s plans to hire in Canada have the tech sector worried. Here’s why

“People often don’t realize this, but you are in your most powerful salary negotiation position when you’ve just been offered a new job that you haven’t accepted yet,” she says.

Whatever starting salary you accept with a new company, you’re “setting a precedent” for what you’ll take going forward, according to Vermunt. Even if your job performance is off the chart in the first few months of the new gig, she says it would be hard to argue for a raise in that timeframe, so soon into the position.

“You should be doing some good salary negotiation at the beginning of a new job because that’s your power position.”

UK

Rail worker strike would be 'biggest' in history, says RMT

By Simon Browning
Business reporter

A rail workers' union has said it intends to ballot more than 40,000 workers in a dispute over pay and jobs, which could trigger the "biggest rail strike in modern history".

The RMT union said Network Rail plans to cut up to 2,500 jobs as part of a £2bn reduction in spending.

The union claimed that the cuts would mean accidents were "more likely".

Network Rail said it was "disappointed" with the union's move and urged it to "work with us, not against us".

The track operator said it hadn't tabled any proposals or consultation papers and was discussing ideas.

Tim Shoveller, Network Rail's regional director, said: "We cannot keep relying on government handouts, and so we must work together with train operators and our trade unions to save millions of pounds and deliver a more efficient railway."

RMT said the proposed job cuts include workers who maintain tracks, signals and overhead lines among other things.

It also claimed train operators had been subject to pay freezes and changes to their terms and conditions.

'Safety-critical jobs'

The union's general secretary, Mick Lynch, said cutting the "safety-critical jobs" would "spell disaster for the public, make accidents more likely and will increase the possibility of trains flying off the tracks".

He warned a national rail strike would "bring the country to a standstill" but said union members' "livelihoods and passenger safety are our priorities".

The 15 train-operating companies the RMT will ballot include LNER, Chiltern, Avanti, Cross Country and South Western.

Passenger numbers on the railways are still lagging pre-pandemic levels, with working from home becoming a staple of many commuters' working patterns. This has led to passenger revenues failing to recover and income on the network stalling.

Mr Lynch said railway workers also had to contend with "pay freezes, the prospect of losing their jobs and repeated attacks on their terms and conditions".

"Train operating companies have praised our members for being key workers during the pandemic but have refused to keep staff pay in line with inflation and soaring living costs," he added.

"As a result, thousands of railway workers have seen their living standards plummet and have run out of patience."

Better rail services promised in huge shake-up

Seven ways the rail shake-up will affect you

But Network Rail's Mr Shoveller said the operator would "not consider any changes that would make the railway less safe".

"Our railway has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, and even as passenger numbers start to recover, we know travel habits and passenger demand have changed and the industry has to change too," he said.

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operating firms, said the focus should not be on strikes that would disrupt people's lives, but on adapting to people's new travel patterns.

It said the pandemic had an unprecedented shock on the railways, with the lowest passenger numbers in over 150 years.

"For the sake of our people and everyone who relies on our railway every day, we want the RMT to work with us to bring how we run our services up to date so that it is more reliable, more affordable and inspires more passengers back on board," it said.



The RMT responded to the trade body saying it is "always open for meaningful talks", but added it would not work with "the Rail Delivery Group or anyone else to help distribute the pain of job losses and real terms pay cuts that have nothing to do with securing a thriving railway going forward".

The government said it has spent more than £14bn propping up the railways after passenger numbers and ticket revenues collapsed during the pandemic.

The Department for Transport said it wanted a "fair deal for staff, passengers and taxpayers so the railway doesn't take money away from other essential public services like the NHS".

It said the "kind of irresponsible disruption" a strike would bring "only makes things worse, damaging our economy just as it is recovering".

It has plans to introduce a new state-owned body, Great British Railways (GBR), which will set timetables and prices, sell tickets in England and manage rail infrastructure.

GBR will replace the current track operator, Network Rail, in 2023 and the government says the new system will look more like Transport for London, with multiple operators under one brand.

The systems will differ slightly in Scotland and Wales, where transport is devolved, but GBR will still operate in those nations.

TORONTO

Some delays reported as Union Station workers strike for second day

Starbucks baristas at New Orleans outlet are first in state to file for union vote

BY ANTHONY MCAULEY | STAFF WRITER
APR 21, 2022 - 2:15 PM

Starbucks on Maple Street in New Orleans on Thursday, April 21, 2022. Employees filed with the National Labor Relations Board to form a union, making them the first in the state to join a national organizing effort at Starbucks outlets.

 (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)

Workers at a New Orleans Starbucks this week became the first in Louisiana to officially request to form a union, joining an organizing movement that began at a New York Starbucks last year and has spread to several states.

