Workers

Dear Delta Air Lines: Video Games And Beer Cannot Compete With Joining A Union

May 15, 2019 Steven Greenhouse, Theguardian.com Resist! Airlines, Class Struggle, Unions, Workers

The airline is telling employees that unions take money they could spend on entertainment instead. Will anyone really fall for that anti-union tactic? In its latest offensive to beat back unionization, Delta Air Lines displays total contempt for labor unions and an astonishing ignorance about what unions have accomplished to lift American workers. Delta has a new anti-union poster that tells employees, “A new video game system with the latest hits sounds like fun. Put your money towards that instead of paying dues to the union.” Another Delta poster estimates that union dues cost $700 a year and says, “Nothing’s more enjoyable than a night out watching football with your buddies.

When Sydney Was Touched By Workers’ Democracy

May 15, 2019 Jerome Small, Redflag.org.au Educate! Australia, Class Struggle, History, Unions, Workers

If working class people had real power, what would society look like? If you live in Australia’s largest city, you don’t have to look far to find an answer. If you’ve ever seen the Sydney Opera House, you’ve seen a building constructed under workers’ control. If you’ve ever strolled through the the Rocks, you’ve walked though a historic area that organised workers saved from demolition. If you head over to nearby Woolloomooloo, you’ll see one of the few communities left in inner Sydney where low paid workers can live – and it’s there only because of the actions of militant construction workers. And the giant Centennial Park, the lungs of inner Sydney...

The Teachers’ Revolt And The Fight For Social Equality

May 14, 2019 Staff, WSWS.org Resist! Class Struggle, Strikes, Teachers, Workers

Like teachers across the US, educators in Detroit are angered over stagnant real income and the indifference of corporate-controlled politicians who will not provide adequate resources to address the needs of our students. Three years ago, Detroit teachers were the first to organize sickouts and protests that exposed the crisis of public education to a national and international audience. Since then, hundreds of thousands of educators, from West Virginia to Oregon and Los Angeles to Denver, have walked out of their classrooms to fight over the same issues.

Strikes By US Workers Outpacing Rate In 2018

May 13, 2019 Jerry White, Wsws.org Resist! Capitalism, Class Struggle, Strikes, Workers

With new strikes this month by hospital workers in Toledo, Ohio; teachers in Oregon, Tennessee and North and South Carolina; and international strikes and protests by Uber and Lyft drivers, the number of major work stoppages in the United States is on pace to surpass last year’s total. After the US unions reduced strike action to historically low levels in the nine years following the 2008 financial crash, American workers were involved in 20 major work stoppages in 2018, involving a total of 485,000 workers, the highest number since 1986. The growth of class conflict in the US was part of a marked resurgence of strikes around the world as workers rebelled against a decade of falling real wages...

Uber Drivers Strike As Execs Make Millions Off IPO

May 13, 2019 By Negin Owliaei, Inequality.org Resist! Class Struggle, Lyft, Uber, Workers

With the ring of a bell, controversial former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick became a billionaire on Friday when the ridesharing company made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. But while Uber execs former and current cashed in on the IPO, the drivers that actually build the company’s wealth won’t see nearly that kind of payout. “On a bad day — and there’s too many of those bad days — you make less than minimum wage after expenses,” says Vincent Suen, a rideshare driver based in Los Angeles.

Outside Uber HQ, Drivers Demand A Cut Of The Riches

May 12, 2019 Patrick Howell O'Neill, Gizmodo.com Resist! Class Struggle, Lyft, Uber, Workers

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Just days ahead of Silicon Valley’s most hyped mega-IPO, a group of a several hundred Uber drivers gathered in front of the company’s San Francisco headquarters and took over the street in a protest demanding fair pay, benefits, and greater transparency from the rideshare giant. Friday is set to be the biggest day in Uber’s history: The company is going public and listing on the New York Stock Exchange in one of the biggest IPOs in American history. It’s by far the biggest IPO this year—a year full of Silicon Valley companies hitting the stock market.

Who Controls Our Time?

May 12, 2019 Dan Clawson and Naomi Gerstel, Labornotes.org Educate! Class Struggle, Exploitation, Labor Rights, Workers

As the bumper sticker has it, unions are “the folks who brought you the weekend.” Unions fought for the 10-hour day, and then the eight-hour day… and then our fight stopped. We never got to a six-hour-day fight. Instead we started to backslide. We not only lost the weekend; we lost control over our time. This slippage mirrors the decline in real wages over the last generation—both signs that organized labor has gotten weaker. In 1960 the paid work hours for U.S. workers were roughly comparable to those in Europe.

