Worker Rights

Taking Back Our Universities From Corporate Apparatchiks

April 16, 2023 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. Educate! Chris Hedges, Higher Education, Rutgers, Strike, Worker Rights

New Brunswick, N.J. — Here are some of the senior administrators I did not see joining us on the picket lines set up by striking teachers and staff at Rutgers University. Brian Strom, the chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, whose salary is $925,932 a year. Steven Libutti, the vice chancellor for Cancer Programs for Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, who makes $929,411 a year. Patrick Hobbs, the director of athletics, who receives $999,688 a year. The president of the university, Jonathan Holloway, who is paid $1.2 million a year. Stephen Pikiell, the university’s head basketball coach, who has received a 445 percent pay raise since 2020 and currently gets $3 million a year. Gregory Schiano, the university’s head football coach, who pulls in $4 million a year.

In The Philippines, Repression And US Trade Policy Go Hand-In-hand

April 16, 2023 Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network. Resistance Report New Cold War, Philippines, Trade Agreements, Worker Rights

For call center workers in the Philippines, attempts to unionize the workplace don’t just entail confrontations with local management—but overseas US-based multinationals and the US federal government’s foreign policy agenda as well. Since 2022, the Biden administration has promoted a new economic initiative known as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). Touted as a vehicle for “writing the new rules of the 21st century economy,” the IPEF links 14 nations across the Pacific Rim into an emergent bloc that has been compared to the defunct Trans-Pacific Partnership. Like the TPP before it, the IPEF attempts to build an exclusive economic regional pact that excludes China.

Famous Bilingual Program Is Failing And Teachers May Strike

April 15, 2023 Tom Anderson, Labor Notes. Resist! Languages, Public Education, Walkout, Worker Rights

Twenty years ago, the small school district of Woodburn piloted Oregon’s first K-12 district-wide dual-language program. It became a model for schools nationwide. Yet while the district continues to proudly present itself as bilingual, in reality this program—along with the rest of the system—is failing. Last week the Woodburn Education Association voted to authorize a potential strike, as teachers fight for better pay and caps on class sizes. So did the neighboring Silver Falls Education Association. “We see the most issues with the dual-language program,” said Misha Pfliger, a WEA rep and high school teacher. “It hasn’t been supported or sustained as the district has promised. Lots of teachers are leaving.

UPS Workers Might Revitalize Labor

April 15, 2023 Teddy Ostrow, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Strategize! Media, Strikes, UPS, Worker Rights

Over 340,000 workers at United Parcel Service (UPS) could launch the largest strike against a single company in US history this August, when their collective bargaining agreement expires. The clock is ticking as the top package courier in the world, which has seen two straight years of record-breaking profits, considers whether it will hold much of the country’s logistics infrastructure hostage by refusing workers’ demands: raising the poverty pay of part-time warehouse workers, re-establishing “equal pay for equal work” among delivery drivers, and introducing extreme heat–related and other safety protections, among others. National negotiations between UPS and the Teamsters union, which represents the workers, begin on April 17.

Insurance Companies Are Destroying New York’s Home Care Industry

April 15, 2023 Lily Meyersohn, In These Times. Resist! home care, Insurance Companies, New York (NY), Worker Rights

On Saturday, April 1, New York state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul failed to agree on a state budget. The governor proposed an extension until April 10, which was quickly passed by lawmakers to avoid a government shutdown — and then passed another extension, which expires Monday. These delays are reportedly because of disagreements over Hochul’s bail reform and controversial plans to create new housing. But another group is also watching the budget closely: home care workers, users and advocates, who pushed for and won a minimum wage increase for home care workers in the state budget in 2022, only to see those measures rolled back this year.

Can Labor Seize Its ‘Movement Moment’?

April 14, 2023 Rand Wilson and Peter Olney, Stansbury Forum. Organize! Amazon, Labor Movements, Unions, Worker Rights

One measure of the labor movement’s relative power is the percentage of the workforce covered by union contracts. From a post-war high in 1955 of 35% in the private sector represented by unions, the percentage has steadily plunged—now to a low of only 6% . That low private sector number is buoyed to just over 10% by the higher percentage of unionized public sector workers. These dismal membership numbers hide the promise this moment holds for union organizing. Public support, resources, and organizing momentum point to some of the brightest possibilities for the US union movement in decades.

Women Hold Up 76.2% Of The Sky

April 7, 2023 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute For Social Research. Educate! Equality, Essential workers, Women's Rights, Worker Rights

There is no need to delve too deeply into statistical data when the findings are obvious. For instance, when women and men work at the same job, women are paid – on average – 20 percent less than men. To raise awareness about this persistent disparity, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and United Nations Women host the International Equal Pay Day every year on 18 September and, through their Equal Pay International Coalition, lobby corporations and governments to close the yawning gender pay gap. The idea of ‘equal pay for equal work’ was established in the ILO’s Equal Remuneration Convention (1951) in recognition of the fact that women had always worked in industrial factories, increasingly so during the Second World War.

The Vail-ification Of The West

April 3, 2023 Joseph Bullington, In These Times. Educate! Colorado, Gentrification, wealth inequality, Worker Rights

"Welcome to Colorful Colorado,” reads the sign beside the highway as the road climbs from the alkaline flats of New Mexico into the foothills of the San Juan Mountains. But the landscape holds no color when Ana and her family cross the state line in the predawn dark. When the family arrives in Durango at 6:30 a.m., Ana’s husband goes to his construction job installing heating and A/C ducts. Ana waits at her sister’s house until the bus comes to take their son to school. Then, Ana goes to work, too, cleaning houses. This whole tiresome routine is new. Originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, the family lived for seven years in Durango, where they found work and a supportive immigrant community.

