United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Them and Us :

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Re: United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Them and Us :

Post by blindpig » Mon Sep 06, 2021 2:18 pm

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10 Charts on the State of U.S. Workers on the 2nd Pandemic Labor Day

While workers are continuing to struggle under Covid, corporate lobbyists are converging on Capitol Hill to block proposed pro-labor reforms.
BLOGGING OUR GREAT DIVIDE
AUGUST 30, 2021
by Sarah Anderson Brian Wakamo

https://inequality.org/great-divide/10- ... labor-day/

There are some very good charts here which I could not copy for love nor money so please go to the link to view them.
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Re: United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Them and Us :

Post by blindpig » Wed Sep 15, 2021 1:40 pm

US Garment Industry Urged to Stop Using Exploited Labor

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Citizens demanding the approval of the Garment Worker Protection Act, U.S., 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @dieworkwear

Published 15 September 2021

U.S. Department of Labor found pay violations in 85 percent of the garment shops operating in Los Angeles, where the workers' average hourly wage last year ranged from US$5.85 to as low as US$2.68.

"Modern-day slavery" was not only found overseas, but also exists in the United States, including in the state of California, local media reported Tuesday, calling for approval of the Garment Worker Protection Act.

The Act is still being mulled over by the state's politicians under pressure from both labor rights activities and employers. Today many workers in Los Angeles are struggling in sweatshops, known for producing clothing items in unsafe working conditions with very poor payment, according to a CBS investigation story that aired on Tuesday.

These workers, at the bottom of the supply chain of the fashion industry, which comprises brand, contractors and subcontractors, garment shops and factories, were usually paid only five or six cents per piece on a system called a "piece rate." They're paid for each seam they sew, each sleeve they make, each piece they complete.

"There is some kind of a modern slavery going on in the sweatshops," Francisco Tzul told CBS News. Tzul, who spent nearly three decades sewing in garment factories in Guatemala, Mexico and the United States, documented many problems in Los Angeles' garment industry, for example, cockroaches running rampant through one facility.

A 2016 investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor found pay violations in 85 percent of the Los Angeles garment shops it looked into, the CBS report said, adding the minimum wage was 15 U.S. dollars an hour in the second largest city of the nation, but those workers' average hourly wage last year ranged from 5.85 to as low as 2.68 U.S. dollars.

A worker paid five cents per piece would have to sew 300 pieces in an hour to meet the minimum wage level, which was almost unattainable, the report said. Meanwhile, contractors or middlemen in the industry also complained that they did not have enough money to pay their workers.

The investigation found that contractors in the fashion garment manufacturing industry supply chain were paid only 73 percent of what they would need in order to pay their workers' minimum wage, the report noted.

California's 46,000 garment makers are "routinely underpaid," receiving 5.85 dollars an hour on average (and some as low as 2.68 dollars an hour) while working in "cramped, dirty factories" to make clothes for big global brands, Susie Buell, co-founder of the brand Esprit said in a commentary published Monday for CalMatters, a leading non-profit and non-partisan news website on local politics and policy.


"It's an arcane system that's been in place since my earliest days in the fashion industry, and it needs to go," Buell said, who established the brand with partners in 1960s and sold the company later.

The problem must be resolved at its root, as the low prices that brands paid to factories was what's driving the sweatshop conditions, she said.

Last month, Tzul and other garment workers rallied in the California State Capitol to push legislation to make brand-name clothing companies which control pricing -- not just the subcontractors -- subject to increased liability if workers aren't duly paid.

The information from the state authority showed Senate Bill 62, introduced in December, was still under amendment in both the Assembly and Senate.

"The garment industry in California is rife with violations of the minimum wage law, overtime laws, and health and safety standards. California has the highest concentration of garment industry workers in the country," the draft bill read, noting garment workers were being paid an average of 5.15 dollars per hour, "well below the minimum wage."

Calling the problem "systemic abuse," the bill will prohibit any employee engaged in garment manufacturing to be paid by the piece or unit except as specified.

Among other measures, the bill will also impose statutory damages of 200 dollars per employee against a garment manufacturer or contractor, payable to the employee, for each pay period in which each employee was paid by the piece rate.

But many brands fought against the bill, saying they do follow the law by paying at least the minimum wage and shouldn't be liable for illegal operators who don't.

"Let me ask you a question that should be asked of these factories: If they cannot do it legally and legitimately, why do they even take the order?" Ilse Metchek from the California Fashion Association asked CBS's reporters.

The California Chamber of Commerce opposed this legislation, calling it a "job killer." It said some employers may choose to move out of state to avoid those liability provisions. California Governor Gavin Newsom's office would not say whether he would sign the bill.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/US- ... -0001.html
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Re: United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Them and Us :

Post by blindpig » Sun Oct 17, 2021 10:27 pm

Sretensky shipyard decided to cut for scrap
10/16/2021
The last industrial plant of the city is destroyed

According to the decision taken by the bankruptcy administrator of the Sretensky shipyard, the workers were dismissed, and the structures and equipment are to be sold for scrap. Deputy Prime Minister of Transbaikalia, Alexander Bardaleev, promises to employ all 73 people who have lost their jobs, but does not specify where and in the quality of whom. In 1983 , 32 industrial enterprises operated in the city . The shipyard was the last one. Salary debts are planned to be paid off after the sale of the company's property.

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The company was founded in 1935 . Over the years, more than 800 vessels of various classes and purposes have been produced for the Amur River Shipping Company, the Amur Flotilla, fishing enterprises of the Far East and border troops. In the 2010s , the plant's utilization dropped to less than 15% of capacity, and in 2017 , shipbuilders were forced to manufacture chairs for cultural centers. The total debt of the bankrupt plant is 244 million rubles. Since 2005 , there have been four attempts to declare the company insolvent.
“The enterprise at its peak - the end of the 80s, 90s - employed more than a thousand people. Over the years, this number has decreased, and now those 73 employees who were listed are laid off. Now we are collecting information on the level of qualifications, on experience, on the length of service of all dismissed employees. In the future, we will make a decision on employment both on the territory of the Sretensky region and on the neighboring regions of Sretensky, ”the Chita.ru portal quotes the official.

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Medium-duty fishing vessel, type "Primorye", project 13020. Archival photo.

Employees and simply not indifferent people tried to fight for the preservation of the plant, sending letters and appeals to the authorities, and the Ministry of Economic Development of the region even looked for investors to preserve the enterprise. Do I need to clarify that all these attempts were unsuccessful.

Unfortunately, Sretensky Shipbuilding is not the first or the last in a long line of " market-optimized " enterprises . And it is not the first and not the last time that people choose letters and appeals to the authorities as the only means of struggle to preserve jobs . The result of such a struggle has long been known - the owner will do as it suits him, i.e. will spit on the groans of its workers and "with a sense of deep sorrow" will throw them out into the street.

Even if the regional authorities fulfill their promises and employ the dismissed, “taking into account their qualifications and work experience,” their life will definitely become less comfortable. Now they will at least have to spend more time and money on travel to a new place of work. Indeed, judging by the words of A. Bardaleev, workers have practically no chances to get a job in their hometown. We doubt that there are "confidently breathing" factories in the district at all.

Naturally, even such decisive measures as a strike are far from guaranteeing the victory of the working people. The power of the owners is too strong. But the mass character, team-building and widespread coverage of the conflict in all available media significantly increase the chances of success. All employees need to understand this. By failing to unite in a timely manner, when there are still enough of them to set conditions for the employers, the workers actually doom themselves to cut wages and the subsequent loss of their jobs.
We hope that the former employees of the Sretensky shipyard and other hired workers will draw the right conclusions from this sad story.
https://www.rotfront.su/sretenskij-sudo ... j-zavod-r/

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Re: United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Them and Us :

Post by blindpig » Tue Oct 19, 2021 3:00 pm

DRAMATIC LABOR RESURGENCE?
Posted by MLToday | Oct 17, 2021 | Other Featured Posts | 0

Dramatic Labor Resurgence?

