This Labor Day sees jump in union activity - September 2, 2022

The National Labor Relations Board recommended that tech giant Amazon’s objections to votes by the Amazon Labor Union be blocked, a win for workers in what is so far, the only successful union push seen at an Amazon warehouse in the U.S. Amazon is among companies like Starbucks, Trader Joe’s and Apple, which have all faced union battles with workers over the past year. This year’s Labor Day, for the first time in almost 25 years, is seeing a significant increase in union elections – a number that has declined longterm since the 1970s. Megacorpations, especially in retail and tech, have long kept out unions, but support among employees is surging. Off-duty pilots representing six U.S. airlines are planning an “informational” picket line Thursday at airports nationwide to demand better working conditions ahead of the busy Labor Day weekend. Pilots say improving their work conditions is key to assuaging the travel woes that passengers have experienced this year – in the first half of the year, on-time arrival rates dropped for nearly every major airline and customer complaints surged. Lufthansa canceled 800 flights Friday after pilots of Germany’s biggest carrier staged a strike over better pay. State and federal officials, along with voting rights advocates, are sounding the alarm over a growing exodus of local election officials ahead of the November midterms. In Kentucky, 23 of the state’s 120 county election clerks opted not to seek reelection this year and officials in Texas have seen a 30% turnover among their election officials since 2020. Election officials often deal with long work hours, staff shortages, limited resources and abusive phone calls – issues that some say have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Twitter announced plans to roll out a highly-requested edit button to paying Twitter Blue subscribers later this month but notes the feature will only be available for 30 minutes after posting a tweet. Twitter has struggled to monetize on its platform – its tip jar feature launched in 2021 never too