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Unions

Activists Announce Campaign Against Effects Of Commodification Of Health

September 9, 2023 People's Health Dispatch. , , , ,
In a joint effort to combat the growing marketization of health services in Europe, three organizations—the European Public Services Union (EPSU), the European Network Against Commercialization of Health and Social Protection, and the People’s Health Movement (PHM) Europe—have announced a renewed regional campaign. The initiative was announced during a public meeting held on Thursday, September 7, aiming to bring health to the forefront of the European Union’s (EU) agenda. The coalition has expressed deep concern over the EU’s prioritization of financial and fiscal matters, such as free competition and budgetary convergence, over public health.

Fight For Safety, Own The Shop Floor

September 9, 2023 Keith Brower Brown, Labor Notes. , , ,
Earlier this year, on the Ford stamping line in Buffalo, sewage started pouring onto the floor. Careless managers had shut down a pump to install new equipment and caused a deluge. The workers didn't work meekly through the dizzying stench. They shut down their line, fast. And they did it with so much unity that their manager decided not to fight back. That collective action didn't come out of nowhere. Over the last few years, Auto Workers at Local 897 have built a fighting safety culture. They elected new local officers who turned “militant” into a badge of honor. Members stopped the line when poorly routed forklifts dropped metal sheets near workers.

The Chicago Teachers Union Won Big; What Comes Next?

September 9, 2023 Jim Daley, In These Times. , , , , ,
On the last Friday of summer break, Stacy Davis Gates was in high spirits. At a back-to-school party in the parking lot of Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) headquarters, she bounced from one group to another, smiling as she posed for photos with alderpersons, union activists, parents and children. Davis Gates, who has been the president of the CTU for a little over a year, has good reason to be happy. In April, Brandon Johnson, a former middle school teacher and CTU organizer, was elected mayor. And Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez, who often mentions that he’s a product of CPS, was also at the party, beaming and shaking hands.

Academia Is In Crisis, And It’s Time For A Change

September 7, 2023 Raura Doreste, Left Voice. , , ,
Postdoctoral researchers at New York City’s Mount Sinai hospital voted by 91 percent to authorize a strike. Left Voice interviewed Andrea Joseph, a first-year Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences and member of the SPOC-UAW Bargaining Committee. Andrea spoke about how the negotiations are developing with the Mount Sinai administration, what the postdocs demands’ are for a strong contract, and what changes they expect to see from the administration. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Virginia Tech Graduate Students And Staff Launch Labor Unions

September 5, 2023 Lisa Rowan, Cardinal News. , , , ,
Two unions are going public Tuesday at Virginia Tech, with a shared goal of creating a better working environment for graduate students, faculty and staff at the state university. It’s an effort that has been in the works for three years, as the groups have quietly recruited members while, across the country, campus labor unions have gained attention. On Tuesday, members of the United Campus Workers of Virginia Tech (UCW-VT) and the Virginia Tech Graduate Labor Union (VT GLU) will team up in a rally on the Blacksburg campus. They hope going public will attract new members and draw attention to their efforts to press university administrators for improvements for campus workers at all levels.

Spain: Anarchists Assemble Picket Lines For Ikea Dispute

September 2, 2023 Freedom News. , , , ,
We request solidarity from all the Sections of the AIT / IWA and international affiliates regarding a labour conflict between our comrade and FOLDECO DEVELOPMENT S.L, a company he had been working at for almost three years. After our colleague suffered from workplace harassment by the company’s management, including xenophobic insults and even physical aggression, we have made the pertinent complaints and taken legal action. We are also taking action against one of its main customers, and therefore accomplice; the multinational IKEA, for whom FOLDECO manufactured furniture parts.

UAW: Our Members Are Willing To Do Whatever It Takes

September 1, 2023 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , ,
Workers and leaders at the United Auto Workers (UAW) are currently battling the three largest automakers in the US (General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis) in a massive campaign to negotiate the master contract for 144,000 “Big Three” auto workers. Their contract is set to expire on September 14, if no agreement is reached before then, workers will go on strike. The UAW has set the tone for these negotiations with a set of militant demands that address the unsupportable conditions US workers, particularly industrial workers, have endured following neoliberal deindustrialization.

Lessons From Lively Picket Lines

September 1, 2023 Luis Feliz Leon and Alexandra Bradbury, Labor Notes. , , ,
The heat was scorching in Louisville, Kentucky, last Thursday. But what the windless day lacked in gusts, it made up in guts. The union-made placards read: “United for a Strong Contract.” That resonated with auto workers at Ford who hadn’t been part of a contract rally for as long as anyone can remember. And the picket line came alive when they broke away from the tedious repetition of “Who’s got the power? We’ve got the power!” and used their own chants. “We ready, we ready, we ready for a strike…” An auto worker led a syncopated chorus, breaking the monotony of the boring chants printed on the back of their placards.

