Union Organizing in the United States

Overview

• Union organizing is a challenging and ongoing struggle in the United States, especially against large companies like Starbucks.
• Strong unions are critical for rebuilding the middle class.

Importance of Salting

• Salting: A strategy where individuals get hired by a company with the intent to organize a union from within.
• Seen as highly effective because it's often kept secret until a significant number of employees are on board.
• Companies view salts as infiltrators and dislike them intensely.

Decline in Union Membership

• The percentage of the private sector organized by labor unions has significantly decreased.
• Recent years have shown a shift with union victories at major companies like Amazon, Trader Joe's, Apple, Chipotle, REI, and Starbucks.

Salting Strategy

• Salting has been a tactic used for over a century, originally derived from 'salting the mine' with gold dust to deceive buyers.
• Involves presenting oneself as an ideal employee to get hired and gain trust among co-workers.

Personal Motivation

• Personal stories, like one of a worker whose mother in the service industry suffered due to lack of healthcare, fuel motivation to salt and organize.

Execution of Salting

• Salts get hired and then build relationships and trust to organize workplaces effectively.
• Training includes learning job-specific skills like Starbucks drink recipes to ensure competence and build credibility.
• Salting is undergoing a resurgence in the U.S., seen as a powerful tool across various industries.

Challenges and Goals

• Despite successes in organizing, securing collective bargaining agreements remains a challenge.
• The ultimate aim is to unionize every company to ensure workplaces provide fair wages and benefits.

Conclusion

• Salting is demanding yet impactful, requiring commitment to learn jobs and earn co-workers' trust.
• Unionizing is crucial to improving workplace conditions and ensuring worker rights through contracts.
• The push for better worker treatment continues, emphasizing the necessity of unions in achieving these goals.