The Economist - UK (2022-05-28)

36 United States TheEconomistMay28th 2022

Labourunions

The name game

C

hristiansmallsandJazBrisackhave

lived  very  different  lives.  Mr  Smalls

started out as a rapper and worked in a se­

ries of jobs in retail before joining Amazon

as a warehouse picker in 2015. He was fired

in 2020 for leading a staff walkout, and he

went on to found the Amazon Labour Un­

ion (alu). Ms Brisack won a Rhodes schol­

arship  to  the  University  of  Oxford,  then

moved to Buffalo, New York, to work on a

union  campaign,  but  soon  took  a  job  at

Starbucks.  Eight  months  later  she  helped

to  found  Starbucks  Workers  United

(sbwu).  Despite  their  different  routes,  Mr

Smalls  and  Ms  Brisack  are  the  faces  of

America’s changing labour movement.

sbwuunionised the first Starbucks café

last  December:  more  than  90  have  fol­

lowed. In April the aluwon an unexpected

victory  at  jfk8,  an  Amazon  warehouse  in

Staten Island, New York, to form the com­

pany’s  first  union  in  America.  President

Joe Biden has met Mr Smalls and told him:

“You’re  my  kind  of  trouble.”  One  reason

these  unions  have  found  success  is  that

they  have  chosen  to  focus  on  organising

workers  within  single  firms  rather  than

those across an entire industry.

Their names tell the story. Older unions

have  often  had  long  names  that  describe

their  sectors—sometimes  a  mouthful

(such  as  the  Paper,  Allied­Industrial,

Chemical  and  Energy  Workers  Interna­

tional  Union).  This  reflected  their  ambi­

tion. They wanted to win collective agree­

ments covering all workers in an industry,

to drive up wages and improve conditions

across the board. But new unions are shun­

ning complex monikers and using compa­

ny names instead, such as Target Workers

Unite (founded in 2018).

These are independent outfits but some

enjoy the backing of older ones. The sbwu

began  with  Ms  Brisack  secretly  meeting

with Workers United, affiliated to the cen­

tury­old  Service  Employees  International

Union.  Some  16  unions,  including  Alpha­

bet  Workers  Union  and  Medium  Workers

Union, have sprung up since 2020, affiliat­

ed  to  the  Communication  Workers  of

America (formed in 1947). In the media in­

dustry,  New  Yorker  Union  started  in  2018

and Condé Nast Union in March. 

Anastasia  Christman  of  the  National

Employment  Law  Project,  a  think­tank,

suggests that this helps target workers who

lack  experience  of  unions.  Mr  Smalls

sought to distance alufrom Amazon’s at­

temptstopaintestablishedunionsasout­

siders. alu’s name helped to create a

sharedidentityrootedinthewarehouse

andnotina remotesectoralunion.

Usingcompanynamesmakesitharder

forfirmstodistancethemselvesfrom“in­

dependentcontractors”. Instead,through

theirunion’sbranding,workers“insiston

their identity as employees”, argues Ms

Christman. Borrowing their employer’s

brandalsohelpsthemalertconsumersto

theideaitcouldbeassociatedwithlabour

exploitation,saysCatherineFisk,director

oftheBerkeleyCentreforLawandWork.

Howeveritisnotplainsailing.OnMay

2ndAmazonworkersatldj5 warehouse,in

NewYork,votedagainstforminga union.

Andthesbwumayhaveunionised 80 cafés

buttherearesome15,500Starbucksoutlets

in America. Brands—even borrowed

ones—taketimetodevelop. n

New trade unions are successfully

using company brands

Immigrationpolicy

Bordering

on chaos

W

hen yourrivalsstartofferingtheir

sympathies, you know you’re in

trouble.Recently,thishasbeenhappening

toHenryCuellar,a Democraticcongress­

manrepresentingLaredoinsouthTexas,

because of the Biden administration’s

movetoend“Title42”,a border­manage­

menttool.“I’vetalkedtoa lotofRepubli­

cans,andtheysaid,‘Wecannotbelieve,

Henry,thattheWhiteHousehasgivenus

ournarrative’,”hesays.(MrCuellarwasina

toughprimaryelectiononMay24th,with

border policy an animating issue.) The

WhiteHouse’shopeofliftingTitle 42 from

May23rdplayedintotheideathatDemo­

cratsarestokingdisorderattheborder.

