Labor Force Podcast: Recent Episodes
Mike Struchen
Starbucks. Amazon. And many, many others in both large and small corners of the economy. My own local and state union, NY State United Teachers, celebrating 50 years and counting this past year. Approval of unions in the U.S. at a 50-year high. It all comes together in the workers of America realizing their self worth-- and working to claim their share of an ever-elusive pie. Labor Force is a podcast about labor issues and working people in America today in the midst of this convergence. E-mail: struchenmichael@gmail.com
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The time has come when marriage, kids, work and leisure come first. The show is going dark as of Sunday night. Thanks for listening--- and solidarity forever.
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- The IAM, representing 33,000 striking Boeing workers, rejected Boeing's "best and final" pay offer of a 30% increase over four years. Talks will resume Friday.
- Stellantis responded Monday to claims from UAW President Shawn Fain, asserting that the automaker is fulfilling its contractual obligations, despite Fain's accusations otherwise.
- Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga have outlined their demands as their contract campaign begins.
- Workers at Disney and Hearst Communications' A+E Factual Studios are attempting to unionize with the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE), aiming to gain a foothold in the largely non-unionized nonfiction TV industry.
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- Negotiations between UAW and VW are set to begin this coming Thursday, with the union ready with hundreds of basic demands.
- Starbucks Workers United reports, “We’re closer than ever to our 500th union store," and could reach that milestone this coming week.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers have been on strike for 715 days and counting. The NLRB confirmed on Friday that the Post-Gazette has been– surprise– breaking federal labor laws.
- Taxes on tips may be a thing of the past?
- It's a rare bipartisan issue: America faces a retirement crisis.
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- According to Reuters, the UAW is considering multiple strikes against Stellantis about a year after a national walkout impacted Detroit Three automakers.
- Boeing contract talks stalled Wednesday; CEO Kelly Ortberg announced mass furloughs
- The Teamsters have declined to issue an endorsement for president.
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- Members of the CWA have reached strong tentative agreements with AT&T Southeast and AT&T West for new union contracts.
- Amazon drivers across three Delivery Service Partners (DSPs) in New York City are demanding Amazon recognize their union and negotiate a Teamsters contract.
- The Pew Research Center out with its income calculator: "Are you in the American middle class?" Probably yes.
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- Aircraft assembly workers went on strike Friday at Boeing factories in Washington, Oregon and California after union members overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract from the company.
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- 17,000 AT&T workers remain on strike after nearly a month, with more possibly to come.
- The risk of a strike at Boeing is growing as factory workers express dissatisfaction with a contract offer from the company.
- According to the Olean (NY) Times Herald, a third Dollar General opened in the city Tuesday. There may be no worse example of the hollowing out of capitalism.
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- A majority of workers at Ultium Cells in Tennessee have signed cards to join the UAW, and the company has agreed to recognize their union.
- Hotel workers at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront are continuing to strike, with plans to remain on the picket line until they secure a new contract. While workers who struck at Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott hotels during Labor Day weekend have returned to work, UNITE HERE warns that the labor dispute is ongoing.
- AT&T made "a strong final offer" to employees Thursday, after 17,000 workers in states across the southeast went on strike against the company in mid-August, calling for fair negotiations.
- The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), representing 45,000 workers at major container ports from Texas to Maine, began meetings on Wednesday to discuss wage demands and prepare for a potential strike on October 1.
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- A recent Gallup survey shows that 70% of Americans hold a favorable view of labor unions, a slight increase from 67% in 2023.
- According to the Guardian, unionization in higher education has surged, with a 133% increase among graduate student employees in the U.S. since 2012.
- The Ithaca Voice reports, The UAW and Cornell University have reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract, potentially ending a strike that entered its 10th day and beyond.
- From Labor Notes, Teamsters at an Indiana grocery warehouse achieved major victories in their latest contract campaign with Kroger.
- Amazon drivers at the DIL7 delivery station in Skokie, Illinois, are intensifying their push for union recognition and a labor contract with the Teamsters.
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- Thousands of hospitality union workers on the Las Vegas Strip have reached a tentative agreement with the Venetian and Palazzo resorts, marking a major milestone, as it is the first contract for employees at these iconic properties.
- Amazon delivery drivers represented by Local 396 in Palmdale, California, have achieved a significant victory, paving the way for Amazon delivery drivers nationwide to unionize with the Teamsters.
