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Worker Rights and Jobs

Argentina’s Largest Trade Union Announces General Strike

January 1, 2024 Orinoco Tribune. , , , , ,
The General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Argentina’s largest labor union, has called for a general strike and a march to the Congress on January 24, 2024 to protest against President Javier Milei’s Decree of Necessity and Urgency and the “Omnibus Bill” that grants absolute powers to the far-right president to govern for two years bypassing the Congress. On Thursday, December 28, the CGT, which is the common platform for the largest labor unions of Argentina, announced the general strike against Milei’s neoliberal policies which “intend to drown the country in economic and political instability.”

2023 Was The Year Of The Strike; What Can We Expect In 2024?

December 31, 2023 Jenny Brown, In These Times. , , ,
Strikes and threats of strikes extracted contracts ranging from good to excellent from employers across the country this year. Half a million U.S. workers walked out — machinists, teachers, baristas, nurses, hotel housekeepers and autoworkers — with much of the motion coming from unions led by reformers. The year started out with a squeaker of an election victory that turned out to be momentous. In late 2022, the Members United slate swept most top offices at the United Auto Workers (UAW) on a platform of ​“No Concessions, No Corruption, No Tiers.” March saw a presidential runoff pitting the old guard incumbent against an obscure Kokomo, Indiana, electrician and union rep named Shawn Fain.

You’re A Mean One, Mr. DeJoy

December 29, 2023 Vishal Shankar, Revolving Door Project. , , ,
It’s the most wonderful time of the year – unless you’re a postal worker. Thanks to chronic understaffing and Amazon’s increasing use of the agency’s last-mile delivery service, the mail is piling up at post offices across the country and overwhelming already-overworked USPS employees. And that’s just the stocking stuffer: these Christmastime delays will become the year-round norm, from Janesville to Nashville to Whoville, if real-life Grinch Louis DeJoy gets his way*. As The Guardian’s Michael Sainato reported last week, the Postmaster General is currently implementing a “10-year austerity plan” that would slash working hours at hundreds of post offices and shutter vital postal sorting facilities.

Milei’s Shock Therapy And The Workers’ Response

December 27, 2023 Juan C , Left Voice. , , , ,
Less than two weeks after President Javier Milei took office in Argentina, his term is turning out to be as convulsive as promised. His economic policy is a textbook example of shock therapy, and includes massive cuts to social spending, a drastic currency devaluation–with the consequent depreciation of wages–, the reduction of subsidies on energy and transport, and price liberalization. This program was accompanied last week by the implementation of a new “security protocol” aimed at suppressing social protest and penalizing those who mobilize to reject government policies. In this context, a mass mobilization to Plaza de Mayo last Wednesday, followed by spontaneous pots and pans protests in front of Congress, was the first show of strength by those who vow to resist the onslaught.

Vermont’s New AFL-CIO President Is A Democratic Socialist, Labor Reformer

December 27, 2023 Steve Early, Portside. , , , , ,
Unlike some local and national unions, the AFL-CIO’s state and local bodies rarely hold contested leadership elections with opposing slates offering alternative strategies for reviving the labor movement. Yet in Vermont, there have been two such contests for the state federation in the last four years, both producing a mandate for change. In 2019, a group of local union officers and staff members created a reform slate called “Vermont AFL-CIO United!” Fourteen of its candidates got elected — taking all the top officer jobs and forming a majority on the state labor council’s executive board. Their goal was to revitalize a moribund organization through membership education, mobilization, and direct action, plus greater independence from the Democratic Party.

Cooperative Ways To Weather The Silver Tsunami

December 26, 2023 Jaisal Noor, Grassroots Economic Organizing. , , ,
Sierra Allen, 21-year-old barista, had just ended their shift at Baltimore’s Common Ground Cafe on July 2, 2023, when a co-worker texted them the shocking news: Owner Michael Krupp was unceremoniously closing the beloved coffee shop for good and laying off its 30 employees, effective immediately. “It was a moment of shock. I was in a grocery store, and I burst into tears, because no one knew what was going on.” Allen was devastated by the news that they were losing a job that provided stable employment and a supportive community. The layoffs left them struggling financially—to get unemployment and to keep up with mounting bills.

Southern Human Rights Organizing And The Amazon Workers’ Struggle

December 24, 2023 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. , , , ,
Jennifer Bates is an organizer with the BAmazon Union , the effort to organize Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama. BAmazon Union is affiliated with the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union (RWDSU). I spoke to Ms. Bates at the Southern Human Rights Organizers Conference (SHROC) which was recently held in Nashville. SHROC is an opportunity for human rights organizers and defenders to come together to share strategies, learn from each other, and build relationships. It’s a gathering of grassroots organizers and human rights defenders from across the U.S. and Global South.