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It may not be a “labor revolution” as the author contends, but it has the look of a strike wave. The Editors

By Faiz Shakir
October 8, 2021

Our nation is in the midst of a labor revolution. It’s a wonderful thing, and you may not be aware of it.
After an emotionally, physically, and mentally taxing year dealing with ramifications of Covid-19, workers across the country are standing up for basic dignity and respect on the job in a historic way. And through the pandemic, the nation was reminded of the essentialness of labor—not the labor of Wall Street; rather, the labor that drives our hospitals, our groceries, our mail, our livelihoods.
They are striking; they are picketing; they are demanding fair contracts. They are forming new unions on campuses and coffeehouses, and they are walking out on low-wage jobs at Burger King, Dollar General, and elsewhere. In short, laborers are demanding their due. And it is infectiously spreading from workplace to workplace.
Much of the renewed breath of labor activism can be tracked to the courageous workers at the Amazon warehouse plant in Bessemer, Alabama, who in February attracted national attention for demanding dignity against one of the largest and most powerful employers in America. In that campaign, we witnessed a greedy corporate giant pull out all the stops and engage in gross union-busting tactics that require rerunning the election, according to the National Labor Relations Board. We saw Amazon come under the microscope for its poor working conditions. We applauded a president of the United States who sided with the workers. And despite falling short of reaching its unionization goal, those mostly Black laborers told America’s workforce: If we can stand up for ourselves, you can, too.
In the weeks that followed, workers at corporate behemoths like Frito-Lay, Nabisco, and Kellogg’s, among others, have stood up in large numbers to demand fair pay, paid time off, and affordable health care. And they have won, or are winning, key concessions.
The American public is responding by delivering its highest approval of labor unions in decades!
As workers take action, the Biden administration is operating in the background to give strength to them. The administration has delivered a worker-friendly NLRB, a slew of appointees across the administration who are willing to hold corporations accountable, and a policy agenda focused on working families. By delivering stimulus checks, child tax payments, child hunger benefits, and more, the Biden administration has effectively raised the income floor for America’s workers. They can breathe, and they don’t have to take your crappy-paying job with no benefits. Businesses are complaining of a “labor shortage,” which in reality is—viewed from the perspective of workers—labor power in action. Employers will need to compete to offer attractive job offers, which is exactly as it should be.
When corporations fail to meet worker demands, they are increasingly encountering a labor force that isn’t going to take it. Just look at the numbers.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks “large strikes,” meaning strikes of over 1,000 workers. In 2020, there were a total of nine such strikes, involving 28,800 workers. In 2021 so far, the total number is already at 12 strikes, involving 22,300 workers. And they’re not done yet. There are three large pending strike authorizations that could add to that tally: IATSE-affiliated Hollywood production workers (60–65,000 workers), Kaiser Permanente workers (37,000), and UAW-affiliated John Deere workers (roughly 10,000).
It’s not just “large strikes,” either. In 2020, the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service, a government agency that handles labor disputes, recorded under 50 official strikes resulting from union labor disputes. So far in 2021, the Cornell ILR Labor Action Tracker has recorded over 100 such strikes—and it’s only October. There are other counts out there that suggest the federal agencies are under-reporting labor actions that are going on; regardless, there is little dispute that the fundamental trend is clear. Workers of the nation are uniting.
Jonah Furman, who closely monitors the labor movement for Labor Notes, told me that labor revolt has been building for some time. “With around 10,000 workers currently on strike, and over 100,000 more moving in that direction, we’re beginning to see private-sector workers pick up where the teachers’ strike wave left off before the pandemic,” Furman said.
In these uncertain political times, here’s some clarity: There’s probably a picket or a worker-led movement near you. Join it. The time is ripe to build real working-class solidarity in this country.
Faiz Shakir is the founder of the advocacy journalism organization More Perfect Union.
THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN THE NEW REPUBLIC

https://mltoday.com/dramatic-labor-resurgence/

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Strike Wave Across the US Demands Better Working Conditions

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Over 100,000 workers in the US are on strike or have voted to authorize a strike. The capitalist class is profiting massively off the pandemic, and workers are fighting back for what is theirs. | Photo: Twitter @pslweb

Published 18 October 2021

The recent massive wave of work stoppages led to the creation on social networks of the term “Striketober,” formed by the union of the English words “strike” and “October.”

Thousands of workers in the United States are on strike today for higher wages and better conditions in a labor market that is trying to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although Hollywood film crews threatened to paralyze the U.S. film industry starting Monday, at the last minute, they reached an agreement on working conditions for technicians, but other unions continue to strike.

In the last few days, 10,000 operators of the agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere Heavy Equipment went on strike. The unions representing 31,000 employees of the health care group Kaiser Permanente agreed to do the same in California and Oregon.

They join 1,400 workers at Kellogg's cereal company and more than 2,000 at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo, New York, who have crossed their arms since the beginning of this month.


In addition, American Airlines pilots plan to carry out informational pickets at airports in Miami, Chicago, and Dallas for two weeks, according to CNN.

Meanwhile, 1,000 coal miners in Alabama, 700 nurses in Massachusetts, 400 whiskey manufacturers in Kentucky and 200 bus drivers in Reno, Nevada, also interrupted their activities, report journalists from The Intercept.

This wave of work stoppages led to the creation on social networks of the term "Striketober," formed by the union of the English words strike and October.

According to Cornell University's Labor Action Tracker, which tracks such actions, at least 176 strikes have begun this year in the country, including 17 in October.


Some 4.3 million Americans walked off their jobs this month because they were dissatisfied with deteriorating working conditions due to the health care crisis, including insufficient safeguards against Covid-19.

As a result, companies struggle to find labor, while unions see the labor shortage as an advantage to demand wage increases.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Str ... -0020.html

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THE GREAT RENUNCIATION: CAUSES AND MISERIES BEHIND THE STRIKES IN THE US
18 Oct 2021 , 4:00 pm .

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Today, only about 12% of American workers are union members (Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images)

Very little is said in the US media about the strikes that took place in recent weeks in the land of (corporate) freedom, and much less about their underlying reasons: workers are beginning to tire of the wage situation and the few or no benefits in the labor market.

At the moment, in the United States, there is an abundant supply of work that has allowed unions to demand greater compensation for the workforce, so some have begun to organize strikes, not general but coordinated at the national level.

The reason for the unemployment includes the typical string of worker demands under the negative plus of pandemic measures, among them the extensions of the working day, excess tasks, low salaries, the security deficit for jobs, disincentives in pensions, mistreatment and abuse by managers and entrepreneurs, etc.

It seems that satiety is running through the minds of millions of workers who have quit their jobs, or unemployed people who have preferred to turn to other types of income and not to corporate employment.

A sign of billions and millions was starred by Beth McGrath, then a Walmart worker in Louisiana, who recorded herself quitting in front of all shoppers through the intercom saying "everyone here is overworked and underpaid," before call specific managers for inappropriate and abusive behavior. The video went viral.


"I hope you don't talk to your families the way you talk to us," he said to one of the managers before finishing with "Fuck this job!"

This is just one example of the countless in the United States that has caused a wave of job resignations, not in the last few months, but since last year, a phenomenon that economists have called the Great Resignation , with women leading this. trend .

DATA FROM A GRINGO NIGHTMARE

Before they reached an agreement with the great American film industry, about 60,000 Hollywood workers were going to support a strike this Monday, October 18.

*The 10 thousand employees of the tractor manufacturer John Deere are added.
*The 2,000 contracted workers at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo, New York.
*And some 31,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare group employees in California and Oregon are poised to strike.
*Add in the resignation of 1,400 workers at the Kellogg's cereal company on October 5.

This would give a total of more than 100,000 union members involved in the Great Renunciation, which they have also called on social networks "striketober" (striketober) since all the manifestations of this trend have occurred in October and part of September.

We must mention that the affiliation of workers to unions has plummeted in recent decades in the United States due to legislation against this type of worker organization and the obstacles of companies to union attempts, being one of the most representative of the case that surrounds Amazon.

