Above Photo: Last September, a crane overturned onto a truck at the Valley Proteins plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina, crushing the cab and injuring the driver. The incident came weeks after two workers were killed at the same facility. Chris Hollis. Valley Proteins, the Virginia-based rendering company at the center of an ongoing union organizing effort and a large class action lawsuit over alleged wage theft, has been sold. On Dec. 28, sustainable food processing multinational Darling Ingredients, headquartered in Texas, announced it was acquiring the privately owned Valley Proteins in a $1.1 billion deal. But current and former Valley Proteins employees are […]
Workers
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Above photo: The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Saturday, July 10, 2021. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana. The Supreme Court, in a predictable 6-3 decision, blocked OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that required employees in businesses with 100 or more employees to either be vaccinated or regularly tested and masked. Dissenting were the three Justices appointed by Democratic Presidents: Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan. The majority stated that the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHAct) “plainly” does not authorize the vaccine or masking requirements. Calling the OSHA standard no “everyday exercise of federal power” they labeled it “instead a significant […]
CounterSpin interview with Barbara Briggs on workplace disasters. The January 7, 2022, episode of CounterSpin included an archival interview with Barbara Briggs that originally aired June 5, 2015. This is a lightly edited transcript. Janine Jackson: If the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory had had its appropriate response, there never would have been a Rana Plaza. But it didn’t, and there was. More than 1,100 people, mainly women, lost their lives in a factory collapse in Bangladesh—which might sound like a long way away, but they were making clothes that you might have on your back right now. We talked about that with worker rights advocate Barbara […]
Above photo: King Soopers employee Susan Hester, who has worked for the grocery chain for 18 years, walks the picket line during a strike on January 12, 2022 in Glendale, Colorado. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images. The strike began a day after a report showed 14% of Kroger workers have experienced homelessness in the past year. On the heels of a new report showing significant financial insecurity, including homelessness, among workers at Kroger grocery stores, more than 8,000 of the chain’s employees in Colorado went on strike Wednesday to demand fair wages and better healthcare benefits. Amid a recent wave of successful strikes at […]
Above Photo: Jeremy Chiu / Teen Vogue. After more than two months on strike, the Student Workers of Columbia reached a tentative agreement for their union’s first contract with Columbia University. In the late hours of January 6, after more than two months on strike, the Student Workers of Columbia (SWC-UAW) reached a tentative agreement for their union’s first contract with Columbia University. Contract wins include significant raises for workers, bringing annual compensation for those on 9-month appointments to just over $40,000 and raising the minimum wage for hourly workers from $15 to $21. SWC members also won dental insurance, childcare stipends, […]
Above Photo: Comic Book Workers United The Vote Comes After Image Comics Has Gone Months Without Voluntarily Recognizing Comic Book Workers United. After formally announcing the formation of Comic Book Workers United late last year—the first specific union to support workers within comics publishing—workers at Image Comics have voted to officially certify their union in the results of a secret ballot. The vote’s results—7-2 in favor of organizing—were announced today in a move that officially certifies CBWU, which was formed with assistance from the Communications Workers of America. The successful vote entitles CBWU to recognition from Image Comics, which would allow the […]
Above Photo: People shop in a Walmart store during Black Friday on Nov. 26, 2021, in Houston. (Brandon Bell / Getty Images) Confronted With The Holiday Rush, Understaffing, And Omicron. The week before Christmas, Indianapolis Target employee Andrew Stacy was spreading the word about a unionizing effort at their store. The busy holiday season—and new anxieties raised by the recently emerged Omicron variant of COVID-19—was no reason for them to wait until the New Year. The conditions at the store had become so dire around the holidays that organizing seemed even more urgent. “I’ve had to go into superspeed, escalating everything that I’m […]
Above Photo: The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach moved the equivalent of 10 million 20-foot containers in the first half of 2021—a record high. (Daniel Melling / The Emmett Institute, CC BY-NC 2.0.). If you ordered a teddy bear or a designer picture frame as a holiday gift, you know that it likely took a lot longer to get here than in past years. There have been problems getting things from point A to point B since the pandemic started. At one point in October, 77 percent of the world’s ports were experiencing long delays. More than most Americans, Longshore Union […]
Above Photo: Choongky / Shutterstock. This holiday weekend, as many New Yorkers once again hunker down at home during the latest surge of Covid cases, the city’s intense reliance on delivery apps for essential goods is highlighting advocates’ call for better protections for the delivery workers who have toiled without a safety net. A slate of city laws for delivery workers is set to kick in the new year and will roll out in stages, commencing in January with more oversight of the delivery apps and increased transparency for the more than 65,000 delivery workers in New York City. Starting next month, delivery apps must […]
Above Photo: Graduate assistants during the occupation of UNM’s Scholes Hall December 7th. They worked from the administration building to demonstrate their labor to university President Garnett Stokes and others. (Samantha Cooney). UNM Still Challenging Labor Board’s Decisions In Court. It’s official: graduate student workers at the University of New Mexico have the right to demand school officials come to the bargaining table. New Mexico’s statewide labor board counted 887 cards signed by UNM graduate students expressing their wishes to join United Graduate Workers (UGW-UE). That represents 57.3% of the 1,547 graduate workers in the bargaining unit. That total is also […]
Above photo: Patrick Pleul/Picture Alliance via Getty Images. Capping Off a Year of Labor Action at Amazon. For the first time, Amazon is experiencing a multi-site U.S. work stoppage. It comes at the end of a year marked by union organizing and labor militancy at the retail giant. On Wednesday morning, several dozen Amazon workers at two separate Chicago-area delivery stations staged a walkout to demand raises and safer working conditions, making it the first time the tech giant has seen a multi-site work stoppage in the United States. Coming just three days before Christmas to ensure maximum impact, the action caps a year of intense organizing […]
Above photo: weather.com. The weekend of December 10-11, 2021, saw a reported 30 tornadoes hitting several states from Arkansas to Illinois; as of this writing, 74 people are confirmed dead and several buildings severely damaged or totally demolished. All the cases of death and destruction are devastating; however, the most telling and unconscionable are the deaths of eight people at a candle-making factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, and six in an Amazon facility in Edwardsville, Illinois. What makes these two cases significant is that they most likely could have been avoided, but once again capitalism’s insatiable greed is significantly responsible for these […]
