Labor

Workers Are Striking During The COVID18 Pandemic

June 26, 2020 By Celine McNicholas and Margaret Poydock, Economic Policy Institute. Create! COVID-19, Labor, Strikes, Worker Rights and Jobs

The coronavirus pandemic has revealed much about work in the United States: There have been countless examples of workers speaking out against unsafe work conditions and demanding personal protective equipment (PPE) to try and stay healthy and safe on the job. We also have seen that essential workers are often not paid commensurate with the critical nature of their work. Few U.S. workers have access to paid sick time or paid leave of any kind. And, when workers have advocated for health and safety protections or wage increase, they have often been retaliated against, and even fired for doing so. As a result, many workers have decided to strike in an effort to have their voices heard. Even before the pandemic, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed an upsurge in major strike activity in 2018 and 2019, marking a 35-year high for the number of workers involved in a major work stoppage over a two-year period.

Yes, The U.S. Unemployment Rate Is Low, But So Is The Job Quality Index

December 21, 2019 Matt Higgins, Occupy.com Educate! Labor, New Economy, Workers Rights and Jobs

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ November jobs report released on Dec. 6 showed a 50-year low unemployment rate of 3.5 percent, with 266,000 jobs added. This signals a strong economy. But another recent report, from the Coalition for a Prosperous America, shows that while the quantity of jobs has increased since the Great Recession, the quality of jobs has decreased. The November federal jobs report shows the health care sector leading the way with the number of jobs added, followed by manufacturing and hospitality. Nevertheless, wage growth actually dipped by a tenth of a percent, and wage growth has slowed this year compared to last year.

Labor Organizers Have Filed A Complaint Against The Marciano Art Foundation Over Its Abrupt Closure In The Wake Of Unionization Efforts

November 23, 2019 Sarah Cascone, News.artnet.com Resist! Class Struggle, Labor, Unions

“[The museum closure] shows that they would rather shut down a ‘public service’ institution than raise wages a dime—or raise pay a dime above minimum wage,” one of the laid-off workers, Spencer Longo, told the Los Angeles Times. A number of the dismissed employees demonstrated outside the shuttered museum on Friday, where they were joined by workers from other museums. “We have other actions in the works,” Izzy Johnson, a docent who serves on the union’s organizing committee, told the Los Angeles Times.

Teachers Are More Stressed Out Than You Probably Think

October 1, 2019 Steven Singer, Gadflyonthewallblog.com Educate! Class Struggle, Exploitation, Labor, Teachers

When I was just a new teacher, I remember my doctor asking me if I had a high stress job. I said that I taught middle school, as if that answered his question. But he took it to mean that I had it easy. After all – as he put it – I just played with children all day. Now after 16 years in the classroom and a series of chronic medical conditions including heart disease, Crohn’s Disease and a recent battle with shingles though I’m only in my 40s, he knows better.

NLRB Reversing Important Labor Law Precedents

September 4, 2019 By Bobbi Murray, Capitalandmain.com Educate! Labor, NLRB, Reform, Repression

Employee rights advocates say this Labor Day’s family barbecues and union solidarity picnics will take place in the shadow of a Trump administration that has quietly stacked the National Labor Relations Board with anti-labor members. The federal agency is far less well-known than the IRS or EPA, but its five presidential appointees issue rulings with often far-reaching consequences for America’s working men and women. The NLRB was created in 1935 to oversee collective bargaining and protect labor standards...

Every American Should Be Guaranteed A Job. The Green New Deal Could Make That Happen.

August 19, 2019 Editors, Inthesetimes.com Create! Green New Deal, Labor, Reform

Yes! President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a “second Bill of Rights” in his 1944 State of the Union, a list of economic and social rights including “the right to a useful and remunerative job.” “Full employment” has been the official goal of the U.S. government since 1978, with the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act following advocacy from labor groups as well as Coretta Scott King. Early versions of the bill included an actual jobs guarantee, which was cut out of the final legislation. A jobs guarantee was also part of Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential platform.

Disabled In A Capitalist Society

August 19, 2019 By Sheshu Babu, Countercurrents.org Educate! Capitalism, Labor, People with Disabilities

Since the major aim of capitalists is to see that maximum production can be extracted from labor, exploitation of workers becomes a key factor. Ordinary workers, thus, face constant harassment, humiliation, misery and burden of work. Disabled, in addition, face alienation and abuse both from the employers as well as society. The Merriam Webster Dictionary offers two definitions of disability. They are ‘ a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements,senses, or activities’ and ‘ a disadvantage or handicap imposed by law’. These two definitions seem at odds with each other and almost two different terms are being defined. In an effort to clear such controversy, a British organization, Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS) which was founded in 1970s put forward another perspective on disability.

