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The president of Microsoft wrote in a blog post last week that the software giant will not discourage its employees from forming unions.
“Recent unionization campaigns across the country—including in the tech sector have led us to conclude that inevitably these issues will touch on more businesses, potentially including our own,” Brad Smith, the president, wrote in a blog post, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The paper pointed out that tech companies across the U.S. have been faced with the push by employees to form unions and Microsoft’s decision to openly support unionizations seems to be an attempt to “carve out a position” for the company “distinct from other tech giants.”
The Trends Journal has reported extensively on the push to unionize across the U.S. after the coronavirus outbreak as workers were stuck in menial, low-paying jobs with no room for career growth, while the companies they work for pulled in record profits. Unionization was named a TOP TREND FOR 2022. (See “POLITICO JOURNALISTS FORM UNION. A TREND OF THE TIMES,” “WORKER ON DEMAND: STRIKING KELLOGG’S WORKERS SECURE PAY INCREASE,” “STARBUCKS UNIONIZATION: 2022 TOP TREND ON THE RISE” and “AMAZON UNIONIZATION” 2022 TOP TREND ON THE RISE.”)
Data provided by the Labor Department found that the labor market was the tightest it has been in over a decade. There are 0.5 unemployed people for every one job opening as of March.
Microsoft also said that it believes that workers will “never need to organize” to urge executives at the company to meet their needs.
“None of us ever knows precisely what challenges the future will bring,” Smith wrote. “But we’re willing to bet that a company that listens to and works well with its employees is likely to have a winning hand.”
Amazon and Starbucks have been accused of actively trying to stop the formation of unions at their companies. Starbucks was accused by workers on Friday of closing a store in Ithaca, N.Y., that voted in favor of unionization. (The company denied the charge.)
The Leader-Telegram reported that Microsoft seemed to make the announcement “seemingly unprompted.” A spokesperson told the paper that the company is not aware of any active union campaigns and did not elaborate on why the company issued a statement.
The paper did point out that Microsoft hopes to acquire Activision Blizzard that has a small union. (See “ACTIVISION STUDIO WILL FORM A UNION, SOLIDIFYING TRENDS JOURNAL FORECAST.”)
TREND FORECAST: When the COVID War began in 2020, there was never an expectation of the combination of an employee shortage, spiking inflation and worker strikes.
Indeed, just the opposite was expected. After being cooped up, locked down, and out of work, when there was a ceasefire in the COVID War, the workers were expected to rush back to their jobs. As we have detailed, there are several reasons for the falloff: from “No Jab, No Job” employer mandates, not wanting to work at jobs that are unfulfilling and refusing to go to work for a company that pays non-living wages.
The Trends Journal has reported extensively on the country’s shift toward so-called gig economies and cheap labor.
See:
- “SLAVELANDIA: RICH GET RICHER, POOR GET POORER”
- “AMERICA: TAX/AUDIT ‘WE THE PEOPLE,’ NOT BILLIONAIRES”
- “BILLIONAIRES BEAT TAXES: LITTLE PEOPLE PAY”
- “AMERICA’S RICHEST 400 FAMILIES PAY A TINY PERCENT OF FEDERAL INCOME TAX COMPARED TO THE WORKING CLASS.”
And now, with the Bigs in control in virtually every business sector, and no room to move up the corporate or small business ladder, many would rather not work at all than work at a job that pays $15 an hour or less, that will take them nowhere.
Thus, we forecast that unemployment numbers will remain high and hiring difficulties will persist. And, with more companies mandating and/or requiring employees to be vaccinated, this too will add to the job gap.