Above Photo: CVS sign (Creative Commons) “They’re Literally Making Us Sick”. Retail pharmacy workers conducted a nationwide walkout on Monday in the US, organized on social media, to protest worsening work conditions at large retail chains such as CVS, Walgreens and Walmart. As the hyper-infectious Omicron variant continues to spread throughout the country, this much overlooked section of the health care industry is making its own demands for better working conditions, including patient safety, and an overdue increase in wages. One pharmacist who requested to remain anonymous told the WSWS, “We work 12 hour shifts without technicians, we have no breaks […]
Above Photo: For decades, work in the public sector has been a gateway to a middle-class life. But that’s changing. Joe Brusky / Flickr. In the New Book, The Privatization Of Everything, Cohen And Mikaelian, Describe And Debunk The Vast Array Of Privatization Schemes That Now Litter The Landscape. From Private Prisons And Charter Schools To For-Profit Water Treatment And Trash Collection. Several years ago, Don Cohen, a former central labor council staffer from San Diego, appeared on a panel discussing the privatization threats faced by union members across the country. He and other speakers were addressing a conference of state, […]
They’re good for communities and for democracy. High unionization levels are associated with positive outcomes across multiple indicators of economic, personal, and democratic well-being. We know that unions promote economic equality and build worker power, helping workers to win increases in pay, better benefits, and safer working conditions. But that’s not all unions do. Unions also have powerful effects on workers’ lives outside of work. In this report, we document the correlation between higher levels of unionization in states and a range of economic, personal, and democratic well-being measures. In the same way unions give workers a voice at work, with […]
‘No One’s Life Is Worth A Package’ In the aftermath of a deadly tornado, hundreds of Amazon warehouse workers are demanding their employer allow them to keep their phones with them at work. Hundreds of Amazon employees at warehouses across the mid-Atlantic are organizing to push the company to allow workers to keep their phones with them throughout their shifts and adopt an inclement weather policy in the aftermath of the collapse of the Amazon warehouse in Illinois that killed six workers. The Amazon workers are demanding that Amazon pay workers for shifts cancelled due to inclement weather. And during school closures, they […]
Above Photo: (Orange County Employees Association, Facebook). In coastal Orange County, south of Los Angeles, 400 sanitation workers went on strike on December 9 against Republic Services, the second-largest waste management firm in the US. The workers, members of International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 396, had voted by a large majority in favor of a strike on November 23. Following a declaration of a trash emergency by the city of Huntington Beach, one of the two hubs of the strike (along with the city of Anaheim), Teamsters Local 396 and Republic Services announced a tentative agreement on December 16, for […]
Above Photo: The UC system recognized Student Researchers United, a union representing student researchers employed by the UC system. Kyle Garcia Takata / Staff. California – The university agreed Wednesday to recognize Student Researchers United, or SRU, a union representing 17,000 student researchers employed by the UC system. The decision came after nearly 11,000 student researchers across the state voted Nov. 19 to authorize a strike. Out of the members who voted, 97.5% voted in favor of a strike, according to a press release from United Auto Workers, the parent union that SRU is joining. “This is the single biggest new […]
Above Photo: Home care workers and community members protest outside the United Jewish Council home care agency on December 16, 2021. Monica Cruz. Workers rallied to demand unpaid wages from the United Jewish Council home care agency and an end to the 24-hour workday. Workers employed with the United Jewish Council (UJC) home care agency rallied to end the 24-hour work day and demand their stolen wages on the morning of December 16. While home care workers in New York are being forced to work 24-hour shifts for poverty wages, 11 hours worth of that pay is stolen by their employers. […]
Going to work should not be a death sentence. For workers at Amazon and a candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, going to work was a death sentence. Workers must fight for the right to a safe workplace. On Friday night, at a candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, an alarm sounded with a tornado warning. One employee, Elijah Johnson, approached his manager. “I asked to leave and they told me I’d be fired.” “‘Even with the weather like this, you’re still going to fire me?’” he asked the manager. The manager replied, “Yes.” Workers who took shelter in hallways and bathrooms were […]
Above Photo: First responders surround an Amazon Fulfillment Center in Edwardsville, Illinois, on December 10, 2021, after it was hit by a tornado. (Tim Vizer / AFP / Getty Images) Grief, Anger, And Demands For Answers After Tornadoes Kill At Least 14 U.S. Workers. In the aftermath of a rare string of December tornadoes last Friday night that left 80 people dead across six states, labor activists are questioning why employees at two large worksites in the path of destruction were left exposed to danger. A candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky was totally destroyed after sustaining a direct tornado hit with 110 workers inside. At least eight people […]
Above Photo: Picketing at Columbia University. WSWS Media. Begin Seventh Week On Strike. Last week saw a sharp escalation of the strike by 3,000 student workers at Columbia University in New York City, which continues in the face of strikebreaking threats by the administration. In an effort to shut down the walkout before finals, the university warned striking student workers that it might replace them in the Spring semester if they remained on strike beyond Friday, December 10. Columbia workers rejected this attempt at economic blackmail and held out on the picket line. A poll conducted by the Student Workers of […]
Above Photo: Warren General Hospital. Workers at Allegheny Health Network affiliate Warren General Hospital voted Saturday to strike, straining already fragile medical resources in rural northwest Pennsylvania. The 114 nurses and health care workers, who are members of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, issued a 10-day strike notice at the 87-bed hospital — the only acute care facility in the county. The labor agreement with workers expired in September, and negotiations were scheduled to continue Monday, hospital CEO Rick Allen said. The hospital has offered pay increases of 4.2% to over 16%, plus enhanced contributions to employees’ […]
Above Photo: Deliveroo food delivery rider/cycle courier waiting at traffic lights on New Oxford Street on Nov. 22, 2021, in London, United Kingdom. Deliveroo is an online food delivery company founded by William Shu in 2013 in London, England. (Mike Kemp / In Pictures via Getty Images) Firms like Uber and Deliveroo systematically deny their workers basic rights by falsely treating them as self-employed contractors. Now Europe is finally passing legislation to recognize them as employees—and the UK should do the same. Sometimes change comes from the most unlikely of places. The European Commission—the unelected body of technocrats that designs European […]
Workers at video gaming company Activision Blizzard entered a five-day work stoppage and are making moves to unionize. This worker action could have powerful effects for the industry. On Friday, workers at video gaming company Activision Blizzard entered their fifth day of a work stoppage in response to layoffs at one of the company’s subsidiaries. The stoppage comes on the heels of revelations of sexual harassment and descrimination at Activision Blizzard and amid fierce resistance to staff unionization efforts. The work stoppage began on Monday when quality assurance (QA) workers at Raven Software, one of the main developers behind the hit Call of […]
Above photo: Auto worker activists for direct democracy leafleted at plants across the country to promote a yes vote on the referendum. UAWD. This article was originally published on December 1, but is being updated as results come in. The members of the United Auto Workers have voted overwhelmingly to move to a direct voting system for choosing their union leadership—“one member, one vote.” With all votes counted as of December 2, direct elections had the support of 63.6 percent of voters. It’s a historic win for reformers in one of the nation’s most important unions, where members have pushed for […]
