Jwhere will Biden tweet his satisfaction, he who promotes trade unionism in the name of defending the middle classes? After employees of Amazon, Starbucks and Activision Blizzard, employees of the Apple store in Grand Central Station, New York, embarked on Monday, April 18, on the path strewn with obstacles of the creation of a union – a first across the Atlantic for the firm at the apple. Grouped under the banner of Workers United, which has successfully supported Starbucks workers, they must collect the signature of at least 30% of their colleagues to be able to claim, then, a vote of approval or rejection of an organization union.
An hourly wage of at least 30 dollars (27.80 euros) and more holidays feature prominently in the demands of employees, hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has wreaked havoc in New York, and by a price spike ” unprecedented “. They want to benefit from the staggering profits of the Cupertino giant, the richest of the world’s companies, which made a profit of 35 billion dollars for the fourth quarter of 2021 alone. Some of the 270 American stores have embarked on the same path, but the initiators of the movement are discreet so as not to lose their jobs.
Threat, blackmail, intimidation
“We recognize the immense bravery that these workers show in defending their rights”, underlines the trade union of the service sector. As if they lived under the rule of Chinese or Burmese dictators. But nothing is gained, and the creation of a trade union does not make the unanimity of the employees. Even at the Amazon JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, in the suburbs of New York, where the yes received 55% of the votes at the beginning of April in a poll marked by a strong abstention.
From 30% in the 1950s, the rate of unionization of Americans fell to 10%. Creating or joining a section is a recognized right, but the threats, blackmail and intimidation preceding a vote by employees cause the overwhelming majority of projects to fail. Initiatives are multiplying, and each new union is a hard-won victory from management preferring, in the words of Apple, a “direct relationship” with the employees.
What can the American president do, if not tirelessly repeat that“there must be no intimidation, no pressure, no threat, no anti-union propaganda”as he said, a year ago, supporting Amazon employees. “No hierarchy should attack employees on their union preference. » The message still goes just as badly in the country of free enterprise, now tormented by the libertarian spirit of Big Tech, where behind each union member hides a dangerous Bolshevik with a knife between his teeth.