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Amazon Workers Walk Out Over COVID-19 Outbreak

April 26, 2020 Atwood Center, Facebook. , , , ,
Breaking: 50+ workers WALKED OUT at the Shakopee Amazon warehouse overnight after management revealed two more cases of COVID-19 and unjustly fired another worker leader. Faiza Osman has been a dedicated worker at Amazon for nearly three years, and was terminated for staying home with her two children during the pandemic. Amazon leadership had informed workers to stay home if they felt that they needed the time off, yet they fired Osman evidently for doing what she was allowed to do. This followed the firing of multiple Amazon leaders at the Shakopee warehouse. Workers believe that Amazon is using its six-foot social distancing policy to retaliate against workers. Amazon recently announced it would take away unlimited unpaid time off effective May 1st.

Students Across The Country Are Going On Strike

April 25, 2020 Mary Retta, The Nation. , , ,
Since campuses began shutting down across the country in early March, college students have been speaking out about the economic uncertainty, lack of food, and housing insecurity the nationwide upheaval has brought on. Despite this, many colleges have been reluctant to take measures to ensure student safety and comfort—most schools have not changed their grading policies, for example, and many campuses have not provided alternative resources after forcing students to evacuate dorms or cancel meal plans, prompting further uncertainty and stress. In response, college students across the country are going on strike. Striking students at the University of Chicago, Pomona College, The New School, Vassar College, and more are putting pressure on their school administration by refusing to go to classes or pay tuition payments or rent, saying its response to the coronavirus pandemic has been inadequately meeting the needs of the students paying to attend.

Essential Workers Of The World Unite!

April 19, 2020 By Santiago Leyva del Río and Kaveri Medappa, ROAR Magazine. , , ,
Ironically, the global pandemic which threatens our lives has put a spotlight on the infrastructures that sustain them. The workers who have always been saving lives, caring for the ill, cleaning and sorting waste, producing goods and providing services essential for the uninterrupted running of lives have been made “heroes.” The same capitalist actors who considered these workers easily replaceable and often dismissed their work as “unskilled” are now cynically hailing them as “warriors.” The classification of certain workers as “essential” has created conditions, which allow for disparate groups of workers to think about themselves as part of a collective. The nature of this crisis has made the infrastructural labor that sustains everyday life evident. On the one hand, this conjuncture has revealed, and will exacerbate the shared vulnerabilities of “essential workers.”

COVID-19 Strike Wave Interactive Map

April 19, 2020 Pay Day Report. , , ,
So far, we’ve identified over 100 wildcat strikes that happened since the beginning of March. (Several larger strikes like at Instacart and Whole Foods happened in multiple cities). We suspect many strikes aren’t reporting at all for a variety of reasons and that the numbers are higher than we can track. The map will be updated regularly. Send updates on new strikes to melk@paydayreport.com In some places, workers are simply calling out sick en mass and refusing to show up so bosses shut dow their plants.   Many areas have no reporters with connections to the labor movement so many strikes are going completely uncovered.  In other places, workers have protested for an hour or two before bosses have agreed to workers’ demands.  Also, some union leaders are hesitant to get the media involved out of fear of retaliation

Dozens Of Strikes Say, ‘No Safety, No Work!’

April 16, 2020 Martha Grevatt, Workers World. , , ,
As the death toll climbs, workers deemed “essential” have staged at least 75 separate job actions since the Chipotle walkout. Walkouts, sickouts, sit-ins and, most recently, car and social-distance pickets have involved people from a wide range of occupations. In addition to many fast food workers, those protesting include workers in health care, construction, manufacturing, meat and poultry processing, retail, warehouses, public transit, bars and restaurants, water and sewage, beverage bottling, nursing home care and more. Common demands of the walkouts are for employer-provided personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and hand sanitizer, social distancing, hazard pay and the right of sick workers to stay home with pay. Payday Report lists almost 30 work stoppages that have occurred since April 1.