Columbia University’s administration has denounced the “violence” at this week’s completely peaceful picket by student workers. Do not be fooled: the real violence is the university denying student workers healthcare, a living wage, and neutral third-party arbitration. New York City – On Wednesday, November 8, Columbia student workers (UAW Local 2110) held one of the largest pickets yet of their six-week strike to demand increased wages to meet costs of living, neutral third-party arbitration, and comprehensive healthcare benefits. Workers from unions throughout New York City such as the CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress (PSC), the Graduate Student Organizing Committee (GSOC) at NYU, the […]
The decision, which authorizes the eviction of residents of the Marielle Vive camp in Valinhos, Brazil, contradicts a ruling from earlier this year which suspended forced removals during the COVID-19 pandemic until December 31. The camp was created on April 14, 2018 and named after Rio de Janeiro socialist city councilwoman Marielle Franco who was murdered a month before. Since then, the residents have transformed the abandoned land into a thriving community that provides housing for the residents, a school, a community kitchen, and produces agroecological products and handicrafts. They now face eviction after a court ruling that clearly favors real […]
After nine weeks on strike, workers at four Kellogg plants have rejected a temporary agreement that doesn’t meet their demands. They’ll continue to fight the bosses — and need the entire U.S. labor movement to join their struggle. The strike that began at four Kellogg Company plants on October 5 will continue. This morning, the 1,400 striking workers rejected a temporary agreement (TA) that had been negotiated by their union, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco, and Grain Milling Workers International Union. The strike had encompassed workers at plants in Omaha, Nebraska, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Memphis, Tennessee, and the company’s flagship facility in Battle Creek, Michigan. […]
Strike enters third month. Striking workers to be replaced with ‘permanent replacement employees’, company says. Hundreds of striking union workers at four Kellogg’s cereal plants in the US have overwhelmingly voted to reject a tentative agreement on a five-year contract negotiated between the union and the company, extending a strike that started in early October. Roughly 1,400 members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union “have spoken”, union president Anthony Shelton said in a statement on 7 December. “The strike continues.” The union is “grateful for the outpouring of fraternal support we received from across the labor […]
Today we look at the UCU strike across 58 UK universities over pay and conditions, the re-imposition of the Remain in Mexico migrant policy by the US, and more In today’s episode of the Daily Round-up we look at the 3-day UCU strike by Higher Education workers across 58 universities in the UK to demand fair wages and job security; the re-imposition of the Migrant Protection Protocols by the U.S. and its implications for asylum seekers currently in Mexico and at the border; a report on rising hunger in the Latin America and the Caribbean region during the pandemic; and a […]
Above Photo: El Milagro worker Guillermo Romero speaks at the vigil in Little Village, Chicago. Arise Chicago. Gathered Outside Chicago’s Flagship El Milagro Taqueria, Workers Remembered Those Who Died From Covid-19. And Celebrated A Victory That Granted Them Sundays Off. Chicago — Food production workers at El Milagro, one of Chicago’s most popular tortilla companies, join with community allies for a Day of the Dead vigil Nov. 2, 2021, in honor of five coworkers who died after contracting Covid-19 on the job. With candles and sugar skulls outside the company’s flagship taqueria in the Little Village neighborhood on the city’s Southwest Side, workers and supporters spoke […]
Above Photo: Workers at Cascade Behavioral Health walked out in August following an attack by a patient that injured 11 staff. The National Labor Relations Board concluded this was legal—possibly the first time it has condoned a safety strike in the health care industry. SEIU 1199NW. Nurses and mental health techs at a Tukwila, Washington, facility have won their safety strike after three and a half months on the picket line. Under the settlement, management agreed to staff three security guards for the day shift and two for nights, as well as to restore fired workers to their positions. The contract, which covers […]
At Rich Products Plant In L.A. Area. Since November 3, the group of well over 100 strikers has been on the picket line at the Rich Products-owned Jon Donaire Desserts plant, demanding better wages, improved retirement benefits, and changes to the company’s abusive, punitive point system, which provides workers with only three days of sick leave per year. Santa Fe Springs, California – In Santa Fe Springs, California, located in the Los Angeles area, a group of largely immigrant Latina factory workers is waging a high-stakes strike against the multibillion-dollar food manufacturing company Rich Products. Since November 3, the group of […]
Tech capital flows unencumbered across borders, and so should tech workers’ solidarity and action. Tech companies are the new empires of today: Alphabet annual revenue surpassed Hungary’s GDP, Facebook employs over 15000 content moderators around the world, and Microsoft has built datavcenters in nearly every corner of our planet. Yet we continue to be sold the myth that the workers of the tech industry, which spans every corner of the globe, have nothing to do with each other. To hold these tech companies accountable, tech workers in the United States have begun to organize. “Help us be Alphabet’s conscience”, proclaimed the recently-formed Alphabet […]
Above Photo: The Tudor’s workers who notified the district manager they intended to unionize last week. (UFCW Local 400) Twenty-Five Employees In Tiny Elkview, West Virginia Have Filed For A Union Election After Just Two Weeks Of Organizing. In West Virginia, there is no more iconic fast food chain than Tudor’s Biscuit World, whose 70 locations in the state pump out a steady stream of homestyle cooking. A fiery band of workers at one Tudor’s location are now seeking to give the company something else that West Virginia is famous for: a union. Despite the political successes of the “Fight For $15” movement, actual unionized fast food […]
Above Photo: Kaiser workers in Moanalua, Hawaii. (Twitter) Workers won their demands just 48 hours before what would have been the largest healthcare strike in decades Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest healthcare providers and hospital networks in the US, reached a tentative agreement with an alliance of unions just two days before a historic strike. The four-year agreement includes pay raises and measures to address understaffing, while withdrawing a two-tier pay system that would pay new hires up to a third less than current workers. In the next few weeks, workers will vote to ratify it and continue to work as scheduled. […]
Above Photo: Battle Creek, Mich., Nov. 4. Battle Creek, Mich. – Tony the Tiger’s famous line – “Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, they’re “grrr-eat” has been reworked. Lawn signs supporting the strike of 1,400 Kellogg’s workers show an angry Tony with a picket sign saying “Kellogg’s on strrr-ike!” The members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) in Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Tennessee are now in their second month on strike. On Nov. 4, union negotiators announced they had turned down the company’s latest offer, stating: “The company’s last, best and final offer does not achieve what our members are asking for: a […]
