Federal officials have joined with the state of Arizona to begin fulfilling a settlement agreement that was reached with the Hopi Tribe nearly three decades ago, marking what tribal officials described as a historic day.
Government attorneys filed condemnation documents on Friday to transfer dozens of square miles of state land into trust for the Hopi. The tribe will compensate the state nearly $4 million for more than 31 square miles (80 square kilometers) of land near Winslow.
It could mark the first of more transfers of land into trust to help eliminate the checkerboard of ownership that characterizes much of the lands used by the tribe for ranching in northeastern Arizona.
Friday's filing was born out of the 1996 passage of the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute Settlement Act, which ratified an agreement between the Hopi and federal government that set conditions for taking land into trust for the tribe.
The wrangling over land in northeastern Arizona has been bitter, pitting the Hopi and the Navajo Nation against one another for generations. The federal government failed in its attempt to have the tribes share land and after years of escalating conflict, Congress in 1974 divided the area and ordered tribal members to leave each other's reservations.
The resulting borders meant the Navajo Nation — the country’s largest reservation at 27,000 square miles — surrounded the 2,500-square-mile Hopi reservation.
Since the 1996 settlement, the Hopi Tribe has purchased private land and sought to take neighboring state lands into trust in hopes of consolidating property for the tribe's benefit.
There have been many roadblocks along the way, including in 2018 when the tribe sought the support of local governments in northern Arizona to back a proposed transfer for land south of the busy Interstate 40 corridor. Those efforts were stymied by the inclusion of national forest tracts in the Flagstaff area.
Hopi Chairman Tim Nuvangyaoma said in a statement Friday that he was grateful for everyone who worked to make the condemnation filing a reality and that the timing for this historic moment was fitting.
“Within Hopi, it is our time of the soyal’ang ceremony — the start of the New Year and the revitalization of life,” he said.
Gov. Katie Hobbs, who first visited the Hopi reservation in 2023, acknowledged that the tribe has been fighting for its rights for decades and that politicians of the past had refused to hear the voices of tribal communities.
“Every Arizonan should have an opportunity to thrive and a space to call home, and this agreement takes us one step closer to making those Arizona values a reality,” she said Friday.
In November, the Navajo Nation signed a warranty deed to take into trust a parcel of land near Flagstaff as part of the federal government’s outstanding obligations to support members of that tribe who were forcibly relocated as a result of the Navajo-Hopi dispute.
Navajo leaders are considering building a casino on the newly acquired land, saying such a project would provide significant economic benefits.
For the Hopi, bringing more land into trust also holds the promise of more economic opportunities. The state lands near Winslow that are part of the condemnation filing are interspersed with Hopi-owned lands and have long been leased to the tribe for ranching and agricultural purposes, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Federal officials said Friday's filing is the first of an anticipated series of condemnation actions that ultimately would result in the transfer of more than 170 square miles (440 square kilometers) of state land into trust for the Hopi Tribe.
FILE - An assortment of corn and seeds and a lightning rod are displayed as part of an agriculture tour on the Hopi reservation in northern Arizona on Jan. 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca, File)
Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract.
The strikes that started Thursday and Friday followed other recent standoffs between corporate America and organized labor. Large and established labor unions secured meaningful employer concessions this year following strikes by Boeing factory workers, dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports, video game performers, and hotel and casino workers on the Las Vegas Strip.
But workers at Starbucks, Amazon and some other prominent consumer brands still are fighting for their first contracts. Amazon refuses to acknowledge the organizing efforts of drivers and warehouse workers — many of whom have voted to unionize — even though the powerful Teamsters union says it represents them. Starbucks long resisted the unionization of its stores, but had agreed to negotiate a contract by the end of the year.
Strikes — particularly ones that happen during the holidays, a time of high economic activity — can help unions exercise leverage during negotiations or flex their muscles by garnering support from workers and sympathetic consumers.
Both Amazon and Starbucks saw a wave of organizing efforts following the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic focused attention on front-line workers and the impact of economic inequality on the lives of wage-earning Americans.
Employees organized at bookstores, where unions are rare, and were successful with campaigns at some stores run by Apple, Trader Joe’s and the outdoor equipment company REI.
But turning those wins into contracts can be a challenge. At Amazon and Starbucks, which were not unionized before the pandemic, workers have yet to secure an agreement with the e-commerce and coffee giants, which both have their headquarters in Seattle.
John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, said he thinks the Amazon and Starbucks workers are “desperate” to make progress before President-elect Donald Trump gets to appoint a Republican majority to the National Labor Relations Board, which is expected to be less friendly to unions during his administration.
“The unions want to make these disputes public and bring political pressures on the companies," Logan said in a written statement. “If these disputes drag on until next year, and if they are fought largely through the labor board and the courts, the unions and workers will almost certainly lose. This might be their last, best chance to pressure the companies in public before Trump comes into office.”
However, Trump has also given some signs that he might be friendlier to labor during his second term compared to his first term. Last month, he picked Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Department of Labor in his new administration, elevating a Republican congresswoman who has strong support from unions, including the Teamsters. Teamsters President Sean O'Brien also spoke at the Republican National Convention this past summer.