- The union representing the Dartmouth men's basketball team filed an unfair labor practice charge against the Ivy League school for refusal to negotiate.
- "Striking is in the air at Boeing"
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers win injunction.
- Worker shortage persists
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- Assorted leaders, culminated by UAW President Shawn Fain.
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- Over 17,000 AT&T workers across multiple states in the Southeast are on strike as the CWA protests what they call “unfair labor practices committed by management during negotiations for a new union contract.”
- Workers at Cornell University have gone on strike for the first time in decades, having begun last night at 10 p.m., just before thousands of students were set to move in for the fall semester.
- Labor leaders at the DNC set to deliver remarks Monday on the convention stage, backdropped by Chicago's notable labor history.
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- Billionaires will be billionaires: UAW files federal labor charges against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
- US workers launch Heat Week to fight for ‘the right to water, shade and rest’
- Thousands of hotel workers in Boston with UNITEHERE26 voted 99% YES to authorize a city-wide strike that could begin on labor day weekend, joining a nationwide movement.
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- Harris's selection of Tim Walz as her running mate is a solid progressive move, as rallies in Wisconsin and Detroit Wednesday attest.
- Nissan workers in Mississippi consider another union campaign.
- “U.S. chip factory workers say it’s a ‘struggle to survive’ on their wages as industry booms”
- Boeing chaos, negligence revealed at NTSB hearing
- Cornell University workers line up possible move-in day strike.
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- The house is finally getting repaired after January's windstorm in NNY slammed a tree into our roof. Kudos to the workers helping us become whole again.
- Amazon workers at the JFK8 fulfillment center on Staten Island, New York, held their first-ever leadership election, electing reform officers decisively. Connor Spence, co-founder of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) and former treasurer, was elected president.
- Another state bans captive audience meetings. Illinois is the latest, with Gov. JB Pritzker having signed the measure into law Wednesday.
- The UAW is the latest union to endorse Kamala Harris for president.
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- Workers at the Towson, MD Apple store, unionized with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ (IAM) Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (IAM CORE) have reached a tentative agreement with Apple
- History was made in Brooklyn, NY Thursday when the union at Bernheimer Architecture ratified the first-ever collective bargaining agreement at a private sector architecture firm.
- The Cannabis Place Dispensary in Jersey City unionizes-- light up!
- Micron coming to Central NY, but won't yet sign a labor peace agreement with the CWA.
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- Disneyland Workers Union Committee reaches tentative agreement covering 14,000 theme park employees, averting strike for now
- More than 500 game developers at Blizzard Entertainment who work on the blockbuster video game “World of Warcraft” have elected to join Communications Workers of America Local 9510, according to a ballot count conducted yesterday. This follows workers at Bethesda Game Studios voting to join the CWA Monday.
- Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA is striking again, this time targeting major video game companies after almost two years of renegotiation efforts for its Interactive Media Agreement.
- 13,500 unionized hotel workers in four U.S. cities plan strike authorization votes next month as contract talks with Marriott International, Hilton, and Hyatt stall.
- The dregs of capitalism: homelessness remains a problem in Watertown, NY
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- Workers at the Disneyland theme park and resort in Anaheim, California voted overwhelmingly Friday to authorize strike action. The workers, who are members of a conglomerate of trade unions known as the Master Services Council, voted by 99 percent in favor of a strike.
- Should she be the Dems' nominee, Kamala Harris needs to provide policy and personnel commitments if labor is to continue its forward momentum.
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- The TUC (Trades Union Congress) has insisted the battle for union recognition at Amazon will go on, after workers at the US retailer’s Coventry warehouse rejected the right to collective bargaining by a majority of just 29 votes.
- Boeing’s largest employee union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 751, voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to authorize a strike.
- Delta Air Lines workers, laborers and community allies gathered on Wednesday to demand union representation.
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- Sean O'Brien the first Teamster to address the RNC (full speech)
- While Amazon Prime Day racks up worker injuries, 3K Amazon workers at the BHX4 warehouse in Coventry, UK voted last week to decide if the GMB union will represent them. The results, expected on July 17, could make this the first recognized Amazon union in Europe.
- The Economic Policy Institute out with a report, The rise of the ‘union curious’: Support for unionization among America’s frontline workers
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- A trifecta of data reflecting how Gen Z and Millennials are being impacted by rising costs and crippling debt: more adults are living with parents; young couples are increasingly moving in together earlier for financial reasons; the "DINK" lifestyle (dual income, no kids) is becoming prevalent.
