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Kellogg’s Strikers: We Want A Clear Path Out Of Two-Tier, Set In Stone

December 15, 2021 Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes. , , ,
In contract talks with its 1,400 workers this summer, Kellogg's proposed to remove the union logo from its cereal boxes. It's an indication of the company's overall plan, said strikers on the Battle Creek, Michigan picket line this weekend. “Their long-term goal is to bust the union,” said Michelle Fulcher, a warehouse crew leader at the company's flagship plant. Kellogg’s workers in four states have been on strike since October 5. Their top issue is the company’s efforts to expand its two-tier system. “Going into negotiations we had four things we were going to be hard-nosed on,” Fulcher said: “Keep our pension, keep our retiree health care, keep our health benefits, and get rid of Tier 2.”

Columbia Student Workers Defy University’s Strikebreaking Threats

December 15, 2021 Jesse Thomas And Daniel De Vries, WSWS. , , ,
Last week saw a sharp escalation of the strike by 3,000 student workers at Columbia University in New York City, which continues in the face of strikebreaking threats by the administration. In an effort to shut down the walkout before finals, the university warned striking student workers that it might replace them in the Spring semester if they remained on strike beyond Friday, December 10. Columbia workers rejected this attempt at economic blackmail and held out on the picket line. A poll conducted by the Student Workers of Columbia union (SWC) bargaining committee found that 87 percent of union members and nearly 77 percent of supporters of the strike wished for the strike to continue.

Workers At Warren General Hospital Vote To Strike

December 14, 2021 Kris B. Mamula, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. , , ,
Workers at Allegheny Health Network affiliate Warren General Hospital voted Saturday to strike, straining already fragile medical resources in rural northwest Pennsylvania. The 114 nurses and health care workers, who are members of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, issued a 10-day strike notice at the 87-bed hospital — the only acute care facility in the county. The labor agreement with workers expired in September, and negotiations were scheduled to continue Monday, hospital CEO Rick Allen said. The hospital has offered pay increases of 4.2% to over 16%, plus enhanced contributions to employees’ 403(b) retirement plan to 7.12%, Mr. Allen said.

Columbia University Strikers Raise Hell

December 13, 2021 Hamilton Nolan, In These Times. , , , ,
New York City - Thousands of striking Columbia University graduate student workers are vowing to “shut down” the campus Wednesday with a major picket line aimed at highlighting the university’s threat to fire those who are still on strike by December 10. In a year marked by labor strikes, one of the largest and most contentious is happening at one of the most elite bastions of American higher education. The 3,000 members of the Student Workers of Columbia, members of UAW Local 2110, have been on strike since early November, seeking a livable wage, improved health and dental benefits, and stronger protections from sexual harassment and discrimination. The union and the school have been in mediation for weeks now, and the ongoing contract negotiations stretch back long before that — a tentative agreement was reached in April, but rejected by union members in May.

Workers At Activision Blizzard Lead Week-Long Work Stoppage

December 13, 2021 Otto Fors, Left Voice. , , ,
On Friday, workers at video gaming company Activision Blizzard entered their fifth day of a work stoppage in response to layoffs at one of the company’s subsidiaries. The stoppage comes on the heels of revelations of sexual harassment and discrimination at Activision Blizzard and amid fierce resistance to staff unionization efforts. The work stoppage began on Monday when quality assurance (QA) workers at Raven Software, one of the main developers behind the hit Call of Duty video game series, began being laid off. Employees are demanding that these contractors be reinstated and given full-time contracts. The exact number of workers participating in the work stoppage is unclear, but hundreds of both remote and in-person employees across studios and states participated, with many walkouts occurring virtually.

Denying Student Workers Healthcare And A Living Wage Is Violence

December 11, 2021 Mike Pappas, Left Voice. , , ,
New York City - On Wednesday, November 8, Columbia student workers (UAW Local 2110) held one of the largest pickets yet of their six-week strike to demand increased wages to meet costs of living, neutral third-party arbitration, and comprehensive healthcare benefits. Workers from unions throughout New York City such as the CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress (PSC), the Graduate Student Organizing Committee (GSOC) at NYU, the Teamsters, and NewsGuild of New York showed up to join the picket in solidarity with the striking workers. They picketed various entrances, encouraging those who attempted to enter the university to not cross the picket line. As a healthcare worker in New York City, I attended the picket to show my solidarity with the striking workers.

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.

Kellogg’s Union Workers Reject New Contract

December 7, 2021 Alex Woodward, Independent. , , ,
Hundreds of striking union workers at four Kellogg’s cereal plants in the US have overwhelmingly voted to reject a tentative agreement on a five-year contract negotiated between the union and the company, extending a strike that started in early October. Roughly 1,400 members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union “have spoken”, union president Anthony Shelton said in a statement on 7 December. “The strike continues.” The union is “grateful for the outpouring of fraternal support we received from across the labor movement for our striking members at Kellogg’s,” he added. “Solidarity is critical to this fight.” Striking employees in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nebraska and Tennessee produce products like Rice Krispies, Rasin Bran, Froot Loops, Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes.

