Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

The Union Movement In The USA Died Today

Interview with a worker organiz/sing at a previously non-union grocery store:

More background here:
theshoestring.org

Trader Joe’s United Alleges More Retaliation

Members claim the grocery chain's management fabricated a write-up of National President Jamie Edwards, among other unfair labor practices.
theshoestring.org theshoestring.org

Nice to see anarchists actually involved in workplace organising as well.
 
www.theguardian.com

UAW secures historic union election win at Tennessee Volkswagen plant

Vote makes Chattanooga factory first auto plant in US south to unionize via election since the 1940s
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

inthesetimes.com

In Labor’s Mission to Organize the South, Another Domino Could Soon Fall

Following the UAW's successful campaign at Volkswagen's Tennessee plant, workers at a Mercedes-Benz facility in Alabama will vote this month on whether to join the union. A victory could indicate a sea change for labor’s prospects in the U.S. South.
inthesetimes.com inthesetimes.com
 
hitmouse said:
www.theguardian.com

UAW secures historic union election win at Tennessee Volkswagen plant

Vote makes Chattanooga factory first auto plant in US south to unionize via election since the 1940s
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

inthesetimes.com

In Labor’s Mission to Organize the South, Another Domino Could Soon Fall

Following the UAW's successful campaign at Volkswagen's Tennessee plant, workers at a Mercedes-Benz facility in Alabama will vote this month on whether to join the union. A victory could indicate a sea change for labor’s prospects in the U.S. South.
inthesetimes.com inthesetimes.com
Click to expand...

(there's a standalone UAW thread here)
 
Bit of an old story but one I've only just caught up with, some questionable judgement from Sean O'Brien:
www.theguardian.com

Teamsters president faces backlash over ‘unconscionable’ GOP convention speech

Sean O’Brien accused of bolstering ‘most anti-union party and president’ by senior members of his own union
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
labornotes.org

Viewpoint: O’Brien Speech Played into Republicans’ Phony Pro-Worker Rebrand

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien spoke at Trump’s Republican National Convention on Monday. This was a bad move. Much of the speech would have been fine if he had delivered it somewhere else. O’Brien railed against corporate greed, singling out Amazon and the private equity vultures that killed...
labornotes.org labornotes.org

Who's easy to get mixed up with Shawn Fain, but there are clearly important distinctions between the two. Oh well, I suppose O'Brien is unlikely to be remembered as the absolute worst Teamsters president.
 

Some 10,000 U.S. hotel workers began a multi-day strike in several cities on Sunday after contract talks with hotel operators Marriott International (MAR.O), opens new tab, Hilton Worldwide (HLT.N), opens new tab, and Hyatt Hotels (H.N), opens new tab reached an impasse, the Unite Here union said.

Unite Here, which represents workers in hotels, casinos, and airports across the United States and Canada, said thousands of workers at 25 hotels are on strike in some major travel destinations including San Francisco and San Diego in California, Hawaii's capital city Honolulu, Boston, Seattle, and Greenwich, Connecticut, with workers from additional cities ready to join the walkout as the Labor Day holiday weekend continues.

The strike is taking place with the industry facing a 9% increase in Labor Day weekend domestic travel compared to last year, according to AAA booking data.
 
some details

substack.perfectunion.us

ILA Suspends Port Strike After Securing Big Raises

The current contract will be extended until after the New Year, but sticking points on automation remain.
substack.perfectunion.us substack.perfectunion.us

The temporary deal extends the life of the current bargaining agreement until January 15, according to a joint statement by the union and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), the group representing top shipping companies such as Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). The deal at present constitutes an agreement on wages which, according to multiple reports, includes wage increases of 62 percent — a $4 raise each year in the top rate over the life of the contract, if and when the agreement is ratified.

The issue of automation remains unresolved. But with the deal on wages secure, there is now additional breathing room for negotiations on the matter. The USMX’s current position has been retaining the language of the current contract around automation and semi-automation, while the union is attempting to assert more control over decision-making.
 
Maybe this belongs in the books forum, but Barbara Kingsolver talks of two major strikes in the 80s, and how communities were divided and went into decline

www.theguardian.com

‘I’ve dealt with anti-hillbilly bigotry all my life’: Barbara Kingsolver on JD Vance, the real Appalachia and why Demon Copperhead was such a hit

As the Pulitzer-winning author’s little-known first book is published in the UK, she discusses the roots of division in the US, her wild childhood, and putting the story straight about where she’s from
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

Most commentators believed the dispute would be conventional and relatively brief, but within a month, things had shifted dramatically: squads of armoured men with teargas and automatic weapons were storming tiny, bucolic main streets; people were being jailed for nothing more than calling a neighbour a scab. It lasted from June 1983 until December 1984. By the time it was over, the trade union that represented the workers had been decertified, and half a century of organised labour in Arizona was at an end.