Last year, only 11.3% of workers belonged to a union, up from 20% in 1983, according to the US government's Bureau of Labor Statistics .
Furthermore, despite the sustained growth of US capitalism during the last decades, this has not resulted in a rise in wages but rather in their stagnation , which is why many in that country are at a time of high social discontent. economic when the inequality between the richest and the rest is increasingly wide and extensive.

The seriousness of the situation was confirmed by the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which shows a record 2.9% of the workforce who quit their jobs in August, which equates to 4.3 million resignations in total. .

Data from the Labor Department mention that 10.4 million job vacancies were left in August (half a million less than in July). In other words, there are job offers even when the federal government itself accepts that they are decreasing, as is the demand for employment.

A new survey by consultancy Harris of employed people found that more than half of workers want to quit their jobs. Many cite indifferent entrepreneurs and managers and lack of flexibility in scheduling, even with a pandemic on their shoulders, as reasons for wanting to quit. In other words, millions of American workers are simply fed up with the employment situation in their country.

In this way, two closely correlated trends are developing in the United States: resignations must be seen hand in hand with a growing willingness of unionized workers to go on strike.

The US government only considers strikes as such if there are more than a thousand people involved, which is why, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2020 there were only 11 major strikes in the country; between 1950 and 1980, the annual average was 300. Another fact of how the union organization has been undermined.

CAPITAL VS. JOB

It seems a situation that will not have a prompt resolution, because between the negotiations with the different branches of production and services, the business owners have proposed an increase of between 5% and 6% of the salary, an issue that the plaintiffs say is insufficient .

Former US Secretary of Labor during the Clinton administration and now a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, Robert Reich, claims that "American workers are now showing their muscles for the first time in decades" and calls the union demonstrations an "unofficial general strike".

His opinion on the subject is very interesting due to the position he held in the federal government, since it gives an inside view that few in the United States dare to reveal:

"Years ago, when I was Secretary of Labor, I kept meeting workers across the country who had full-time jobs but complained that their jobs paid too little and had few benefits, or were unsafe, or required long or unpredictable hours. Many said that their employers treated them badly, harassed them and did not respect them.

"Since then, these complaints have only gotten louder, according to polls. For many, the pandemic was the last straw. Workers are fed up, wiped out, and exhausted. In the wake of so many hardships, illnesses, and deaths over the past year, They won't take it anymore. "

Once again: American workers are fed up.

While some retire early, others come to endure jobs they hate, when a great many simply do not want to return to jobs that would not improve much, or even worsen, their particular situations.

Thus, the quality of jobs in the United States is deteriorating according to the testimonies and union actions of millions of Americans.

"The North American corporation wants to frame this as a 'labor shortage' . It is incorrect. What is really happening is more accurately described as a living wage shortage, a shortage of pay for dangerous living conditions, a shortage of childcare, a shortage of paid sick leave and a shortage of health care, "Reich says.

Most responsible for this situation are US corporations, which have enjoyed absolute dominance over politics, spending on lobbying the government to secure even higher profits at the expense of workers' rights. At the same time, the power of unions has diminished, a trend directly related to the increase in economic inequality.

But now the companies are worried about this show of force on the part of the gringo proletariat. So in the wake of these strikes and resignations, lawmakers are actively trying to strengthen existing federal labor laws. Business groups are lobbying Democrats to weaken pro-worker measures included in the Build Back Better Act that is being debated in Congress.

In this way the main economic contradiction of modern times is represented: the capital-labor relationship, in which the capitalist class tries by all means to undermine the interests of the workers, and vice versa.

For now, satiety translates into loosely coordinated union moves, being a warning sign to employers and managers who ignore the anger and frustration of thousands and millions at their own risk.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/la ... as-en-eeuu

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Re: United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Them and Us :

Post by blindpig » Mon Oct 25, 2021 1:34 pm

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Record numbers of workers are quitting and striking
Posted Oct 25, 2021 by Sonali Kolhatkar

Originally published: Socialist Project (October 22, 2021 ) |

On September 14, a young woman in Louisiana named Beth McGrath posted a selfie Facebook video of herself working at Walmart. Her body language shows a nervous energy as she works up the courage to speak on the intercom and announces her resignation to shoppers. “Everyone here is overworked and underpaid,” she begins, before going on to call out specific managers for inappropriate and abusive behavior. “I hope you don’t speak to your families the way you speak to us,” she said before ending with “f**k this job!”

Perhaps McGrath was inspired by Shana Ragland in Lubbock, Texas, who nearly a year ago carried out a similarly public resignation in a TikTok video that she posted from the Walmart store where she worked. Ragland’s complaints were similar to McGrath’s as she accused managers of constantly disparaging workers. “I hope you don’t talk to your daughters the way you talk to me,” she said over the store intercom before signing off with,
F**k the managers, f**k this company.
The viral resignations of these two young women are bookending a year of volatility in the American workforce that economists have branded the Great Resignation. Women in particular are seen as leading the trend.

The Great Resignation

The seriousness of the situation was confirmed by the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report showing that a record 2.9 percent of the workforce quit their jobs in August, which is equivalent to 4.3 million resignations.

If such a high rate of resignations were occurring at a time when jobs were plentiful, it might be seen as a sign of a booming economy where workers have their pick of offers. But the same labor report showed that job openings have also declined, suggesting that something else is going on. A new Harris Poll of people with employment found that more than half of workers want to leave their jobs. Many cite uncaring employers and a lack of scheduling flexibility as reasons for wanting to quit. In other words, millions of American workers have simply had enough.

So serious is the labor market upheaval that Jack Kelly, senior contributor to Forbes.com, a pro-corporate news outlet, has defined the trend as, “a sort of workers’ revolution and uprising against bad bosses and tone-deaf companies that refuse to pay well and take advantage of their staff.” In what might be a reference to viral videos like those of McGrath, Ragland, and the growing trend of #QuitMyJob posts, Kelly goes on to say,
The quitters are making a powerful, positive and self-affirming statement saying that they won’t take the abusive behavior any longer.
Still, some advisers suggest countering the worker rage with “bonding exercises” such as “Gratitude sharing,” and games. Others suggest increasing trust between workers and bosses or “exercis[ing] empathetic curiosity” with employees. But such superficial approaches entirely miss the point.

The resignations ought to be viewed hand in hand with another powerful current that many economists are ignoring: a growing willingness by unionized workers to go on strike.

The Great Strikes

Film crews may soon halt work as 60,000 members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) announced an upcoming national strike. About 10,000 employees of John Deere, who are represented by the United Auto Workers, are also preparing to strike after rejecting a new contract. Kaiser Permanente is facing a potential strike from 24,000 of its nurses and other health care workers in Western states over poor pay and labor conditions. And about 1,400 Kellogg workers in Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Tennessee are already striking over poor pay and benefits.

The announced strikes are coming so thick and fast that former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich has dubbed the situation “an unofficial general strike.”

Yet union representation remains extremely low across the United States–the result of decades of concerted corporate-led efforts to undermine the bargaining power of workers. Today only about 12 percent of workers are in a union.

The number of strikes and of striking workers might be far higher if more workers were unionized. Non-union workers like McGrath and Ragland hired by historically anti-union companies like Walmart might have been able to organize their fellow workers instead of resorting to individual resignations. While viral social media posts of quitting are impactful in driving the conversation around worker dissatisfaction, they have little direct bearing on the lives of the workers and the colleagues they leave behind.

One example of how union organizing made a concrete difference to working conditions is a new contract that 7,000 drug store workers at Rite Aid and CVS stores in Los Angeles just ratified. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 negotiated a nearly 10 percent pay raise for workers as well as improved benefits and safety standards.

And when companies don’t comply, workers have more leverage when acting as a collective bargaining unit than as individuals. Take Nabisco workers who went on strike in five states this summer. Mondelez International, Nabisco’s parent company, saw record profits during the pandemic with surging sales of its snack foods. So flush was the company with cash that it compensated its CEO with a whopping $16.8 million annual pay and spent $1.5 billion on stock buybacks earlier this year. Meanwhile, the average worker salary was an appallingly low $31,000 a year. Many Nabisco jobs were sent across the border to Mexico, where the company was able to further drive down labor costs.