- The National Education Association is the largest union in the country, but is playing dirty with its staff.
- Disneyland workers threaten walkout.
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- According to the AP, Biden proposed a new rule Tuesday to protect workers from excessive heat.
- During the grand opening weekend of the new REI Co-op store in Ithaca, NY, a rally was held outside advocating for workers' rights to unionize and for REI to settle contracts with its ten unionized locations by year-end.
- Starbucks Workers United keeps rolling, with ten unionized stores already this month, as negotiations continue with the company.
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- Amazon delivery drivers at the DIL7 delivery station in Skokie, Illinois and the BDL4 fulfillment center in Windsor, Connecticut strike against the usual Amazon tactics.
- Labor reporter Steve Greenhouse out with a scathing piece in The Guardian, “Most Americans have no idea how anti-worker the Supreme Court has become.”
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- NY Assemblyman Scott Gray (R-Watertown) highlights the urgent need for legislative and community action to address New York State's high cost of living, proving that economic issues bridge the divide.
- "America's kids are going hungry over the summer because their parents can't afford food."
- Electronic price tags are coming to a Walmart near you: better customer experience, or price surge exploitation?
- The Center for American Progress reports workers are voting to join unions at the highest rate in 15 years.
- UNITE-HERE elects its first female president, Gwen Mills
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- First, it’s now official. According to the NY Times, The Amazon Labor Union has formally linked with the Teamsters.
- The NLRB ordered a group of Las Vegas casinos, owned by Station Casinos, to negotiate with the Culinary Workers Union despite the union losing a 2019 election
- Two revealing student pieces from my annual English 11 American dream final writing assignment
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- Yesterday, Virginia Education Unions, a joint coalition of Virginia-based AFT and NEA locals, won a historic union election to represent over 27,000 teachers and school staff in Fairfax County, Virginia.
- As of 2024, only eight states require exit exams to graduate high school. By next year, that number will be one less, as NY is set to make its longstanding Regents exams optional, in a move set to diversify pathways to graduation.
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- The Amazon Labor Union (ALU) and the Teamsters have signed an affiliation agreement, creating a new local known as Amazon Labor Union No. 1, International Brotherhood of Teamsters (ALU-IBT Local 1) in New York City.
- An apt, encouraging headline as we head into summer from CNN Thursday: "Middle-class Americans are falling behind"
- A labor win at Georgia school bus factory shows a worker-led EV transition is possible.
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- The recent report by the Federal Reserve Board of Minneapolis on the Income Distribution and Dynamics in America (IDDA) reveals the reasons behind Americans' economic dissatisfaction.
- “How Tens of Thousands of Grad Workers Are Organizing Themselves”
- Starbucks Workers United gains progress in negotiations with the company
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- The NCAA and its five power conferences have agreed to allow schools to directly pay players for the first time in the 100-plus-year history of college sports.
- The UAW is challenging the results of last week’s organizing vote of Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama, citing blatant union busting.
- Stellantis workers at Toledo Jeep marched on management to save temp jobs.
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- With all eyes on the UAW Mercedes vote in Vance, workers at New Flyer bus company in Anniston, AL ratify new contract
- Disneyland character employees vote to unionize
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Union busting to the extreme and the promises of a new CEO were the ingredients of yesterday's 56%-44% loss, but the workers are firm in continuing on until the tide is turned.
UnionYES
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- Mercedes workers in Vance, AL are voting whether to join the UAW this week. The company tried to enlist the almighty himself in its union-busting campaign-- but it didn't take.
- While Boston University graduate workers remain on strike, undergraduates are unionizing as well.
- Kim Kelly out with a galling piece in In These Times profiling a class action lawsuit filed against the state of Alabama for refusing parole to the incarcerated to keep them confined as laborers (slaves).
- Bottomless shrimp? Our Red Lobster closed abruptly with no warning to workers.
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- Half of all renters pay more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. Mortgage rates surged above 7 percent for the first time this year last month. The squeeze is on. This intersects with a few local housing-related stories recently.
- Salt City Coffee employees rally to become Syracuse's first local unionized coffee company
- Expectations are high for Mercedes in Vance, Alabama being the next domino to fall in the UAW organizing campaign.
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It's May Day, and workers worldwide have been out in force, while we're just at work. But I wanted to mark the day with Fain's timely op-ed in In These Times yesterday.