Above Photo: For the second time in a month, 10,000 UAW members at John Deere stunned both the company and the union leadership November 2 by rejecting a tentative agreement. (UAW Local 838) A month into the nation’s largest work stoppage, striking John Deere workers are holding out for a better deal. For the second time in a month, 10,000 Auto Workers at John Deere stunned both the company and the union leadership November 2 by rejecting a tentative agreement. Workers at the farm equipment manufacturer remain on strike. Company and union negotiators are set to meet today for the first […]
Baltimore Museum of Art workers are unionizing for livable wages, staff advancement, health and safety. In 1930, Adelyn Dohme Breeskin became the Baltimore Museum of Art’s first appointed curator of prints—and the first paid staff curator in the fine arts. A recent BMA exhibition, Adelyn Breeskin: Curating a Legacy, commended her work at the museum, which included helping to secure the Cone Collection and establish the print department. According to curator Laura Albans, Breeskin was born into a wealthy Baltimore family, moved away for school, and later returned as a divorcee with three kids who needed a job. In 1942, when all the men […]
Above Photo: Workers like Patrece Edwards Bradford, a carton and glue operator, who participated in the 275-day strike back in 2013 and 2014, have taken it upon themselves to teach transitional workers about those that came before them, those who fought for their rights as workers. (Jason Kerzinski) Scenes From The Picket Line As the sun rose in Memphis on October 18, Rodigah Blaylock stood in the brisk air outside the Kellogg plant with her fellow union members, waving signs that read “We Stand Strong” and “Equality For All.” Some drivers passing by blew their horns in support. Blaylock and other […]
Above Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images UAW members at John Deere rejected the latest contract offer from the bosses, holding out for the wages and benefits they’ve been demanding from the beginning of their walkout. It’s time for the entire labor movement to rally in solidarity with this strike as it continues. Striking John Deere employees rejected a second contract offer on Tuesday. After decades of austerity contracts with cuts to pensions, healthcare, and wages, workers at the farm equipment manufacturer — members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) — are standing up and demanding more, just as the t-shirts they’ve […]
Above Photo: “We were sick and tired of this because every contract we got, the company was trying to take a little piece of what we had,” said Shri Mudaliar, a member of BCTGM Local 364 at Nabisco’s bakery in Portland, Oregon. (Jamie Partridge) ‘There’s More Of Us Than There Are Of Them’ A month-long strike by Nabisco workers beat back the snackmaker’s bid to introduce a two-tier health care plan and switch them onto 12-hour shifts. Employer contributions to workers’ 401(k) plans will be doubled. One of the biggest issues in the strike was the company’s effort to do away […]
Above Photo: District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido shakes hands with Mayor Bill de Blasio after announcing a contract agreement in 2019. Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office/AFSCME. This Agreement Will Help Give Over 200,000 Of The City’s Essential Human Service Workers The Right To Organize For The Pay And Benefits They Deserve Without Fear Of Retaliation Or Punishment Or Interference From Their Employers. Following months of advocating on behalf of workers in the non-profit sector, District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido today applauded the signing of Intro. 2252. The bill, which Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law today, requires […]
Above Photo: An Amazon fulfillment center where organizers are planning to file for a union election next week after gathering more than 1,700 employee signatures in the borough of Staten Island in New York, Oct. 21, 2021. Justin Lane/EPA via Shutterstock. The independent group is being led by employee-turned-activist Chris Smalls. A coalition of Amazon warehouse workers in New York City have officially filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday. Kayla Blado, the press secretary for the National Labor Relations Board, confirmed to ABC News on Monday that the union petition was filed […]
Above Photo: SEPTA’s contract with Transport Workers Union Local 234 expires Oct. 31. If a new contract cannot be reached, a strike could begin Monday, Nov. 1 — stopping bus, trolley, subway and elevated train service in Philadelphia. (Thom Carroll / PHilly voice) The transportation authority’s current contract with its transit union expires Oct. 31 SEPTA’s transit union has taken another step towards a potential work stoppage, as workers voted unanimously Sunday to authorize a strike if a new contract can’t be agreed upon over the next week. More than 1,000 members of Transport Workers Union Local 234 gathered Sunday for […]
Above Photo: Workers picket outside of John Deere Harvester Works facility on October 14, 2021 in East Moline, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) For decades, the United Auto Workers has been controlled by a tight-knit group of insiders. Now members are voting in a historic referendum on how the union elects its central leadership. For decades, the United Auto Workers (UAW) has been controlled by a tight-knit group of insiders known for its opacity and corrupt tendencies, leading many rank-and-file members to criticize the leadership for its arrogance, lack of accountability, and failure to address the needs of a workforce that is […]
Above Photo: Members of the Korean Health and Medical Workers Union, a KCTU affiliate, gather in front of the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Sejong City, South Korea, on June 23, 2021, to demand improved working conditions and expand public health care. (KCTU) On October 20, at least half a million workers in South Korea — from across the construction, transportation, service, and other sectors — are walking off their jobs in a one-day general strike. The strike will be followed by mass demonstrations in urban centers and rural farmlands, culminating in a national all-people’s mobilization in January 2022. The Korean […]
Above Photo: Licinia Ochoa, a machine operator at Refresco for the past 22 years, says union talks started over healthcare concerns in 2019 but accelerated during the pandemic. Her union shirt reads, “la unión hace la fuerza” (“unions make us strong”). Mariela Murdocco/Mariela M Photography. Refresco Has Waged A Prolonged And Costly Fight To Stop The Workers From Unionizing. As the spread of Covid-19 forced millions of workplaces to close in March 2020, Cesar Moreira continued to report to a bottling plant in Wharton, N.J., where he works as a batching technician. During 12-hour shifts, Moreira mixes vats of powdered concentrate and sugar to churn out […]
Above Photo: A CIO cartoon about demand-side economics, from 1955. Many in the media are very upset that workers at the bottom end of the pay scale feel secure enough to demand higher pay and better working conditions. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of watching a television anchor, who earns $6 million a year, complain that 3 percent of the workforce quit their job in August. They seemed to find the idea of workers quitting unsatisfactory jobs appalling. For those of us who think that all workers should be able to get decent pay, have decent working conditions, and be treated with respect on […]
Above Photo: This Is Reno. Interview With A Union Leader. Members of Teamsters Local 533 in Reno, Nevada, are on strike against a notorious union-hating company that is trying to undo a remarkable gain the workers won nearly 40 years ago. Reno, Nevada, – Workers for the Washoe County Regional Transit Commission (RTC) went out on strike against the RTC’s contractor, Keolis North America — a division of a notoriously anti-union company based in France that manages bus and rail operations in several U.S. cities, including Boston, Fort Lauderdale, and Los Angeles. The strikers — around 200 workers in all, including […]
Above Photo: New Orleans city workers, Aug. 16, 2021. On Oct. 7, the New Orleans City Council ratified a $15-an-hour minimum wage for city workers, effective in January. This will be $3.81 more than the paltry $11.19 minimum currently in place. Because of sky-rocketing inflation, $15 dollars doesn’t go as far as it did even a few months ago. Nevertheless, the raise is a major victory for the working-class movement here, and will be welcomed by city workers struggling to make ends meet. As reported in Struggle-La Lucha back in July, the council was forced to move forward when the firefighters’ union and allies […]
