Labor Unions

Can The United Auto Workers Be Democratized?

October 25, 2021 Sarah Jaffe And Michelle Chen , Dissent Magazine. Organize! Democracy, Labor Unions, UAW, Worker Rights and Jobs

For decades, the United Auto Workers (UAW) has been controlled by a tight-knit group of insiders known for its opacity and corrupt tendencies, leading many rank-and-file members to criticize the leadership for its arrogance, lack of accountability, and failure to address the needs of a workforce that is increasingly precarious and alienated. All that might start to change in the coming weeks as UAW members vote on a historic referendum to change the way it elects its central leadership: members can decide whether to replace the current system of indirect elections through a small, exclusive group of delegates, with direct elections, known as “one member, one vote.” That might seem like a pretty basic change, but pro-reform members say that this is the first step toward breaking the monopoly on power held by the current leadership, and could help this storied union become more progressive and address endemic corruption.

Let’s Restore The Legal Right To Strike

October 21, 2021 Shaun Richman, In These Times. Create! #Striketober, Labor Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs, Working Class

Unions have the winds at their back because of the unique circumstances of the pandemic making so many workers less willing to work unpleasant jobs for lousy pay, but labor markets have a way of tightening that make striking a riskier proposition for workers. We must take this opportunity to win back our rights for when we’ll really need them again. In any workplace where workers are on strike — or just talking about it — if the boss starts to promise scabs permanent replacement jobs at the end of the labor dispute please file a damn Unfair Labor Practice charge! Where does Jennifer Abruzzo’s NLRB have the discretion to punish an employer for hiring permanent scabs? Prompted by a union-filed Unfair Labor Practice charge, it can investigate an employer’s economic needs “to protect and continue his business” by hiring permanent replacements.

Tentative Deal Reached To Avert IATSE Strike

October 18, 2021 Justin Anderson, Real Screen. Resist! IATSE, Labor Unions, Strikes, Worker Rights and Jobs

The tentative deal is for the Basic and Videotape Agreements, which affect some 40,000 film and television workers. According to IATSE, the proposed contract addresses issues at the heart of the dispute, including “reasonable” rest periods, meal breaks, a living wage for workers at the bottom of the pay scale and “significant” increases in compensation from new media companies. The tentative agreement, which still must be ratified by IATSE members, features as deal points a living wage for the lowest-paid earners; improved wages and working conditions for streaming; retroactive wage increases of 3% annually; increased meal period penalties; daily rest periods of 10 hours without exclusions; weekend rest periods of 54 hours; the addition of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday added to the schedule as a holiday; and adoption of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Building Towards Climate Resilience In The Caribbean

October 17, 2021 Johannah-Rae Reyes, ROAR Magazine. Create! Caribbean, climate crisis, Dominica, Labor Unions

In 2017, Hurricane Maria raged across the Caribbean island of Dominica, leaving 31 people dead with many more still missing to this day. When the hurricane had passed, island residents were left to contend with widespread infrastructural damage and economic instability. Life as Dominicans knew it, would never be the same again.

The Great Strike Of 2021

October 13, 2021 Jack Rasmus. Resist! Labor Unions, Non Union Workers, Strike, Worker Rights and Jobs

The best definition of a strike is when ‘workers withhold their labor’ for better wages and working conditions. The conventional wisdom is that unions go on strike. But that is incorrect. Workers go on strike and they don’t necessarily need to be members of unions. That fact is evident today as millions of US workers are refusing to return to their jobs. They are ‘withholding their labor’ searching for better pay and a future. We are witnessing the ‘Great Strike of 2021’ and it’s composed mostly of millions low paid non-unionized workers! Workers returned to jobs at a rate of 889,000 a month during the 2nd quarter 2021 (April-June) as the economy reopened. That average fell to only 280,000 per month in the just completed 3rd quarter 2021 (July-Sept), according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Dollar General Workers Stare Down Historic Union Vote

October 13, 2021 Hamilton Nolan, In These Times. Resist! Connecticut, Labor Unions, Low Wage Workers, Worker Rights and Jobs

In less than two weeks, a tiny group of a half dozen workers in Barkhamsted, Connecticut will vote on whether to become the only unionized Dollar General store employees in America. These six people in a small town about 20 miles northwest of Hartford now find themselves positioned to gain a historic toehold for organized labor inside a booming, low-wage industry. But it will not be easy. Few companies have prospered since the beginning of the pandemic as much as Dollar General. The company boasts that three quarters of all Americans now live within five miles of one of its nearly 18,000 stores. The Washington Post reported that foot traffic at those stores has risen by a third in the past two years. Dollar General’s stock price has boomed during the pandemic, and the company is now worth almost $50 billion.

Workers At Kellogg’s Cereal Production Plants Are On Strike

October 6, 2021 BCTGM. Resist! Kellogg's, Labor Unions, Solidarity, Strike, Worker Rights

Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) President Anthony Shelton issued the following statement in support of 1,400 BCTGM members in Battle Creek, Mich. (Local 3G), Omaha, Neb. (Local 50G), Lancaster, Pa. (Local 374G) and Memphis, Tenn. (Local 252G) who are on strike against the Kellogg Company: “The BCTGM International Union stands in unwavering Solidarity with our courageous Brothers and Sisters who are on strike against the Kellogg Company. “For more than a year throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Kellogg workers around the country have been working long, hard hours, day in and day out, to produce Kellogg ready-to-eat cereals for American families.

