Labor

One of the most important votes of 2021 to date won’t elect a president or a member of parliament. Instead some 5,800 Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, have until next Monday to decide if they want to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Why is this important? Amazon has over 800 warehouses across the U.S. and it employs some 800,000 workers who don’t have the ability to organize collectively for their rights. Read More

Cisco, a major manufacturer of computer networking hardware and software, has been sued by the California Department of Fair Housing and Employment (DFEH) for discriminating against a former South Asian employee whose family is classified as low caste in India and fostering a ‘malicious, fraudulent, and oppressive’ work culture. Read More

Ubisoft Entertainment, publishers of popular video games like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Watch Dogs, has been accused of looking the other way in response to claims of sexual misconduct by senior management at company offices in Canada and France. Read More

Contractors to Boohoo, an ‘ultra fast fashion company,’ have been paying their largely immigrant workforce at sweatshops in Leicester, a city in central England, less than half the UK minimum wage of £8.17 per hour for employees over the age of 25. Read More

Rent the Runway, a high-end U.S. fashion rental business, is forcing their majority immigrant workforce to compromise their health during the coronavirus pandemic, say employees. The company, which ships most of its dresses from New Jersey, has stayed open by exploiting a loophole in the state’s emergency lockdown laws. Read More

Amazon’s relentless expansion around the world has met with serious headwinds in India and in Europe where the company’s aggressive online sales practices are being met with court challenges and government investigations. Read More

Google, the Silicon Valley search giant, has hired IRI consultants, a market research firm notorious for aggressive union busting, likely in response to multiple recent employee protests. In a disturbing move – possibly related - five employees involved in the protests, were recently fired for allegedly breaching data security policies. Read More

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) plans to hold a protest outside the offices of Nelson Peltz, board chair of Wendy’s fast food restaurants from March 15-18. The protest will highlight ongoing human rights abuses faced by the agricultural workers in Mexico who pick tomatoes for the chain. Read More

Drone, Inc. is a guide to the contractors and the technologies used in targeted killing by remotely piloted aircraft operated by the U.S. intelligence agencies and the U.S. military. Read More

"Bitter Grapes-Slavery in the Vineyards," a new television documentary made by Danish journalist Tom Heinemann, alleges that many South African wineries pay their workers less than the legal minimum wage; discourages them from unionizing; and exposes them to toxic pesticides. Top of the list is Robertson's Winery. Read More