Title 42 isa public­healthruleinvoked

inMarch 2020 byDonaldTrump’sadmin­

istrationtocombatthespreadofcovid­19.

It aimedtosealAmerica’sbordersfrommi­

grants,allowingtheimmediateexpulsion

of border­crossers, including asylum­

seekers.Thepolicyhasbeenusedinnearly

1.9minstances.UnderTitle42,Customs

andBorderPatrol(cbp) canrapidlyexpel

certainmigrantstoMexico,insteadofput­

tingthemthroughformaldeportationpro­

ceedings.PresidentJoeBidenhashadto

balanceconcernoverrising numbersof

migrantswithhisdesiretocreatea more

humaneimmigrationsystemandhonour

thelegalrightofpeopletoseekasylum.

OpponentsofendingTitle42,includ­

ingMrCuellar,believeliftingitcouldadd

tothecurrentmigrantsurge(seechart).In

April,cbpapprehendedmigrantsaround

234,000timesatthesouthernborder,the

most in more than 22 years. Alejandro

Mayorkas,thesecretaryofhomelandsecu­

rity,hassaidonceTitle 42 isliftedasmany

as18,000adaycouldarrive—morethan

doublethedailyaverageinApril.

A coalitionofRepublicanstatessuedto

blocktheliftingofTitle42,anda federal

judgeruledonMay20ththatit muststayin

place.TheWhiteHouseisgoingtoappeal

against thejudge’s ruling. According to

AaronReichlin­MelnickoftheAmerican

Immigration Council, a think­tank,“It’s

exceedinglyunlikelythatTitle 42 isended

before themid­term elections.” He pre­

dictsthattheSupremeCourtcouldulti­

matelytakeit upnextyear.

Designedasapublic­healthmeasure,

Title 42 isflawedasa border­management

tool.Migrantsdonotfacechargesforre­

peatedentry,astheywouldiftheywere

processedundernormalimmigrationlaw.

This encourages repeated attempts to

cross.Recidivismsurgedfrom11%in 2018

to27%in2021,inflatingthenumberofap­

prehensionsthatcbpreports.“Hastama­

ñana,”onemanrecentlytolda borderoffi­

cial,ashewasabouttobeexpelled.

Themeasurehascontributedtowildly

differentoutcomesattheborder,depend­

ingona migrant’snationality.Mexicoac­

ceptsbackMexicans,Guatemalans,Hon­

duransandSalvadoransremovedunderTi­

tle42,butnotmostothers.Withouttheca­

pacitytosendthesemigrantshome,cbp

oftenreleasesthemintoAmerica.Atfirst,

Title 42 “slowedpeoplefromcoming”,but

it“madebordermanagementlesspredict­

ableandthereforegavepeoplehopeofget­

tingin”,saysAndrewSeleeoftheMigra­

tionPolicyInstitute,anotherthink­tank.

MoraleamongBorderPatrolofficersis

thelowestithasbeeninatleast 25 years,

says Richard Douglas, who formerly

workedforcbpandnowrunssecurityfor

theEastFoundation,whichownsranch­

landinsouthTexas.Around60%ofcbp

agentshavebeenassignedtoprocessmi­

grants,takingthemawayfromfieldwork.

MCALLEN,TEXAS

Thefuroreover“Title42”highlights

America’sbrokenimmigrationsystem

Coming to America

United States, border encounters

By demographic, ’000

Source:DepartmentofHomelandSecurity

200

150

100

50

0

22201816142012

Single adults

Family

units

Unaccompanied

children