Oregon Teachers Are Walking Out, Forcing 600 Schools To Close

May 12, 2019 Holly Yan, Cnn.com Resist! Class Struggle, Oregon, Teachers, Walkout, Workers

Tens of thousands of frustrated teachers were airing their grievances at protests across the state Wednesday. But unlike with other teacher walkouts, these educators aren't fighting for higher raises. They're fed up with overcrowded classrooms and a lack of support staff, including school nurses and mental health counselors. "Nearly 45% of all reported classes in Oregon have 26 students or more," said John Larson, a high school English teacher and president of the Oregon Education Association.

India: Jute Mill Workers To Go On Strike From May 14

May 12, 2019 Staff, Dhakatribune.com Resist! Class Struggle, India, Strikes, Workers

Parliamentary standing committee orders ministry to fix worker wages by May 17. The ongoing protest waged by workers of all state-run jute mills has taken a serious turn as they have decided on a wildcat strike from May 14, demanding immediate salary payment and wages in arrears. At a meeting in Dhaka on Wednesday, leaders of all Collective Bargaining Agents (CBA) and non-CBA units of the 22 state-run jute mills and three other jute product manufacturing factories, decided to simultaneously abstain from work starting May 14.

Tech Workers Are Workers, Too

May 11, 2019 JS Chen, Jacobinmag.com Resist! Class Struggle, Internationalism, Solidarity, Technology, Workers

Over a decade after the 2008 financial crisis, the cracks in our neoliberal economy are still glaringly apparent. Multinational corporations continue to exploit cheap labor from around the world, and inequality has only worsened. To maintain this system, many leaders in the West have turned to nationalism to justify the economic plundering of other countries. Donald Trump’s presidency marks a new era of sinophobia. Even before entering the White House, he attacked China for stealing US companies’ intellectual property, accused it of “raping” the US with unfair trade policies, and — most importantly for his targeted audience —blamed it for the theft of American jobs.

French Public Sector Workers Strike Against Macron Government Attacks

May 11, 2019 Anthony Torres, Wsws.org Resist! Class Struggle, France, Protests, Strikes, Workers

Hundreds of thousands of French workers demonstrated on Thursday as part of a nationwide public sector strike to oppose the Emmanuel Macron government’s draft law on the “modernization” of the public sector. After six months of “yellow vest” protests, all of the unions felt obliged to call for participation in the day of action, fearing they would otherwise lose control of the anti-government protest movement. Macron has pledged to eliminate 120,000 out of 5.5 million civil service jobs by 2022. The positions eliminated will be replaced by lower-paying contract jobs from the private sector for one-off assignments.

The Uber IPO: Billions For Investors, Increased Exploitation For Workers

May 11, 2019 By Shannon Jones, WSWS.org Educate! Class Struggle, Lyft, Strikes, Uber, Workers

The valuation of ride share company Uber hit $82.4 billion after an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of its stock on Thursday, one of the largest IPOs in the US since Facebook. The sale further enriched investors while raising some $8 billion for the company. Major investment houses, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, underwrote the IPO. Other wealthy investors stood to gain huge sums, with some Goldman Sachs clients pocketing $1 billion. The stake of Uber founder Garret Camp is now worth $3.7 billion, while cofounder Travis Kalanick owns $5.3 billion in Uber stock.

On May 8, Uber Workers Are Planning A Nationwide Strike

May 7, 2019 Staff, Boingboing.net Resist! Labor, Lyft, Strikes, Uber, Workers

Shona from Gig Workers Rising clarifies: "Gig Workers Rising isn't organizing the national day of action. Drivers in each of the 6 cities taking action are coordinating the day of action together. Drivers in LA with Rideshare Drivers United Los Angeles called a strike and asked other cities to take action on the same day. Gig Workers Rising supports and educates drivers who are organizing across the state. We are not organizing drivers."

French Yellow Vests Rally In May Day Protests Amid Teargas

May 1, 2019 Staff, Telesurenglish.net Resist! Class Struggle, France, International Workers Day, May Day, Protests, Workers, Yellow Vest

French police fired tear gas to push back masked demonstrators in central Paris Wednesday as thousands of people used an annual May Day rally to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's policies. Labor unions and "yellow vest" protesters were on the streets across France just days after Macron outlined policy proposals including tax cuts worth around 5 billion euros (US$5.58 billion). More than 7,400 police were deployed in Paris, Global News reported.

The Strike Returns To New Zealand

April 30, 2019 Ross Webb, Jacobinmag.com Resist! Class Struggle, New Zealand, Strikes, Workers

Over the last year, New Zealand has seen tens of thousands of workers walk off the job, challenging the Labour government’s self-imposed austerity. In early 2018, a New Zealand nurse and union member Elizabeth Alice wrote an open Facebook post that went viral. “Here’s the thing,” Alice wrote. Nurses were fighting for pay, staffing levels, and “the future of our public health system.” “Our communities deserve investment in public health,” Alice continued. ‘If we don’t fight for it now then it will be gone, and we will have a situation like the USA where the rich get premium care and the poor die on the streets from curable diseases.”

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