#unions
Via @rbreich
Class Outline
-------------------------
0:00 Current events and prior classes recap
8:20 Introduction
9:40 A brief history of public assistance
38:01 The COVID experiment
48:19 The new social contract
1:07:36 The anatomy of the fight over the minimum wage
1:20:32 The future of public assistance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDmLAOgdNc4
#unions #amazon #usa #news #jobs #inflation #labor #paygains #recordbreakingprofits #interestrates #power #economy #inequality #policy
Region 14 of The National Labor Relations Board has issued a Complaint against Apple for the corporations’ flagrant disregard of labor law. The Complaint alleges Apple engaged in multiple unfair labor practices at the Oklahoma City, OK store, where workers successfully formed a union with the Communications Workers of America despite Apple’s illegal interference.
https://code-cwa.org/stories/nlrb-issues-complaint-apple-joining-ranks
My article "DGA Proposed Contract Does Not Meaningfully Protect Against AI" has just been published by Data Driven Investor on @medium:
https://bit.ly/DGAproposalNoAIProtections
#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #GenerativeAI #DGAStrong #WGAStrong #SAGAFTRAStrong #UnionStrong #AIguardrails #AIsafeguards #UnionStrong #union #unions #DGA #AMPTP
WHAT WONDERFUL NEWS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgeiqEaaqiM
The #Unions and #Workers Supporting #CopCity Protestors
https://workdaymagazine.org/the-unions-and-workers-supporting-cop-city-protestors/
Dollar General workers at the discount chain just won a victory for workplace safety after rallying at a shareholders meeting. #unions #poverty
https://progressive.org/latest/dangerous-conditions-driving-dollar-general-workers-kuhlenbeck-230607/
Next was a fantastic panel covering the most recent US #supremecourt labor-related decision with Seth Harris (who's extremely fiery here), Anne Lofaso, and Charlotte Garden at The Burnes Center for Social Change. This was a great in-depth look at the case and the implications for #unions in the US, highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCa79J0Vy_M (3/10) #labor #work
Yet another self-satisfied power-tripping CEO trying to support the oil, auto manufacturing, and office real-estate industries at the expense of worker satisfaction and happiness.
On CORE’s 15th Anniversary, Reflecting on the Teachers Caucus That Changed #Chicago—and the Nation
The Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators was formed in 2008 when a group of educators and union members came together to transform the Chicago Teachers Union. What they would build would end up changing the city—and country—forever.
NewsGuild journalists went on #strike Monday in #Austin and elsewhere, demanding better pay and a change in leadership at #Gannett, reports Senior Staff Writer @gusbova. Congressmember Greg Casar even stopped by in support:
https://www.texasobserver.org/gannett-strike-journalists-union-newsguild/
(📷 Photo by Gus Bova)
#unions #news #journalism #Texas #JournoLife #Dallas #labor #NewsGuild #WallStreet #politics #USpol
The struggle in entertainment mirrors a larger struggle between working people and investors.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/writers-strike-sag-aftra-actors-1235508507/
#WGAStrong #SAGAFTRAStrong #IATSEstrong #TeamsterStrong #UnionStrong #unions #union #WealthGap
I truly appreciate the way @rbreich spotlights all the ways that corporations and ultra rich Americans have rigged the systems in the US. My question is, what can be done about it? If lawmakers refuse to act, what can average working Americans do to move the needle in our direction? More #unions, #boycotts, #protests, or other? Honestly, I'm looking for ideas. Workers (some) got raises during covid but those gains have evaporated with profit gouging companies raising the cost of everything.
“The outcome wasn’t the catastrophe that unions feared. Though it does crack open the door to more employer lawsuits seeking to recover for strike-related product loss.”
On the SCOTUS ruling involving a WA concrete company & labor dispute: https://crosscut.com/news/2023/06/scotus-ruling-wa-strike-damages-not-catastrophe-unions #politics #unions #SCOTUS
I’m learning about other countries joining in too. June 14th around the world: writers & more standing in solidarity for the protections & pay that are needed. Labor is international.