GE Workers Protest, Demand To Make Ventilators

April 15, 2020 Katie Ferarri, Labor Notes. , , , ,
Last Wednesday union members at General Electric plants across the country protested to pressure the $88 billion company to shift production to ventilators and ensure safe working conditions during COVID-19. Actions at plants in Massachusetts, Virginia, Texas, and New York were coordinated by the Industrial Division of the Communications Workers (IUE-CWA)—the latest in an escalating pressure campaign. GE workers are facing a two-fold threat under COVID-19: dangerous working conditions and job loss. On March 23 the company announced that GE Aviation would cut 10 percent of its total U.S. workforce and that half the company’s maintenance, repair, and overhaul employees could be furloughed for the next three months. GE could avert the layoffs, the union said, by accepting funds from the recent stimulus bill or by shifting the impacted GE Aviation shops to ventilator production.

Striking Employees Reveal Basic Economic Principle That Derails COVID-19 Fight

April 14, 2020 Leigh Osofsky, The Conversation. , , , ,
A series of recent protests by the workers preparing and delivering our essential foods and other goods highlights a key risk to our ability to combat the coronavirus. Some employees at an Amazon warehouse and Instacart “shoppers” briefly walked off the job on March 30, citing inadequate health protections and compensation. And Whole Foods workers organized a national “sick out” protest to pressure the grocery chain for hazard pay and more protections. With most Americans sheltering in place, these workers are among the millions of individuals who face heightened risks as they continue to do their jobs keeping our refrigerators and pantries stocked during the pandemic. But because of an economic theory I study known as “positive externalities,” most of them aren’t being adequately compensated for it.

Red Lines: Amazon On Strike

April 11, 2020 Anya Parampil, The Grayzone. , ,
What Workers Need to Know About Their Rights. Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Kevin Gustafson, an organizer with Democracy at Work and host of the Sensible Socialist Podcast, about the strike sweeping the online shopping industry. On March 31st, workers for Amazon, Whole Foods, and Instacart went on strike to protest unsafe working conditions in light of the coronavirus outbreak. Anya Parampil and Kevin Gustafson discuss their demands as well as what workers should know if they are planning to strike.

Striking McDonald’s Workers Say Their Lives Are More Essential Than Fast Food

April 11, 2020 Hamilton Nolan, In These Times. , , ,
The fast food industry has long insulated itself from organized labor by building a legal wall between the parent company and the individual franchised stores. That imaginary separation is being tested by the reality of the coronavirus pandemic, as McDonald’s workers across the country have held strikes and walked out, unwilling to risk their lives for fries with no safety net. The Fight For $15 has found fertile new ground in helping to organize fast food strikes in recent days. McDonald’s workers in Los Angeles, San Jose, St. Louis, Tampa, Raleigh-Durham and elsewhere have staged job actions this week, in a coordinated push for safer working conditions, paid sick leave and hazard pay. Maria Ruiz, who has spent 16 years at McDonald’s, was one of the workers who went on strike yesterday outside of her store in San Jose, California.

From Strike Wave To General Strike

April 10, 2020 Richard Moser, Be Freedom. , , ,
The strike wave is here. The strike wave is real.  Can workers take the next steps toward a General Strike? The current crisis is a rare opportunity for us to build a movement both outside of electoral politics and based on an organizing model. That matters because the biggest shortcoming of the left and the social movements is our lack of organizing. Organizing can do what good intentions or radical theory or electoral campaigns cannot: turn solidarity from a dream into a living thing. But without some serious solidarity, all our hopes for a General Strike will fail to materialize. As we build the solidarity infrastructure needed for a General Strike lets not lie to each other. It’s called “class struggle” for a reason. Strikes are painful with workers pitting their sacrifice and suffering up against the bosses’ profits. Strikes are no party. But, general strikes, while rare, are a good match for the unprecedented interlocking crises we face.