On Tuesday, representatives of the baristas at the Maple Street location of the global coffee chain filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that oversees labor law, seeking to hold a vote.

At least 30% of the 16 baristas employed at the Starbucks must have supported the petition for it to proceed. After the NLRB investigates to ensure the petition's validity, Starbucks will be required by law to post notice that a vote to unionize will be held at a future date.

Seeking better pay, benefits

Starbucks workers Caitlyn and Billie, neither of whom wanted to give their last names because of worries about retribution, said Thursday that they had jointly organized the Maple Street petition to push for better wages and conditions.

Caitlyn, 22, a student at Tulane University, said the $12 hourly starting wage at Starbucks' New Orleans outlets "doesn't sound too bad" when compared to the Louisiana and federal minimum wage of $7.25.

But she said there is little chance to grow that wage working for the coffee chain. One of the baristas on their petition was making $17 an hour after working for the company for 11 years. She said also that tipping was low compared to other service jobs, with the split working out at about $30 a week for baristas at the coffee shop.

The employees also are looking for improved benefits, including paid time off. Billie said they currently start accumulating paid time off days after they've been working a year; anyone who leaves employment and returns must start from scratch.
Backed by service employees union

The petition was filed on the baristas' behalf by Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union that has been behind much of the Starbucks unionizing effort. The union has about two million members and is the second-largest in the U.S. behind the National Education Association that represents teachers.

Manuel Quinto-Pozos, a labor lawyer based in Austin, Texas, also was a petitioner on behalf of the New Orleans baristas.

Starbucks on Maple Street in New Orleans on Thursday, April 21, 2022. The store's baristas are looking to unionize to push for better wages and improved conditions, including a stronger policy in dealing with abusive customers. 

(Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)

Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz, who ran the company during its explosive growth periods over the last three decades and rejoined earlier this month, has called on employees not to unionize and denied reports the company was using strong-arm tactics to deter organizing.

In response to a request for comment on the Maple Street union drive, a Starbucks spokesperson pointed to a letter on April 10, 2022 from Schultz where he addressed recent unionization efforts.

“From the beginning, we’ve been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners, without a union between us, and that conviction has not changed,” Schultz wrote.

"Any claims of anti-union activity are categorically false," he added. "We are fully committed to following the NLRB’s process."

Better offer for non-unionized workers

At a meeting last week with workers, Schultz said Starbucks is planning to expand its benefits package, but that any improvements would not be available to unionizing employees, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Last October, Starbucks promised it would increase base pay for various categories of employee from summer 2022, though it did not make clear at the time if that would include unionized employees.

To date, employees at about 200 of Starbucks' approximately 9,000 corporate-owned U.S. outlets have filed to unionize, with two dozen of those so far voting in favor and two voting against, according to the NLRB. There are also about 6,500 licensed Starbucks stores in the U.S.

Dealing with customers

There are approximately 100 Starbucks coffee shops in Louisiana, about half of which are in the New Orleans area, according to Starbucks' website.

The NLRB said earlier this month that efforts to unionize have grown sharply. The agency said that union representation petitions are up 57% in the six months to the end of March, from the same period a year earlier.

“Right now, there is a surge in labor activity nationwide, with workers organizing and filing petitions for more union elections than they have in the last ten years," NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo said in the statement announcing the increase earlier this month. The agency is looking for a budget increase of 16% to deal with the extra volume.

Caitlyn at Starbucks Maple Street said that the employees are also pushing for stronger support from the company in dealing with abuse from customers.

"We want corporate to have our backs whenever situations get hairy at Starbucks," she said. "We want a better way to deal with it than giving away free drinks and saying 'we're so sorry' to everyone," she said of the training Starbucks gives for how to deal with abusive customers.

Cecelia, the Maple Street store manager, said Thursday that as management she was not allowed to join the unionizing effort. But she's in favor of any plan that would make things better for Starbucks workers, she said.

"I would back anything that would mean the 'partners' would have a better working experience," she said, using a Starbucks term for employee.

The Starbucks Union Movement Is ‘Unstoppable’

Starbucks workers' union filings make up a shocking percentage of all new union petitions in the United States.

By Lauren Kaori Gurley
21.4.22



PHOTO BY TOBY SCOTT/SOPA IMAGES/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES
On the Clock is Motherboard's reporting on the organized labor movement, gig work, automation, and the future of work.

On Tuesday, Starbucks workers at five stores voted to unionize in Richmond, Virginia, bringing the count of unionized Starbucks stores to 25 locations out of 27 where votes have been counted. Most of the union wins have been landslide victories, some of them were unanimous in favor of the union.

