Strikes

Railroads And Unions Divide And Scramble

December 15, 2024 Joe DeManuelle-Hall, Labor Notes. Educate! Contract Negotiations, Railroads, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

As the Trump administration prepares to take power, the nation’s freight railroad companies are at the bargaining table with rail craft unions representing 115,000 freight workers who move essential goods across the country. Already the bargaining looks very different from the last round of negotiations, which finished in 2022. For the first time since 1963, multiple railroads have gone rogue, breaking with the employer association in which they typically present a united front. Under the Railway Labor Act, the Trump administration can affect both bargaining and the federal rules under which the railroads operate.

The Big Union Contract Fights Coming In 2025

December 14, 2024 Joe DeManuelle-Hall and Keith Brower Brown, Labor Notes. Resist! Contract Negotiations, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

In some of the most exciting fights of 2024, strikers shut down ports on the East Coast and backed up plane orders on the West. The coming year is full of expiring contracts that could keep the strike wave rolling. The list includes some big contracts lined up so unions can bargain and possibly strike together. California teachers in dozens of districts covering tens of thousands of educators have lined up their contracts to expire in June. These include unions in Los Angeles (35,000), San Diego (7,000), San Francisco (6,500), and Oakland (3,000). On the East Coast, another major contract, for 14,000 Philadelphia teachers, expires August 31.

German VW Workers Strike To Save Their Jobs

December 12, 2024 Martha Grevatt, Workers World. Resist! Auto Workers, Europe, Germany, Strikes, Victory, Volkswagen, Worker Rights and Jobs

Over 100,000 autoworkers struck nine Volkswagen plants in Germany on Dec. 2. The primary issues are VW’s plans to close three German plants and cut workers’ pay. The plant closings would be the first in the company’s 87-year history. VW’s previous contract with IG Metall, the union representing German autoworkers, did not allow plant closures or job cuts, and workers’ wages were higher than most factory workers in Germany. But the contract, which expired in December, prevented workers from striking. The strikes, called by IG Metall, each lasted two hours. About 20,000 workers gathered inside and outside VW’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, where its largest German plant is also located, on Dec. 5.

Despite Stellantis’ Broken Promises, Auto Workers Keep Up The Fight

December 9, 2024 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. Resist! auto industry, Auto Workers, Labor Movement, Stellantis, Strikes, Unions, United Auto Workers (AUW), United Auto Workers (UAW), United States

On December 1, Portuguese business executive Carlos Tavares abruptly resigned as CEO of one of the largest auto manufacturers in the world. On December 2, the United Auto Workers (UAW), one of the largest unions in the country, issued a statement welcoming the resignation, as well as announcing that Stellantis finalizing an employee leasing agreement with workers in Kokomo, Indiana, long overdue after Tavares’ delays. In 2023, autoworkers across the United States went on a historic strike against the three largest automakers in the United States: Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.

Museum Security Workers Strike Against Billionaire Bosses

December 7, 2024 Jim McMahan, Workers World. Resist! Black Friday, Museums, Seattle, Strikes, Washington, Worker Rights and Jobs

Seattle, Washington - About 70 service officers struck the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) on Nov. 29, “Black Friday,” hitting the museum’s rich bosses. The Visiting Service Officers Union (VSO), an independent union, put up a strong picket line on the strike’s opening day. Not only did the strikers have a militant picket line with chants, a sound system and colorful signs , they had informational leaflets, chant sheets, buttons and other union swag, along with food and beverages. The union had a giant inflatable rat, representing the museum’s ruling-class bosses and their union-busting private security contractor working inside the museum.

Sabotage As A Tool Of Solidarity

December 6, 2024 Shaun Richman, In These Times. Strategize! History, Sabotage, Strikes, Worker Rights and Jobs

Striking waiters spent a week in January 1913 throwing fistfuls of asafetida in the fancy dining rooms of New York City hotels. The spice, commonly used a pinchful at a time in Indian cuisine to replace entire onions, has a powerfully fetid odor and cleared most dining rooms (save for a few customers, the New-York Tribune joked, who were “suffering from severe colds”). The workers were on strike since New Year’s Eve – their second city-wide walkout in six months – and the playful act of sabotage raised workers’ spirits and became a frequent laugh line at union rallies.

1934 And Now: History Lives!

November 28, 2024 Peter Rachleff, Portside. Educate! Education, History, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Strikes, Unions

Over the first three decades of the 20th century, Minneapolis was the most notorious “open shop” city in the country. An employers’ organization (the “Citizens’ Alliance”) leveraged the power of banks, manufacturers, and local government to resist workers’ attempts to unionize. In February 1934 the city’s truck drivers and coal yard workers organized and struck their industry, winning union recognition in a week. Their success inspired other truckers and warehouse workers to organize and strike twice, in the spring and summer of 1934, facing down the power of police and private “deputies.”

You’re Already On Strike; How to Turn Up the Heat

November 28, 2024 Keith Brower Brown and Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes. Strategize! Detroit, Illinois, Oil and Gas, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Teamsters at Marathon Petroleum in Detroit have been on the picket line since September 4, their first strike in 30 years. Tankers filled with gasoline regularly exit the massive, belching refinery on a main Detroit artery, as Marathon continues production with supervisors brought in from other facilities. Workers have handbilled gas stations, as well as sometimes following Marathon trucks and picketing them when they make deliveries. They’ve gotten support from the Detroit City Council and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, as well as other unions like the UAW who have joined their picket lines.