UK Higher Education Workers Strike For Fair Pay, Working Conditions

December 4, 2021 People's Dispatch. , , ,
In today’s episode of the Daily Round-up we look at the 3-day UCU strike by Higher Education workers across 58 universities in the UK to demand fair wages and job security; the re-imposition of the Migrant Protection Protocols by the U.S. and its implications for asylum seekers currently in Mexico and at the border; a report on rising hunger in the Latin America and the Caribbean region during the pandemic; and a Stand Earth report linking major brands like Nike and Adidas to cattle ranching operations fueling large-scale destruction of the Amazon rainforest.

Union, Kellogg’s Reach Tentative Deal To End Strike

December 2, 2021 Christa Ferguson, Wood TV. , , ,
Battle Creek, MI — Kellogg workers’ nearly two-month strike in Cereal City may be over soon. In a Wednesday update to members, the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union said it had reached a tentative agreement with The Kellogg Company after additional negotiations in Chicago. The five-year deal would deliver 3% raises while maintaining current worker health benefits. Cost of living adjustments would be tacked on starting in the second year of the contract, according to an overview provided by The Kellogg Company. The tentative agreement also addresses another sticking point during negotiations: Kellogg’s two-tiered system of wages, which gives newer workers less pay and fewer benefits.

Factory Workers Strike Against Poverty Pay And Abuse By Management

November 29, 2021 Edgar Reyes, Left Voice. , , ,
Santa Fe Springs, California - In Santa Fe Springs, California, located in the Los Angeles area, a group of largely immigrant Latina factory workers is waging a high-stakes strike against the multibillion-dollar food manufacturing company Rich Products. Since November 3, the group of well over 100 strikers has been on the picket line at the Rich Products-owned Jon Donaire Desserts plant, demanding better wages, improved retirement benefits, and changes to the company’s abusive, punitive point system, which provides workers with only three days of sick leave per year. The striking workers are members of Local 37 of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers’ International Union (BCTGM)—the same union that has waged multiple strikes across the country against major multinational food manufacturing companies thus far this year.

Washington Mental Health Workers Win Safety Strike

November 29, 2021 Sarah Hughes, Labor Notes. , , ,
When a patient attacked staff at for-profit Cascade Behavioral Health Center on August 1, injuring 11, it was the last straw for many. Staffers started calling out of work en masse, demanding that Cascade hire four security guards 24/7. Cascade quickly responded by charging the workers and their union, Service Employees (SEIU) Healthcare 1199NW, with an illegal wildcat strike, since the union hadn’t given the required 10-day notice. It sent termination letters to a couple dozen strikers. The union’s legal team responded that the nurses and techs were on a safety strike—a job action reserved for workers in abnormal danger on the job. By late October, 1199NW got word that the National Labor Relations Board had found no merit to Cascade’s claims that it was an illegal strike.

School Bus Drivers In Nationwide Strikes Over Poor Pay And Covid Risk

November 17, 2021 Michael Sainato, The Guardian. , , , ,
Yellow school buses are part of the American streetscape, familiar to families across the US and an easily recognizable symbol the world over. But the drivers of the vehicles that shuttle America’s children to and from school are now caught up in the wave of labor unrest sweeping across the US in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Strikes, walkouts, protests or sick-outs among school bus drivers have taken place this fall in many states including North Carolina, New Mexico, Maryland, Florida, Indiana, Georgia Pennsylvania and New York among others. Some school districts have periodically closed schools due to bus driver shortages or changed school schedules to accommodate the shortage. Other districts have raised pay and offered sign-on bonuses to try to lure workers into vacant school bus driver positions.

35,000 US Healthcare Workers Avert Strike

November 16, 2021 Monica Cruz, People's Dispatch. , , ,
Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest healthcare providers and hospital networks in the US, reached a tentative agreement with an alliance of unions just two days before a historic strike. The four-year agreement includes pay raises and measures to address understaffing, while withdrawing a two-tier pay system that would pay new hires up to a third less than current workers. In the next few weeks, workers will vote to ratify it and continue to work as scheduled. Jeanne Narmore, a phlebotomist who’s been working at Kaiser for 25 years, told Monica Cruz, “The past two nights have been really rough, stressful, and sleepless for us. We are very emotional and relieved that a tentative agreement has been reached.” She continued, “We are remaining hopeful that we will be able to ratify the contract in the coming weeks!”ratify it and continue to work as scheduled.

Nurses’ Strike Signals Kaiser’s End As Union Haven

November 15, 2021 Steven Greenhouse, The Guardian. , , ,
Across corporate America, relations between companies and their labor unions range from chilly to ice-cold. Not at Kaiser Permanente – the California-based healthcare giant. Kaiser has long been seen as having the nation’s best labor-management partnership. Now the partnership finds itself in crisis as 34,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers prepare to strike on Monday, in what would be the largest walkout in this fall’s strike wave.
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