After weeks on the picket line, striking Nabisco workers, represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, returned to work having won modest retroactive raises of 2.25 percent, $5,000 bonuses and increased employer contributions to their retirement plans. The company, which reported a 12 percent increase in revenue earlier this year, can well afford this and more.

Taken together with mass resignations, such worker strikes reveal a deep dissatisfaction with the nature of American work that has been decades in the making. Corporate America has enjoyed a stranglehold over policy, spending its profits on lobbying the government to ensure even greater profits at the expense of workers’ rights. At the same time, the power of unions has fallen – a trend directly linked to increased economic inequality.

Corporations and Legislation

But now, as workers are flexing their power, corporate America is worried.

In the wake of these strikes and resignations, lawmakers are actively trying to strengthen existing federal labor laws. Business groups are lobbying Democrats to weaken pro-labor measures included in the Build Back Better Act that is being debated in Congress.

Currently, corporate employers can violate labor laws with little consequence as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) lacks the authority to fine offenders. But Democrats want to give the NLRB the authority to impose fines of $50,000 to $100,000 against companies who violate federal labor laws. Also included in the Build Back Better Act is an increase in fines against employers that violate Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards.

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, which is a business lobby group that wants anything but democracy in the workplace, is deeply concerned about these proposed changes and sent a letter to lawmakers to that effect.

It remains to be seen if corporate lobbyists will succeed this time around at keeping labor laws toothless. But as workers continue to quit their jobs, and as strikes among unionized workers grow, employers ignore the warning signs of rage and frustration at their peril.

https://mronline.org/2021/10/25/record- ... -striking/

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John Deere Strikers Can Win It All…. and Transform the Labor Movement!
BY OAKLANDSOCIALIST ON OCTOBER 23, 2021 • ( 2 COMMENTS )

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Striking John Deere workers

The powerful position that the striking John Deere workers find themselves in means that they can win absolutely everything they want. There is no need to compromise one iota.

Wall St. Journal

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Kellogg workers on strike. They are just some of several.

Even the Wall St. Journal in effect admits this. “Workers at Deere and other companies are now going on strike against a backdrop of widespread labor shortages that have helped push up wages for existing employees,” they write. “Forget what you’ve heard about the downfall of organized labor. A spate of strikes across the country is highlighting the power of unions amid today’s national worker shortage…” they add elsewhere.

Not Easy

However, as any worker who’s ever been on strike knows, it won’t be easy. First there are the economic pressures. According to Labor Notes, the UAW will be picking up the health benefits for the strikers once John Deere cuts them off, and will be paying the strikers $275/week in strike benefits. That is a start, but it is not enough to live on. If the UAW can’t afford to pay more, it can and should immediately start a crash fund raising campaign to pay additional benefits.

Strengthen the Picket Lines

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Some in the local community rallied to protest the union-busting court injunction. That is only the start of opposition to this sort of thing.

Second is the issue of the pickets themselves. The pickets must be fairly effective, given that John Deere had to go to court to cripple them in Davenport, Iowa. In that case, the judge directly sided with the company and limited the pickets to four (!) at a time. She also prohibited the pickets from bringing chairs or using a burn barrel to keep themselves warm as winter weather sets in. One suggestion was that car caravans be organized to gum up the traffic at shift changes at the plant. That can be a start, but then the judge would issue an injunction against that. Ultimately, this judicial-led union busting has to be openly defied in order to be stopped.

UAW International

It may be a bitter pill to swallow, but we also must admit that another obstacle is the point of view of the union leadership. After all, they initially recommended a concessionary contract that according to Labor Notes would have left in place the two-tier pay schedule and weakened pensions for post-1997 hires, and no pension for new hires.

In other words, they never wanted this strike in the first place. That is absolutely the norm for the union leadership in general. See, for example, what happened recently with Western Washington carpenters. In that case, an organized rank and file opposition caucus, named after the founder of the Carpenters Union – Peter J. McGuire – organized to push for more, including pushing for a real strike policy. In the UAW, there is also an opposition caucus – Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD). It is good that they are raising funds for the strikers, but shouldn’t it be demanded that the International also do this? After all, the International could easily raise hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of dollars, in these times.

Methods of the 1930s

There is also the issue of the injunction and in general the company’s drive to keep functioning, no matter at what level. Even if they can just send out replacement parts, that will strengthen them. Labor has to remember how the unions – especially the UAW – were built in the 1930s. It was done by work place occupations and mass picket lines and open defiance of the courts and the police. With the widespread general support for these striking workers, a return to such methods is easily possible. If the courts levy fines or the company sues the union, this could be used as a political issue to build the movement even further.

International Solidarity

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John Deere plants in India. International solidarity in deeds, not just words, is possible and needed.

Finally, there is the international aspect. John Deere has plants in Rosario, Argentina, Montenegro, Brazil and Mannheim, Germany and in India. It also has several plants in China. The UAW should immediately reach out to the workers in those plants to build direct worker-to-worker links and for immediate joint action, leading to further international solidarity. This alone would terrify John Deere management.

If the International refuses to do so, then a rank and file group could organize for this, including making direct links with the John Deere workers abroad.

With the major labor shortage, with the current strike wave coming on top of the record 4.3 million workers who quit their jobs in August, with the general mood of militancy – as well as the increased frustration and tendency towards open rebellion against the union leadership… with all of this, there is no reason that such a rank and file drive among John Deere workers could not succeed. By doing so, they could not only win absolutely everything they want and need, but also strike a major blow towards transforming the unions into what they were build to be in the first place: worker-controlled organizations to fight for our interests, not those of the companies. A rebellion seems to be starting to make the unions do so. John Deere workers and the UAW members in general are in a position to really drive this trend forward.

Also, see the pro company speech of former UAW International president Bob King, speaking to the Chamber of Commerce here. (Note: The text of that speech has been taken down by the UAW, but Oaklandsocialist copied and saved it.) https://oaklandsocialist.com/2019/12/27 ... e-leaders/

https://oaklandsocialist.com/2021/10/23 ... -movement/

Proof positive that even a bad union is better than no union. Once workers are organized half the battle is won. Bad leadership can always be disposed of if the will to do the work is there.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Them and Us :

Post by blindpig » Thu Nov 18, 2021 2:22 pm

Kroger workers in Houston vote again to strike amid feud over pay, health care
Amanda Drane
Staff writer
Nov. 16, 2021
Updated: Nov. 16, 2021 4:12 p.m.

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A vehicle with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union circles the parking lot of a Kroger store during a rally Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, in Houston. Godofredo A. Vásquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Kroger workers in Houston may strike "within the week" after voting to authorize a strike amid a longstanding feud over pay and health care, the United Food and Commercial Workers announced Tuesday.

Though they voted to authorize the strike, it remains unclear when — or if — they will walk off the job. Meantime, it's business as usual at Kroger stores across Houston.

Workers voted overwhelmingly to strike last November, though union officials decided to continue negotiating terms of a contract that has yet to solidify. The strike would affect some 14,000 workers in Harris County and several surrounding counties, according to United Food and Commercial Workers Local 455.

Union officials said they wanted to give workers another opportunity to weigh in before taking the step to strike.

Kroger said in a statement it was focused on reaching an agreement.

"We have offered a contract that respects our associates by significantly investing in their total compensation, industry leading healthcare, and seeks zero concessions," said Clara Cambpell, Kroger's regional corporate affairs manager.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/busine ... 625722.php

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Starbucks sent this anti-union letter telling Buffalo workers to “vote NO” on union
Sahid Fawaz November 16, 2021

Starbucks is scared. It knows that its workers are on the verge of voting yes for a union.

And it knows that with a union, it can’t push workers around at whim. It will actually have to (gasp!) negotiate with them. And it obviously wants none of that.

So it sent this letter below which basically gives its workers “two asks”: to vote and to vote no at the union election.

Read the anti-union letter for below and ask yourself if you want to spend your hard-earned dollars on coffee from this kind of employer.