Camas Teachers Go On Strike; Battle Ground And Evergreen Could Follow

August 28, 2023 Anthony Macuk, KGW. , , , ,
Camas, Washington - Hundreds of teachers in the Camas School District officially went on strike around 9 a.m. Monday morning, cancelling what would have otherwise been the first day of the school year. The union representing Camas School District teachers announced Sunday evening that it would follow through on plans to strike and confirmed there would be no classes on Monday. The announcement came after a last-ditch round of bargaining on Sunday, which the Camas Education Association said ended when "the district refused to make commitments to reasonable class sizes or equitable funding for music, PE, and libraries."

The UPS Teamsters Contract Has Been Ratified – What Now?

August 26, 2023 Teddy Ostrow and RuWalsh, The Real News Network. , , , ,
On Tuesday, August 22, the Teamsters union announced that its members voted to ratify the national UPS contract by 86.3% –  and with record turnout. Workers won significant raises, the abolition of the two-tier driver system, air conditioning in package cars, thousands of new full-time jobs, and more. In our previous episode, we discussed the gains of the tentative agreement and the years of Teamsters organizing it took to make them possible, including the past year’s contract campaign which built a credible strike threat. In this episode, we dug deeper into the various layers of members’ reactions to the contract, as well as what’s required of the membership to enforce it and build on it moving forward.

Labor Organizing Secret: Ten-Minute Meetings

August 26, 2023 Lisa Xu, Labor Notes. , , ,
As auto workers prepare for the expiration of the Big 3 auto contracts covering 150,000 members September 14, some are turning to a valuable tool they saw UPS Teamsters use: the 10-minute meeting. It’s simply an in-person meeting with your co-workers that is just 10 minutes long—and which, crucially, is held at work. Instead of scheduling a long meeting offsite on off-time, you’re bringing the meeting to them, and making it as convenient as possible. Ten-minute meetings can update members on negotiations and important actions during a contract campaign. Leading up to the UPS expiration, for example, Teamster activists held brief parking lot meetings right before or after their shifts.

So You Wanna Practice Picket? Here’s How We Did It

August 25, 2023 Dane Rohl, Labor Notes. , , , ,
For the first time since I started working at UPS 15 years ago, it feels like unions across the country are on the rise. UPS Teamsters mobilized for a massive contract campaign to win the best contract we’ve ever had. Now it’s the Auto Workers’ turn. Like in the Teamsters, UAW members recently elected new leadership that will stand up for you—and more importantly, actually allow members to stand up for yourselves. I’ve been following the contract fights at the Big 3 automakers. You’re fighting for a lot of the same things we fought for: ending two-tier, a fair raise, and control of your time.

Hollywood Is A Union Town, But The History Is Complicated

August 25, 2023 Steven Wishnia, The Indypendent. , , , ,
The American movie industry has been one of the most consistently unionized sectors of the economy since the 1930s — but to achieve that, workers had to overcome “the iron fist of the moguls” and organized crime, says historian Gerald Horne, author of Class Struggle in Hollywood 1930-1950. Craft workers — painters, plumbers, carpenters — were the first to organize, joining the International Association of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE), founded in New York in 1893. Five hundred of them went on strike in 1918. The Screen Writers Guild, ancestor of the Writers Guild of America, was founded at a meeting of 10 writers in February 1933, and the Screen Actors Guild, a few months later.

UPenn Residence Advisers Will Have Union Election Despite Opposition

August 25, 2023 Abraham Gutman, The Philadelphia Inquirer. , , , ,
University of Pennsylvania students who work as residence hall assistants will hold a unionization vote this fall, the National Labor Relations Board decided this week. The decision rejects Penn’s claim that students aren’t employees and don’t have the right to form a union. About 220 student workers filed paperwork with the NLRB in March to join the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 153, which represents students in universities around the region. If the effort is successful, the union would be the first of its kind in the Philadelphia area. Students at other universities have formed unions in recent years following a 2016 NLRB ruling that allowed Columbia University graduate students to unionize.

Revitalized Union Power Helped Crush Attempts To Rig The System In Ohio

August 24, 2023 Bob Hennelly, Portside. , , ,
It is said that history is written by the winners. But when it comes to big wins by organized labor, the corporate news media, itself fighting unionization at all costs, tends to ignore unions even when they are shaping history. Missing from much of the coverage about Ohio voters’ rejection of the Republican legislature’s attempt to raise the threshold for voter approval needed to amend the state constitution from a simple majority to 60 percent — was the central role organized labor played in mobilizing and helping to defeat the scheme. In the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the Republican legislature pushed through some of the nation’s most draconian restrictions on abortion.
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