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Workers Rights and Jobs

Coronavirus And The Politics Of Disposability

May 8, 2020 By Shaun Ossei-Owusu, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
The people whose disposability is on the widest display are those who work in immediate-risk industries. The financially precarious service workers out with the epidemiological wolves so the rest of society can buy groceries. The health care workers plastered on the news, who labor in a profession that tasks minority and women nurses, physician assistants, and technicians with what sociologist Adia Harvey Wingfield calls “equity work .”  labor that makes health institutions more available to marginalized groups.

Build The General Strike Movement To Change The World

May 3, 2020 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Now that May Day is behind us, we must build the General Strike campaign. The next strike day, June 1, should be the culmination of a month of working toward the day of action.  This is the responsibility of everyone involved in the General Strike movement. This is an ongoing campaign. We emphasize it is a campaign as campaigns provide ongoing opportunities to build the movement. The goal is to ensure that those running for office, those in office and those who make policy -- including non-profits, corporations, and the media -- cannot ignore the movement as we demonstrate our ability to make the country ungovernable. To do this we need to build a movement that: (1) Creates national consensus for our demands, and (2) Involves enough people to be a mass movement that cannot be ignored. This requires people to act at local and national levels to build the movement as described below.

Liberating Logistics: All Power To The Frontline Workers

May 2, 2020 By Dave Braneck, ROAR Magazine. , , ,
This May Day, a broad coalition of workers from firms in the logistics sector ranging from Amazon and Walmart to Instacart and Wholefoods are staging a mass walkout. They are rising up on International Workers’ Day to demand improved health and safety on the job in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, where they have all too often been hung out to dry by employers and states. COVID-19’s grim spread has left few facets of global economic and social life untouched. The pandemic has forced us to view the old realities of life in a new light, in which the stark contrast between different conditions of labor have become glaringly apparent. While a privileged few can sit out the crisis working relatively uninterrupted from home, many more have seen their hours reduced or slashed by wary employers, or forced to work under dangerous conditions for low pay because their work has been deemed “essential” to society.

May Day General Strike, A Strong Beginning To An Ongoing Campaign

May 1, 2020 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , , , ,
On May Day, the first day of an ongoing day of General Strike, there were actions all over the country supporting workers at  Amazon, Walmart, Target, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Fedex, Shipt and Instacart calling protective gear and hazard payfor essential workers. There were also demands for systemic changes like national improved Medicare for all, a universal basic income and a green new deal (see the graphics of the demands of the General Strike below). The strike required creativity on the part of participants because of the coronavirus pandemic and the physical distancing and stay at home orders but people found ways to get their messages out using a variety of tactics. There will be a General Strike national day of action on the first of every month so we need to learn from each other's creativity and find new ways to protest.

‘May Day’ Militancy Needed To Create The Economy We Need

May 1, 2020 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , ,
Seventy years of attacks on the right to unionize have left the union movement representing only 10 percent of workers. The investor class has concentrated its power and uses its power in an abusive way, not only against unions but also to create economic insecurity for workers. At the same time, workers, both union and nonunion, are mobilizing more aggressively and protesting a wide range of economic, racial and environmental issues.

May Day Time For Workers To Unite For Power

May 1, 2020 Richard D. Wolff,  Maria Carnemolla, Liz Phillips, Michelle Scott,  Democracy at Work , , ,
This May 1, 2020, let us ask the question, why do we keep a system that requires workers to endlessly struggle against the opponents who own and operate each enterprise with exclusive control of the profits?  For workers to secure reforms requires a strategic next step. They must transition beyond the employer vs. employee system, the one which defines capitalism.  With a worker co-op based economy, workers, who are the majority in every workplace, collectively and democratically become their own employer, and by negotiating amongst themselves, workers will secure more rights than they could ever achieve under capitalism.

COVID-19 Strike Wave Interactive Map

April 19, 2020 Pay Day Report. , , ,
So far, we’ve identified over 100 wildcat strikes that happened since the beginning of March. (Several larger strikes like at Instacart and Whole Foods happened in multiple cities). We suspect many strikes aren’t reporting at all for a variety of reasons and that the numbers are higher than we can track. The map will be updated regularly. Send updates on new strikes to melk@paydayreport.com In some places, workers are simply calling out sick en mass and refusing to show up so bosses shut dow their plants.   Many areas have no reporters with connections to the labor movement so many strikes are going completely uncovered.  In other places, workers have protested for an hour or two before bosses have agreed to workers’ demands.  Also, some union leaders are hesitant to get the media involved out of fear of retaliation