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Link: https://twitter.com/SBWorkersUnited/sta ... 4513598464

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NC School Worker Strike Wave Spreads – After Getting $15 an Hour, Pittsburgh Workers Still Walk Out – Kellogg Looks to Hire Scabs

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School bus drivers in Raleigh strike (The News & Observer)

BY: MIKE ELK NOVEMBER 16, 2021

Greetings from the Burgh, where it’s been an exciting day as I just got my booster COVID at a vaccine clinic sponsored by Casa San Jose Latino Immigrant Resource Center.

Elsewhere, workers in Pittsburgh are on the march as the strike wave rolls on.

GetGo Workers Walk Off Job in Elite Suburb of Pittsburgh

In Moon Township, an elite South Hills suburb of Pittsburgh, workers have walked off the job at a GetGo convenience store.

Recently GetGo, a gas station convenience store chain owned by the Giant Eagle supermarket company, posted advertisements throughout the Pittsburgh region that they were paying $15 an hour.

However, increased wages haven’t been enough to help the chain keep all of its workers happy.

GetGo workers posted a sign on the door, saying that their treatment caused the walkout.

“Closed because the people of Moon Township treat our employees horribly [and] ran off our staff,” read the sign the workers left behind.

For more, check out the thread on Reddit, where the image was shared.

UPMC Strike Coverage Fund

We are preparing to cover a big strike of hundreds of healthcare workers at UPMC in Pittsburgh on Thursday. Workers are tired of the treatment by UPMC, the mega-hospital chain that is the largest employer in the state of Pennsylvania.

“The way they treat us is absolutely dehumanizing after so many of us risked our lives to work at UPMC through the pandemic,” said 28-year-old Khalil Brown, a food service worker at UPMC, who makes $15.50 an hour. “It got so bad that I had to go to a mental health crisis center because I was having so many anxiety attacks at work.”

Payday will be out in the streets of Pittsburgh, covering the strike on Thursday. We hope to get enough money to bring in a videographer.

Donate today to help us cover the strike on Thursday.

Also, please consider signing up as one of our 631 recurring donors today.


North Carolina School Cafeteria Workers Strike

School cafeteria workers in North Carolina’s Wake County are on strike today in over 30 school districts.

In North Carolina, public employees are banned from engaging in collective bargaining. However, the strike wave has grown even in North Carolina, a state with the lowest percentage of union workers in the country.

Earlier this month, school bus drivers in Raleigh-based Wake County went on a 3-day sickout strike and won $1,250 bonuses, a small 1% wage increase, and a promise of improved working conditions.

The starting wage for school cafeteria workers is $13 an hour. But, according to The News & Observer, because of high turnover, there is a 19% vacancy rate for school cafeteria workers. This has forced workers to work even more to feed students.

The strikes come as the Wake County school board considers additional bonuses of $3,750 to each school district employee and other wage increases.

However, the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) says the one-time wage bonuses aren’t enough. They want the school district to set a minimum wage of $17 an hour for all school support staff.

“We appreciate Wake County Schools’ attention to the staffing crisis and their acknowledgment that they have more resources available than they suggested on Nov. 2,” said Kristin Beller, president of Wake NCAE, in a statement released last week. “But WCPSS continues to sit on millions of federal dollars that could be put to use today, providing long-awaited raises and compensation for the extra work created by staffing shortages. Our kids can’t wait any longer.”

Read more at The News & Observer.


Following the deaths of 6 workers, Georgia Company Sanctioned for Destroying Evidence of Malfeasance

Following the death of six workers in an accident at Messer Gas last January, Messer Gas has been sanctioned for destroying evidence.

The Atlanta-Journal Constitution has the story:

The victims’ families sued Messer Gas, which manufactures industrial freezer units for meatpacking, alleging the company could have prevented the Jan. 28 disaster involving one of its machines. Nitrogen — which is frigid and can displace oxygen from the air around it — overflowed from one of the units, court records show.

A Messer employee threw away a machine part that should’ve been preserved for testing, the judge said, calling the trashed Evidence critical to the plaintiffs’ case. State County Judge Emily Brantley also faulted Messer for concealing the incident, saying the company’s conduct threatened the victims’ families’ ability to have a fair trial.

“It would be a disservice to our system of justice for these families to believe that their opportunity for a fair trial in these cases was compromised by Defendant Messer’s abuse of the discovery process,” Brantley wrote in her Friday order. “The conduct of Defendant Messer demonstrated throughout the discovery process is shockingly unacceptable and at best is grossly negligent.”

The sanctions include the judge’s intention to explain to the jury at any eventual trials that Messer destroyed Evidence of manufacturer error that would’ve have hurt Messer’s case and that Messer then lied about it.

For more, check out the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

Strikes & News Happening Elsewhere

*With the Kellogg strike entering its 6th week, the company is hiring scabs and even sued some strikers, claiming they are intimidating strikes.
https://www.econotimes.com/Kelloggs-rep ... on-1621375
*In a viral Tik Tok video, Wendy’s worker claims he and 17 co-workers quit en-masse in one day.
https://www.newsweek.com/former-worker- ... ok-1649398
*A new poll shows that a majority of Iowans support the striking John Deere workers over the company.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story ... 376829001/
*100 Long Beach, CA special education bus drivers strike.
https://lbpost.com/news/education/bus-d ... n-students
*Bus drivers in 3 Rhode Island school districts vote to authorize a strike.
https://www.providencejournal.com/story ... 624624002/
*After the National Guard was used as scabs in several bus driver strikes this year, AFSCME, SEIU, and several other public employee unions are suing for the right to unionize the National Guard to prevent their usage as scabs.
https://www.newsweek.com/new-lawsuit-ar ... ze-1649433
* Finally, , the newly founded College Basketball Players Association has filed an NLRB complaint that seeks to strike a “student athlete” designation and make college athletes employees.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... -complaint

Alright, folks, that’s all for today. Donate to help us cover the UPMC strike this week in Pittsburgh.

Also, please consider signing up as one of our 631 recurring donors.

Hear about walkout? Email me melk@paydayreport.com to let us know.

Love & Solidarity,

Melk

https://paydayreport.com/nc-school-work ... ire-scabs/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Them and Us :

Post by blindpig » Sat Nov 20, 2021 2:56 pm

About roads and about life
11/19/2021
Locomotive crews of Russian Railways: an inside view

From the editor.
We would like to share the material "first-hand": our supporter, who wished to remain anonymous, told how people who play one of the leading roles in the work of Russian railways live and work in modern Russia.

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I am a full-time employee of the Russian Railways company, namely the locomotive economy. I want to tell you about how locomotive drivers and their assistants work now.

Work in a nutshell

The work of locomotive crews is little known in the philistine environment. Everyone thinks that we are sitting in a locomotive (whether it be an electric locomotive, a diesel locomotive, an electric train, etc.) and look out the window, pressing some buttons, pulling some levers. In fact, our work is one of the most difficult and responsible for the Russian railway network. It is enough at least to read the list of what we must know. It includes a lot, from the design of locomotives to the provision of first aid to victims. But the most important regulatory document that all employees of Russian Railways and organizations associated with railways must know is the "Rules for Technical Operation" (PTE). And it is precisely these rules that our superiors constantly force us to violate.

What can I say about the schedule - we do not have it, we work on the call system. For example, a contractor calls and says that on such and such a date, at such and such a time, you have a turnout. With the weekend, too, there is no certainty. They can call three hours before the turnout and call to work. You understand that you can forget about leisure with friends. There are, of course, exceptions. For example, those brigades that work on "maneuvers" work according to the schedule, that is, they drive cars from one track to another at the stations, and form trains. I'm talking about train crews, one of which I am an employee. We can be at work during the day, at night, in the morning, in the evening - at any time of the day. This leaves its mark on both the work process and personal life, if time remains for it.