Despite Starbucks’ very best efforts to prevent the union drives at the coffee chain from spreading—bringing back former CEO Howard Schultz, firing union organizers, holding extensive captive audience meetings—the momentum of Starbucks stores filing for union elections isn’t showing any signs of slowing. More than 200 stores nationwide have filed for union elections with Starbucks Workers United, and new stores are filing most days of the week. According to the most recent data available on the National Labor Relations Board’s website, 26 Starbucks stores across the United States filed for union elections between April 12 and 19. New Starbucks union filings make up a shocking percentage of all new union filings in the United States.

“We are unstoppable!!” Starbucks Workers United tweeted on April 14. “On the heels of four unanimous victories in three days, four more stores in the NYC/Metro area just filed today!!” The tweet went viral.

“I don’t see this campaign slowing down anytime soon,” said Rebecca Givan, a professor of labor studies at Rutgers University. “The pace of election filings and union victories is continuing. There are thousands more stores to go, including plenty more that haven’t filed or gone public in heavily unionized areas, college towns.”

Five months ago, none of this seemed possible. Not a single location of Starbucks' more than 9,000 corporate-owned locations had unionized. For many decades, individual Starbucks stores—like much of the retail and fast food industries—were seen by the labor movement as impervious to unionization because of the company’s anti-union stance, the high turnover rate at stores, and the fact that the workforce is fragmented into small worksites of fewer than 50 workers. Efforts to unionize Walmart and the fast food industry had repeatedly failed. The logic also went that unionizing Starbucks store-by-store, 20 workers at a time, was an imprudent strategy for labor unions looking to rebuild the hemorrhaging labor movement in the United States, because it would require resources that unions could spend more effectively on larger workplaces, such as auto and manufacturing plants.

“Organizing small shops is always hard because the cost of representing small shops is high,” said Givan. “Unions also tend to think about strategic leverage so if you’re organizing small shops in a company with thousands of worksites, it is hard to imagine how you’d build leverage. The company could just close the branches that unionize.”

“The thinking went: if you’re facing super powerful corporations that are prepared to fight until death you’ll never win union elections,” said John Logan, a labor studies expert at San Francisco State University. “A lot of unions have given up on the private sector.”

But the snowballing union movement at Starbucks throws a lot of this logic on its head. Experts say this is due to a few factors: the demographics of Starbucks’ workforce (young, college educated, and left-wing), the resurgence of enthusiasm for organized labor brought about by the pandemic, skyrocketing inflation, and increased leverage for workers in a tight labor market. Each of these factors have made the union movement at Starbucks spread more quickly than anyone had previously imagined it could. In fact, the small size of Starbucks locations now plays to the union’s advantage, experts say.

“At Starbucks, you have a lot of workers who’ve worked on the frontlines during the pandemic. They haven’t been rewarded equitably or treated with respect. You also have a lot of young workers who have been politicized by Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Socialists of America and other leftist organizations and causes. They’re precisely the kind of people who union messages would resonate with. That’s the kind of person Starbucks is hiring,” said Logan. Jaz Brisack, a 24-year-old former Rhodes Scholar and one of the early leaders of the Starbucks Workers United campaign in Buffalo, is one example of this type of worker.

Logan says at worksites such as Starbucks with roughly 30 workers, those pro-union workers can engage directly with others at their store, know who is and isn’t on their side, and work on engaging those on the fence, allowing these movements to spread quickly from store-to-store. “They have the ability to win young politicized workers in a lot of stores where they can reach out to every single person in a store. As long as the campaign has the ability to spread quickly as it has done already, small size is actually a huge advantage,” said Logan. “If it didn’t spread like wildfire, small size would be a huge disadvantage.”

Starbucks sent executives, including the president of Starbucks North America, to the first unionizing stores in Buffalo to intimidate them out of unionizing, but the company can't send executives to individually try to scare workers at hundreds of unionizing stores.

In recent weeks, stores in Seattle; Boston; Richmond, Virginia; Bloomfield, Pennsylvania; Eugene, Oregon have voted unanimously to unionize. Experts say that the greatest momentum appears to be in college towns like Ithaca, New York, and union-dense cities like Boston.

Logan also says the self-organizing, worker-led nature of the Starbucks union drive, as opposed to the style of campaigns led primarily by professional union organizing staff, has also played an important role in the string of victories at Starbucks.

Since Starbucks workers in Buffalo went public with their union drive in 2021, Starbucks has waged an intense campaign to crush union drives that has included flooding stores with executives and regional managers and holding mandatory anti-union meetings. More recently the union has accused Starbucks of reducing workers’ hours nationally to get pro-union workers to quit.

