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18 n e w h a v e n B I Z | S e p t e m b e r 2 0 2 2 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m 0 5% 10% 15% 20% '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '21 % of CT workforce in a union first union take shape in the New England region: Trader Joe's workers in Hadley, Mass., voted in July to become the first of the grocer's more than 500 locations to unionize. In Connecticut, the national upsurge in union activity has played out mostly with national companies. Starbucks workers at stores in both Vernon and West Hartford voted to support a union this summer, and are awaiting contracts. In 2021, 14.6% of the state's 1.5 million workers — or about 223,000 people — were union members, and 16.3% of the state's labor force was represented by unions, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Texas-based Avelo Airlines, which established Tweed New Haven Airport as its East Coast hub in November 2021, found itself in the crosshairs of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) union when its West Coast flight attendants started organizing. In a news release, AFA President Sara Nelson accused Avelo of mounting "an aggressive anti-union campaign." On April 13, the National Mediation Board ruled that a majority of eligible workers had voted to join the union and contract negotiations began. New Haven's largest home-grown employers, Yale University and Yale New Haven Health, have taken an oppositional stance to unions in the past and continue to fight organizing efforts. Even so, hundreds rallied on Yale's campus in April in support of graduate students, who formed a union decades ago that the university has so far refused to recognize. e university's public statements at the time of the rally focused on improved pay and benefits for graduate students, including stipend increases set to kick in this fall to help students deal with rising costs due to inflation. According to Yale spokesperson Karen Peart, stipends for Ph.D. By Liese Klein A s a new barista at New Haven's Graduate New Haven hotel in November 2021, 19-year- old Esme Gutierrez would sometimes work nine days in a row as the hotel struggled to staff shis in the wake of the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. "I was extremely tired," said Gutierrez, who took the position at the boutique hotel to be closer to her New Haven home. "I wanted this job for a better life, because it was more convenient for me. But at first, it was just a really bad experience." Managers at the hotel were just as overwhelmed, so Gutierrez started talking to a coworker who had a potential solution: Graduate workers could form a union and demand better conditions. She hadn't considered unionization as an option prior to those conversations. "Aer hearing what exactly a union was and understanding how much it could actually benefit me, I was like, 'Yeah, why wouldn't I want this?' " Gutierrez said. She started helping to organize the hotel's workers by getting to know staffers in the housekeeping and front desk departments and listening to their concerns. On July 28, hotel workers joined with representatives of the UNITE HERE! labor union on the New Haven Green to announce they had signed a three-year contract with the Graduate New Haven. Part of a Nashville-based chain of academic-themed boutique properties, the hotel voluntarily chose to recognize the employee union, which covers workers in both public- facing and housekeeping roles. "We're so excited about this contract at the Graduate – it is a really amazing victory," said Hannah Schmitt, an organizer in New Haven with UNITE HERE!. "e company really did the right thing in sitting down to negotiate in good faith. We hope that will be an example to other hotel owners." Uptick in union activity e Graduate's unionization reflects a larger trend: e National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reported in July that the number of union representation petitions filed jumped 58% in the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period in 2021. Unfair labor practice charges filed with the NLRB also increased 16% year over year. Workers seeking to form unions must first file with an NLRB field office, which determines if it will conduct an election to allow employees to decide whether or not they wish to be represented by a union. Under the Biden administration, the NLRB has been more active on the side of unions and was seen as playing a key role in recent successful union drives at Amazon. e online retailer agreed to a critical settlement with the NLRB late last year that would allow workers to organize inside Amazon facilities. e NLRB also filed in federal court in May seeking the reinstatement of seven Starbucks workers fired for union activity in Tennessee. Another national chain has seen its F O C U S : L a w Union Divide Younger workers take to labor organizing as employers struggle to keep pace with regulations Union membership in CT Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Jason R. Stanevich, a shareholder at employment law firm Littler, says labor activity has reached new highs in recent months and warns employers to seek advice as soon as they learn of union organizing in their company. PHOTO | GARY LEWIS

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