In The Face Of Corporate Bailouts, Rent Strikers Demand Relief

April 10, 2020 Indigo Olivier, Waging Nonviolence. , , ,
On April 1, tenants at 1234 Pacific Street in Crown Heights dropped white sheets over their fire escape — a symbol borrowed from organizers in Montreal — to inform their neighbors that they would not be paying rent this month. These tenants are part of a wave of recent rent strikes in cities across the country responding to nearly 10 million new unemployment claims so far as a result of the coronavirus shutdown. After Pacific Street’s management company refused their collective bargain offer to reduce or eliminate rent for tenants who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, the building’s tenant association formally declared they were on strike and are instead appealing directly to the governor — #CancelRent Cuomo, one banner reads.

Amazon Retaliation: Workers Striking Back

April 9, 2020 Matt Smith, Counterpunch. , , ,
Last week, my Amazon coworkers in New York took the courageous step of walking off the job to protest our company’s lack of action to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Amazon workers in Detroit and Chicago have followed suit, demanding that Amazon shut down any warehouse where positive cases of the virus are found, to ensure a thorough cleaning. Out of a selfish concern for their profits, Amazon has refused to take this basic step, despite repeated requests from Amazon workers, including a petition signed last month by over 4,500 of us. Now, Amazon employees have tested positive in at least 19 warehouses around the country, and the situation has become dire. So my coworkers are taking action. But rather than act to protect our health, Amazon’s wealthy executives have chosen to retaliate against employees who speak out.

Cambodian Garment Workers Strike Over Unpaid Wages During Pandemic

April 8, 2020 By Saut Sok, Global Voices. , , ,
Nearly 1,000 garment workers protested outside a Phnom Penh factory on March 25, 2020, after the owner failed to pay their regular wages, which the company said was due to declining payments from buyers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Factory workers employed by Canteran Apparel (Cambodia) Co. Ltd. protested after the company failed to pay their full wages for the most recent two-week pay period, worker Sann Sopha told VOD. The factory owner refused to sign an agreement promising to pay workers their outstanding wages at the beginning of next month, as workers had asked, Sopha said. Workers will continue their strike to force the company to respect the condition to pay workers regularly from today onward. Workers asked the company to make a written promise with them but the company did not dare to make a contract with us. The company just gave excuses for this and that.

Shipt Shopper Walk-Off

April 6, 2020 Shipt Shoppers, Medium.com. , , ,
For the past several weeks, Shipt has been ignoring its Shoppers’ pleas for hazard pay, PPE, and denied 14 days of sick pay for those of us too sick to work. Earlier this week, they issued a pay cut drastically lowering the payout for canceled orders. For some, this was the second unannounced pay cut this year. Shipt is a gig economy company that Target acquired at the end of 2017. We shop and deliver orders from Target as well as many grocery stores. While the company has always kept a low profile, their shady ways are starting to come to light. You may have read about their bizarre culture or their latest massive pay cut that’s already hit several markets. Because of the cult-like environment they’ve created, they’ve censored and intimidated shoppers into staying quiet, out of fear of retaliation.

Workers Walk Out, Building Momentum Toward General Strike

April 4, 2020 Candace Bernd, Truthout. , , ,
Essential workers at Instacart, Whole Foods, Amazon and General Electric are staging protests and walking off the job in droves across the U.S., demanding increased protections and pay as they continue to face disproportionate risks and increasingly perilous working conditions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousands of workers for the San Francisco-based Instacart, a popular U.S. grocery delivery service app, went on strike Monday for better pay and health protections as they face soaring demand to deliver groceries and other essentials to people on lockdown amid shelter-in-place orders. As Instacart orders in many parts of the country are backed up by as much as a week as demand has spiked, many of the company’s full-service shoppers — who are classified as independent contractors — say they are not being provided with adequate paid sick measures, hazard pay or supplies to meet challenging delivery schedules while staying safe.
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