IATSE Authorizes Strike With ‘Yes’ Votes Totaling 98 Percent

October 4, 2021 By Chris O'Falt and Chris Lindahl, IndieWire. Resist! IATSE, Labor Unions, Strike, Worker Rights

IATSE members have overwhelmingly voted in favor of a strike authorization, the union announced Monday morning. Ninety-eight percent of all votes cast were in favor of a strike, and 90 percent of all members turned out to vote. But production won’t grind to a halt, at least not yet. The results give IATSE President Matthew Loeb the power to call a strike for IATSE members working under two expired contracts: the Hollywood Basic Agreement, which covers the approximately 40,000 to 45,000 members of 13 West Coast locals, and the Area Standards Agreement, which covers some 10,000 to 15,000 members employed on productions in places like Georgia, New Mexico, and Louisiana. Negotiations between IATSE and the AMPTP reached an impasse last month, prompting Loeb to call the vote.

Wave Of Labor Unrest Could See Tens Of Thousands On Strike Within Weeks

October 2, 2021 Michael Sainato, The Guardian. Resist! Labor Unions, Strike, Worker Rights and Jobs

Tens of thousands of workers around the US could go on strike in the coming weeks in what would be the largest wave of labor unrest since a series of teacher strikes in 2018 and 2019, which won major victories and gave the American labor movement a significant boost. The unrest spans a huge range of industries from healthcare to Hollywood and academia, and is largely focused on higher wages, fighting cuts and better working and safety conditions, especially in light of Covid-19.

Cinematographers Guild Urges Members To Authorize Strike

September 27, 2021 David Robb, Deadline. Resist! IATSE, Labor Unions, Strike, Worker Rights and Jobs

Leaders of IATSE’s largest local – the International Cinematographers Guild Local 600 – are urging their members to authorize a strike against film and television productions across the country. The local’s national executive board voted unanimously on Sunday to support a nationwide strike authorization vote and to recommend that members vote “Yes” on it. “The elected leaders of Local 600 spoke with one voice today on behalf of the thousands of their members who are unified in their resolve to get a fair deal from the employers who have walked away from the bargaining table,” said Local 600 president John Lindley. “This fight is about basic rights and safe and healthy working conditions,” said Rebecca Rhine, the local’s national executive director.

Climate Justice Must Be A Top Priority For Labor

September 22, 2021 Peter Knowlton and John Braxton, Labor Notes. Strategize! climate crisis, Congress, Infrastructure Bill, Labor Unions

Today’s existential crisis for humanity is the immediate need to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. All of us have to. Everywhere. For workers and for our communities there is no more pressing matter than this. We need to begin a discussion among co-workers, creating demands and acting on them at the workplace and bargaining table. We need to show up at local union meetings, central labor councils, and town halls supporting demands that move us toward a fossil fuel-free future. At the same time, we need to protect the incomes and benefits of workers affected by the transition off of fossil fuels and to make sure they have real training opportunities. And we need to restore and elevate those communities that have been sacrificed for fossil fuel extraction, production, and distribution.

Striking Cookie Workers Refuse To Crumble

September 15, 2021 Roberta Wood, People's World. Resist! Labor Unions, Nabisco, Strike, Worker Rights and Jobs

Chicago - “We’re just tired!” April Flowers-Lewis told a rally in support of striking Mondelez workers*.* It’s not hard to see why the folks who make the nation’s cookies and crackers are exhausted and fed up. All through the pandemic, Flowers-Lewis, 48, and her co-workers, members of Bakery and Confectionary Workers Local 1, have been on their feet up to seven days a week, 16 hours a day baking and packing Wheat Thins, Chips Ahoy, Nutter Butter, Velveeta, and Animal Crackers here at what was the historic Nabisco plant on this city’s southwest side. Snack consumption during the pandemic skyrocketed; the plant’s owner, multi-national corporation Mondelez, took in $5.5 billion in profits in the second quarter of 2021, according to a report in Salon.

CVS Workers Say Enough Is Enough

September 15, 2021 Michael Sainato, The Guardian. Resist! CVS, Labor Unions, Wages, Worker Rights and Jobs

Thousands of workers at CVS stores across California are demanding better pay, increased safety standards, healthcare improvements and more security for workers in new union contract negotiations. The demands followed the drug chain’s report of record profits over the past 18 months, in part due to keeping stores open throughout the pandemic and offering Covid-19 testing and vaccines in stores. CVS reported a profit of more than $7bn in 2020 and posted a $2.8bn profit in the second quarter of 2021. CVS is ranked the eighth largest retailer in the US based on 2020 sales and its parent company, CVS Health, is the fourth largest corporation in the US by revenue. CVS has offered a wage increase of just 5 cents an hour for most workers in the contract negotiations.

WGAE Tensions Reflect An Age-Old Clash Of Labor Visions

September 11, 2021 Ari Paul, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting. Strategize! Journalism, Labor Unions, Media, Worker Rights and Jobs

The Writers Guild of America East has successfully organized digital journalism workers at numerous well-known outlets in the last several years, winning contract protections on things like requiring “just cause” for firing (WGAE, 1/7/19), diversity hiring (Deadline, 1/21/18) and editorial independence (FAIR.org, 6/18/19). Who could complain about this? Plenty of people, apparently. The union’s governing council is going through a fraught election split between the Solidarity slate, which includes both digital journalistic writers and TV/film writers who defend the organizing drive, and the Inclusion & Experience slate, which believes that the organizing drive has steered the union away from its original mission of representing long-unionized film and TV writers.

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