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- Biden was in Syracuse Thursday to celebrate Micron's plans to build a campus of computer chip factories made possible in part with $6 billion of government support. Risk or reward?
- The UAW flexed its muscle with Daimler Truck, as it reached a historic tentative agreement ahead of the contract’s expiration at midnight Friday, after mounting a massive campaign and strike threat against the multibillion-dollar manufacturer.
- Starbucks and Workers United, representing roughly 400 of its cafes, said Friday in a joint release that they made “significant progress” in their contract talks this week.
- Workers Memorial Day honored the victims of the Key Bridge Collapse in Baltimore.
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According to their press release, in a historic victory, an overwhelming majority of Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have voted to join the UAW. While votes continue to be tallied, the outcome is clear: Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga are the first Southern auto workers outside of the Big Three to win their union.
As of this recording, there are 2,628 yes votes, with 985 no. That’s 73% to 27%.
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- A researcher from Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations designed a free tool, The Wage Atlas Tool, that allows users to look at wage data by profession and different demographic variables. The tool shows that only half of New Yorkers are making a living wage.
- Autoworkers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga have their vote to join the UAW this week, from Wednesday to Friday. #UnionYES
- Two more CVS locations make moves to join National Pharmacy Union movement
- Amazon KCVG Air Hub workers in Kentucky angle to unionize with Teamsters
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- Per the NLRB Tuesday, union election petitions increased 35% and ULP charges 7% in the first half of 2024.
- General counsel Jennifer Abruzzo pushes back against SpaceX, Amazon and Starbucks' attempts to discredit the agency.
- Barnes & Noble unions reach six and counting.
- Rochester (NY) Democrat & Chronicle journalists on strike against Gannett.
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These corporate malfeasants have engaged in particularly egregious (and sadly predictable) union busting lately, in three connected stories this week. But the unions aren't taking it sitting down, including Mercedes workers officially petitioning today for an election to join the UAW.
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- USA Today published a piece Sunday, “Hey, Gen X, Z and millennials: Here's why you may miss out on the great wealth transfer.” Healthcare costs are reducing what Boomers can leave their kids.
- Jacobin also out Sunday with a timely op-ed, ‘The UAW’s 2028 National Strike Should Center Medicare for All.’ Both center on the need to eliminate our for-profit system, full stop.
- Meanwhile, The Guardian out with, “The soft life: why millennials are quitting the rat race,” published Tuesday. Not everyone wants to give their life to capitalism.
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- Sega of America employees secured a union contract Tuesday that provides wage increases and establishes them as the first workers of a major U.S. video game company to ratify a union contract.
- From the CWA Thursday, federal call center workers testified about the impact of low wages, unaffordable health care, lack of job security, and high workplace stress at ACA and Medicare call centers run by Maximus, a for-profit government contractor.
- Book preview: "Solidarity: The Past, Present and Future of a World-Changing Idea" by Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra Taylor
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The recent federal bungling of the FAFSA rollout, along with a local piece titled, "JCC offers help to find ways to pay for college" got me thinking of my own experience nearly 30 years ago entering higher ed; how unfortunately, not much has changed-- it's only gotten worse. It's high time to reverse the value of profit-making skills over intellectual pursuits.
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- According to the UAW's press release yesterday, “More than 4,000 Volkswagen workers are set to vote in their union election on April 17, 18 and 19. The NLRB has scheduled the election and will oversee the secret ballot vote at the VW plant in Chattanooga.
- Las Vegas CVS workers aim to join the Pharmacy Guild.
- Boston University grad workers strike.
- Republican leaders are worried that basic income programs will give Democrats an edge during the election.
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As reported by Center for American Progress, new data from the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) underscores the significance of unions in enhancing Americans' wealth. The analysis reveals that union households possess substantially more wealth compared to nonunion households, with these differences persisting across various demographic groups including race, ethnicity, and education levels. Organize!
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Starbucks and Workers United, representing 400 unionized stores, are scheduled to begin negotiations in late April to establish principles for a labor agreement.
Progress is progress. But no $ to Starbucks until a contract is reached.
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- Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee have filed a petition to join the UAW after a majority signed union authorization cards.
- Hollywood unions, including SAG-AFTRA and IATSE, are back at the bargaining table just three months after ratifying their national contracts.