Above Photo: Workers at GM’s São Caetano plant vote to continue strike. sindmetalsjc.org.br. On Thursday, workers at General Motors in São Caetano do Sul, in São Paulo’s ABC industrial region, voted overwhelmingly to continue their strike initiated on October 1. They defied a decision by the Regional Labor Court (TRT), which declared the strike illegal as of Friday. The readiness of workers to continue their struggle for jobs and decent wages is an expression of the growing resistance of the working class in Brazil and worldwide to the assault on their living conditions and the ruling class’s demand for a new […]
As 2021 comes to a close, the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee is collaborating closely with Jailhouse Lawyers Speak as they organize collective actions inside prisons and jails from August 21 to September 9, 2022. These actions will include labor strikes, work equipment sabotage, sit-ins, boycotts and hunger strikes. The campaign, called “Shut ‘Em Down 2022,” plans to focus on locally organized actions driven by incarcerated people to meet their abilities and the demands of their specific facilities. IWOC is a committee of the Industrial Workers of the World. “When you’re incarcerated, human rights abuses are happening left and right because the mentality is that you are […]
Above Photo: Hospital staffers and union organizers waved signs and banners in protest over staffing shortages at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Roseville on Oct. 14, 2021. Fred Greaves for CalMatters. Labor advocates are calling it “Striketober.” As weary health care workers across California enter the 19th month of the pandemic, thousands are walking off the job and onto the picket line, demanding more staffing. The strikes and rallies threaten to cripple hospital operations that have been inundated by the COVID-19 Delta surge as well as patients seeking long-delayed care. More than two dozen hospitals across the state — including some Kaiser […]
Above Photo: Healthcare workers protest over payroll delays in February outside of Allied Community Services East Windsor, CT. (Photo credit: Shana Sureck with the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, SEIU). Group home workers in Connecticut went on strike on Tuesday morning after talks with their employer, Sunrise Northeast, broke down. The workers are demanding higher wages, affordable health benefits and pensions. Sunrise runs 28 group home and day care programs for the intellectually disabled throughout Connecticut. Workers formed picket lines in front of the company’s homes in New London, Hartford, Danielson and Columbia. The workers’ responsibilities include helping […]
This public action by tech workers follows an increasing number of coordinated actions in the sector to pressure Big Tech companies to cancel government contracts for surveillance technology. Google and Amazon workers have published a public letter calling on the two companies to cancel Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract for cloud computing services for the Israeli military and government. We know that the Israeli military apparatus will use these services to build weapons and surveillance technology to use against the Palestinian people. Such technology, once tested on Palestinians, is frequently exported back to the United States to be used against marginalized […]
Deere Workers Begin Strike At Midnight Approximately 10,100 workers at agricultural equipment giant Deere and Company began to strike at midnight Central Time early Thursday morning. The workers are located at plants in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas, as well as two parts centers in Georgia and Colorado. The walkout is the first at the company in 35 years and is the largest strike by manufacturing workers in the US since the 40-day strike at General Motors in 2019. “Our time is now!” a Deere worker in Illinois told the WSWS. A second worker added, “We are glad to be going on […]
At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, panic buying seemed to create a shortage of different necessities, including toilet paper. Midway through the COVID-19 pandemic, housing prices started rising drastically, as demand surpassed supply due to shortages of construction materials. As students returned to in-person learning, schools found nutritious food for school lunches more difficult to get, and the U.S. relaxed requirements that schools must comply with federal nutrition standards. Visit any grocery store recently and you are likely to find shelves bare of any number of items. A global shortage of computer chips has created a drastic reduction […]
Above Photo: Barry Lewis/InPictures Via Getty Images With Little National Attention, A Connecticut Dollar General Store Could Soon Help Unions Crack A Vital Low-Wage Industry. In less than two weeks, a tiny group of a half dozen workers in Barkhamsted, Connecticut will vote on whether to become the only unionized Dollar General store employees in America. These six people in a small town about 20 miles northwest of Hartford now find themselves positioned to gain a historic toehold for organized labor inside a booming, low-wage industry. But it will not be easy. Few companies have prospered since the beginning of the pandemic as much as Dollar General. The company […]
Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) President Anthony Shelton issued the following statement in support of 1,400 BCTGM members in Battle Creek, Mich. (Local 3G), Omaha, Neb. (Local 50G), Lancaster, Pa. (Local 374G) and Memphis, Tenn. (Local 252G) who are on strike against the Kellogg Company: “The BCTGM International Union stands in unwavering Solidarity with our courageous Brothers and Sisters who are on strike against the Kellogg Company. “For more than a year throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Kellogg workers around the country have been working long, hard hours, day in and day out, to produce Kellogg ready-to-eat […]
Above photo: Workers right now have real leverage to wrest concessions from their bosses. Andreas Klinke-Johannsen, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped from original. It’s time to use it. The capitalist vultures are wheeling low, but they’re finding slim pickings to choose from these days. “No one wants to work!” The bosses whine about a worker shortage—though it’s one they brought about. Eighteenth-century British economist Adam Smith noted how common it is to hear complaints about workers coming together to fight for their interests, and how rare it is to hear about all the scheming the bosses do to plunder workers’ labor. “Masters are […]
Above Photo: Auto Workers (UAW) went on strike against GM and two-tier wages in 2019. Now members are voting for control over their union through an upcoming one-member, one-vote referendum. (Jim West / jimwestphoto.com) United Auto Workers members will soon vote in an unprecedented referendum to decide whether the union’s 400,000 working members and nearly 600,000 retirees will directly elect their top officers. Ballots hit the mail October 19 and are due back November 29. The UAW’s executive officers are currently elected to four-year terms by delegates at its convention. An “Administration Caucus” has dominated these positions for the past seven […]
Above Photo: Striking Mercy Hospital healthcare workers (Credit: Facebook/Ginny Homewood) Roughly 2,200 nurses, aides and health care staff walked off the job Friday morning in Buffalo, New York, to fight for better wages, staffing and working conditions at Mercy Hospital of Buffalo. Workers on the picket line describe horrific conditions at the hospital. Patients’ rooms, hallways, cafeterias and even medical equipment are filthy because the hospital refuses to hire enough workers. “Very poor conditions,” Carrie Dilbert, a registered nurse, told cable news station Spectrum News. “The hospital is not kept up the way it needs to be. It’s very dirty. Very […]