Only later did it occur to her that the story had historic implications: “This was the moment when the forces of capital teamed with governments to crush labour. A lot of it turned [in the US] on the air traffic controller strike [of 1981]. Reagan broke that strike overnight. He fired 11,000 unionised controllers in a single morning and then – this is the really shocking part – he banned them from working in the federal service ever again.
 
Boeing strikers ended up settling for 38% over four years, after a 53-day strike:
labornotes.org

Boeing Machinists End 53-Day Strike with 38 Percent Raise

Striking Boeing Machinists will start returning to work tomorrow after voting for a new contract with substantial wage increases. The 33,000 Seattle-area Machinists voted 59 percent to accept, just two weeks after two-thirds of them voted to reject a slightly worse contract. Voting was more...
labornotes.org labornotes.org

Also, New York Times tech workers were on strike recently, although they've now returned to work:
cwa-union.org

New York Times Tech Guild Ends Strike, Continues Contract Fight

The strike was one of the first tech workers’ strikes in the U.S., and the striking workers ran one of the largest remote pickets in the nation.
cwa-union.org cwa-union.org

They built a whole little site with games and things for people to visit instead of playing Wordle while they were striking:

Guild Builds

A series of games made by NY Tech Guild members
nytimesguild.org nytimesguild.org
 
Article on workers in places like South Carolina trying to organise/ze and the additional challenges they may be facing:
inthesetimes.com

Southern Workers Prepare For An Uphill Battle Under Trump

For too long, the labor movement ignored the South. Today, Southern workers are taking on entrenched racism, right-to-work laws and the incoming Trump administration as they organize for their rights.
inthesetimes.com inthesetimes.com
 
substack.perfectunion.us

BREAKING: The Amazon Labor Union Is Going on Strike

“Ultimately, Amazon only speaks one language, and that’s money.”
substack.perfectunion.us substack.perfectunion.us

Amazon warehouse workers on Staten Island are officially going on strike after the online retail behemoth stalled on a contract with its first union for more than a year.

The union has called a multi-day strike in the lead-up to Christmas. Since voting to unionize in April 2022, becoming the first and only union of Amazon warehouse workers in the U.S. to date, the union has been working without a contract.
 
Just found out about the Pittston Coal strike of 1989, wild story:

Pittston Coal strike - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

I (at least vaguely) knew about Blair Mountain, Harlan County etc, but had no idea that level of militancy was ongoing up until the (very late!) 80s. Book coming out about it next year, from a quick search I suspect the author is probably someone I would very seriously disagree with about a lot of international stuff, but probably worth paying attention to on Virginia history.
 
Amazon delivery driver arrested in NY for not driving through a picket line:
inthesetimes.com

NYPD Arrests Workers During Historic Amazon Strike

Police cracked down on striking drivers in Queens who blocked deliveries.
inthesetimes.com inthesetimes.com

He stopped his van as striking co-workers shouted for him to join them. “We were surrounding the van, and we told him to get out. Come join us!” says Latrice Johnson, a driver at one of Amazon’s eight subcontractors at DBK4 (whom I interviewed about the union campaign in September). “He was listening, and he wanted to know more. And the police stopped that, and they kept telling him to keep it moving. He was saying, ‘How am I gonna go anywhere? The people are here. I can’t hit people.’”


NYPD officers swarmed Cardenas, blocking him in the cab of his van and ultimately arresting him after he attempted to leave his vehicle, over shouts of “Let him go!” from fellow workers and allies.
Click to expand...
 
starbucks strike spreading

ny1.com

Starbucks Workers United strike expands to New York, New Jersey

The expansion also includes stores in Denver and Pittsburgh.
ny1.com ny1.com

Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract.

Union leaders said the strikes expanded on Saturday to include stores in Denver, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio, with plans for baristas to join the picket lines in New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis on Sunday.
 
Starbucks:

By Monday, baristas in more than 50 stores in cities like Boston, Dallas, Denver, New York and Philadelphia did not report for work.

The strike is set to spread to additional cities on Tuesday, union representatives said, as well as to additional stores in cities where some baristas are already on strike, potentially dampening business at one of the company’s busiest times of the year. Closed stores are expected to reopen on Wednesday, when workers have said they would return to work.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

ska invita
USA 2024 Election Stats
2
Replies
40
Views
2K
pbsmooth
P
JimW
Russian-speaking union for migrant workers in Swedish building sector
Replies
0
Views
232
JimW
JimW
Yuwipi Woman
Political violence in the USA
5 6 7 8 9
Replies
264
Views
18K
Ax^
Ax^
PTK
  • Poll
Do You Agree that the USA should Reduce its Military Expenditure and Close its Overseas Bases?
2 3
Replies
82
Views
3K
likesfish
likesfish
hitmouse
Australian unions and corruption allegations
Replies
4
Views
350
hitmouse
hitmouse
Back
Top Bottom