The Longest Adjunct Strike In US History Comes To A Close

December 23, 2023 Jeff Schuhrke, In These Times. , , , ,
The longest adjunct strike in U.S. history ended this week after part-time faculty at Columbia College Chicago voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratifying a new four-year contract that will grant them greater job security and more decision-making power over their working conditions. The 49-day strike was led by the Columbia College Faculty Union (CFAC), which represents approximately 600 part-time adjunct instructors at the private, arts-and media-focused institution in Chicago’s South Loop. The tentative agreement was reached on December 17. Eighty-five percent of the membership participated in the ratification vote, with 99.7% approving.

Amazon Goes Into Union-Busting Overdrive

December 23, 2023 Josh Crowell and Tamara Dowell, Labor Notes. , , ,
Our union campaign at Amazon’s “superhub” air cargo center, KCVG in Northern Kentucky, is taking off. And not surprisingly that’s prompting the company to go into union-busting overdrive. In the last two months of 2023, we’ve organized three marches on the boss—demanding translation rights for workers who are English language learners, and also challenging the company when they gave out “final written warnings” to 11 of us for union tabling activities, even though they were outside of work areas. The video of our first march on the boss got over 5 million views on Tik Tok.

The Hollywood Strikes Showed A New Class Consciousness Is Growing

December 22, 2023 Sybil Davis and Jason Koslowski, Left Voice. , , , , ,
As 2023 draws to a close, one of the biggest stories of the year was the “hot labor summer” and the overall rise of labor activity. The most significant of these strikes was the UAW strike, which began in mid-September and lasted until mid-October. The Hollywood strikes of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) probably generated fewer high-profile headlines. But they deserve some special attention for a few reasons. The strikes ground a highly lucrative industry to a halt, and they cost California and other production-heavy states at least $6 billion in lost wages and business impacts.

Elon Musk’s Swedish Problem

December 21, 2023 Les Leopold, Portside. , , ,
Unfortunately for Elon Musk, the lord and master of the Tesla electric automobile company, the Swedish peasants have grabbed their pitchforks. One hundred twenty Tesla mechanics in seven service centers are demanding a collective agreement with the company, one that aligns with all other labor-management agreements in this heavily unionized country. Approximately 90% of the Swedish workforce falls under such agreements. Musk isn’t having any of it. How dare a union tell him what he can and cannot do with his workers! For the first time in his life, however, he may be learning a lesson in labor solidarity. The 120 peasant-mechanics are not alone.

Big Contract Battles Ahead For Unions In 2024

December 19, 2023 Dan DiMaggio, Labor Notes. , , ,
Major contract fights in 2023 at UPS, the Big 3 automakers, and Hollywood studios set the tone for next year’s contract campaigns. Impressive gains and increased transparency got members of other unions asking, “Why can’t my union be like that?” The bar will be high. Many of the contracts expiring next year date from before the pandemic, and before inflation started taking a bite out of paychecks. Some unions took concessions, like creating lower wage and benefit tiers, that members are ready to fight to undo this time around. Two contracts covering 25,000 AT&T wireline workers expire in 2024.

2023 In Review: Big Strikes, Bigger Gains

December 18, 2023 Jenny Brown, Labor Notes. , , ,
Strikes and threats of strikes extracted contracts ranging from good to excellent from employers across the country this year. Half a million U.S. workers walked out—machinists, teachers, baristas, nurses, hotel housekeepers, and auto workers—with much of the motion coming from unions led by reformers. The year started out with a squeaker of an election victory that turned out to be momentous. In late 2022, the Members United slate swept most top offices at the Auto Workers (UAW) on a platform of “No Concessions, No Corruption, No Tiers.” March saw a presidential runoff pitting the old guard incumbent against an obscure Kokomo, Indiana, electrician and union rep named Shawn Fain.

European Trade Unions March To Protest The EU-Imposed Austerity

December 15, 2023 People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
On December 12, trade unionists, political parties, and other working-class sections from around 30 countries participated in a major demonstration led by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) protesting the EU-imposed austerity in the region. The march was organized against the backdrop of the summit of EU leaders in Brussels on December 14 and 15 to find a consensus over a controversial reform of the EU’s economic governance rules called the ‘Stability and Growth Pact.’ Around 15,000 people marched in Brussels behind the banner Together Against Austerity sending a clear message to leaders that there must be no return to austerity.

Why Labor Unions Should Join The Housing Fight

December 15, 2023 Zoe Tucker, Law and Political Economy Project. , , ,
Brenda Mendoza, a worker at the Ritz-Carlton Los Angeles, begins her daily commute at 3 a.m. To save gas, she carpools with family members, and they arrive back home around 9 p.m., at which point she’s lucky to catch three hours of sleep. Some days, she can sneak a nap during her 30-minute lunch break. This extended journey was not always Brenda’s fate, as she once commuted only ten minutes to and from her union job as a uniform attendant. However, increasing rental costs have pushed her and her family so far from downtown LA that she now drives four hours roundtrip every day she works at the hotel, where the cheapest room would cost you more than $800 tonight.
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