‘We’re All Fighting The Giant’ Faced With Fragility And Uncertainty, Gig Workers Are Connecting Across Borders To Challenge Platforms’ Power And Policies. This past July, Singh was on a midnight run, biking a chocolate mousse cake 7 kilometers across Mumbai, when he was rammed by a drunk driver on a scooter from behind. He got off with a few scratches and sprains, but his bike was badly smashed up. The cost of fixing it — 14,000 rupees ($189) — is about what he takes home in a month working for Zomato, the Indian food and grocery delivery app. So for the last […]
A new report, jointly issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) on work-related deaths for the year 2016, shows that workplace-related diseases and injuries led to the deaths of 1.9 million people in that year. The WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-Related Burden of Disease and Injury, 2000-2016, conducted before the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic, gives a glimpse of the terrible toll taken on the international working class by the insatiable profit drive of the corporations. Globally, 34.3 out of every 100,000 people over age 15 die each year from work-related causes. The WHO/ILO study […]
Above Photo: Elvert Barnes. New York City’s 65,000+ food delivery workers were celebrated as essential workers throughout the pandemic. But according to a damning new study, they aren’t actually being treated that way—instead, they routinely earn low wages well below New York’s minimum wage, lack basic labor and employment protections, and face dangerous working conditions on the streets of NYC. The report released this week, which was conducted by advocacy group Worker’s Justice Project in partnership with Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, is a four-month-long survey (December 2020-April 2021) of 500 app-based workers throughout the five boroughs, many of whom work […]
Above Photo: Signs reading “vote” hang outside the Amazon.com, Inc. BHM1 fulfillment center on March 28, in Bessemer, Alabama. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP Via Getty Images) The Warehouse Workers’ Fight Enters Its Second Round, Just When Everyone Thought It Was Finished. Bessemer, ALA. — Here is what a 1920s city looks like in a 2020s world. Along Bessemer’s broad downtown streets sit an array of small shops that have somehow managed to survive into the age of big box retailers: the rug store, the dusty furniture store, the store that sells sewing machines. They sit alongside empty, peeling husks of all the stores that […]
Fed up with low wages and injuries, more than 1,000 HelloFresh kitchen factory workers in Colorado and California are unionizing with UNITE HERE. Last year, HelloFresh, the popular food-kit delivery company that advertises technologically innovative and sustainable approaches to cooking, sold 278 million meals to Americans and doubled its U.S. revenue to $2.4 billion. But on HelloFresh’s assembly lines, workers were unable to afford rent, suffered serious injuries, and were subjected to timers when they used the bathroom, according to workers interviewed by Motherboard. Now 1,300 HelloFresh workers—intent on improving dire circumstances—are unionizing two HelloFresh factory kitchens in Colorado and California. On Tuesday, […]
Above Photo: Striker April Flowers-Lewis’s family ties to the Chicago plant stretch back much further than do those of its current owner, Mondelez. Her grandmother, Rosetta Tudor, worked as a machine operator making saltine crackers for decades before retiring in the 1990s just as Flowers-Lewis was starting her career. Roberta Wood / People’s World. Chicago – “We’re just tired!” April Flowers-Lewis told a rally in support of striking Mondelez workers*.* It’s not hard to see why the folks who make the nation’s cookies and crackers are exhausted and fed up. All through the pandemic, Flowers-Lewis, 48, and her co-workers, members of […]
In recent decades, a top management priority has been reducing the cost of retirement benefits. The pandemic and its economic fallout have generated a new round of employer demands for pension freezes, benefit cuts, plan conversions, and two-tier coverage. The Labor Guide to Retirement Plans (Monthly Review Press), a newly published book by Oregon union activist Jim Russell, shows why and how private and public sector workers should be mobilizing against such concessions. This book will be a critical resource for defending retirement security at the bargaining table and in the political arena. The Labor Guide is not only a highly readable account […]
Google Illegally Surveilled, Interrogated, And Fired Workers Who Tried To Organize By Kenny Stancil, Commondreams. December 5, 2020 Google Illegally Surveilled, Interrogated, And Fired Workers Who Tried To Organize2020-12-052020-12-05https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/12/google_5.jpg200px200px Above photo: Former Google employee Laurence Berland, who was fired by the company in 2019 for labor organizing, says he feels vindicated by the NLRB’s complaint, which comes “at a time when we’re seeing the power of a handful of tech billionaires consolidate control over our lives and our society.” Alex Tai/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images). “For a company with the slogan ‘don’t be evil,’ the findings are pretty damning.” Google repeatedly […]
How Postal Workers Saved The Election By Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes. November 26, 2020 How Postal Workers Saved The Election2020-11-262020-11-26https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/po.jpg200px200px Above photo: Postmaster General Louis DeJoy wants to slash 64 million work hours next year, but his plan isn’t the only one on offer. A working group of rank and filers has compiled all the ways his vision is antithetical to the green, expanded, universal Postal Service the public deserves: bit.ly/postalvision. Jim West/jimwestphoto.com. The story of mail ballots in 2020 is the story of a union postal workforce willing to go to extraordinary lengths to make sure that every vote got delivered. […]
City Workers Push For Collective Bargaining Rights By Brett Hall and Jane Alvarez-Wertz, WAVY. November 19, 2020 City Workers Push For Collective Bargaining Rights2020-11-192020-11-19https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/vabeach.jpeg200px200px Above photo: WAVY. Virginia Beach, VA – While local government employees are not legally allowed to engage in collective bargaining in the commonwealth until May 1, a group of workers from public utilities and public works making known their desire to have “a seat at the table” as soon as possible. On Tuesday evening, ahead of City Council’s formal session at the convention center, roughly 30 members of the city workforce chanted about the desire for hazard […]
Workers At Fargo Warehouse Strike Over Virus Safety Concerns By Alex Derosier, Inforum. November 19, 2020 Workers At Fargo Warehouse Strike Over Virus Safety Concerns2020-11-192020-11-19https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/strike-e1605832126735.jpg200px200px Above photo: Teamsters and workers of Cash-Wa Distributing in Fargo go on strike Wednesday, Nov. 18, citing unsafe conditions. C.S. Hagen / The Forum. Fargo – About 70 employees of a Fargo food distribution business went on strike Wednesday, Nov. 18, calling for resumption of union contract talks and drawing attention to what a union spokesman described as “lackadaisical” COVID-19 precautions at the site. About 20 warehouse workers and truck drivers set up picket lines outside […]
Inmate Kitchen Workers Forced To Serve Expired Meat In Prison November 19, 2020 Inmate Kitchen Workers Forced To Serve Expired Meat In Prison2020-11-192020-11-19https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/arizona-department-corrections-e1605827978497.png200px200px Above photo: Arizona Department of Corrections building in Phoenix. Arizona – Incarcerated people who work in the kitchens at the Eyman, Lewis and Yuma state prisons claim they were forced to serve expired meat to their fellow inmates, resulting in foodborne illnesses. Several inmates report being diagnosed with H. pylori infections, which they attribute to the food and unsanitary conditions in the kitchens. The inmates say they were subsequently put on antibiotics in recent days and weeks to […]
