Eric Murphy
TruStage workers protest unfair labor practices.
Some called it a “Hot Labor Summer.” The New York Times called it “Labor’s Very Good Year.” In 2023, as about 300,000 workers from autoworkers to Hollywood actors participated in work stoppages, new union activity in Wisconsin also ticked up slightly — but union contracts with concrete gains for Madison workers were tougher to come by.
Excluding Starbucks union election petitions, which have made up a significant fraction of filings in many states in recent years, Wisconsin saw 22 petitions for new union elections in 2023, up from 15 last year, according to records from the National Labor Relations Board. In Madison, workers at Madison Sourdough and the State Street location of Starbucks both voted to form a union this year. Of Madison workers who had the chance to vote on unionization in 2023, 76% voted in favor.
But while workers were more successful starting unions, negotiating an actual contract still proved a major hurdle in Madison this year. Talks stalled at Madison Sourdough and Starbucks as both groups of workers alleged in NLRB filings that their respective companies violated labor law during negotiations.
Workers at TruStage, formerly known as CUNA Mutual and one of Madison’s largest private sector employers, went on strike for two weeks this summer as their negotiations also stalled. Ultimately, after more than a year and a half of negotiations, workers approved a contract in December that provided retroactive raises of more than 15% and future raises averaging more than 3% per year for the next four years.
But Joe Evica, the union’s chief steward who TruStage fired before union workers went on strike, remains in limbo. Kathryn Bartlett-Mulvihill, president of OPEIU Local 39, tells Isthmus Evica’s case has been appealed to the office of the NLRB’s General Counsel and is still being reviewed. The union alleges Evica was fired in retaliation for his union activity, which is illegal under federal labor law.
More than 2,500 UW Health nurses remain in legal limbo, unsure if they will be allowed to officially negotiate a contract under Wisconsin law; a “meet and discuss” agreement that averted a strike last year started to prove ineffective in the eyes of some nurses this year. Nurses say UW Health executives refused to discuss pay in their “meet and discuss” sessions.
This fall, some nurses filed official safety complaints with the state’s Department of Health Services, alleging understaffing, high turnover and burnout, but found no traction. DHS found their claims unsubstantiated in December. The Wisconsin Supreme Court this year also refused to bypass lower courts in determining whether UW Health could bargain with workers directly.
