Successful Campaigns

46 days after we took our campaign public, WE ACT for Environmental Justice has agreed to officially recognize our union! This is a huge victory for the program staff at WE ACT! We are deeply grateful for your support. Over 3,100 of you stood with us by signing our petition, and the public attention you helped bring to our campaign was, without a doubt, an important factor in this victory. We hope you'll celebrate your contribution today, and that you'll stay connected with us moving forward. Our next big step is to negotiate with management a fair and just contract that reflects and memorializes the key issues we've been fighting for all along: health, fairness, transparency, accountability, and a voice in the decisions that impact us day to day. If you're on Twitter, check out our page for live updates: twitter.com/weareweact

We won! Thanks to on-the-ground organizing, Amazon has announced they are backing out of their plan to build an “HQ2” in New York City! We showed the world that big business and billionaires can’t buy our city. New York belongs to the many, not the few.

While we were not able to convince FIFA to change the playing surface for the 2015 World Cup, we did succeed in getting FIFA to commit to natural grass for all future Women's World Cups, and we showed the world how professional athletes can ban together to demand that women have access to the same playing conditions as men. Thanks to this global effort, women in professional soccer around the world are demanding more -- and getting it. Let's keep fighting and winning!

We won! Thanks to all the baristas who spoke out, Starbucks is now allowing employees to have pink, purple, and green hair. We did it! https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/07/25/starbucks-allows-pink-hair-fedoras-under-new-dress-code/87538478/

Starbucks announced that it has changed its dress code and will now allow employees to show non-offensive visible tattoos, as long as they are not on the face or throat, effective on Monday, October 20, 2014. I am jumping up and down and am so excited that we can now be more comfortable at work! I'm thrilled that Starbucks listened to feedback from employees like me and has updated its policy. I'm also so thankful to the thousands of baristas and supporters who joined my campaign and shared their stories about why this is important. I never thought my petition on Coworker.org would be signed by so many baristas around the world and it’s great that when we come together, we can make our company better. I’m ecstatic and going out to buy a short sleeve shirt for work right now!

On January 24, 2018, Starbucks announced a new policy related to sick leave: "A new Partner and Family Sick Time benefit will be available to all eligible U.S. partners, which will allow partners to accrue paid sick time based on hours worked and then use them if they or a family member needs care. When this benefit goes into effect this year, Sick Time will accrue at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked, thus a partner working 23 hours a week can expect to accrue approximately five days of sick time benefit over the course of one year." https://news.starbucks.com/press-releases/starbucks-announces-new-investments-in-paid-leave-wage

WE WON! Starbucks announced on January 24, 2018 that it is finally going to offer paid parental leave to all employees. I am so full of love and happiness to know that partners like me will have some protected, paid time to welcome new children to their lives. Starbucks is only one company, but it’s a leader and many other companies follow its example when it comes to how to treat employees. Starbucks is still giving its corporate executives MUCH more parental leave than it gives everyone else (corporate moms still get 3x the leave as baristas, and corporate dads get 2x more) but now, nobody is left out.

After Associates delivered more than 20,000 petition signatures to dozens of stores around the country, Walmart implemented a new process for scheduling shifts. Associates from stores around the U.S. are reporting that when they clock in for a shift, a new screen asks them if they would like more hours. We're told managers are being instructed to provide Associates with more hours when requested. This is a major victory for Walmart Associates who've spent years speaking out about Walmart's scheduling practices, which left many workers without enough hours to pay their bills.

This weekend I got the most exciting email in my inbox: a photo of a flyer explaining Marriott’s brand-new paid family leave policy! It says starting next year, many full-time Marriott employees will get eight weeks of fully paid parental leave for all parents. The new policy includes the same amount of leave for adoptive parents as well as increasing Marriott’s total reimbursement for adoption expenses to $12,000. It’s so important to celebrate every victory we achieve because of the real impact it will have on people’s lives. But we also want to acknowledge that right now, thousands of Marriott employees are on strike demanding better wages, job security, and improved workplace safety. Those employees are not included in this new policy.