Worker Rights

Longshore Deal Secures New Automation Language

January 11, 2025 Joe DeManuelle-Hall, Labor Notes. Resist! Contract Negotiations, Ports, Unions, Worker Rights

The International Longshoremen’s Association has settled its East and Gulf Coast contract shortly before a January 15 strike deadline. The deal locks in a 62 percent wage increase over six years and expands existing automation protections. Workers will also see larger “container royalty” payouts. The agreement will go first to a body of ILA delegates, and then members will vote. The full agreement is not yet public. ILA members won the big wage promise after striking for three days in October, shutting down container shipping on the East and Gulf Coasts in their first coastwide strike since 1977.

You Have To Shake Up The Status Quo

January 11, 2025 Sarah Jaffe, In These Times. Organize! AFL-CIO, Labor Movement, Marilyn Sneiderman, Militancy, Worker Rights

Marilyn Sneiderman has her baby pink Teamsters jacket framed on her living room wall. You’ve seen this kind of jacket before, if not in that color — satin with the big union logo on the back, the Teamster twin horse heads over a wagon wheel. But when Sneiderman was hired as the education director for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in the early 1990s, under the reform leadership of Ron Carey, she was one of few women in power. The pink jacket is, in a way, a symbol of her entire career in the labor movement.

What Is Salting?

January 1, 2025 Kim Kelly, Portside. Organize! Salting, Unions, Worker Rights, Youth

The resurgence of the American labor movement is being led in no small part by a cohort of young, diverse, fired-up workers around the country. Union density remains embarrassingly low overall, but last month the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, released some genuinely inspiring numbers that suggest the perceived upswing in union activity is more than just a vibe. During the 2024 fiscal year, which ended in September, the number of union petitions filed jumped 27% compared with 2023 — and was more than double what the agency received in 2021. Why does this matter? Basically, filing these petitions is a concrete sign that more people are trying to unionize their workplaces.

Hospitals Are Understaffed; Could Co-Ops Be An Answer?

January 1, 2025 Osita Nwanevu, In These Times. Create! Cooperatives, Healthcare workers, Hospitals, Unions, Worker Rights

America’s healthcare workforce has been the subject of renewed attention and anxiety since the Covid pandemic began. The crisis only deepened projected shortages that were already set to plague the sector as the country will need hundreds of thousands more physicians and nurses in the decade ahead to meet demand. But that’s only part of the problem. Roughly 60% of America’s healthcare workforce is employed in what the industry calls “allied health” roles: medical assistants, technicians, physical therapists and others who make up much of the background infrastructure of American medicine.

CEO Salaries Skyrocket 1,085% Since 1978

December 30, 2024 Dax Everly, Kawsachun News. Educate! Capitalism, CEO Pay, Class Struggle, wealth inequality, Worker Rights

From 1978 to 2023, chief executive officers at America’s largest firms experienced a dramatic 1,085% increase in compensation, while the average worker’s salary rose by just 24%, as highlighted in a recent annual report. The report, produced by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), scrutinizes compensation trends at the top 350 publicly traded U.S. companies measured by revenue. The methodology for assessing CEO pay, which predominantly comprises stock-based components, involves both a retrospective view using realized compensation and a prospective angle via granted compensation.

The Walmart Effect

December 26, 2024 Rogé Karma, Portside. Educate! Local Economy, Poverty, Walmart, Worker Rights

No corporation looms as large over the American economy as Walmart. It is both the country’s biggest private employer, known for low pay, and its biggest retailer, known for low prices. In that sense, its dominance represents the triumph of an idea that has guided much of American policy making over the past half century: that cheap consumer prices are the paramount metric of economic health, more important even than low unemployment and high wages. Indeed, Walmart’s many defenders argue that the company is a boon to poor and middle-class families, who save thousands of dollars every year shopping there.

Starbucks Barista Strike Spreads To 300 Stores Across United States

December 24, 2024 John Zangas, DC Media Group. Resist! Starbucks, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights

Washington DC—Over 5000 baristas walked off their jobs on Christmas eve in the largest action ever taken against Starbucks corporation. It was the fifth day of an escalating strike stretching from coast to coast across the country. The action involved over 300 stores that had previously voted to join Starbucks Workers United Union (SBWU) according to a press release from the union. The strike comes amidst growing tensions between SBWU Union representatives and Starbucks corporate lawyers after 98% of union members voted to reject a wage increase of less than 2%.

Interviews With Amazon Workers Organizing A Historic Strike

December 22, 2024 Luigi Morris, Left Voice. Resist! Amazon, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights

Amazon workers at a number of facilities across the country recently began a historic strike, leveraging the breakneck pace of the holiday season to launch a struggle against the company that has become the face of modern exploitation. This is the first national strike against Amazon, the second largest company in the world, and the largest action so far against the employer. Less than four years ago, Amazon workers at the JFK8 facility in New York set the stage for the strike after forming the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) and inspiring a wave of unionizations across the country.