Local Veterans, Workers Call Out Union Busting At VA November 17, 2020 Local Veterans, Workers Call Out Union Busting At VA2020-11-172020-11-17https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/va-e1605642851746.jpg200px200px Above photo: Workers at the VA Hospital in Minneapolis, members of AFGE Local 1969, rallied for a fair contract Oct. 29, with support from activists in the local chapter of Veterans for Peace. Local veterans and union members who staff the Minneapolis VA Hospital have been publicly calling out the Trump administration in recent months for understaffing in VA facilities and a string of attacks on VA workers’ rights. Members of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 260,000 […]
UAW Workers At Johnson Controls On Strike By Teresa Boeckel, York Daily Record. November 16, 2020 UAW Workers At Johnson Controls On Strike2020-11-162020-11-16https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/york-e1605534573814.jpg200px200px Above photo: UAW workers rally outside Johnson Controls. Teresa Boeckel. Dozens of union workers at the Johnson Controls facility in Hopewell Township have been on strike since late September, seeking an increase in pay and flexibility with using vacation time. On Thursday afternoon, UAW Local 1872 workers gathered at tents along Renaissance Drive, not far from Interstate 83, for a rally. Arthur Westerfer, a test lab operator, shouted messages through a megaphone toward the massive building. “If you do not give us a […]
Organizing Rural Manufacturing Workers Matters By Cindy Estrada and Chris Schwartz, The Forge. November 10, 2020 Organizing Rural Manufacturing Workers Matters2020-11-102020-11-10https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/worker.png200px200px Above photo: Spencer Davis. It’s no secret that the number of manufacturing jobs in the United States has steadily declined over the past few decades, replaced largely by low-wage work in the service sector. But in many rural communities, manufacturing is still the most important part of the local economy. In fact, manufacturing jobs account for 21 percent of all earnings for rural communities, more than triple the income from farming work. Manufacturing represents a particularly important source of employment for […]
Graduate Workers Condemn Saturday Police Escalation By Isabelle Sarraf, The Daily Northwestern. November 4, 2020 Graduate Workers Condemn Saturday Police Escalation2020-11-042020-11-04https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/img_5466-e1604530226396.jpeg200px200px Above photo: A sign from Friday’s action, a collaboration between NUGW and NU Community Not Cops. Emily Sakai. NOTE: CBS News reports on the police violence: A few hundred students, nearly all from Northwestern, turned out for the event organized by a group called NU Community Not Cops. It started peacefully, but as the march went on, things changed. Students shared a video with CBS 2 showing firecrackers used as a smaller group of students came face to face with […]
Gig Workers Hired To Evict People From Their Homes By Dominic Gustavo, WSWS. October 28, 2020 Gig Workers Hired To Evict People From Their Homes2020-10-282020-10-28https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/evictworker.jpg200px200px Above photo: Civvl. Company website. Million struggle to pay rent. A startup company by the name of Civvl is seeking to recruit temporary “gig” workers to assist landlords in evicting tenants who have been unable to pay rent in the midst of the economic depression triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Civvl is owned by OnQall, a developer that provides a platform for a number of other app-based services. However, Civvl is markedly different from the other […]
Shipt Workers Demand Better Pay, Treatment By Connor Sheets, AL.com. October 20, 2020 Shipt Workers Demand Better Pay, Treatment2020-10-202020-10-20https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/shiptworkers-e1603237658229.jpg200px200px Above photo: Abby Hathcock, a Shipt Shopper and co-organizer of the Sunday demonstration outside the company’s headquarters in downtown Birmingham, addresses the gathering of protesters. Connor Sheets. Alabama – More than 20 Shipt workers demonstrated in front of the grocery delivery company’s headquarters in downtown Birmingham Sunday afternoon. They were there to protest Shipt policies that some of the company’s delivery people – known as Shipt Shoppers – say have led to decreased wages during a global pandemic and continue to leave […]
Young Workers Hit Hard By The COVID-19 Economy By Elise Gould and Melat Kassa, Economic Policy Institute. October 19, 2020 Young Workers Hit Hard By The COVID-19 Economy2020-10-192020-10-19https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/worker.jpg200px200px Above photo: Marcel Crozet/ILO. Workers ages 16–24 face high unemployment and an uncertain future. Across the United States, millions of workers of all ages suffered job losses in the coronavirus-driven recession, but the economic impact on young workers has been even more intense. Not only have many young people in this country faced the harsh reality of returning to school without in-person classes at their colleges and high schools, the job prospects for […]
This article was reported for ENEMY Magazine, a new print magazine and newsletter dedicated to reporting on abuses of power in news deserts and underrepresented communities across the United States. Subscribe to ENEMY here. Over the years, Sophia* built up a dependable set of regulars. Sex work paid “enough to survive more than comfortably” and it was work she preferred over jobs she’d had in the past, like working in restaurants or warehouses. Those jobs, she said, were “much more labor intensive for quite a lot less pay.” But when news of the coronavirus first began to circulate in January, business […]
Indigenous Defenders Are Front-Line Essential Workers October 17, 2020 Indigenous Defenders Are Front-Line Essential Workers2020-10-172020-10-17https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/sr_1492landback_03-e1602966777587.jpg200px200px Canada – Expect to work 24/7 on-site. There are no benefits, no days off, and shelter is not provided. You will likely face threats, violence, criminalization, and arrest. So, why are some of the most passionate, informed, brilliant, and resourceful people in Canada dedicating themselves to work that is insecure, dangerous, and unpaid? Indigenous cultures are distinct but we share values of community, holistic understandings of all life, and a deep connection to the land and water. We know that colonial definitions of livelihood are incomplete […]
Red lips, scintillating saris, hair tied up with flowers and chiming bangles, or skimpy dresses paired with heels; sought after at night but ostracized by day. This is the imagery the term sex worker arouses in India. Though legal, sex workers are an outcast community beyond the purvey of government welfare schemes. In a breakthrough decision, sex workers in India have now been listed by the National Human Rights Commission Commission’s (NHRC) advisory on COVID-19 under the “Women at Work” section, recognising them as “informal workers”, and thereby enabling access to government welfare schemes. The advisory came as the pandemic has […]
Shipt Workers Organize Targeted Protest Over Pay Model By Chris Mills Rodrigo, The Hill. October 16, 2020 Shipt Workers Organize Targeted Protest Over Pay Model2020-10-162020-10-16https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/shipt.png200px200px Above photo: Getty images. Shipt workers, frustrated with the delivery company’s shift to a new, less transparent pay model, are set to strike this weekend before staging protests at both Shipt and Target’s corporate headquarters on Monday. With the pay model now instituted in every market, organizers hope this direct action will send a clear signal to Shipt and Target, which acquired the delivery company in 2017, that workers are unsatisfied by what they say is […]
Workers Tried To Blow The Whistle On COVID19 Hazards By Dave Jamieson, Huff Post. October 15, 2020 Workers Tried To Blow The Whistle On COVID19 Hazards2020-10-152020-10-15https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/osha_0-e1602774371956.jpg200px200px Then People Died. A new analysis shows that a spike in complaints to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration precedes a spike in COVID deaths. As soon as the coronavirus pandemic began, workers across the country flooded federal and state offices with complaints that their employers weren’t protecting them from the health threat. The concerns have continued to pour into workplace safety agencies for seven months, totaling nearly 40,000 as of Thursday. It turns out […]