#WGAStrong #SAGAFTRAstrong #IATSEstrong #TeamsterStrong #WritersStrike #union #unions #UnionStrong #writers #screenwriters #entertainment
https://variety.com/2023/film/global/writers-strike-wga-wggb-protest-1235632938/amp/
BlueCollarWriter Labor News Update 6/2/2023
- Amid UPS contract talks, Teamsters begin vote on strike authorization
- SAG-AFTRA Union Members Overwhelming Authorize Strike
- Unions Strike Back Rally
- Republicans Are Now Trying to Defund the Libraries
- More: https://www.bluecollarwriter.com/home/news060623
SAG-AFTRA have approved strike authorization. Good for them. They have my full support. #WGAStrike #SAGAFTRA #Entertainment #Unions
https://www.sagaftra.org/sag-aftra-members-approve-strike-authorization-9791-yes-vote
#Unions to #SupremeCourt: #Billionaire hacks can’t stop our right to #strike!
https://www.workers.org/2023/06/71390
Wow this is the first time I've seen the recent slowdowns at the Ports of LA/Long Beach actually called wildcat striking in (sorta trade) press:
Screenwriters around the world are showing their solidarity with the WGA. June 14th there’s a demonstration already scheduled in London, writers and their supporters are encouraged to join from wherever they are.
#UnionStrong #WGAStrong #SAGAFTRAstrong #union #unions #screenwriters #screenwriting #writers
https://deadline.com/2023/06/writers-strike-global-day-of-solidarity-1235408575/
First law in #France to regulate #Influencers
Definition: "actors of commercial influence"
They're forbidden to promote:
- Lottery or #gambling
- Medical practices (such as cosmetic surgery)
They will be watched if they push #tobacco or smoking products.
It's a bill proposed jointly by the Socialist Party and Renaissance.
At the same time, the creators have unionised setting up the Union of Influencers and Content Creators
https://www.themayor.eu/en/a/view/french-influencers-can-end-up-in-jail-if-they-do-this-11881
Very informative article. I didn't know about this unionization drive among low-paid content moderators for #Facebook in Kenya.
https://jacobin.com/2023/06/meta-is-trying-and-failing-to-crush-unions-in-kenya
#unions #MetaSucks
Tomorrow, a screenshot of: https://www.wgacontract2023.org/take-action/apple-day-of-action
#WGAStrong #DGAStrong #WritersStrike #UnionStrong #union #unions #Apple #ApplePlus
Here's why requiring businesses to provide paid sick leave is in the public interest — and making the requirement universal keeps the playing field level wrt that expense.
Sick Workers Tied to 40% of Food Poisoning Outbreaks, C.D.C. Says
#sickLeave #paidSickLeave #unions #publicHealth #foodWorkers
Wow, seems like these workers have a lot of power, somebody should look into coming up with a political ideology focused on that.
#unions #socialism
Everything that works in #America, #republicans what to tear down; #Social Security, #Medicare, #Unions, #Education, the #economy, #EPA ... Why is that? Do republicans think #Russia is better? I do not understand the #thinking(?) other than they believe the #rich #oligarchs deserve more so they can build an #economy like that of #Russia or old #England. They must feel the best economy is one based on #authoritarian #oligarchs like #MuskMelon.
#Unions Can Still Strike—Don't Let the Supreme Court Tell You Otherwise
https://labornotes.org/2023/06/unions-can-still-strike-dont-let-supreme-court-tell-you-otherwise
We must raise taxes on the 1% to at least 70%. We must rebuild #unions. It worked before. It will again produce a healthy middle class and happy electorate:
https://open.substack.com/pub/thomhartmann/p/what-happens-when-you-tax-billionaires-fa3?r=1ojkn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
" Asian workers have faced rampant #SystemicRacism from government, employers and within the communities in which they lived and worked. Asian workers also endured #racism and #discrimination from #OrganizedLabour when they were prevented from joining #unions in numerous sectors. To address these #injustices , workers organized and formed their own unions "
This gremlin of a man needs to have several seats before he he says anything else!
Activision Blizzard CEO denies culture of harassment and blames unions for company problems https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/1/23744109/activision-blizzard-bobby-kotick-denies-harassment-variety
Unions Can Still Strike—Don't Let the Supreme Court Tell You Otherwise https://labornotes.org/2023/06/unions-can-still-strike-dont-let-supreme-court-tell-you-otherwise #1u #unions #labor #strike
#USA #Journalism #Media #News #Gannett #Newspapers #Unions #Strikes: "Journalists for the largest newspaper chain in the country will walk off the job next week, in a series of strikes staged in part to protest the leadership of the company’s chief executive.
