Union membership is a worker’s best protection against corporate power.  For this reason many companies will use tactics that are dishonest at best, and sometimes criminal, to keep unions out. Where unions are present, many employers shamefully attempt to break the will of workers before granting even nominal concessions through collective bargaining. This page is meant to be a resource for our brothers and sisters involved in these struggles to get the message out, and for all others to become aware and involved in the fight. Please visit often to stay aware of updates on contract negotiations, strikes, organizing drives and other actions for local, national and international campaigns.

If you are currently involved in a struggle with a company, or know of a bad corporate citizen that we have missed, please submit your story to jdrinkwater@massaflcio.org:

The Boston Globe
New York Times Co., which owns the Boston Globe, is outsourcing about 50 jobs to India in an effort to cut costs. More than 120 workers have been laid off in total because of this cost cutting scheme.

Burger King
In the world of low-wage work that is the fast food restaurant industry, Burger King has established itself as hardest chain to budge on workers rights.

Circuit City
In March 2007, Circuit City fired 3,400 workers nationwide because they had risen too high on the wage scale.  They were offered to reapply for their old jobs at a lower wage. 

Clear Channel
In March 2007, twenty seven Clear Channel billboard workers in Massachusetts went on strike in response to a unilateral pay cut and extended hours. Clear Channel has flown in scabs from Florida and Georgia to permanently replace the striking workers. 

Coca-Cola
The world's largest distributer of soda has piled up a long list of workers' rights violations around the world. The intimidation and murder of union supporters at Colombian Coca-Cola plants makes the low wages around the world almost pale in comparison.

Comcast
One of the most vehemently anti-union companies in the United States; only 2% of Comcast's 90,000 employees have union representation. The company is concerned only with the bottom line and profits. Perhaps they could increase their profits by reducing CEO Brian Roberts’ $27.8 million dollar salary? 

Enterprise Rent-a-Car
Enterprise workers in Boston who are seeking union representation were told that their jobs were being outsourced after they filed a petition for an NLRB election. 

FedEx
FedEx considers its Home Delivery drivers “independent contractors”, which means that the company does not have to pay benefits and taxes. The NLRB has ruled against this classification several times, recently in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but the company continues to fight it tooth and nail.

Foxwoods
A majority of the 2,600 dealers at the casino voted Yes in favor of joining the UAW, making this the first union in the country to be established at a tribal casino by a contested vote. However, Foxwoods still denies that the NLRB has the jurisdiction to hold an election on tribal land, and will put up a legal fight.

General Electric
General Electric has a new campaign to sell their new longer lasting, more environmentally friendly light bulb.  All of that sounds well and good except these bulbs are produced exclusively in China and threaten to put American workers out of work.

Goodyear Tire and Rubber
The Supreme Court recently ruled that despite paying Lilly Ledbetter less than her male counterparts for 19 years, Goodyear is not required to compensate her. Just after the unfair ruling, the company sent Lilly a bill for their legal expenses.

Idearc Media
The company entered contract negotiations with CWA Locals 1301 and 1302 and IBEW Local 2213 in April 2007, and without bargaining in good faith, declared an impasse and unilaterally implemented an unfair offer in November. Now Idearc routinely breaks the contract which they imposed.

Mercedes
At the only non-union Mercedes or Chrysler plant in the world, employers put down a union organizing campaign by secretly monitoring pro-union employees and spreading lies about the IAM union which they attempted to join. 

Smithfield
The world’s largest producer of pork is also one of the most dangerous and exploitative workplaces in the country. The story of their plant in Tar Heel N.C. is simply appalling, and is a true glimpse of how far some corporations are willing to go to make profits.

Starbucks
Workers at four Manhattan Starbucks coffee shops have attempted to join the Industrial Workers of the World, and have experienced union-busting on par with some of the worst offenders in the country. This is surprising, coming from a company with a reputation as a model employer in the food service industry. 

Toyota
Workers at a Toyota plant in Kentucky want union representation because they say the company is increasingly hiring part-time workers, which drives down wages and benefits for full-time workers. 

Transportation Security Adminstration
The Bush administration and Senate Republicans have singlehandedly taken away the bargaining rights for Airport Baggage Screeners and denied them union representation in The American Federation of Government Employees.  

Verizon
Verizon is attempting to sell its interests in rural areas of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to the non-union company Fairpoint Commmunications. If the sale goes through, good union jobs could be lost and the internet infrastructure will suffer, leaving these rural areas behind in economic development. 

Verizon Business
Verizon Business Technicians in New England and New York, formerly MCI/Worldcom Techs, are not allowed the same union representation as their counterparts at Verizon. A majority of workers have signed up to join a union, but Verizon Business has chosen not to recognize their will.  

Wal-Mart
The largest employer in the United States has over 3,900 stores and 1.4 million workers, and not one is represented by a union. Low wages, poor healthcare, and general mistreatment is what you can expect as a Wal-Mart employee.