Watching well heeled, well paid and pompous Tories on the news all morning trying to convince us there is no money left in the cookie jar to support millions of workers facing the sack due to increased Covid19 restrictions made me think about nuclear weapons and the narrow contrived parameters of political discourse in the UK. Not one journalist had the cojones to ask how the UK can afford Trident but not to support low paid hospitality workers? Or how these politicians expect us to believe ‘we are all in it together’ while they get a £3,300 wage increase to over […]
Labor Unions File UN Complaint Over ‘Outrageous’ Violations Of Workers’ Rights By Kenny Stancil, Commondreams. October 8, 2020 Labor Unions File UN Complaint Over ‘Outrageous’ Violations Of Workers’ Rights2020-10-082020-10-08https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/dept_of_labor.jpg200px200px Above photo: The U.S. Department of Labor building is pictured in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, April 2, 2020. Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images. Covid-19 “has demonstrated that not only is the U.S. violating workers’ rights, but those violations are resulting in people dying.” United States labor leaders representing workers in several trade unions on Wednesday filed a complaint with the United Nations’ labor agency, making the case that under the […]
Saudi Arabia may be the land of two Holy Mosques, but its human rights record is dismal On the evening of October 04, while clearing the social media notifications on my phone, I found a thumb stopper tweet from Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Council (HRC) that reports directly to Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia. Here’s what Saudi Arabia’s detention camps look like, the one’s that migrants refer to as ‘hell’ pic.twitter.com/KwAIOfs6Fc — Ömer Kablan (@Kablano) October 4, 2020 The tweet read – #SaudiArabia is committed to strengthening #WorkersRights. Coincidentally, that same morning, I had received two video messages […]
Workers At Amazon Center In Minnesota Walk Out By Joey Peters, Sahan Journal. October 4, 2020 Workers At Amazon Center In Minnesota Walk Out2020-10-042020-10-04https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/farhiyo-warsame-e1601820988663.jpg200px200px Above photo: Farhiyo Warsame, pictured here, says Amazon fired her unjustly earlier this week. Jaida Grey Eagle | Sahan Journal ‘You can see the disrespect.’ Workers protest for the second time this year at Amazon’s Shakopee facility. The firing of a coworker triggers Thursday-night job action and picket. Minnesota – About two dozen Amazon employees in Shakopee walked off their jobs Thursday night to support a colleague whom they said was unjustly fired earlier this week. The former […]
Restaurant Workers Are Building Solidarity Amid The Pandemic By Alice Herman, In These Times. October 2, 2020 Restaurant Workers Are Building Solidarity Amid The Pandemic2020-10-022020-10-02https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/rest-e1601665058621.jpg200px200px Above photo: Augie’s Coffee, a coffee chain in the Inland Empire of California, laid off 54 employees during the pandemic only a week after workers announced they would unionize, leading employees to stage a strike in July. Members of the Augie’s Union are part of a growing number of movements, like the Pie Hole Workers Union, to organize restaurant workers. Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times via Getty mages. When workers at a pizza joint refused to train the people […]
COVID-19 Cases Among Health Care Workers Under-Reported By Kristian Hernandez, Fort Worth Star Telegram. October 1, 2020 COVID-19 Cases Among Health Care Workers Under-Reported2020-10-012020-10-01https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/0407-testing02.jpg200px200px Above photo: A nurse administers a COVID-19 test at a drive-through testing site in Burleson in April. A new study found that health care workers have almost twice as many cases than reported by the CDC. Amanda McCoy/Star Telegram. Fiana Tulip spent the last 10 weeks trying to figure out how her mother, a health care worker in Dallas, contracted and died of COVID-19. Isabelle Papadimitriou, 64, was a respiratory therapist at the Baylor Scott & White Institute for […]
Brazil’s Landless Workers Persist Through Agroecology By Rafael Forsetto, Civil Eats. October 1, 2020 Brazil’s Landless Workers Persist Through Agroecology2020-10-012020-10-01https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/agroecology-e1601581732989.jpg200px200px The rural movement, up against great odds, has become a global model for greater land access and agrarian reform. Just off one of the main highways that crosses the Brazilian state of Paraná, there’s a narrow dirt road that’s easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. The road is bordered on both sides by corn, soy, and wheat. The landscape goes largely unchanged for eight miles until a worn-down sign informs visitors they have arrived in the Contestado Settlement—one […]
After spending most of the first presidential debate shouting incoherently, Donald Trump finished it off with a crystal clear message. “I’m urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully,” he said, stoking fears of potentially violent election day interference. At home in Chicago, Kayleigh Glaza missed Trump’s comment at first. “There was so much yelling and other stuff happening,” she said. One of her friends mentioned it later in a debate night group chat. Glaza, a former writer for a food magazine who was furloughed during the pandemic, felt “scared” when she read the text. She plans […]
Aracely Diaz was at home with her husband and kids when the email arrived, announcing that Disney would lay off 28,000 workers. Diaz has worked as a housekeeper at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California for 19 years. So had her husband, Micael Diaz. The next morning, the couple woke up at 6:30 in the morning, got in their car, and sped north on the I-5 to Sacramento. “It was a shock—we weren’t expecting this,” the 48-year-old said in Spanish. “But we told our kids, ‘Hey, we’re going to go out there. We’re doing this because we want to fight for […]
Workers’ Rights In Globalised Industry By Ben Chacko, Morning Star Online. September 26, 2020 Workers’ Rights In Globalised Industry2020-09-262020-09-25https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/09/bangladesh.jpg200px200px How can we protect them? Over the summer the Morning Star reported on a new study showing that major fashion brands were complicit in union-busting by Third World suppliers in the garment industry. Editor Ben Chacko spoke to IndustriALL general secretary VALTER SANCHES to find out what trade unions can do to tackle abuses stretching across international supply chains. The Covid-19 crisis and the lockdowns imposed as a result hit the garment industry hard, causing order cancellations and job losses in producer countries. […]
The clock is ticking for tens of thousands of pilots, flight attendants, reservation agents and other airline employees, who will likely lose their jobs on Oct. 1 if Congress doesn’t extend federal aid for the airlines. Andrew Harnik/AP hide caption toggle caption Andrew Harnik/AP The clock is ticking for tens of thousands of pilots, flight attendants, reservation agents and other airline employees, who will likely lose their jobs on Oct. 1 if Congress doesn’t extend federal aid for the airlines. Andrew Harnik/AP Among the many things that have been radically changed by the coronavirus pandemic is the airline industry. Air travel […]
After narrowly winning a February 2014 Swiss referendum seeking immigration quotas to limit free movement from EU countries, the Swiss People’s party witnessed their demands being eventually watered down amid Bern’s lengthy talks with Brussels; the party has condemned the compromise which was struck with the EU as a “betrayal”. Switzerland will vote in a referendum on 27 September that is set to decide whether it will end its agreement with the EU on the free movement of people, reported The Guardian. The vote was called by the largest party in the Swiss parliament, the right-wing, anti-immigration Swiss People’s party (SVP), […]