UFW Announces Boycott Of Windmill Farms Mushrooms From Sunnyside

December 22, 2024 Jasper Kenzer Sundden, Seattle Times. Resist! boycott, Farmworkers, Mushrooms, Worker Rights

The United Farm Workers union is calling for a boycott of mushrooms from the Windmill Farms plant in Sunnyside, Yakima County, its first boycott in nearly 20 years. Workers are seeking the community’s support in their efforts to form a union, said Gabriela López, a member of the workers’ committee, during a gathering Wednesday night. Officials with Windmill Farms did not comment on the boycott. The union’s last boycott was E. & J. Gallo Winery in California in 2005, UFW organizer Roman Pinal said. The union called on consumers to look out for mushrooms produced in Sunnyside and sold in Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

‘We Make Them Billions, Everyday!’: Amazon Workers Hold The Line

December 21, 2024 People's Dispatch. Resist! Amazon, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights

Amazon workers at facilities across the country are out on an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike, demanding that the company recognize their union and begin negotiations for a contract. “Momentum continues to mount as more workers fight for fair treatment from this $2 trillion corporation,” wrote the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The thousands of Amazon workers on strike across the country are organized with the Teamsters, one of the largest unions in North America and which led a historic and successful struggle against shipping giant UPS in 2023. “The Amazon Teamsters movement grows bigger and stronger every day and will not be stopped.”

Montreal Port Workers Have One Last Chance To Reach A Deal

December 21, 2024 Liam O'Toole, Labor Notes. Resist! Canada, Ports, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights

At the Port of Montréal, nearly 1,200 longshore workers have been ordered into binding arbitration by the Canadian government following a 10-day lockout. There’s still one final chance to reach a consensual agreement. The Syndicat des Débardeurs (Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 375) and the Maritime Employers Association have entered a 90-day period of mediation. During this period, they are to refrain from making any public statements. If the mediated negotiations fail, a new contract will be imposed by the federal government. Longshore workers at the port have been working without a contract since December 31, 2023. Their biggest concerns are scheduling, workplace rules, and forced overtime.

Amazon Workers Launch Largest Strike Yet

December 20, 2024 Natascha Elena Uhlmann, Labor Notes. Resist! Amazon, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights

Amazon warehouse workers and delivery drivers at seven facilities in the metro areas of San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Southern California, and New York City are out on strike today, in what the union says is the largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history. Unionized workers at Staten Island’s JFK8 fulfillment center have also authorized a strike and could soon follow. Workers in all these locations—five delivery stations and two fulfillment centers—have already shown majority support and demanded union recognition. The Teamsters set Amazon an ultimatum: recognize the unions and agree to bargaining by December 15, or face strikes. Amazon hasn’t moved.

Baristas Vote To Serve Starbucks CEO A Hot Strike

December 20, 2024 John Zangas, DC Media Group. Resist! Starbucks, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights

Washington DC—Just in time for the holidays, over 10,000 Starbucks Baristas voted to strike at up to 537 stores across the country. The vote comes after top management made a final offer of a paltry 2% raise on a contract negotiated over the last 8 months. Baristas in three States will stop brewing lattes and blending frappuccinos starting Friday morning at the start of the busiest shopping weekend before Christmas. The escalating strike will begin in Seattle, LA, and Chicago, and will spread to other locations across the country.

Forcing Postal Workers Back To Work Misuse Of Labour Code

December 20, 2024 Gabriela Calugay-Casuga, Rabble.ca. Resist! Canada, Postal Workers, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights

Canada Post workers have been on strike for five weeks. On Tuesday morning, legal strike action ended after a decision from the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) which said operations were to resume. On Friday, labour minister Steve MacKinnon asked CIRB to investigate whether the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Canada Post were likely to reach a deal before the end of 2024. The Board found an agreement before the end of the year was unlikely and ordered postal workers back on the job.

These Artisans Built A Co-op Alternative To Etsy

December 13, 2024 Cinnamon Janzer, Next City. Create! Artists, Cooperatives, Etsty, Worker Rights

In 2022, Etsy’s earnings topped $109 million in consolidated net income. “Despite significant macroeconomic headwinds, we maintained the vast majority of our pandemic gains and delivered double digit revenue growth and excellent profitability for the year,” Etsy CEO Josh Silverman said in a press release. Days later, Silverman announced that the marketplace platform would raise the transaction fee Etsy takes from each sale from 5% to 6.5%. In response, some 14,000 Etsy sellers closed their shops and went on strike for eight days.

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