Workers On The Picket Line

November 26, 2024 Marie Kelly, Workers World. Resist! California, Michigan, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Union workers at CVS stores in California asserted their rights by holding a three-day Unfair Labor Practice strike at seven CVS store locations in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The workers are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Not one CVS union member crossed the picket line, which represents 7,000 CVS workers in southern California. The strike came after UFCW filed ULP charges against CVS with the National Labor Relations Board, citing unlawful surveillance of workers, retaliation against union supporters and prohibiting workers from engaging in union activity.

Union-Owned Vegas Hotel Is Hiring Scabs To Break A Strike

November 25, 2024 Natascha Elena Uhlmann, Labor Notes. Resist! Hotel workers, Las Vegas, Nevada, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

In her 17 years as a guest room attendant, Isabel Gonzalez has scarcely had a moment’s rest. Gonzalez is responsible for cleaning 15 hotel rooms per day—stripping dirty linens, taking out the trash, making beds, cleaning toilets, sweeping, mopping, and dusting—all in the span of 30 to 45 minutes per room. Sometimes she can fill a garbage bag from one room alone, with liquor and juice bottles, bottle caps, and half-eaten food from the floor. When pets stay in the rooms, she must find the time to vacuum twice and carefully sponge fur from the suede chairs. Often, she says, workers fall behind schedule and forgo their lunch breaks to catch up.

Canada’s Postal Strikers Refuse To Throw New Hires Under The Bus

November 24, 2024 Danielle Smith, Labor Notes. Resist! Canada, Postal Workers, Solidarity, Strikes, Worker Rights and Jobs

Roughly 55,000 postal workers in Canada are on strike, fighting to raise their wages, protect their work, and shape the future of Canada Post. They’ve been in negotiations since November 2023, after agreeing to a two-year contract extension in 2021 due to Covid. “We definitely don’t want our jobs to become a race to the bottom,” said Tracey Langille, president of Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 548 in Hamilton, Ontario. “We want solid jobs, living wages, decent benefits, and the ability to retire with dignity as well.”

Tennessee Rideshare Drivers Call Strike During Country Music Awards

November 20, 2024 People's Dispatch. Resist! Drivers, Lyft, Strikes, Tennessee, Uber, Worker Rights

Tennessee Uber and Lyft rideshare drivers have called a strike on Wednesday, November 20, the day of the Country Music Awards. Drivers, organized with the newly-formed Tennessee Drivers Union (TDU), are demanding fair pay and better working conditions. These rideshare workers aim to use the strike to show that they are “essential to Tennessee’s 30 billion-dollar tourism economy” by disrupting an event that brings in millions of dollars each year. According to TDU, Uber and Lyft take a cut of 60% to 80% from each ride. TDU reports an example of a rideshare driver earning USD 12.58, and a customer being charged USD 52.72.

Will International Solidarity Turn The Tables For Striking Gaming Workers?

November 20, 2024 Simon Rosenblum-Larson and Andrew Tillett-Saks, Labor Notes. Strategize! Gaming Industry, Georgia, International Solidarity, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights

Four thousand workers at the online gaming company Evolution in Tbilisi, Georgia, walked off the job in July protesting low wages, dangerous working conditions, and harassment. Four months in, their strike is one of the largest and longest that this Eastern European country has ever seen. In August, some strikers sewed their mouths shut with a needle and thread in a hunger strike that resulted in multiple hospitalizations. A union victory would represent not only a sea change in the Georgian labor movement, but also a major breakthrough in beating back employers who scour the globe for cheap, non-union labor. Companies outsource expecting that workers won’t fight back.

Teachers Union Staff Faced An Unexpected Labor Adversary

November 20, 2024 Mel Buer, In These Times. Resist! Lockout, NEA, Strikes, Teachers, Unions, Worker Rights

In July, the National Education Association Staff Organization (NEASO) was locked out of their jobs without pay by NEA management after an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike over compensation and working conditions. The NEA is the largest union in the country, representing over 3 million educators in the United States with a union staff of 350. The lockout lasted for six weeks, ending eventually in a contract agreement between NEASO and NEA management. In this episode, two NEASO members talk about the impacts of the lockout on NEASO staff and the larger consequences for the teachers’ unions the NEA represents across the country.

Organizing To Strike: How 20,000 California Workers Got Ready

November 19, 2024 Barbara Madeloni, Labor Notes. Organize! California, Higher Education, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Michael McGlenn is a clinical psychologist at the University of California-San Diego. Three years ago, feeling the pinch of dues, he looked into dropping the union. He felt that “the best I could do was see the person in front of me and care for them,” he said, and as far as he could see, the union had nothing to do with what happened in his office. That was until a member organizer went to see him. They talked about how his ability to care for his patients was related to turnover and understaffing that could only be fixed through collective action. That conversation not only kept McGlenn in the University Professional and Technical Employees—years later, he is a leader on his campus.

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