- Union leaders in New England are advocating for fair wages and high labor standards in the offshore wind energy industry, viewing it as the start of a green industrial revolution. Support the Labor Force podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/laborforcepod/supportPatreon:https://www.patreon.com/LaborForcePodcast
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Fain's testimony from Thursday's hearing.
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- The Verge reported Friday, “Activision QA workers form the largest US video game union yet”
- From KOLO-8 News in Reno, NV, The Patagonia Store in Reno has voted to become the first such store in the nation to form a union.
- Teamsters President Sean O’Brien’s statement on the final rule from the U.S. Department of Labor for determining employment classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
- As reported by CBS News, a federal judge in Texas has blocked a new rule by the NLRB that would have made it easier for millions of workers to form unions at big companies.
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More news from the UAW’s push to organize non-union automakers. According to their press release Wednesday, workers at a critical Toyota plant in Troy, Missouri have launched their public campaign to join the UAW after more than 30% signed union authorization cards. It is the first Toyota plant and the fourth non-union plant nationwide where workers have gone public with their campaign to win their union.
"The UAW Has Set Its Sights on the Anti-Union South," by Alex Press:
https://jacobin.com/2024/03/uaw-organizing-mercedes-benz-alabama
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- As reported by The Athletic, “The Dartmouth men’s basketball team on Tuesday voted 13-2 in favor of forming a union in a historic election that could usher in a new phase of the movement for college athletes to be treated like employees.”
- And I was at the state capitol yesterday for NYSUT’s annual Committee of 100 lobbying day, in which members from across the state descend on Albany to raise education-related issues with our elected officials.
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Finally, real progress for Starbucks Workers United. As reported by Huffington Post, Starbucks and the union representing workers at hundreds of its stores said Tuesday they had agreed upon a “path forward” to negotiate collective bargaining agreements and develop “a fair process for workers to organize.”
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- The UAW organizing effort rolls on. A majority of workers at Mercedes-Benz’s largest plant in the United States, MBUSI in Vance, Alabama, have signed union cards in support of joining the UAW.
- 5,000 Anheuser-Busch workers could go on strike as early as Friday.
- Dancers at a Los Angeles strip club have successfully gained union recognition after more than a year of tense negotiations with management, making them the country’s only strippers in an official bargaining collective.
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- The UAW is committing $40 million through 2026 in new organizing funds to support non-union auto workers and battery workers who are organizing across the country, and particularly in the South.
- Starbucks workers in 21 locations across 14 states filed to unionize Tuesday, marking the highest number of stores petitioning to join Starbucks Workers United (SWU) on a single day in the union’s history, the group says.
- The temporary restraining order that halted the unionization process for roughly 500 farm workers at five New York state farms has been lifted by Judge John Sinatra Jr. in Western District Court, except for one provision. This decision allows the United Farm Workers to resume organizing efforts.
- Advocates are pushing for legislation in New York state to mandate that tipped workers receive the statewide minimum wage, co-sponsored by Senator Robert Jackson and Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas.
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- After a hot labor spring, summer, fall and so on, The Cornell University School of Industrial Relations and University of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations has released the data from its 2023 Labor Action Tracker.
- A precursor of what we may see coming in at least one service sector. As reported by NBC-5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Workers at Molson Coors brewery in Fort Worth go on strike.
- Public sector unions face decertification threat under new Florida law.
https://www.wlrn.org/podcast/the-florida-roundup/2024-02-16/new-florida-law-threatens-labor-unions-and-six-years-since-parkland
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- Come work for Uncle Sam. Business Insider out with a piece, “Government jobs are hot right now. You don't make as much, but people like the stability and benefits.”
- Flight attendants at 30 different airports held a worldwide day of action yesterday.
- Disneyland employees who perform as various Disney characters at the theme park are seeking to join the Actor’s Equity Association, which represents everything from actors on Broadway to strippers in Los Angeles. The union aims to represent 1,700 character and parade performers.
- The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor," by acclaimed labor reporter Hamilton Nolan
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How low can anti-union bureaucracy stoop? The latest example comes out of Iowa, where a bill that cleared a subcommittee Wednesday is an obvious kneecap to public sector unions in the state.
The next story comes out of California, where, according to the Guardian, "Hundreds of fast-food workers met in Los Angeles on Friday to kick off the launch of the California Fast Food Workers Union, a statewide union aimed at organizing cooks and cashiers at fast-food companies across the state."
And lastly, Alex Press out in Jacobin with, “New York Growers Are Fighting Farmworkers’ Right to Organize.”