Starbucks Workers United organizers say Starbucks’ anti-union campaign has escalated in recent weeks, as Starbucks reinstated former CEO, one-time presidential candidate, and billionaire Howard Schultz as head of the company. The company has begun blocking pro-union workers and labor leaders on Twitter and circulating fabricated tweets from the Starbucks United Workers account on fliers in some of their stores. In Schultz’s first week back as CEO, the company fired at least four union organizers, for reasons such as allegedly breaking a sink on purpose. Unionizing workers say much of Starbucks’ anti-union campaign has backfired, and isn’t working.

“Since Howard took over, there’s definitely a feeling that anti-union sentiment is less covert in my store,” said Victoria Conklin, a Starbucks barista and lead union organizer in Buffalo whose store recently filed for a union election. “My manager started making lots of statements about not wanting any pro-union people working in our store at all. She won’t speak to me anymore unless she has to.”

Conklin, who has worked at Starbucks since 2017, says that Schultz has long been a beloved figure among a contingent of baristas at Starbucks. When he was CEO the first time, multiple copies of his books were often sent to stores, where workers could read them for free. “It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that Howard took over again. I think it was a direct response to unionization,” said Conklin. “He has a cult following, and there’s a weird culture of workers being like, ‘Oh it’s just Howie, a cuddly grandfather figure who loves Starbucks.' People would brag about how many times they’d met him.”

In recent weeks, Schultz has reportedly discussed excluding unionized staff from receiving new benefits, said to managers that unionizing workers “don’t really understand, let alone the dues they are going to pay,” and told a pro-union Starbucks worker in Long Beach, California, “If you hate Starbucks so much, why don’t you go somewhere else?”

Experts say the number of unionized stores is growing so quickly that Starbucks, and the union, may eventually opt to engage in regional, sectoral bargaining that would involve negotiating contracts across large swaths of its workforce rather than store-by-store, as some major grocery chains have done.

“I would expect that if unionization continues, Starbucks wouldn’t want to go store by store with contract negotiation,” said Logan. “There’s speculation about what Starbucks will do to prevent unions from developing regional strongholds and winning all the stores in regional markets, which would allow them to bargain in a really powerful way, in a way Starbucks might not be able to control.”

Givan says Starbucks will likely implement raises and benefits bargained in the first Starbucks contract across the country to deter further organizing. “Assuming stores reach a first contract, Starbucks will roll out material improvements to non-union stores like higher wages, but it won’t roll out wins that give workers actual power or a real voice, such as ‘just cause’ for terminations,” said Givan. “They’ll try to make not yet unionized workers think they don't need to organize.”

Conklin, the Buffalo barista, says she’s optimistic that despite Starbucks best efforts to crack down on unions, Starbucks workers won’t stop unionizing. “I think that at this point we have so much momentum and public support that it’s hard for them to stop it,” she said. “It doesn’t mean they won’t try their absolute best to stop it, but they know more stores are filing and winning elections every day and their tactics aren’t working.”

‘Add Personal Story Here’: Starbucks Anti-Union One-on-Ones Fall Flat

April 20, 2022

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A message board at the Hopewell, New Jersey, Starbucks is filled with notes of support from the union from customers and other union members. Photo: Sara Mughal

The last time I wrote in Labor Notes, I described the captive-audience “listening sessions” that Starbucks corporate had attempted to use against me and my co-workers who are trying to unionize our Hopewell Starbucks in central New Jersey. (See (“How We Turned the Tables on Starbucks Union-Busters,” March 2022.)

After corporate failed spectacularly in our first one, they decided to cancel the second, saying they had “no new information to share with us.” We haven’t had any since—even though many of us have requested another, as we have plenty of information to share with them.

Instead, Starbucks corporate decided to skip to the next tactic in its playbook: “one-on-one” meetings between one barista and a manager—or multiple managers. The idea seemed to be that separating us would break our solidarity and make it easier to lie to us. But once again they found Hopewell baristas ready to see through their lies, push back, and support each other.

For our first round of one-on-ones, these meetings were framed as “reviewing our benefits.” Basically, they intended to tell us how great our benefits are—and that they could take them away.

They want us to think we stand to lose all these “incredible” benefits if we unionize. We know we wouldn’t actually, but they genuinely think we’re dumb enough to fall for thinly veiled threats.

A VENTI CUP OF…

Bright and early one day, our manager met with Nye, a barista she must have thought would be easily intimidated and offer little pushback. She boldly told this partner lies she hadn’t even tried with others, including a clumsy analogy I’m sure she was very proud of.

“If you think about it, you’ve got a Venti cup full of benefits,” she said condescendingly. “To make room for more, you’d have to empty some out first, right?”

Nye responded by asking point blank, “Are you saying you’ll take away my benefits?” Our manager saw her mistake, backed off with a “No, of course not,” and moved on.