Hundreds of staffers for 24 Gannett newspapers, including the Arizona Republic, Austin American-Statesman and the Palm Beach Post, say they will not report to work for a day or two starting Monday, forfeiting pay and forgoing assignments ranging from city council meetings to high school sports championship games. At some papers, the strikes begin Tuesday.
Their aim, they say, is to call attention to budget cuts and put pressure on shareholders, who are expected to take up the issue of executive pay at a meeting Monday. Demonstrating journalists want shareholders to take a no-confidence vote against CEO Mike Reed, whom they fault for the company’s financial struggles."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/06/01/gannett-journalist-strike-walkout-protest-ceo/
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that companies can sue organized labor over labor strikes.
"Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who wrote [...] 'posed a risk of foreseeable, aggravated and imminent harm to Glacier's trucks.'"
"Although the drivers kept their mixing drums rotating to delay the concrete from hardening and damaging the vehicles, the company was forced to discard the unused product at a financial loss."
This reminds me of Nantina Vgonztas' research on aligning warehouse & white-collar AMZ workers to get the company to shift on labor & climate: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/ngs-2022-0008/pdf
" the surge in grad worker unionization through the UE and other unions promises to have larger effects on the labor movement and progressive politics. The new graduate unions are big and militant"
The #Teamsters will end up striking on August 1st if #UPS doesn't meet their demands. I'm here for it 👍
#Solidarity #TeamstersStrong #PSL #PartyForSocialismAndLiberation #LiberationNews #TradeUnions #TradeUnionism #Union #Unions #UnionStrong #LabourUnions #LaborUnions #LaborUnion #LabourUnion #TradeUnion #socialism #communism #marxism
today i learned the NLRB reversed a ruling in which union reps could be disciplined if they used ✌🏻uncivil language✌🏻 during discussions with management
which means today i learned there was apparently a ruling in which union reps could be disciplined if they used ✌🏻uncivil language✌🏻 during discussions with management https://labornotes.org/2023/05/biden-labor-board-restores-right-use-heated-language
#DebtCeilingDeal will seriously increase #HousingInsecurity
#Unions need to recognize - the #Homelessness crisis is a #WORKER crisis
@AFSCME @seiu
#HousingForAll + #UnionsForAll
"Our lives are not for sale"
Brilliant video on #Healthcare #privatization by #OPSEU
BlueCollarWriter Labor News Update 5/29/2023
-Thousands rally for striking WGA Workers in downtown Los Angeles
-Remembering the Memorial Day Massacre
-Organizing Despite Worker Turnover
- United Mine Workers of America And Major Coal Operators Both Support Andy Beshear For Reelection
-MORE..
“I’m not a screenwriter, but I am a writer, so I’ve been watching with interest this growing contempt for human creativity; this idea that the act of creation is a formula and the people who create are not the source of value but a cost; this growing desire to do away with the people who do the thing that makes so much value for all of us, in order to further enrich the already monumentally wealthy people…” -@JuliusGoat #WGAStrike #Unions https://armoxon.substack.com/p/paying-the-writer
Eating Disorder Helpline Fires Staff, Transitions to Chatbot After Unionization
https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7ezkm/eating-disorder-helpline-fires-staff-transitions-to-chatbot-after-unionization
Yes motherfuckers!
Finally, at the age of 58, I have a permanent contract.
Join a union people!
#JoinAUnion #Precarity #Employment #Unions
@J12t #DirectAction examples would be:
* #Unions ensuring that abortion protections and medical nondiscrimination are in their contracts and striking if they don't get it.
* Si(t/p)-ins. The bathroom rules in particular are great targets here.
* Teachers unions just deciding en masse to ignore/flaunt the rules.
* Mutual aid groups that can direct funds to help people make ends meet or help those who wish/need to move to get out.
* Tenants unions that fight for nondiscrimination clauses.
#sfpol #UnionStrong
https://sfethics.org/ethics/2020/08/campaign-finance-dashboards-november-3-2020-election.html
OK now there's some national coverage of Starbucks' recent blatant #UnionBusting activity in Ithaca, where they shut down all three stores in the city to suppress worker power.
Time to bring the shame to this anti-#Labor corporation.
I may have many (entirely reasonable) gripes about my job. But one good thing is that I can easily say I'm not well enough to work today - and I'm not - without having to worry.
I will get full pay, there will be no excessive demands on me to rush back to work, I'll be entitled to as much support as I need.