The Teamsters say workers at Amazon are striking at seven delivery stations in Southern California, San Francisco, New York City, Atlanta and Skokie, Illinois, because the company ignored a Sunday deadline the union had set for contract negotiations. At midnight on Saturday, the Teamsters say workers will also strike at a prominent warehouse in New York, which voted to join the fledgling Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and have since elected to affiliate with the Teamsters.
The prominent labor group says it's fighting for higher wages, better benefits and safer working conditions for Amazon employees, many of whom experience economic insecurity while working for a company worth $2.3 trillion. It has not said how many Amazon warehouse workers or drivers are joining the striking.
The union has mainly focused on organizing delivery drivers, which the company says are not its workers because they are directly employed by contractors Amazon recruited to handle package deliveries.
That type of setup gives the Amazon more cover from unionization attempts in an industry — transportation and trucking — that’s dominated by the Teamsters. However, the union has argued before the National Labor Relations Board that the drivers, who wear Amazon’s ubiquitous gray-blue vests and drive similarly colored vans, should be classified as company employees.
Meanwhile, the online retailer has accused the union of pushing a “false narrative” about the thousands of workers it claims to represent. Amazon has also touted its pay, saying it provides warehouse and transportation employees a base wage of $22 per hour plus benefits. It also recently boosted hourly pay for the subcontracted delivery drivers.
In September, the NLRB, which has taken a more pro-labor stance under President Joe Biden, filed a complaint that found the drivers to be joint employees of Amazon. The agency also accused Amazon of unlawfully failing to bargain with the Teamsters on a contract for drivers at a California delivery hub.
The Teamsters union says it also represents Amazon warehouse workers, including thousands of employees at the major New York City fulfillment center who voted to be represented by the Amazon Labor Union.
Amazon objected to the 2022 warehouse election results, alleging the Amazon Labor Union and the federal labor board had tainted the vote. A regional NLRB director issued a complaint last year that accused Amazon of violating the law by refusing to bargain with the union.
Amazon, in turn, is challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB in federal court along with Elon Musk's SpaceX. In June, the Supreme Court made it harder for the agency to win court orders in labor disputes, siding with Starbucks in a case brought by the company.
Unlike Amazon, contract negotiation have been underway at Starbucks.
But Starbucks Workers United, the union that has organized workers at 535 company-owned U.S. stores since 2021, said the company has failed to honor a commitment made in February to reach a labor agreement this year.
The union also wants Starbucks to resolve outstanding legal issues, including hundreds of unfair labor practice charges that workers have filed with the National Labor Relations Board. The agency also has opened or settled hundreds of charges against Amazon.
In launching the strikes that started Friday in Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle, Workers United said Starbucks proposed an economic package with no new wage increases for unionized baristas now and a 1.5% increase in future years.
Union leaders said the strikes expanded on Saturday to include stores in Denver, Pittsburgh and Columbus Ohio with plans for baristas to join the picket lines in New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis on Sunday.
Without providing a specific number, labor leaders said dozens of Starbucks stores are now affected by the strike.
Starbucks said Workers United prematurely ended a bargaining session this week. The company also says it already offers pay and benefits worth $30 per hour for baristas who work at least 20 hours per week.
Starbucks workers walked off the job on two occasions last year. Workers United has said the latest strikes could spread to hundreds of stores across the country by Christmas Eve.
Patricia Campos-Medina, who recently ran for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in New Jersey and leads Cornell University's Worker Institute at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said she expects there to be more union activity before Trump takes office.
Trump's reactions will give the public a chance to see what his “commitments are to the working class,” Campos-Medina said.
Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to this story.
Amazon workers and members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters picket in front of the Amazon fulfillment center in the Queens borough of New York, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Amazon workers and members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters picket in front of the Amazon fulfilment center in the Queens borough of in New York, on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Amazon workers and members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters picket in front of the Amazon fulfillment center in the Queens borough of New York, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Amazon workers strike outside the gates of an Amazon Fulfillment Center as Teamsters seek labor contract nationwide Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in City of Industry, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Amazon workers strike outside the gates of an Amazon Fulfillment Center as Teamsters seek labor contract nationwide Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in City of Industry, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
A closed store sign is seen in the window of a Starbucks as workers picket outside the location on company Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Starbucks baristas and other workers start a five-day strike to protest a lack of progress in contract negotiations with the company Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Starbuck workers picket outside of a closed Starbucks on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
A pro-union demonstrator marches outside an Amazon warehouse, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Alpharetta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A supporter waving a Teamster flag rides past Amazon workers striking outside the gates of an Amazon Fulfillment Center on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in City of Industry, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Sean O'Brien, General president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters joins other Amazon workers during a strike outside the gates of an Amazon Fulfillment Center Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in City of Industry, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Starbuck workers picket outside of a closed Starbucks on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Amazon workers and members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters picket in front of the Amazon fulfilment center in the Queens borough of in New York, on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