During my own one-on-one, our manager began by saying she couldn’t find the paper she had her written questions on. Throughout the meeting she mentioned this repeatedly, and kept pausing to think. It was such odd behavior I had to assume it was some tactic the union-busting experts had taught her. What else could it be?

I was wrong. I later found out that she actually had lost her questions, because she’d accidentally handed the sheet corporate had given her to the barista in the meeting before mine.

This sheet had detailed guidelines on how to run a one-on-one, automating heartwarming moments through directions like, “Add a personal story here,” “Share your favorite Starbucks memory,” and “Help barista set up a benefit they showed interest in.”

At another meeting, our store manager and a Partner Resources Manager (an HR executive) followed those very guidelines and attempted to help a barista, Olivia, set up her 401k. They tried a few times and had some technical errors—unsurprising to any partner who has tried to set up benefits.

Then they gave up and awkwardly told her that they guessed she would have to call the company number on her own time. That was weeks ago, and they still haven’t checked in with Olivia or helped her find answers.

For some reason I cannot explain beyond corporate incompetence, management also decided these meetings were the right occasion to inform partners who are under 18 that they are not eligible for many of the best benefits, including Starbucks stocks and a 401(k). (They also don’t get any other benefits to compensate for this, but we’ve since discussed addressing it ourselves in our future contract negotiations.)

A SIX-CENT RAISE

We were prepared for the one-on-ones. One barista, Paul, started off his meeting by responding to the manager’s “How are you?” with “Pretty good. Everyone’s feeling strong about unionizing, Scott just got fired, and Hamilton Starbucks [our neighboring store] just filed [for a union election].” Scott was our former district manager who had bragged about his past experience union-busting in Philadelphia.

Paul also brought up that the “tenured raises” that managers had bragged about in meetings had gotten him an entire six-cent-an-hour increase. Our manager looked upset and said, “That sounds wrong.”

She searched through her computer for a few minutes to find the numbers, realized Paul was correct, and uncomfortably admitted so. In a fortuitous bit of timing, two baristas came to the back at this moment to get their coats, so Paul announced to them, “Hey, I did only get a six-cent raise!” They expressed their disgust while our manager looked anywhere but at them.

In one of her final one-on-ones, our manager chose exactly the wrong barista to try a classic union-busting lie on: “If you guys unionize, I won’t be able to help you out on the floor.” (To be clear, this is something our manager never does in the first place.)

“I’d be able to speak to an unhappy customer,” she said, “but I wouldn’t be able to, for example, remake their drink.”

If you’ve worked at a Starbucks, or really any food service job, you understand how laughable a scenario it is in which a manager bothers to do something as plebeian as remaking a drink. This barista just said, “Honestly, this store could run itself without a manager.”

Corporate had sprung the one-on-ones on us with little notice, likely hoping we wouldn’t have time to prepare for them as we had for the store meetings. As one of my co-workers put it, Starbucks separated us to try to “level the playing field.”

They didn’t take into account the months of long hours we’ve worked together day after day, struggling together to successfully run a busy store with the few resources the company chooses to give us. In the nearly three years I’ve worked at Starbucks, the resourcefulness and teamwork I’ve seen in my co-workers have been truly staggering.

Unfortunately for corporate, Hopewell baristas had built such solidarity and trust—through the shared obstacles and stress Starbucks itself has put us through—that we were already ready.

Sara Mughal is a shift supervisor and member of Starbucks Workers United at the Hopewell Starbucks in Pennington, New Jersey. All other Starbucks workers’ names used in this article are pseudonyms to protect them from increasingly bold and aggressive retaliation by the company.

Deborah Birx’s Excruciating Story of Donald Trump’s Covid Response

THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK ABOUT THE TRUMP REGIME 

“Silent Invasion,” an insider’s look at the Trump administration’s pandemic policies, is earnest and exhaustive, our reviewer says.

Deborah Birx looks on at a Trump new conference, July 23, 2020.

Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times


By David Quammen

21/04/2022

SILENT INVASION: The Untold Story of the Trump Administration, Covid-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It’s Too Late
By Deborah Birx

On March 2, 2020, Dr. Deborah Birx took up her new position as coronavirus response coordinator within the White House Coronavirus Task Force. She was fresh off a plane from South Africa, where she had been busy in her sixth year as the global AIDS coordinator for the United States, overseeing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a well-regarded and efficacious initiative begun by George W. Bush. The word “coordinator” is an equivocal title under the best of bureaucratic circumstances, let alone in the Trump White House, and amid the urgency of this new pandemic, arising to occlude the older one (AIDS), Birx had no time or opportunity to define the title before assuming it. She had said yes to “a job I didn’t seek but felt compelled to accept,” she recounts in “Silent Invasion.” She wasn’t the chair of this White House task force; Alex Azar, the secretary of Health and Human Services, held that position until he was replaced after one month by Vice President Pence. Birx had an office in the West Wing but almost no staff, and her only leverage was persuasion. Her account of how that played out — it’s no spoiler to say, how poorly that played out — is earnest, exhaustive and excruciating.