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Safety first

Upon arriving at work, the locomotive crew is obliged to undergo targeted and unscheduled briefings, a pre-trip medical examination and other formalities. Then we are sent by official transport to the park where the locomotive is located. And here the first danger lies in wait for us.
On railway tracks, it is always necessary to keep an eye out, because a moving train, if it is untimely detected, carries a mortal danger, especially at night. Therefore, the railway park in the dark should be well lit, have transition platforms, service passages. But, as often happens, the lighting is terrible, there are no platforms or walkways. At the same time, the movement is very intense. And as we know, a locomotive, and even more so a train, is not a car, its stopping distance is many times longer, and the chance to survive in a collision is zero.

Further, observing safety and labor protection measures, the team goes to the car allocated to it to carry out Technical Maintenance upon acceptance of the locomotive (TO-1). This is also a very interesting moment in our working days.

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Disaster on the Yeral - Simskaya stretch

During acceptance, it is possible to discover various malfunctions with which the operation of locomotives is prohibited. They are clearly spelled out in the PTE. However, if the locomotive crew refuses to accept such a tractor, then endless calls from the management begin with threats of suspension from work, re-certification and even dismissal. Personally, I was promised an analysis by the head of the road, because the train that we had to drive was very important to send without disrupting the schedule. At the same time, the authorities do not seem to care about the possible consequences of such an attitude to security, and they can be truly catastrophic. As an example, I will cite the sensational and already legendary collision and wreck of trains with the death of a locomotive brigade on the Yeral-Simskaya stretch... The chiefs are constantly talking about this incident, especially if the brigade is guilty. But, as everyone knows, the brigade is always guilty, even when it acted on the orders of the leadership. Bosses will always find a way to evade responsibility.

Processing

Before dwelling in more detail on the mode of our work and rest, I will tell you about processing. According to the Labor Code and orders, we are not allowed to work more than four hours overtime and our overtime per year should not exceed 120 hours. But this is only on paper. RZD is experiencing a very strong staff shortage, especially there is a lack of specialists, especially locomotive crews. The overwhelming majority of locomotive depots in Russia are understaffed. In this regard, one team is forced to work for two. And therefore, at a rate of 170 hours per month, one team can work out 250-300 hours. These are approximate figures, there are those who work more than 330 hours a month.

Now imagine that in one month, if you take 30 days, 720 hours comes out. Of these 720 hours, 330 are working hours. We do not count the time for sleep, packing and arrival to work. And if we subtract all this from 720, then there will be time for leisure. But many have families.

Locomotive crew workers

The wages are low, which is why we have to recycle. For example, an average salary of a locomotive driver is 50 thousand per month for a rate of 170 hours. To get 70 thousand, the driver must work more than 220 hours. So our low wages are compensated by overwork, which is what the company leaders use. If there was a physical opportunity to work even more, then the depot bosses would be insanely happy about this. But only these processing have a very strong effect on the health of workers of locomotive crews. And this, in turn, leads to inattention in the performance of their official duties.

Work and rest mode

Anything can happen on a voyage. Non-standard situations often arise, and not only the well-being of an individual, but the vital activity of cities and entire regions sometimes depends on the ability of the locomotive brigade to resolve them.

Imagine a situation that a freight train with 350 axles and a weight of 9000 tons is traveling within the city limits, which includes wagons with explosive cargo, chemicals, and radioactive substances. Ahead is a railway crossing, where a truck with concrete slabs stopped for some reason. There are a bunch of instructions that describe all the actions necessary to prevent a disaster, train drivers are required to know them like the alphabet. But none of the instructions can replace the reaction of the driver and assistant, who manage to orient themselves in a short time and prevent a collision. And a good reaction is impossible without a good rest.

Image

So how do we rest. The fact is that locomotive crews do not always sleep at home. When on the way from point A to point B working hours come to an end, the crew goes to rest in special rest houses of locomotive brigades (LLLB). They are equipped with sleeping quarters, eating rooms and dining rooms with insane price tags on food that is sometimes badly cooked or spoiled. Yes, it is the greedy Railroad Trading Company who is poisoning workers with spoiled food. By the way, you, dear readers, can also watch the products of this organization on long-distance trains.

Rest is regulated by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation: no less than four hours, regardless of how much was at work, and at least half of the time worked per shift. For example, if the working time was seven hours, then we must be given a rest of at least four hours. If you worked twelve hours or more, then at least half, that is, at least six hours of rest. After the rest time has elapsed, we are obliged to show up, and everything starts again with acceptance and briefings. But it happens that we leave for two such holidays outside the home, that is, for two or more days.

I will skip the story about the working conditions in locomotives that have been in operation since the 60s and 70s, and about how machinists have to fight dispatchers, because this is a long story, and the reader is not so important.

To "protect" workers' rights

Now about the railway workers' union. ROSPROFZHEL is the link between the management and workers of the company. He stands up for justice and order in the relationship between us and the authorities. Protects us from violations of the Labor Code, represents our interests in disputes and during analyzes. Arranges various activities for the leisure of employees and for team building. Gives gifts on holidays and much, much more. But this is all until the matter touches on real cases when the worker really needs the help of the primary trade union organization.
Most often, during labor disputes, the chairman of the trade union either sits in silence, or agrees with his superiors in everything, or does not come to the meeting at all. This happens even in cases when the management is clearly violating the Labor Code. How our union "protects" workers is well described here .

And the fact is that in 99% of cases the chairman of the primary organization is the protege of the head of the depot. You understand whose interests he will defend. But if you suddenly decide to leave the trade union, then the pressure from the management is ensured, because ROSPROFZHEL exists at the expense of our contributions. Here is such an "independent" trade union in our Russian Railways.

What alone can I do?

Summing up, I would like to urge my colleagues to think about the reasons for this situation in Russian Railways. Our indifference leads to the fact that the leadership begins to create lawlessness. Fake inspections, assessments of working conditions are carried out, those who openly protest against lawlessness are fired. It will be possible to change the situation only when isolated protests give way to a mass struggle of railway workers for their rights.

https://www.rotfront.su/o-dorogah-i-o-zhizni/

google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Them and Us :

Post by blindpig » Mon Nov 22, 2021 3:54 pm

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Union-Busting Tracker (LaborLabs.us)

New ‘Union-Busting Tracker’ debuts online

Originally published: LaborPress by Steve Wishnia (November 18, 2021 ) - Posted Nov 22, 2021

On Nov. 6, a group of volunteers launched a Web page called the Union-Busting Tracker to post examples of union-busting. Eleven days later, they’d listed 180 separate cases, naming the employers and the union-busting outfits they’d hired.

The project is intended to “embolden” workers, says Bob Funk, who founded the LaborLab.us Website, which opened on May 1.

“A shocking amount of young workers think unions are illegal and don’t know their rights,” says Funk, who by day is communications director for a Montana union.

The union-busting industry takes advantage of people’s lack of knowledge.

The group’s volunteers, union members from around the country, combed through LM-20 forms, which union-busting companies are required to file with the Department of Labor when employers hire them. They posted what they found on the Union-Busting Tracker site, on a map of the United States with digital pins users can click on to get details and see the forms.

Those employers range from behemoths like Amazon to smaller employers such as a Manhattan arts-education program.

Amazon hired Rock Creek Consulting LLC of Twin Falls, Idaho, in late January, as workers at its warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama were preparing to vote on whether to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union [RWDSU]. Rock Creek outsourced the two-month gig to Russ Brown of Road Warrior Production in Satellite Beach, Fla. Its purpose, as stated on the form, was “to persuade employees to exercise or not to exercise, or persuade employees as to the manner of exercising, the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing”–specifically, “education” on the mail-in ballot process and the National Labor Relations Act.”

In practice, that education meant the usual captive-audience meetings with workers, telling them that if the job was unionized, they’d have to pay dues; that a union contract might leave them with less money and benefits; and, according to the RWDSU, threatening to close the warehouse.

The Arkansas-based trucking company JB Hunt Transport Services was explicit about what it hired Nolslen & Associates, LLC, of Blackwood, N.J., to do when International Association of Machinists Lodge 947 was organizing 25 mechanics and technicians at its facility in South Gate, Calif. Beginning Oct. 25, Nolslen paid Peter List of Kulture Consulting of Pawleys Island, S.C., $281.25 per hour “plus actual and reasonable expenses.”