GE Workers Protest And Demand Company Build Ventilators

April 3, 2020 Graig Graziosi, The Independent. , , ,
General Electric factory workers protested on Monday in an act of solidarity to demand the company use its factories to produce ventilators for use in the fight against the coronavirus.  As the peak of coronavirus infections and deaths is still nearly two weeks away, GE workers have demanded the company convert its jet engine factories to begin producing ventilators.  Vice News reported that workers at the company’s Massachusetts aviation facility stood six feet apart and held a silent protest. Union members at the Boston headquarters marched six feet apart and said the company should retrofit its spaces to fight the pandemic.  The protests come days after GE announced it would lay off 10 per cent of its domestic aviation workforce, resulting in job losses for nearly 2,600 workers.

McDonald’s Workers Go On Strike Over Unsafe Conditions, Lost Hours, Pay Cuts

April 2, 2020 BizJournals.com. , , , ,
St. Louis, MO - Some McDonald's workers in St. Louis, Tampa and Memphis have gone on strike to protest unsafe working conditions, pay cuts and lost hours. More than 100 workers across the three cities have walked off the job or waged stay-at-home strikes, according to a news release. While McDonald's U.S. locations have closed their dining areas, the stores are still serving customers via drive-thru, take-out and the company's McDelivery service. Some McDonald's workers in Tampa kicked off the strike on Tuesday, alleging the company would not allow them to wear face masks. The walkout was reported on Twitter by Fight for $15, a global movement that advocates for workers' rights and a $15 minimum wage. The group has created a petition demanding that McDonald's provide paid sick leave for all workers, among other COVID-19 related demands.

The Decade Of Transformation Is Here: Remaking The Economy For The People

March 29, 2020 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , , , ,
The pandemic, economic collapse and the government's response to them are going to not only determine the 2020 election but define the future for this decade and beyond. People are seeing the failure of the US healthcare nonsystem and the economy. The government was able to provide trillions for big business and Wall Street without asking the usual, "Where will we get the money?" However, the rescue bill recently passed by Congress provides a fraction of what most people need to get through this period. Once again, a pandemic will reshape the course of history. Last week, we wrote about the failings of the healthcare system and the need for a universal, publicly-funded system. This week, we focus on the need to change the US economic system.

Wildcat Strikes Erupt Across Italy To Demand Idling Of Plants During Coronavirus Pandemic

March 16, 2020 Will Morrow and Alex Lantier, Wsws.org , , , , ,
As the death toll in Italy from the global coronavirus pandemic surged on Thursday and Friday, wildcat strikes erupted across the peninsula, fighting to halt the spread of the deadly disease. As Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government calls on white collar workers to avoid going out and work from home, factory workers are demanding to limit the contagion by shutting down industrial plants whose operations are not essential to fighting the virus.

French Anti-Worker Pension Plan Becomes Law Without A Vote 

March 16, 2020 By G. Dunkel, Workers.org , , ,
Hundreds of thousands of people have been in the streets protesting for months. Transportation strikes have disrupted travel. Public opinion supports the strikes, even though they were extremely inconvenient. Students and teachers from primary grades to universities have walked out repeatedly. Still, the French government under President Emmanuel Macron — a former investment banker...

Amid COVID-19 Outbreak, The Workers Who Need Paid Sick Days The Most Have The Least

March 13, 2020 Staff, Epi.org , , ,
The United States is unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic given that many workers throughout the economy will have financial difficulty in following the CDC’s recommendations to stay home and seek medical care if they think they’ve become infected. Millions of U.S. workers and their families don’t have access to health insurance...

Barred From Striking, Airline Food Workers Seek Other Ways To Protest

March 13, 2020 By David Bacon, Truthout.org , , , ,
Melieni Cruz, who helps prepare the meals passengers eat on airplanes, went thousands of dollars into debt because she couldn’t pay her soaring medical bills. “When the doctor found cysts on my ovaries, I had to save for a year to afford the procedure, and my cysts got bigger and more painful the whole time,” she said as she picketed the terminal at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

Companies Are Contracting Out More Jobs—That’s Not Great For Workers

March 6, 2020 Timothy B. Lee,  Arstechnica.com
Until the 1980s, big companies in America tended to take a paternalistic attitude toward their workforce. Many corporate CEOs took pride in taking care of everyone who worked at their corporate campuses. Business leaders loved to tell stories about someone working their way up from the mailroom to a C-suite office.
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