Hartford Business Journal

20 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | DECEMBER 5, 2022 The Teamsters local 671 in Bloomfield recently unionized bus monitors and mechanics at First Student in Manchester, and monitors and drivers at the same company's New Britain operation. The moves are part of a nationwide uptick in unionization activity in Connecticut and nationwide. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Organized Labor Heightened unionization activity creates challenges for CT employers By Harriet Jones Hartford Business Journal Contributor A nthony Lepore said when he began organizing school bus drivers 20 years ago, their working conditions were tough. "For the longest time it was just pretty much a throwaway job. They were probably one of the lowest-paid service providers in any field, anywhere," said Lepore, the secretary treasurer and principal officer of Teamsters, local 671 in Bloomfield. "They were around minimum wage to $10 an hour," he added. "They received no sick time, no bereave- ment pay, no health care, no retire- ment, any of that stuff. So we really started from the bottom up." Just in the last two months, Lepore's union has announced orga- nizing three more bus yard teams – bus monitors and mechanics at First Student in Manchester, and monitors and drivers at the same company's New Britain operation. Overall, the Teamsters now represent some 2,300 school bus workers in the state, at 42 different locations – about a quarter of the total workforce. A Gallup poll taken this summer showed that public approval of unions stands at 71%. That's the highest the polling organization has measured since the mid-1960s. And while union membership has been on an overall downward trend for decades, 2022 has proved to be unusually strong for union organizing and recruitment. An analysis by Bloomberg Law shows that nationally by the mid-point of this year, unions had won more than 640 representation elections that went before the National Labor Relations Board, by far the highest total since 2005. The surge in union interest presents challenges for Connecticut businesses. The percentage of workers who belong to a union in the state has typically run above the national average, in part because of Connecti- cut's labor laws and traditionally strong organizing in the state's advanced manufacturing base. 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. But this year interest is demon- strably extending beyond union strongholds, with organizing campaigns succeeding among employees as diverse as school bus drivers, Starbucks baristas and university student workers. COVID-era impact In June, employees at a Starbucks at Corbins Corner in West Hartford became the first in the state to vote to unionize, joining a national wave of worker organizing at the coffee chain. A location in Vernon followed in July. Travis Glenney, who's been working at the West Hartford store for more than a decade, was one of those who voted to unionize. "The straw that broke the camel's back is the COVID situation," he said. "A lot of the employees felt that they were not being treated with the respect that we deserved." He said while Starbucks has committed to raise its starting wage to $15 an hour, that's not a living wage for more expensive parts of the country like Connecticut. AFL-CIO Secretary General Ed Hawthorne confirms that the fluidity of the labor market in the COVID era has reinforced the need for orga- nizing for some workers. "We all remember the Great Resig- nation," he said. "So, people quit their job, they got another job, and they realized it was the same as the last job they just quit. In order to make the job better, they need a voice. And that's why we're seeing the uptick at the interest in unions." Meanwhile, challenging times in higher education have prompted organizing on college campuses, including student workers at Wesleyan University in Middletown and Yale in New Haven. New legislation Connecticut labor advocates this year also saw long-sought success at the legislative level, finally managing to pass so-called captive audience legislation after more than a decade of trying. The statute specifies that an employer cannot compel an employee to attend a meeting where union organizing is discussed. Union leaders see this as a powerful tool to

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