According to the form, List traveled to South Gate, where he “conducted research regarding pertinent current atmosphere; presented classes to employees to educate them regarding union card-signing tactics, the role of the NLRB and employees’ Section Seven rights; engaged in one-on-one interactions with employees; met with management and participated in conference calls.”

List and Kulture Consulting got paid $2,625 a day plus expenses when hired by Linda Inez Consulting of Charleston, S.C. in early September to counter an organizing drive by UNITE HERE Local 23 at the meal-kit company Hello Fresh/Green Chef’s facility in Aurora, Colorado. The firm has also worked for Whole Foods.

List, Kulture’s founder and CEO, declares on the firm’s Website that “unions are a by-product of a bad relationship and can devastate a company and its employees.”

“We know their playbook,” says Funk. But the players and their reach are less well known.

The major players

The major players, he says, include Kulture; LRI Consulting Services, Inc., of Broken Arrow, Okla., which brags that it “literally wrote the book in countering union organizing campaigns”; and the New York-based Jackson Lewis law firm. But Jackson Lewis, he says, regularly takes advantage of an exemption in the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, the law that requires the LM-20 forms: It doesn’t have to file them if it’s only “advising” an employer on how to stop a union, as long as it’s not directly talking to employees.

The Department of Labor tried to close that loophole in 2016, with what is called the “persuader rule,” on the grounds that the advice’s ultimate purpose was to persuade workers to reject the union. That change was blocked by a court injunction, and the Trump administration rescinded that in 2018. President Joseph Biden promised to revive the persuader rule during his 2020 campaign, but his administration does not appear to have taken any further action beyond briefly considering it earlier this year.

Smaller employers have also hired these firms. Last February, Studio in a School NYC, which provides professional artists to teach classes in schools from pre-kindergarten through high school, hired Greer Consulting of St. Louis to discourage the artists from joining United Auto Workers Local 2110, the Technical, Office and Professional Union. It failed.

In April, the exclusive Latin School of Chicago, facing organizing by the Illinois Federation of Teachers, hired a local union-busting firm, Government Resources Consultants of America. The prep school’s faculty voted to join the IFT in June.

LaborLab, says Funk, has found the use of union-busting firms common at warehouses, not just Amazon’s; the SYSCO food-distribution company; and at marijuana dispensaries–including The Verb Is Herb in Easthampton, Mass., which hired the California-based CCG Group for a week in April while United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1459 was organizing. The union lost by a 4-3 vote.

“Most horrifying is the number of hospitals trying to bust nurses’ unions,” Funk says.

In May 2020, Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., hired Quality Labor Solutions of Los Angeles to “inform employees of their rights” while National Nurses United [NNU] was trying to organize the 1,800 nurses there. But the nurses, angered by staffing cuts and layoffs after the HCA Healthcare chain took over the hospital in February 2019, voted in favor of the union by a margin of more than 2–1 in September 2020–in what NNU called the largest election win at any nonunion hospital in the South since 1975.

Funk says a LaborLab survey found that more than 60% of workers under 40 felt more empowered when they learned about their rights to have a union under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, and the group gets emails every day from people asking how to contact a union. The Union-Busting Tracker’s tactic, he adds, is to give people access to the “source points” without the legal jargon.

LaborLab is soliciting donations, but Funk says it’s still an all-volunteer “passion project.” Its long-term strategy, he adds, is a combination of “shaming the employers” who hire union-busting firms and “exposing how the industry works.”

https://mronline.org/2021/11/22/new-uni ... ts-online/

Well, historically it has taken a bit more that 'shaming' to dissuade scabs...just sayin'...

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Teamsters United victory is historic step forward
November 22, 2021 FightBack! News

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Washington, D.C. — Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) around the country have much to celebrate. For over two decades, the IBT led by Jimmy Hoffa Jr. did very little to help union members and working people. Instead, the Hoffa Jr. regime busied itself with arranging givebacks to employers and managing the general decline of the Teamsters. Workers represented by the Teamsters saw their contracts become weaker, their union become smaller, and whatever respect they had on the job evaporate.

However, all of that is set to change now that O’Brien-Zuckerman (OZ) and their Teamsters United slate has won the election. After just the first day of counting votes to determine who would lead the Teamsters over the next five years, it became clear that a new chapter was beginning for one of the most important unions in North America.

Teamsters from the U.S. and Canada cast their ballots for International Leadership of the Teamsters throughout October and the first half of November. On November 15, the vote count began in Washington, D.C. Votes were counted by region, beginning with the Southern U.S. and then counting votes cast from the Central, East, West, and Canada. In each region of the United States, Teamsters made their demands for better leadership known, by overwhelmingly voting for Sean O’Brien and Fred Zuckerman’s Teamsters United slate against the old guard leadership. In the South, Central, and East regions, over 70% of the votes went to OZ. In the West, where the old guard was strongest, over 55% of the vote went to OZ. Overall, Teamsters United emerged with a strong victory, earning about 114,000 votes compared to just 57,000 votes. OZ won with almost twice the number of votes, and over 66% of the total votes cast in the election.

Richard Blake from Teamsters Local 512 in Jacksonville, Florida, was invited to help observe the process of counting votes. “The whole facility erupted in cheers when we won the Western Region after previously winning the South, Central, and Eastern regions. We made history and elected an IBT executive board that’s united to take on the employers and fight for the members,” Blake commented.

The rank-and-file membership of the Teamsters sent a clear message – they are ready for the union to fight the employers for stronger contracts and end the age of endless concessions to the bosses. Hoffa Jr. sealed his fate in 2018-2019 when he used a bogus clause in the union’s constitution to approve the UPS contract, despite the membership voting to reject the weak contract three separate times.

Teamsters United had already been organizing the membership to take back their union, and eventually helped remove that bogus clause from the constitution in 2021. Sean O’Brien recognized the critical role that Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) played in removing the clause when he spoke at TDU’s annual convention in October. Teamsters are already gearing up to fight for a strong contract at UPS in 2023.

The Teamsters represent workers in a variety of industries, but regardless of where they work and what they do for a living, Teamsters are fed up with the weak leadership offered by Hoffa Jr. and his handpicked successors. The on-the-ground campaigning done by Teamsters United volunteers around North America was an amazing show and earned tremendous results. Members of TDU did an excellent job helping secure the victory of Teamsters United, as did many rank-and-file members. Every leaflet handed out and every conversation with coworkers mattered. Once again, the working class showed that passion for change can overcome backwards stubbornness.

There’s a long road ahead filled with struggle for Teamsters who want to fight for the working class. The victory of O’Brien-Zuckerman and Teamsters United is a big step in the right direction for unions in North America.

Source: FightBack! News

https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2021/ ... p-forward/
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Re: United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Them and Us :

Post by blindpig » Sat Nov 27, 2021 3:15 pm

Employers and Legislators Eye Child Labor as the Answer to the Labor Shortage
by Luca Greco | Nov 26, 2021

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Recently, the Wisconsin Senate voted to approve a law that would allow employers to keep teenage workers at work longer, in an effort to address the so-called labor shortage. Currently, teenagers may not work before 7 AM or past 7 PM. The proposed law would increase the upper bound to 9 PM during the summer, and would expand the range to 6 AM and 9:30 PM on a day preceding a school day, and 6 AM and 11 PM on days preceding non-school days.

While Wisconsin may be the first state to take this type of legislative action, teenage labor was a panacea for companies over the summer to fill their workforces. Rather than improving wages and working conditions to attract adult workers, employers and legislators are now working to expand the labor force and expose young workers to the long working hours, low wages, and poor conditions that drove adult workers away. This solution hurts adult workers who are forced to compete with a cheaper source of labor, and puts teenage workers, whom the law generally seeks to protect from working too many hours, at risk of further exploitation by employers. Though these young workers may face more extensive labor and employment law violations than older workers by virtue of their inexperience, they are positioned to act as the vanguard of a resurgent labor movement thanks to their economic flexibility and desire for systemic change.

Just How Bad Is It?