A representative point of inflection occurred within her first week. She sat in a meeting, prepared to hear Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, present detailed data showing where the virus was in America at that point — data that, she assumed, would be specific to counties, municipalities and ZIP codes, and would include positive test rates and hospitalization rates, so that efforts could be focused against localized outbreaks and projections could be made as to where the disease might explode next. What she and her colleagues got was a one-page C.D.C. handout, lacking any granular detail. “I pressed the flats of my hands into my eyes and shook my head,” she tells us. “I had expected something very different.” Advanced data-reporting structures and procedures, such as she and her PEPFAR team had helped African nations develop over years, did not exist in the United States, though they would be badly needed within the coming days. It wasn’t the last time Birx would deliver a face-palm reaction, literally or figuratively, to her new colleagues and bosses.
“I looked down at my feet and wished for two things: something to kick,” she writes, “and for the floor to open up and swallow me whole.”

She did that to Trump himself, somewhat more discreetly, on April 23, 2020, as she sat against a side wall in the White House briefing room while he extolled, before assembled reporters, the idea of using disinfectant chemicals taken internally as a possible treatment against the virus. Did he propose that Americans drink bleach? It wasn’t clear that he didn’t. If such disinfectants could kill SARS-CoV-2 on a tabletop, as Trump had been told, why not? “Knocks it out in a minute,” he said. “One minute.” So perhaps the doctors should try injection. “It would be interesting to check that,” the president opined, with no sign of joking (as he claimed later). Birx froze, hands clenched on her lap. You can see her there even now, in video preserved on YouTube. “I looked down at my feet and wished for two things: something to kick,” she writes, “and for the floor to open up and swallow me whole.”

By that date, she and her more reliable colleagues on the task force, the physicians Redfield and Anthony Fauci, had achieved something useful: persuading the president to countenance a 15-day partial shutdown recommendation, then a 30-day extension, under the slogan “Stop the Spread”; the government seemed to be taking the viral threat seriously. “The president’s disinfectant remark could unravel all that,” Birx recalls thinking, “and at the worst possible time.” When Trump turned to her for comment on the potential benefits of disinfectant, and also of some form of sterilizing light — sunlight or beams of pure UV radiation or who knows — she answered, “Not as a treatment.” Birx didn’t, as she had hoped, vanish through the floor, but she did vanish from the flow chart of White House influence around that time. The daily news conferences ended, and she found herself marginalized throughout the rest of her tenure as task force coordinator — right up until Jan. 19, 2021. Why did she remain in the job? Because Trump and his political advisers didn’t want to fire her, which could have caused some bad publicity during an election year, and she didn’t want to quit. “I am not a quitter,,” she writes, one of many self-testimonials with which she bolsters herself throughout the book.

Instead, she began a series of low-profile trips outside the Beltway, flying into various states with her trusted data maven Irum Zaidi, renting a car (evidently) to make connections and dropping in on governors, universities, public health officials and local media outlets, from Arizona to Florida to New Hampshire; eventually she visited 44 states. During these visits, she sounded three themes repeatedly, as she sounds them over and over again in this book: the need for more Covid testing, especially “sentinel testing” of young people reporting no symptoms, who nonetheless could be infected and transmitting the virus among their families and communities; more masking by everybody; and more social distancing, especially by avoidance of large indoor gatherings.

These three basic forms of intervention, Birx argued tirelessly — first in the White House, then on her road trips and as she continues to argue now, amid the Omicron phase of the pandemic — are essential, though not sufficient, defenses against a virus as insidious as this one. To presume that vaccines have now solved the problem totally is a mistake, she stresses, because of the lingering unknowns (how long will vaccine-induced immunity last? how many humans will remain unvaccinated? what fresh hell might new variants bring?) and the formidable capacity of this virus to change and adapt. Her three cornerstone measures — the continued sentinel testing, plus the resumption of masking and the avoidance of indoor gatherings whenever surges return — will remain necessary, she warns, so long as the virus remains capable of that one nefarious trick: transmission from asymptomatic but infected people. In plainer words, silent spread. That’s the silent invasion of her title.