We Have The Money To Fix Our Food System

July 12, 2019 By Brian Wakamo, Otherwords.org Create! Farming, Food and Agriculture, Labor, New Economy

Poverty is expensive, but fixing it doesn’t have to be — at least not compared to the status quo. The Institute for Policy Studies and the Poor People’s Campaign recently released a Moral Budget, and it’s a veritable treasure trove of illuminating data proving that point. They propose we could easily cut $350 billion from the annual military budget — which would still leave us with a bigger budget than China, Russia, and Iran combined — and raise $886 billion by enacting fair taxes on the rich and corporations.

Labor Strikes Back: How Workers Can Win

July 7, 2019 Dan Sisken, Occupy.com. Strategize! Labor, Strike, Worker Rights

In mid-June, the Washington DC chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) hosted a panel discussion, "Labor Strikes Back!", to answer these questions. The discussion was moderated by Gabriel Acevero, union organizer and Member of the Maryland House of Delegates, and featured comments by Andrea Molina, educator and organizer at the Mundo Verde Charter School in Washington, DC; Eric Blanc, former teacher and author of Red State Revolt; and Sara Nelson, President of the Association of Flight Attendants. Given that the most consequential strikes of 2018 and 2019 have been by teachers, it was enlightening to have current and former teacher-activists on the panel along with other labor organizers.

Starbucks Has A Slave Labor Problem

June 25, 2019 Anna Canning, Fairworldproject.org Resist! Brazil, Labor, Slavery, Starbucks, Wage Slavery

Once again, Brazilian labor inspectors have found slave labor1 on plantations where Starbucks buys coffee. And not just any plantations, but ones that have been “certified” to Starbucks’ C.A.F.E. Practices standards. This marks the second time in nine months that this has happened, pointing to a huge systemic problem with the way Starbucks is meeting their commitment to “99% ethical coffee.” It’s time for that to change.

‘Value’ Of Unpaid Work By Women

June 22, 2019 By Sheshu Babu, Countercurrents.org Create! Labor, Sexism, Women

In an article ( Women’s unpaid work:some statistics, 7 March 2000, theguardian.com), compiled by Global Women’s Strike campaign, ‘….. unwaged work contributes as much as £ 739 bn to the British economy (Office of National Statistics (ONS), October, 1997). Two thirds of women working out of the home full time do most of the housework. (Red Magazine , Jan 2000) . Women in waged work with young children do 46 hours a week of housework ( childcare, cooking, laundry, shopping, gardening, etc ) compared to 25 hours by men(Omnibus Survey ,ONS, 1995).

The United States Has A Permanent Temp Worker Problem

June 19, 2019 David Van Arsdale, Indypendent.org Educate! Class Struggle, Employment, Labor, Workers

In the waiting room of an employment agency in Queens, laborers gather to be dispatched to warehouses and factories in New Jersey and upstate New York. Only their names are recorded before white vans arrive and the workers step in, cramming into seats and crouching on the floor to be transported to the day’s job. The job might last a day or two, and the agency acts as the workers’ employer. It deducts transportation costs and the fees it charges for the job from their paychecks, which they provide.

American Airlines Mechanics Are Threatening The “Bloodiest, Ugliest Battle” In Labor History

June 1, 2019 Michael Arria, Inthesetimes.com Resist! Airlines, Class Struggle, Labor, Unions, Workers

Mechanics at American Airlines are threatening to strike if a new contract isn’t negotiated, and the union president has declared that employees are prepared for the dispute to erupt into “the bloodiest, ugliest battle that the United States labor movement ever saw.” The statement comes just one day after the airline sued its union workers, claiming that they had engaged in an illegal work slowdown to strengthen their hand at the bargaining table. American Airlines merged with US Airways in 2013 to become the largest airline in the world.

Appeals Court Recognizes That Farmworkers Have A Fundamental Right To Organize

May 27, 2019 Staff, Nyclu.org Organize! Courts, Farmworkers, Labor

ALBANY - A state appellate court today declared unconstitutional a Jim Crow-era exclusion in state law that denies farmworkers the right to organize and collectively bargain. Plaintiffs Crispin Hernandez, the Workers’ Center of Central New York and the Worker Justice Center of New York, represented by the New York Civil Liberties Union, originally challenged the exclusion of farmworkers from basic labor protections in 2016. “This is a victory for farmworkers, as we have finally had our day in court,” said Crispin Hernandez, who was fired from his job as a dairy worker in Lowville...

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