Much like adult workers, young workers are subject to unsafe working conditions, low pay, and rampant wage theft. Young workers, however, suffer these issues to a greater extent and severity than adult workers. Teenage workers are treated for workplace injuries in the emergency department at nearly twice the rate of older workers. In 2020, teens between the age of 15 and 19 required emergency room treatment for workplace related injuries every 5 minutes.

Moreover, teen workers are subject to extensive sexual assault and harassment. A 2002 study found that 35% of high school students working in part-time jobs while attending school were subject to sexual harassment. Studies have found that victims of sexual harassment in the workplace suffered “higher levels of stress, academic withdrawal, school absences, and demonstrate[d] depressive symptoms that lasted nearly 10 years after the incident.”

To compensate for these working conditions, teenagers are rewarded with lower wages than older workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, teenage workers earn minimum wage or less at nearly 5 times the rate of workers 25 or older. Carve outs in FLSA that permit teenage workers employed for fewer than 90 days to be paid as little as $4.25 per hour create a baseline wage far lower than other workers. Moreover, since many teens are only part-time workers, they do not receive benefits. As overall wages rise in response to the labor shortage, it is no surprise that employers are seeking to hire teen workers instead of more expensive adult workers.

Not only are these workers already receiving a lower wage than other employees in the labor market, but they also face significant wage theft. Of course, wage theft is not exclusive to teen workers, accounting for around $50 billion of stolen wages a year. Low wage workers in particular lose around $3,300 a year to wage theft. Teen workers, who are less familiar with the available legal protections and proper procedures, are less able to identify and combat such violations. All these violations amount to even lower wages for teen workers and corresponding lower costs for employers who use teenage labor.

Easy Targets

Teenage workers present vulnerabilities to exploitation that differ from adult workers. One issue is simply the lack of education on workplace protections. Many teenagers are often not sufficiently trained or informed of company policies and the legal protections in place to combat dangerous workplace conditions or wage violations. As new members of the workforce, teenagers simply do not have enough experience to understand when an employer is acting illegally by taking advantage of workers or putting them in dangerous situations.

Another problem is the natural power imbalance of a child employee and an adult supervisor, particularly when teenagers are often taught to respect and not question authority figures. In fact, the population of teen workers is particularly subject to exploitation by virtue of their participation in the labor force while in school. The teenage labor participation rate has consistently dropped over the past 40 years, with many students needing to focus their time on extracurricular activities and studying. Students that work necessarily have less time for studying, and students that dedicate 20 hours per week or more to working while in school suffer worse academic outcomes. Many teenage workers, therefore, are having to choose to work at the cost of their education in order to support themselves or their families. These workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, as a result.

Finally, it is possible that some teenage employees are simply not particularly concerned about workplace violations. Many teenagers only take on jobs in the summer, when they have free time that they do not have during the school year to make some money. Even for those that work during the school year, it is unlikely that many view their job as the career that they will pursue in the future, and therefore have a short-term outlook. These factors could mean that teenage workers know that they are being exploited and suffering poor working conditions, but the temporary nature of the employment stops them from speaking up.

The Kids Will Be Alright

Despite the historical exploitation of teenage workers, there may be hope that as they enter the workforce, these workers can fight back. Many teenagers do not have the same family obligations, expenses, debt, and rent or mortgage payments as older workers. As such, the same conditions that may prevent them from speaking up also offer teenagers far more flexibility to engage in collective action that could lead them to lose their jobs, or to quit outright. The desperation of employers to hire workers only bolsters this leverage, as many teen workers discovered this summer when quitting their jobs to find better employment. Social media can also embolden teenage workers to take action against poor working conditions, including the “antiwork” subreddit with more than 1 million members and a substantial number of “antiwork” TikToks, which often inform workers about poor working conditions and employees’ rights to combat them. As conversations between young workers around the country continue, we may see teenagers acting in solidarity against exploitative employers.

Teenagers have a long history as crucial elements of U.S. social movements, including abolition, the civil rights movement, the newsies and in modern movements like the Sunrise Movement and Black Lives Matter. Now, as more young workers enter the workforce, many of whom support economic systems that strengthen worker power, teenagers have the opportunity to fight for better protections and working conditions for all workers. Many young people are fed up with current state of the world, and the situation may be primed for them to organize for meaningful change.

https://onlabor.org/employers-and-legis ... -shortage/

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Scabs in your cornflakes

Kellogg plans to permanently replace some workers as strike enters eighth week
By Praveen Paramasivam

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Kellogg's cereal is shown on display during a preview of a new Walmart Super Center prior to its opening in Compton, California, U.S., January 10, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

Nov 23 (Reuters) - Kellogg Co (K.N) said on Tuesday it plans to hire permanent replacements for some of its U.S. breakfast cereal plant workers who are on strike, after lengthy negotiations with the union again fell apart.

The workers went on strike on Oct. 5 after their contracts expired the previous day, as negotiations over payment and benefits stalled due to differences between Kellogg and about 1,400 union members at its cereal plants.

After the latest setback in negotiations, Kellogg said it was left without a choice but to move to the next phase of its contingency plans, including hiring permanent replacements.

Union members previously said Kellogg proposed a two-tier employment system that did not offer its temporary workers, who make up 30% of its workforce, a pathway to become permanent workers with better benefits and pay.

Kellogg said on Tuesday it was ready to move workers with four or more years of service to permanent positions, but added that the union was not prepared to reach a deal and did not allow members to vote on the offer.

An update from the union earlier in the day said it still had to resolve issues related to the two-tier system and offered to meet again with Kellogg the week of Dec. 6.

The workers will be voting on an offer if the union and Kellogg could reach a tentative agreement, a union leader said.

"(The union) kept giving them counter offers but after 14 hours we felt like we (are) only negotiating with ourselves," Kevin Bradshaw, vice president of the local union in Memphis, said.

Kellogg has already brought in temporary workers to fill in for striking workers and is also importing cereals to ensure supply at a time corporate America is dealing with soaring expenses.

Earlier this month, the union rejected a revised offer from Kellogg.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail ... 021-11-23/

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Kellogg's U.S. cereal plant workers reject revised offer

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Kellogg Co (K.N) said late Wednesday its cereal plant workers had rejected a revised offer by the U.S. packaged foods maker, prolonging the months-long negotiations over a new contract.

The workers went on a strike on Oct. 5 after their contracts expired, as negotiations over payment and benefits stalled due to differences between the company and around 1,400 union members at Kellogg's cereal plants.

The Froot Loops cereal maker said in a statement its revised offer, which is set to expire on Nov. 11 midnight, was immediately rejected by the union who refused to place it before the employees for a vote.

"This is our "Last Best Final Offer" to the union."

Kellogg has demanded that workers give up quality health care, retirement benefits, and holiday and vacation pay, Anthony Shelton, president of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) International Union, had said last month. read more

The BCTGM union insists on proposals that are "unsustainable and unrealistic", Kellogg said on Wednesday.

The union will continue with its strike, Bloomberg reported earlier in the day, citing a message from BCTGM.

The union did not immediately respond to Reuters request for a comment.

The revised offer specified that the company will continue with legacy wages and benefits with raised wages for current and future transitional employees, though it did not propose any changes to the current healthcare plans.

Kellogg proposed a two-tier employment system that would slowly take power away from union by removing the 30% cap on the number of transitional workers, BCTGM members said.

"We are no longer proposing a permanent two-tiered structure," the company said.

The latest stall in negotiations means Kellogg facilities that make breakfast cereals in Battle Creek, Michigan, Omaha, Nebraska, Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Memphis, Tennessee would not be functioning at their full production capacity.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail ... 021-11-04/
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Re: United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Them and Us :

Post by blindpig » Mon Nov 29, 2021 1:55 pm


Nina Turner@ninaturner
These are @KelloggsUS products 👇🏾
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Michael Sainato@msainat1 · Nov 26
Some Kellogg's workers are asking the public to stop buying Kellogg's products as workers have been on strike for two months and the company is working to replace them rather than negotiate a fair contract.
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This is a beautiful post from a workers' wife on the strike

8:53 PM · Nov 26, 2021·Twitter for iPhone
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