![]() To win the election, Moreira and his co-workers also had to overcome an aggressive anti-union campaign targeting their predominantly Spanish-speaking workforce. Their 250-person bargaining unit is one of the biggest victories of blue-collar organizing during the pandemic. In June, 15 months after the walkout, Refresco workers voted 114 – 101 to join the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). Their spontaneous protest quickly blossomed into a full-fledged union drive. Workers at a Perdue chicken plant in Georgia and a meatpacking facility in Nebraska soon followed suit, the food production sector being a particular hotspot for Covid- 19 cases and emergency organizing by a heavily immigrant workforce.īut workers at the Wharton plant didn’t stop there. On March 21, 2020, Moreira and his coworkers walked off the job to demand adequate protections and contact tracing, part of a wave of safety-related stoppages in the first months of the pandemic. In mid-March, as workers at the plant began to call in sick with coronavirus symptoms, Moreira says plant management ignored their concerns and refused to temporarily halt production. That the company would risk the health of its employees to maintain the supply of sugary drinks angered him. Management for Resfresco Beverages Inc., the owner of the plant and one of the largest bottling companies, told workers these operations fell under the umbrella of “essential services.” Moreira was incredulous. During 12-hour shifts, Moreira mixes vats of powdered concentrate and sugar to churn out brand-name beverages like Gatorade and Arizona Iced Tea. The decision was expected to impact union membership across the nation, including in New Jersey.As the spread of Covid- 19 forced millions of workplaces to close in March 2020, Cesar Moreira continued to report to a bottling plant in Wharton, N.J., where he works as a batching technician. AFSCME declared public-sector unions and states that collect fees from non-consenting employees are violating the First Amendment. Increases in median weekly earnings reflect the disproportionately large decline in employment in 2020, notably among lower-paid workers, such as those in the leisure and hospitality industry.”Īmong full-time wage and salary workers in the United States, union members had median usual weekly earnings of $1,144 in 2020, while those who were not union members had median weekly earnings of $958.ĭespite the notes of caution, Friday’s numbers may contain a ray of hope for supporters of organized labor in New Jersey, some of whom have worried about the possible effects of a landmark decision from the U.S. These increases reflect the disproportionately large decline in total wage and salary employment (mostly among nonunion workers) compared with the decline in the number of union members. ![]() The overall union membership rate and the rates by many demographic and employment characteristics increased despite declines in the number of union members. ![]() ![]() Comparisons with union membership measures for earlier years, including metrics such as the union membership rate and the median usual weekly earnings of union members, should be interpreted with caution. “Data on union members for 2020 reflect the impact on the labor market of the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it. ![]()
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