Union representation is still a major fight for workers in Alabama

The Co-host of The Valley Labor Report, Jacob Morrison, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the union vote at Aerojet Rocketdyne in Huntsville, Ala. Morrison also talked about a fundraising pop-up concert following the surprise closing of a coffee shop in Birmingham, Ala.

At the Aerojet Rocketdyne facility in Huntsville, an internal committee has been working with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers to bring union representation for a few years. During the initial petition for union representation, the committee ran a poll of the workers, and it became apparent there was a lot of work to do to get a pro-union vote. As a result, they pulled the petition and decided to refile after a year. During that time, a mixture of a growing workforce, an anti-union campaign from management and a lack of growth from the internal committee led to a significant loss in the vote for union representation. Morrison discussed the practices used by management to help create doubts related to supporting unionizing and compared it to the recent Starbucks anti-union efforts.

In Birmingham, a relatively popular coffee shop closed overnight without notice to the community or its employees. Morrison pointed to this as an example of the growing trend of retail and service workers seeking union representation, at the very least to provide workers with a layoff procedure that would have provided some closure. Thankfully for the workers, the local community rallied behind them. A local rock band held a pop-up concert where they raised money to be split between the employees. 

Jacob Morrison is co-host of The Valley Labor Report, Alabama’s only union talk radio show. He is the Assistant Vice-President of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1858 and the Secretary-Treasurer of the North Alabama Area Labor Council. To hear more from Jacob and The Valley Labor Report, visit TVLR.fm or find them on social media.

Listen to the entire episode to learn more.