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Worker Rights and Jobs

Railroads And Unions Divide And Scramble

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

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.

Corporate Fearmongering Over Fast Food Wage Hike Aged Like Cold Fries

In September 2023, California passed a law requiring fast food restaurants with more than 60 locations nationwide to pay workers a minimum of $20 an hour, affecting more than 700,000 people working in the state’s fast food industry. Readers will be unsurprised to hear that corporate media told us that this would devastate the industry. As Conor Smyth reported for FAIR (1/19/24) before the law went into effect, outlets like USA Today (12/26/23) and CBS (12/27/23) were telling us that, due to efforts to help those darn workers, going to McDonald’s or Chipotle was going to cost you more, and also force joblessness. This past April, Good Morning America (4/29/24) doubled down with a piece about the “stark realities” and “burdens” restaurants would now face due to the law.

Poultry Bosses Benefit From Trump’s Threats

Even before he takes office, the Trump victory has given more power to poultry corporations. They’re using the political environment to intimidate workers. I’ve been organizing with poultry processing workers in Arkansas for 10 years, and I see a high risk that the (already awful) working conditions will get worse. In some small plants, fewer than half the workers are documented. More than half are hired through a contractor who brings in undocumented people. They don’t get the same benefits, like holidays and overtime pay, and they’re paid less while enduring the same risks.

German VW Workers Strike To Save Their 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.

Wage Stagnation: The Real Threat To Social Security

No matter what they say about the U.S. economy, finding a job to support yourself is tough when you are starting out. Finding rewarding and meaningful work is an even greater challenge for most. If you are that lucky, you’re preoccupied with paying off student loans and having enough money to travel or afford your own home. Thinking about a secure future after a lifetime of work might not be your greatest concern. But listen up! In mid-November, the New York Times reported that the Social Security fund that pays retiree benefits is projected to be depleted by 2033.

India: Farmers Intensify Mobilization Despite Government Crackdown

Scores of women held candlelight vigils in support of over a hundred farmer leaders arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police in India on Tuesday, December 10. The protesting women warned authorities against intimidating the families of the farmers and demanded the immediate release of all those detained. The vigils took place in villages near New Delhi, where farmers have been agitating for months. Their demands include proper compensation for land acquired for the development of large townships, the return of 10% of developed lands to those affected, and adequate rehabilitation for families who have lost their only source of income under the Land Acquisition Act of 2013.

From Member-Managed LLCs To Cooperative Reform For Inclusive Economies

Amidst the global surge of refugees and migrants seeking economic opportunities, the call for inclusive, democratic, and cooperative models is more pressing than ever. With 2025 designated as the UN’s International Year of Cooperatives, there is a critical need to reform cooperative laws to ensure that no marginalized worker is excluded. This essay explores how inclusive and democratic cooperatives, alongside innovative models like member-managed limited liability companies (LLCs), can address these global labor challenges. Imagine a world where everyone, regardless of their legal status, can fully participate in cooperative ventures.

Museum Security Workers Strike Against Billionaire Bosses

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.

In Hurricane Ruins, North Carolina Food Workers Organize And Fight

Twenty-one days without running water. A week before any cell service or internet. Hospitals closed, and thousands of houses swept away. Not long after developers started trumpeting the city of Asheville, North Carolina, as a “climate haven” from coastal storms, the area experienced catastrophic flooding. Upland Tennessee and North Carolina were the hardest hit by Hurricane Helene on September 27. For restaurant workers, the crisis is still getting worse, says Miranda Escalante, a hotel bartender and co-chair of Asheville Food & Beverage United, an organization of restaurant workers. At least three-quarters have been laid off since the storm, she said, in what would have been peak season.

Sabotage As A Tool Of Solidarity

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.

Calls For Resignation Of Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Grow

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.

Support Koreans against Yoon!

The labor unions and mass organizations of the people of South Korea deserve the support of everyone who wants to struggle against war and dictatorship. They are fighting at this time — Dec. 4, 2024 — to rid the Seoul regime of its autocratic, anti-worker, pro-war President Yoon Suk-Yeol. On Dec. 3 Yoon declared martial law and sent elite troops to seize the National Assembly. His coup attempt failed, and the Congress voted to lift the coup. Yoon’s own cabinet members had dissented in fear of defeat, and Yoon was forced to retreat within hours of his martial law declaration.

Southern Workers Prepare For An Uphill Battle Under Trump

The hours were long and the pay painfully little. But Naomi Harris kept her head down, pushed on, telling herself she had few options. She worked the first and sometimes the late-night shift at a Waffle House, in Columbia, S.C., sometimes putting in 17 hours. Exhausted by the sweltering heat and long hours in the restaurant, she often went home with a powerful headache. In July of last year, she felt she had to speak up. It was the morning rush, and she was the only server. The temperature was in the mid-90s. The air conditioning was out — as it had been for a while. The cooler wasn’t working. Another worker was outside vomiting. She felt faint and lost her balance, so she texted a manager for help, but nothing happened, she says.

Wisconsin Unions Score Major Win With Court Ruling

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.
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