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Labor Union

EPA Union Seeks Climate Emergency Declaration

May 6, 2022 Stephen Lee, Bloomberg Law. , , ,
The EPA’s biggest union, signaling its dissatisfaction with the White House’s level of action on climate, will ask the Biden administration to declare a national climate emergency and take other ambitious steps on the environment. The declaration of a national emergency would kick-start 123 statutory powers that aren’t otherwise available to the executive branch, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Included among them is the hiring of more climate scientists, engineers, and lawyers at the EPA, a goal shared by both the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238 and the Biden administration. The request represents a marker for the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238 when it sits down with the Environmental Protection Agency on June 13 to negotiate a new contract.

Move To Unionize Tour Could Rewrite How Theater Industry Operates

April 17, 2022 Ezra Brain, Left Voice. , , ,
On April 12, the New York Times broke the story that the theater actors union Actors’ Equity Association is, for the first time in over 20 years, attempting to unionize a workplace. Inspired by recent wins at Amazon and Starbucks, actors and stage managers on the non-union national tour of the musical Waitress are moving to unionize after being contacted by Equity, as the union is known in the theater industry. This attempt represents one of the biggest developments in labor organizing within the theater industry in years and has the potential to largely rewrite the way that the theater industry operates.  This development represents a major change in strategy for Equity. For years, it operated less as a union of workers, and more as a league of professionals.

Seattle Educators Rally For A ‘Thriving Wage’

February 14, 2022 Steve Leigh, Left Voice. , , ,
Teachers and librarians at Seattle Colleges in AFT local 1789 are fighting for a “Thriving Wage,” open negotiations, and a democratic and transparent union. They are beginning contract negotiations with the college administration on Feb. 8. Seattle Colleges include North, South and Central College, which are all part of the former community college system. “Community” was dropped from their name when they started offering four-year degrees. On Feb. 7, at Seattle Central College, they rallied to raise their demands. Dozens of members came out and many more joined on Zoom. The rally was organized by a grassroots group of union members. One key demand is open negotiations. This would allow all members to watch and listen to the contract bargaining and to put maximum pressure on the administration.

Starbucks Workers Agree To A Union In Buffalo

December 11, 2021 Dee-Ann Durbin and Caroline Thompson, AP News. , , ,
Buffalo, NY - Starbucks workers at a store in Buffalo, New York, voted to unionize on Thursday, a first for the 50-year-old coffee retailer in the U.S. and the latest sign that the labor movement is stirring after decades of decline. The National Labor Relations Board said Thursday that workers voted 19-8 in favor of a union at the Elmwood Avenue location, one of three stores in Buffalo where elections were being held. A second store rejected the union in a vote of 12-8, but the union said it might challenge that result because it wasn’t confident all of the eligible votes had been counted. The results of a third store could not be determined because both sides challenged seven separate votes.

For Want Of A Dental Plan, Erie Strayer Strike Grinds On

December 8, 2021 Hamilton Nolan, In These Times. , , ,
Many people who work hard in full time jobs take a dental plan for granted. Many people who work hard in full-time jobs assume they will get more than a 25-cent-per-hour raise each year. But a group of workers at a cement plant in Erie, Pennsylvania have spent two months on strike trying to win those basic things — and their fight is far from over.  About 40 workers at the Erie Strayer cement factory are members of Ironworkers Local 851. The company is family-owned, and has been unionized since the 1940s. The union contract expired on April 1. The union spent months at the negotiating table, seeking a fairly modest package of gains. The company refused.

Win For Alabama Amazon Workers

November 30, 2021 Jessica Corbett, Commondreams. , , ,
In a victory for employees at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, a federal labor official on Monday formally directed a new union election following allegations that the company engaged in illegal misconduct leading up to an unsuccessful vote in April. Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU), celebrated the order from National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 10 Director Lisa Henderson, which a spokesperson for the agency confirmed to multiple media outlets. "Today's decision confirms what we were saying all along—that Amazon's intimidation and interference prevented workers from having a fair say in whether they wanted a union in their workplace—and as the regional director has indicated, that is both unacceptable and illegal," Appelbaum said.

Kellogg’s Workers Still On ‘Str-R-R-Ike!’ In Strikevember

November 12, 2021 Martha Grevatt, Workers World. , , ,
Battle Creek, Mich. - Tony the Tiger’s famous line –  “Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, they’re “grrr-eat” has been reworked. Lawn signs supporting the strike of 1,400 Kellogg’s workers show an angry Tony with a picket sign saying “Kellogg’s on strrr-ike!” The members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) in Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Tennessee are now in their second month on strike. On Nov. 4, union negotiators announced they had turned down the company’s latest offer, stating: “The company’s last, best and final offer does not achieve what our members are asking for: a predictable pathway to fully vested, fully benefitted employment for all employees with no concessions.”

Make Gig Work Decent Work

October 17, 2021 TYRLC, Socialist Project. , , ,
On most days, Doug Ford’s Conservative government in Ontario does not respond well to problems, or it actively makes things worse. If an election had been called a year-and-a-half ago, Ford would have lost. However, when COVID hit, Ford nearly brought Ontario to its knees. Nevertheless, he managed to deceive some into thinking he managed well. Today, he is barely visible, having prorogued Queen’s Park during September’s federal election to protect his federal Conservative counterparts instead of stepping up to protect Ontarians and help guide our recovery. Schools are suffering, hospitals and healthcare workers are short-staffed and stressed. Many Ontarians are ashamed that Ford did not declare September 30th a statutory holiday to remember the colonial impact of residential schools.