Although her time within the Trump White House was in most ways an agonizing debacle, Birx makes a good case that her efforts there, in partnership with Fauci and Redfield and Stephen Hahn of the F.D.A. and a few other science-minded colleagues, plus support from Mike Pence (of whom she speaks well), yielded some significant mitigation of the national catastrophe. The disease professionals cared more about what their data said than what the election polls or the market indexes did, and they tried to apply that flow of data (always insufficient, for shortage of testing and of genome sequencing to detect variants) to stopping the virus, which is what made them unpopular in the West Wing — what caused an ignorant and self-absorbed president to close his mind and turn away. Birx’s final act as the coronavirus response coordinator, as she saw National Guard forces mustered in Washington’s streets to help keep order during the Biden-Harris inauguration, was to recommend testing those crowded, tent-dwelling troops.

“In far too many ways, we were all being tested,” she notes wryly. More than 370,000 Americans died of Covid-19 during 2020, but without the insistent, politically naïve (by her own account) and epidemiologically sophisticated voice of Deborah Birx on the inside during much of that time, and out on the hustings for the rest of it, the toll would probably have been even worse. She was given an impossible task, and she did not fail completely. It sounds like a noble epitaph in a sorry time.

David Quammen’s forthcoming book is “Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus.” HE IS AUTHOER OF SPILLOVER ZOONOTIC  PANDEMICS

Ottawa feared repeat of 2020 rail blockades before B.C. pipeline arrests last fall, documents show

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RCMP's situation report flagged references to 'war' against

 police

The Canadian Press · Posted: Apr 21, 2022 8:10 AM PT | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

Police officers guard the railway tracks in Toronto after they were blocked by supporters of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation hereditary chiefs, who are fighting the construction of TC Energy Corp's Coastal GasLink pipeline in B.C., on Nov. 21. (Chris Helgren/REUTERS)

Federal officials feared a repeat of the 2020 rail blockades one month before RCMP enforced an injunction last fall against protests that cut off access to a pipeline construction site in northern British Columbia, according to documents obtained through an access-to-information request.

There was also concern that people from other demonstrations over Indigenous land rights had travelled to the site, including "Mohawk warriors."

Details of the rising tensions around construction of the 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline are contained in briefing notes prepared for federal officials ahead of a meeting with RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki.

The documents were released to The Canadian Press through federal access-to-information legislation.

• Prosecutors asked to consider criminal contempt charges for Coastal GasLink protesters

They outline how Lucki requested the Oct. 19 meeting with department heads of Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations to discuss the "recent escalation" of protests to the natural gas pipeline under construction in Wet'suwet'en territory.

Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs have opposed the pipeline for years, while 20 First Nations band councils along the pipeline route have signed off on the project.

Those opposed to the pipeline have set up blockades along forest service roads to stop workers from getting through and have been confronted by police and court injunctions granted to its owner, TC Energy.

Wet'suwet'en members and supporters were arrested last fall after allegedly breaching the terms of an injunction obtained by Coastal GasLink. (Layla Staats)

The briefing notes show federal officials were watching the situation carefully last October after they noted activity was once again picking up.

"Small-scale protests have been held in recent days in various parts of the country in support of the hereditary chiefs. There is a risk that protest activities could spread and possibly escalate to levels seen in early 2020,'' officials wrote.

In February 2020 — weeks before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the country into its first lockdown — protesters began blocking rail and other major transportation routes in support of those arrested by RCMP in northern B.C., as officers enforced the court injunction prohibiting people from blocking access to Coastal GasLink's construction sites.

A supporter of Wet'suwet'en hereditary chief waves a Mohawk Warrior Society flag during a protest that closed the Bloor Viaduct in Toronto on Dec. 19. (Kyaw Soe Oo/REUTERS)

One of the most concerning blockades for governments and industry took place on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory along a stretch of Canadian National rail line between Montreal and Toronto. Police ultimately cleared the site in late February after train traffic had been ground to a halt for several weeks.

Last October, a document titled "Royal Canadian Mounted Police Situation Report" provided ahead of the meeting with Lucki identified the presence of someone associated with the Tyendinaga blockade travelling to northern B.C., along with four others from Ontario and some U.S. citizens.

"One was involved in the Six Nations protest in Ontario known as '1492 Landback Lane,''' the report read. There were also "references to 'war' against police.''

"With the latest update and the alleged involvement of members of the Mohawk Nation from Ontario, there is a very likely chance for violence and disruptive sympathy actions across Canada similar or greater than those seen in early 2020.''

• Royal Bank defends funding B.C.'s Coastal GasLink pipeline despite environmental concerns

• CN won't pursue contempt charges over Gitxsan rail blockade in northern B.C.

About a month after the Oct. 19 meeting, RCMP cleared another round of blockades set up by members of the Gidimt'en clan, one of five in the Wet'suwet'en Nation. A photojournalist and documentary filmmaker were among those arrested at the site.

In February, RCMP responded to reports of damaged equipment and an attack on security guards at a construction site for the pipeline. Before getting there, the Mounties said officers were stopped on the road by a fire as a group of people allegedly threw flaming sticks at them.