This is because of unions.
My workplace - an NHS Trust - has a long history of strong unionisation. And so I get treated fairly when I'm recovering from surgery.
Join a union, support your union, fight against anti-union legislation.
With unions we are stronger and better.
BlueCollarWriter Labor News Update 5/25/2023
-Southern Workers Are Building a Movement to be Reckoned With
-POLL: THE PUBLIC OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORTS THE WRITERS' STRIKE
-AFSCME's Saunders: Help EMS Workers Help Our Communities by Ensuring Safe Staffing
-More including This Day in Labor History
https://www.bluecollarwriter.com/home/news052523
#1u #WritersStrike #Unions #UnionStrong #WorkersRights #UnionYes
BlueCollarWriter Labor News Update 5/24/2023
Labor News Update:
- #WritersStrike news
-Federal judge finds West Virginia Governor Justice coal companies liable for nearly six years of unpaid UMWA union retiree benefit plan premiums
-Companies Are Taking a Harder Line on Union Organizers, Workers Say
https://www.bluecollarwriter.com/home/news052423
#1u #Unions #WGA #UnionStrong #UnionProud #economy #NLRB #WorkersRights
The kids are all right. #solidarity #unionStrong #unions https://press.coop/@washingtonpost/110408600724841030
https://archive.org/details/cia-cwa
CIA & CWA by Cynthia Sweeney
Topics
#CommunicationsWorkersofAmerica, #CWA, #CentralIntelligenceAgency, #CIA, #usimperialism, #tradeunionimperialism, #AmericanInstituteforFreeLaborDevelopment, #AIFLD, #NationalEndowmentforDemocracy, #NED, #UnitedStatesDepartmentofState, #statedepartment, #unitedstatesofamerika, #unions, #laborunions, #brazil, #chile, #AFLCIO, #AFLCIA
"Published June, 1975, by Local 11500 Members"
L.A.'s Star Garden Topless Dive Bar is now the only unionized strip club in the US, after a unanimous vote by the dancers to join Actors' Equity.
(h/t to the NY Post for headline inspiration)
More than a hero, a union man #StarTrek #WGAStrike #Unions
#SupremeCourt rules #Namibia must recognise #samesexmarriages from other #countries
While same-sex marriage remains #illegal in #Namibia, the country ruled to recognise the #unions of #samesex #couples who were #married in countries where #samesexmarriage is #permitted
More than a year after launching an effort to unionize, dancers at a topless dive bar in Los Angeles are close to becoming the only unionized group of strippers in the U.S.
BlueCollarWriter Labor News Update 5/17/2023
-Big Bang Theory' star slams 'Jeopardy!' host for crossing WGA picket line
-MTA and TWU Local 100 fail to reach contract agreement, talks stalled over wages, COVID benefits
-CNET VWorkers Unionize as 'Automated Technology Threatens Our Jobs'
-What do Julie Su, Starbucks and McDonald's Have in Common?
Just seen the news that my friends at UCU at Queen Margaret’s university have won, managing to management to backdown fully just in time to call off the strike.
Massive success for #unions #solidarity
@stux Corporations seem to be earning *plenty*.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/food-price-hikes-us-hunger
But corporations don't pay enough in wages. Tips are the worker's lifeline. What the US needs are strong unions and a progressive government that supports them. Right now, corporations break labor laws with impunity (cf. Starbucks and how it treats its unions).
Corpns *love* to outsource expenses. Tips are how companies outsource part of their payroll expense. Go after companies, not employees.
was having a real trash basket kinda morning, this video may have singlehandedly healed my brain and fixed everything https://www.tumblr.com/thoughtportal/716434462472372224/join-a-union-the-power-of-collection-action
Solidarity with striking workers across the world, today and every day! The union makes us strong.
At his talk, @pluralistic mentioned a book I'm adding to my reading list, A Collective Bargain.
https://janemcalevey.com/book/a-collective-bargain-unions-organizing-and-the-fight-for-democracy/
I have a long established annoyance with leftist types around unions and strikes.
With most groups the line (which is often not _followed_, mind you, but this is the spoken value) is to "let those most affected lead." Don't speak over those directly affected.
Again, this is not always _followed_—white people are going to white people, for instance—however, among leftists that's the spoken rule.
But with labor the spoken value becomes "I know better than the workers."
BREAKING: Starbucks to shut down *all* Ithaca locations as a part of its union busting efforts.