Why Hollywood Workers Are Threatening A Massive Strike

October 16, 2021 Dave Jamieson, Huffington Post. , , ,
Roughly 60,000 film and television workers in Los Angeles and other cities plan to walk off the job early Monday if the major studios don’t offer a satisfactory union contract before then. It would be the largest strike to hit the U.S. private sector in 14 years. Matthew Loeb, the president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts (IATSE), said his members hope it doesn’t come to that. But after five months of negotiations, he said it was necessary to Set A Deadline and force the studios’ hand. “Otherwise you’re kicking the can down the road,” said Loeb, who spoke with HuffPost on Wednesday just before heading into another bargaining session. “It’s time that the employers make a decision.”

Tribune Publishing Shareholders Let Everyone Down

May 23, 2021 Jon Schleuss, The Newsguild. , , ,
Thousands of NewsGuild-CWA members, myself included, were upset by Tribune Publishing’s announcement today that shareholders approved the company’s takeover by Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund known as “the destroyer of newspapers.” There were several hours of confusion after Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of 24% of Tribune shares, announced that he had abstained from voting. A marked “Abstain” vote, according to the proxy proposal, would serve as a rejection of Alden’s attempted takeover. However, several reports indicated Dr. Soon-Shiong submitted a blank proxy card, allowing his shares to count as favoring the takeover. I’ve reached out to Tribune Publishing and people close to Dr. Soon-Shiong for clarification. Tribune replied linking to a report by the Chicago Tribune as providing the best clarification.

Food Delivery Workers Protest For Better Work Conditions

April 24, 2021 Luke Fortney, New York Eater. , , ,
New York City - Deliveristas Unidos, a growing group of food delivery workers in New York City, is now working with the city’s largest union of service workers, representatives with SEIU Local 32BJ announced at a rally on Wednesday. The City first reported news of the partnership. On Wednesday, a group of more than 2,000 food delivery workers biked from Times Square to Foley Square as part of a protest calling for improved work conditions. Their ongoing list of demands includes higher pay, increased bathroom access, and expansions to protected bike lanes. The workers also seek to be recognized as employees of the apps they work for since food delivery workers are technically classified as independent contractors, making them ineligible to join a traditional union. Local 32BJ is now backing those demands.

A Worldwide Workers’ Revolt Against Amazon Has Begun

April 17, 2021 Luis Feliz Leon, In These Times. , , ,
The union drive at Amazon’s 885,000-square-foot warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, failed. But the historic campaign nabbed global headlines and added fuel to ongoing workers’ revolts across the world. Strikes by Amazon workers in Italy, Germany and India are coalescing into an international struggle against the world’s fourth-most valuable company and its grueling working conditions and intensive surveillance. Since the dawn of capitalism, bosses have found innovations to oversee and extract more work from the overstressed bodies of their labor force. But Amazon’s minute surveillance of workers — who, at the Bessemer facility, are mostly Black and women — would make the Stasi blush. At the company’s warehouses, workers use hand-held devices that track their every move and assess their speed and accuracy.

One-Click Shopping Has Brought American Workers To The Brink

March 31, 2021 Andru Okun, In These Times. , , ,
A historic union drive at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama officially came to a close on Monday. Now comes the tallying of votes. The election represents the first large-scale effort to organize an Amazon warehouse and a landmark moment for the labor movement in the U.S. South. If the majority of votes are in favor of unionization, the roughly 6,000 workers of the facility will be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Predictably, Amazon — the country’s second-largest employer — has made considerable attempts to undercut the campaign, including heavily-funding anti-union propaganda, changing traffic light patterns to deter canvassing and even paying workers to quit.

The Many Burdens Of Women’s Work

March 30, 2021 Chelsea Nash, Rabble.ca. , , ,
My younger sister, 18, is in her first year of college studying marine navigation. She sees herself travelling the world one day, the captain of a cruise ship or similarly large vessel. Already, she has faced overt and repeated sexism, from her male peers. Both my sister and her female roommate have found themselves subjected to sexist jokes and unwanted sexual advances from those who do not appear to understand the meaning of the word "no." They have been told by a female teacher that for the two per cent of women in the industry, sexual assault is an inevitability. My mother, an airline captain, has been counselling her on how to make it in an industry where women are not easily accepted. A great deal of her advice hinges on keeping the peace with male colleagues; knowing what to let slide, when to confront colleagues directly about their behaviour, and when to report them.

Amazon Hires Off-Duty Cops To Harass Workers, The Press, And Supporters

March 29, 2021 Madeleine Freeman, Left Voice. , , ,
We came down from New York City to cover the historic struggle of Amazon workers to form a union and to amplify the stories of the nearly 6,000 workers who are putting their livelihoods on the line to fight for their right to collectively organize. If this union vote is successful, it will be the first union of Amazon workers in the United States. There is great potential in this union drive — an effort that is being waged by a primarily Black workforce in a virulently racist and anti-union state against one of the largest companies in the world. We arrived at the Bessemer facility to stand in solidarity with the workers and take footage of the facility. We moved away from the small group of supporters who come out each day with signs encouraging workers to “vote yes!” on the union, just a few steps down Amazon’s long driveway to film a report in front of the entrance sign.
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