Biden’s Proposed Budget Is Nothing But Empty Promises

April 1, 2023 Molly Rosenzweig, Left Voice. Educate! Budget, Joe Biden, wealth inequality, Worker Rights

On March 9, Joe Biden announced his budget plan for fiscal year 2024. Not much of it is likely to pass, since there’s a slim majority by Republicans in the House, and much of it is in preparation for the 2024 election. He proposed many social programs and tax increases on the wealthy, many things which he didn’t even fight for when Democrats controlled both the House and Senate. Biden likely made these proposals because he knows they won’t pass, but he can still say he’s at least trying. He touts the paltry things he was able to pass and continues to promote his rose-colored outlook and some elements of economic populism, similar to what he pushed at the State of the Union, though with continuing low approval ratings, we can be sure that the many workers and oppressed realize that the rosy picture is far from reality.

On Monday, Germany Will Experience A ‘Mega-Strike’

March 26, 2023 Nathaniel Flakin, Left Voice. Resist! Germany, National Strike, Transportation, Worker Rights

France is currently in flames. Millions have been taking to the streets to protest against the government’s anti-democratic measure to raise the retirement age. Across the Rhine, Germany — where there tend to be far fewer strikes — is also set to experience a historic strike. Starting on Monday at midnight and lasting for 24 hours, hundreds of thousands of workers will be on strike. This is set to be the biggest strike in Germany in more than 30 years. It represents a convergence of different struggles in progress. On the one hand, the railway workers’ union EVG (not the same as the train drivers’ union GDL) is demanding a 12 percent raise for their members.

Starbucks Workers Walk Out Ahead Of Shareholder Meeting

March 23, 2023 Michael Sainato, The Guardian. Resist! Labor Unions, Shareholders, Starbucks, Worker Rights

Starbucks workers at over 100 US stores walk out ahead of shareholder meeting Workers hold protest in Seattle outside of Starbucks’ headquarters in response to the company’s aggressive anti-union efforts Michael Sainato @msainat1 Wed 22 Mar 2023 10.27 EDT Starbucks workers at over 100 stores around the US walked out on Wednesday ahead of the company’s annual shareholder meeting and held a protest in Seattle outside Starbucks’ headquarters. The actions were launched in response to Starbucks’ aggressive anti-union efforts against worker organizing, which have included allegations of firing dozens of workers in retaliation for union organizing, intimidation, store closures, withholding benefits, schedule cuts and delays in bargaining a first union contract. Starbucks has denied or rejected all allegations and charges of labor law violations.

México-Tesla Agreement: Mutually Beneficial Or One-sided?

March 20, 2023 Rubén Sierra, Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Educate! Maquiladoras, Mexico, Tesla, Worker Rights

On March 1, 2023, México’s President Andres Lopéz Obrador confirmed an agreement with Tesla that allows the electric vehicle company to build the “biggest electric vehicle plant in the world.” The plant, or maquiladora, will be located in the border state of Nuevo León within the industrial hub of Monterrey, México.” The plant will specifically be located in the Santa Catarina municipality. The agreement is governed by the United States-México-Canada Agreement (USMCA), previously known as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The México-Tesla partnership was announced just 10 days after the Mexican president issued an executive order which expedited the nationalization of the country’s lithium reserves.

Unintimidated, Amazon Workers Unionize Their Workplaces

March 17, 2023 Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News. Organize! Amazon, California, Labor Unions, Worker Rights

The historic union election victory at the JFK8 Amazon warehouse on Staten Island sent shockwaves throughout the US and beyond, but New York is not the only place Amazon workers are organizing. In Moreno Valley, California, workers at the ONT8 warehouse have been doing the painstaking work of organizing for years, and now they are attempting to unionize with the independent Amazon Labor Union, facing the same union-busting playbook from Amazon management that workers in Staten Island, Bessemer, Chicago, etc. have faced.

A Four-Day Work Week Could Be Closer Than You Think

March 14, 2023 Anna Coote, In These Times. Create! Four Day Workweek, United Kingdom (UK), Worker Rights, Worker Rights and Jobs

The future of the four-day work week is looking brighter after the results of a major new study were released last month. Nearly 3,000 workers at over 60 organizations took part in the latest trial of reduced working time — and the findings surpassed most expectations. A large majority of workers reported significant improvements in their quality of life. And it wasn’t just employees who preferred the shorter working week: more than 90% of employers who participated opted to continue the arrangement. The U.K.-based experiment introduced a four-day week or equivalent cut in hours, with no loss of pay, from June to December 2022.

Women’s Rights At The Heart Of The Fight Over Pensions In France

March 9, 2023 People's Health Dispatch. Resist! France, International Women's Day, Pensions, Worker Rights

For the first time in the history of France, trade unions have called for a two-day general strike that will extend to March 8, International Working Women’s Day. The general mobilization will begin on Tuesday, March 7, and it is expected to cause widespread protests all over the country. This is the first time since May 1968 that trade unions have issued a joint call for a general strike that will last for more than 24 hours. While actions for March 8 have grown in strength over the past years, this year’s mobilizations are expected to be particularly powerful. For the first time, it is social movements as a whole, and not the feminist movement alone, that is calling for the strike on International Working Women’s Day.

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