This means that over 30 people will lose their jobs, as a result of Starbucks' illegal anti-union efforts.
Ithaca was the first city that had 100% of its Starbucks stores unionized & now it will the first city to have all of its Starbucks stores shuttered.
The story hasn't broken locally yet (SB did a news dump last night); message me if you want to cover this
Next was a great talk by Kate Andrias on #unions, #democracy, and labor #law at the Cornell University ILR School. This is an expansive, vital talk, and I particularly liked the highlight of the potential for sectoral bargaining in the US to dramatically raise wages for frontline workers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVcHxtBNCgM (3/7)
"Two things have quickly become very clear: First, corporations will happily sacrifice quality for infinite amounts of passable AI sludge. And, second, unless you have some mechanism for collective action in your workplace, your boss is going to try and figure out a way to replace you with an AI."
- Ryan Broderick, Garbage Day
https://www.garbageday.email/p/unions-are-our-only-defense-against
@workingclasshistory Well, this ⬆️ explains why #Nazis called themselves the ‘National Socialist’ party, even though they were #fascists; they ‘NATIONALIZED’ the #unions !
Some great May Day news.
Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and ChatGPT Kenyan content moderators formed a union.
"On April 15, the group of 36 millwork and warehouse workers at Huttig/Woodgrain voted unanimously to strike in protest of the company’s ongoing violations of federal labor law during contract negotiations, including unlawful surveillance and intimidation of workers"
Huttig rally 5/5: Stop intimidating workers!
https://www.thestand.org/2023/05/huttig-rally-may-5-stop-intimidating-workers/
The movement which led to #MayDay was driven by the 8 hour campaign
#Workers were exhausted & The few #unions of the time were not able to challenge capital
Karl #Marx wrote the following in Das Kapital:
By extending the working day, therefore, capitalist production...not only produces a deterioration of human #labour power by robbing it of its normal moral & physical conditions of development & activity, but also produces the premature exhaustion & death of this #labor power itself
MayDay 🤓 On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers (40,000 in Chicago alone) from 13,000 business walked out of their jobs across the country. In the following days, more workers joined and the number of strikers grew to almost 100,000. This soon INTERNATIONAL protest for BETTER working conditions (Not good/fair- just better) and a maximum 8 hour working day.
2 days later (May 3rd) Police attacked strikers at McCormick Harvesting Machine Company killing one and injuring many, the following day a peaceful rally against police brutality was winding down when armed police who had gathered to disperse the peaceful crowd were hit with a dynamite bomb thrown by an unidentified individual killing 7 police. Police opened fire on the protesters killing eight and wounding an unknown number (30-40?)
The Chicago Eight (outspoken leaders of labour movements) were arrested and convicted without evidence in a trial internationally condemned as illegal. sentenced to death (despite 6 not having been at the initial protest) 4 were executed and one committed suicide prior to the trial being overturned and their pardon.
This injustice and the global response led to our getting an eight hour working day.
here is some interesting info including the battles fought when a statue was raised to police killed in the original 'affair' #MayDay #Anarchy #Anarchists #Protest #PoliceBrutality #Unions #History #WorkingClass
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair#cite_note-4
Good writeup of many #HigherEdWorkersUnite actions in context from @willbunch
"There’s been too little conversation about how the 2023 strike wave has become the most potent symbol that the American Way of College has grown increasingly unsustainable in the 21st century. ...
This is the year that the plates are crashing down."
I'm glad that we can talk about this stuff with #unions out loud because it does fuck with you after a while. This is representative of my experiences in the multiple organizations I've been at where unions were either being formed and I was more distant or I was helping out with it actively.
These people tell you that they're very appreciative of your work, the contributions of people and then immediately justify engaging in things like #WageTheft (either by not adjusting for inflation - another corporate lever on wages or some other crooked ideal), wage discrimination based solely on hierarchy and the constant double propaganda of "it being a family" but then actively using the power dynamics of a company to abuse people.
This shit is not okay, and I'm deeply happy that I'm not wild for thinking of it as a fad - workers have been fighting against these structures for decades (centuries, if people realize how slave revolts are forms of worker rebellions). We will win this fight.
Code for America’s leadership is engaging in some pretty heinous union busting. Here’s @cfaworkers on what’s happening, and how you can support their workers: https://union.place/@cfaworkers/110260332098409793