Since then, RCMP have stepped up their presence at a camp on the forest service road leading to the pipeline construction site, with officers visiting between four and eight times daily for the last six weeks, said Sleydo', a spokesperson for the group organizing the blockades.

"Their main goal is to try to remove us from the territory, to make it so uninhabitable and unbearable that we won't be on the territory anymore. And that's just not something that's going to happen," said Sleydo', who also goes by the English name Molly Wickham.

"We're going to continue occupying our territory and upholding our laws."

• Court injunction in Coastal GasLink conflict sidesteps deeper legal issues, critics say

Asked about the use of the term "war'' mentioned in the federal briefing documents, Sleydo' said it's "absolutely fitting for what we've been experiencing.''

"There are helicopters flying over, there are tactical teams, there are canine units — like, it is war. And the way that colonization has happened in our territories ... and the use of the RCMP by the government has been war.''

RCMP said Wednesday that they've maintained a presence along the forest service road since 2019 and increased patrols around the industry and "other camps" along the route following the confrontation in February.

"We want to ensure that Criminal Code offences (obstruction, mischief, etc.) are not being committed and that individuals with court-ordered conditions are not breaching those conditions," Cpl. Madonna Saunderson said in a statement.

"Officers have encountered several individuals believed to be on conditions and [who] refused to remove full-face coverings. They were arrested for obstruction but released without charges once identification was confirmed.''

The hereditary chiefs and their supporters say the elected band councils have jurisdiction over their reserve lands, but not over 22,000 square kilometres of Wet'suwet'en territory that has never been surrendered.

"The highest courts in Canada have recognized that it's the hereditary chiefs that have jurisdiction and that have title," said Sleydo'.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires governments to obtain free, prior and informed consent before taking actions that affect Indigenous Peoples and their lands, she noted.

B.C. passed legislation in late 2019 requiring the province to align its laws with the declaration, a process that will take years to complete.

The federal government passed similar legislation last year.

Whitby Abbey seeks budding bloodsuckers to break vampire record

English Heritage announce bid to stage world’s largest gathering of people dressed as a vampire at site that inspired Bram Stoker

Staff at Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire appealed to the public to help them break the record. Photograph: English Heritage

Mark Brown

North of England correspondent

Wed 20 Apr 2022 

You will need black shoes, black trousers or skirt, a white shirt, waistcoat and a black cape. Fangs on the upper teeth are compulsory, pallid skin helpful and a murderous demeanour optional.

English Heritage has announced plans to break a world record few knew needed breaking: it wants to stage the world’s largest gathering of people dressed as a vampire.


The setting will be Whitby Abbey, the dramatically atmospheric 13th century gothic abbey that helped inspire Bram Stoker to write the classic novel which this year is 125 years old.

Mark Williamson, site manager for the Abbey, said every generation had their own Dracula or vampire, whether it was Christopher Lee in the 1950s and 60s Hammer horror films, Wesley Snipes as Blade or Robert Pattinson as the sensitive blood-sucker in Twilight.

“Everyone has their own vampire and people come every year to Whitby and the abbey in their thousands,” he said. “It feels like a spiritual home to Dracula.”

It was in Whitby that Stoker soaked up the atmosphere that would be a key part of the novel’s success including the dramatic abbey ruins, the innocent tourists, the beautiful harbour and salty tales from gnarled local folk.

A trip to the town’s public library led to Stoker coming across a book published in 1820 by William Wilkinson, An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia: With Various Political Observations Relating to Them. In there was a story of a 15th-century prince called Vlad Tepes, said to impale his enemies on wooden stakes. He was known as Dracula.

Whitby is attempting to surpass a record set at an amusement park in Doswell, Virginia. Photograph: English Heritage

Whitby is attempting to surpass a record set at an amusement park in Doswell, Virginia, on 30 September 2011, when 1,039 vampire impersonators gathered as part of a Halloween event.

It has been a surprisingly tricky record to surpass. A 2019 attempt outside a church in Dublin failed, as did one in 2013 in West Sussex.

Organisers of the West Sussex bid blamed too many vampires wearing non-regulation shoes. “The criteria is really, really tight, so we fell short,” one said.

English Heritage obviously need to get 1,040 certified vampires to the record attempt on 26 May but Williamson said he hoped to get 1,897, marking the year Dracula was first published.

“That’s the dream of dreams and I think we can do it.”

There are criteria for what counts as looking like a vampire and adjudicators will be there to judge whether each person makes the cut.

For some, the cape will be the stumbling block. Who on earth has a cape? “I’ve got two,” said Williamson. “I happen to live with a costume historian so I’ve got one from the 1840s. I’ve got to, haven’t I? I’ve got to do it right.”