Unions

Calls For Resignation Of Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Grow

December 5, 2024 People's Dispatch. Resist! Democracy, General Strike, Martial Law, Military dictatorship, South Korea, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs, Yoon Seok-Yeol

Trade unions, political parties, and civil society organizations in South Korea have called for the resignation of President Yoon Suk Yeol following his attempt to impose martial law. Opposition parties, including the Democratic Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party, have sponsored a motion in the parliament to impeach Yoon. Thousands participated in a candlelight vigil on Wednesday to demand the same. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the largest trade union confederation in the country, announced that they will stage a general strike until President Yoon steps down.

Wisconsin Unions Score Major Win With Court Ruling

December 3, 2024 Scott Bauer, Portside. Resist! Collective bargaining, Legal System, Unions, Victory, Wisconsin, Worker Rights and Jobs

Madison, Wisconsin — Wisconsin public worker and teachers unions scored a major legal victory Monday with a ruling that restores collective bargaining rights they lost under a 2011 state law that sparked weeks of protests and made the state the center of the national battle over union rights. That law, known as Act 10, effectively ended the ability of most public employees to bargain for wage increases and other issues, and forced them to pay more for health insurance and retirement benefits. Under the ruling by Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost, all public sector workers who lost their collective bargaining power would have it restored to what was in place prior to 2011.

How Can US And Mexican Workers Build Cross-Border Solidarity?

December 3, 2024 Henry Salazar and David Bacon, Labor Notes. Strategize! Canada, International Solidarity, Mexico, Unions, United States, Worker Rights and Jobs

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed in 1993, the economies of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico have become increasingly integrated. Workers in all three countries have suffered as corporations have used trade rules to maximize profits, push down wages and benefits, and manage the flow of people displaced by these rules. Unions in all three countries have faced a basic question: Can they win the battles they face today without joining forces? That question has only become more urgent under the agreement that replaced NAFTA, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA, or T-MEC in Spanish). In February 2024 the UCLA Labor Center, the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center, and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation brought together union and workplace activists from the three countries to talk about labor solidarity in their industries.

Oxford Union Declares Israel An ‘Apartheid State Responsible For Genocide’

November 30, 2024 Middle East Eye. Resist! Apartheid, England, Genocide, Israel, oxford, Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Protests, Unions, United Kingdom (UK)

The prestigious Oxford Union voted by an overwhelming majority that Israel is an "apartheid state responsible for genocide" at a fiery event in which the society's president denounced Israel's war on Gaza as a "holocaust", and a pro-Israel speaker was ejected from the debating chamber. The exclusive debating society, founded in 1823, held an unprecedented debate on Thursday night on the motion: "This house believes Israel is an apartheid state responsible for genocide". The motion was carried with a thumping majority of 278 to 59. The packed debate on Thursday evening, observed by Middle East Eye and largely attended by Oxford students, was often raucous and heated, with nearly every speaker interrupted several times by students raising objections.

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.

Anti-Union Captive Meetings Are Now Illegal

November 24, 2024 Bob Funk, Portside. Educate! Donald Trump, NLRB, union busting, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

On Tuesday of last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that mandatory meetings in which employees are forced to listen to employer diatribes concerning their labor rights are unlawful. The mandatory meetings are often referred to as “captive audience meetings.” Designed to halt union organizing momentum and scare workers into voting against unions, such meetings are a key tactic in bosses’ anti-union playbook and devastating for organizing workers trying to better their lives. In 2022, NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memo in which she announced that she would ask the NLRB to find captive audience meetings unlawful.

Wall Street Took Over A Vital Sign Language Service

November 24, 2024 Sarah Lazare, In These Times. Educate! Interpretation, Privatization, Sign Language, union busting, Unions, Wall Street, Worker Rights and Jobs

“Do no harm” is the guiding principle of American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters’ professional code of conduct. But when Joe Klug, 28, worked as a Video Relay Service (VRS) interpreter for a Twin Cities metro area office of Purple Communications, he says this principle was routinely violated. The VRS field, which allows Deaf and Hard of Hearing people to make phone calls by video interfacing with interpreters, is difficult and fast-paced work. While some calls are social, others can be serious: medical emergencies, job interviews, jargon-heavy discussions with lawyers or sensitive conversations with doctors.

Indian Farmers And Workers Unite Again For National Mobilization

November 23, 2024 Abdul Rahman, People's Dispatch. Resist! Farmers, India, Mass Action, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

India’s major farmers and workers unions are coming together to launch a nationwide mobilization on Tuesday, November 26, to demand the government address the distress faced by the majority of the country’s population of farmers and workers. A call for nationwide protests was given by the united farmers front, Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and a joint platform of the Central Trade Unions earlier this month. Left-affiliated farmer’s organizations All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), All India Agricultural Workers Union (ALAWU), and Center for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), one of India’s largest trade union federations, are part of the call to mobilize.

Kentucky Battery Plant Workers Launch Union Drive With UAW

November 23, 2024 Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. Organize! Kentucky, Unions, United Auto Workers (UAW), Worker Rights and Jobs

A majority of the 1,000 auto workers at the car battery park Blue Oval in Glendale, Kentucky, have signed union cards to join the United Auto Workers. The battery park, a joint venture between Ford and South Korea’s SK On, is expected to ramp up hiring to 5,000 hourly workers by 2030. It has twin battery plants. But the second one is on hold due low demand for electric vehicles. At the first plant, workers are testing battery module packs from facilities in Georgia, as the plant prepares to become fully operational next year. Since he started last year, Chad Johnson has seen co-workers suffer mild heart attacks and respiratory problems, apparently from exposure to chemicals.

Whole Foods Workers File for First-Ever Union, Defying Amazon

November 23, 2024 Kim Kelly, In These Times. Resist! Amazon, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Unions, Whole Foods, Worker Rights and Jobs

With a rich history stretching back to 1682, Philadelphia boasts the nation’s first library, its first hospital, its first daily newspaper, even its first zoo. Now, a tenacious group of grocery store workers wants to earn the City of Brotherly Love another accomplishment: the nation’s first unionized Whole Foods Market. On November 22, Whole Foods Workers United officially declared its intention to unionize with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 1776 and filed papers with the National Labor Relations Board. Since Amazon bought the company in 2017, Whole Foods has undergone a litany of changes — many, workers say, for the worse.

General Strike Brings Greece To A Standstill

November 22, 2024 Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch. Resist! Anti-Austerity, General Strike, Greece, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Greece was brought to a halt on Wednesday, November 20, as a 24-hour general strike brought workers from across sectors—including education, logistics, construction, public transportation, and health—to the streets of dozens of cities. The mass mobilization, which began early in the morning, followed a media strike on Tuesday that included both public and private outlets. The striking workers demanded the repeal of anti-worker laws, including measures that extended working hours, and called for wage restoration. Over the past decade, successive governments, most recently led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, have implemented austerity policies under pressure from the European Union and international financial institutions.

Michigan Nurses Win The Largest Union Election In Years

November 22, 2024 Kari Thompson, Labor Notes. Organize! Health Care, Michigan, Nurses, Unions, Victory, Worker Rights and Jobs

It is the largest successful union election in recent memory: 10,000 nurses will be joining the Teamsters. They work for hospital conglomerate Corewell Health at eight hospitals and one outpatient facility, all in southeast Michigan. “We’re so excited we can hardly stand it,” said Katherine Wallace, a nurse at the hospital in Troy, who has been a core part of the campaign since October 2023. The union won the November election with 63 percent, with more than 85 percent voting. The union committee is Nurses for Nurses, part of Teamsters Joint Council 43.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

Daily movement news and resources