Read the full piece
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According to their press release yesterday, a majority of workers at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee plant have signed cards to join the UAW, less than sixty days after the workers announced their campaign to form a union at the German automaker’s only US assembly plant.
The next story is a promising development in college athlete unionization. As reported by ABC News, an NLRB regional official ruled on Monday that Dartmouth basketball players are employees of the school, clearing the way for an election that would create the first-ever labor union for NCAA athletes.
Finally, the teacher shortage persists nationwide, and it continues to be felt here in NY. We’re also the second most unionized state, and our teachers’ union, NYSUT, is among the strongest statewide federations. Could there be a solution with this dynamic?
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UAW, UAW, UAW. Workers at Hyundai’s sole US plant, in Montgomery, Alabama, have announced a major milestone in their campaign to join the UAW, with over 30 percent of autoworkers at the plant having signed union cards.And from the Teamsters Thursday: Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien demanded Anheuser-Busch deliver its last, best, and final offer. If the company does not reverse course and come to terms on an agreement that rewards and protects workers, 5,000 Teamsters will be forced to go on strike as soon as March 1.Finally, a follow-up on Florida’s child labor situation. As reported by the Associated Press, “A year after Florida enacted a new law making it more difficult for employers to hire immigrants in the country illegally, the House passed a bill Thursday to let 16- and 17-year-olds work longer and later hours.”
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The UAW's engine keeps churning. The union announced this week, "Over 10,000 auto workers across 13 non-union companies have signed union cards with the UAW, as momentum builds across the auto industry for better wages, benefits, and rights on the job. The major milestone comes less than 90 days after UAW members ratified record contracts at the Big Three."
And how’s your state workforce faring these days? Here in NY, as reported by the Albany-Times Union, state workforce vacancies continue to be a focal point amid hearings on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed budget, with labor leaders pushing for a final spending plan to include changes they believe will help recruit and retain employees.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its report on union membership in 2023. The overall takeaway: despite strikes being definitely up, density is still down. Or put more succinctly by the Economic Policy Institute, “Despite workers’ desire for unions, their efforts to organize are being undermined by a broken system that has failed them.”https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htmhttps://www.epi.org/publication/union-membership-data/And as reported by WWNY News Watertown, more than 500 union workers across the north country of NYS will have almost $16 million in pension benefits restored. That’s according to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D. - NY).--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/laborforcepod/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/laborforcepod/support
As expected, more progress for the UAW in its aim to organize non-union plants. As reported by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, more than 2,000 union authorization cards have been signed by employees at Volkswagen Chattanooga, which is nearly half of the 5,500 total workers.
Next, we have an update on the California State University system strike actions.
Skilled trade workers have reached a wage agreement with the Teamsters Local 2010 Union, averting a planned strike scheduled for Jan. 22-26. The tentative agreement impacts 1,100 skilled trade workers across 22 of the 23 campuses.
However, the California Faculty Association (CFA) still plans to proceed with its strike at all 23 CSU campuses.
Then, despite it being illegal for public workers to induce, encourage, or condone a strike, teachers in Newton, Massachusetts, remained on strike Saturday night after negotiations failed to produce an agreement on a new contract.
And speaking of schools, districts around the country continue to grapple with a bus driver shortage. A new plan in New York aims to help fix it by easing the application process.
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We’ve got union busting going to the high court. As reported by Truthout, Starbucks is taking a case to the Supreme Court, arguing against rehiring a group of union activists fired in Memphis.
The California Faculty Association (CFA) and Teamsters skilled trades workers plan a weeklong strike at California State University (CSU) starting January 22, involving roughly 29,000 and 1,100 employees, respectively.
And NY Governor Kathy Hochul released the results of the Transgender Employment Study conducted by the New York State Department of Labor (DOL) to address employment disparities among transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary (TGNCNB) individuals in the state.
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When it rains, it pours…. and when hurricane force winds rip through your region and send a huge oak tree smashing onto your roof while your vehicle is still in the shop after being T-boned a couple weeks prior, the deluge is evident. That’s our situation as of Wednesday night, when northern NY was gouged by upwards of 80 MPH winds that toppled trees and power lines, knocked out power to thousands, and overall wreaked havoc. The labor involved in the aftermath needs recognized.
Catching up, over 30% of workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant outside of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, have signed union authorization cards, the UAW announced on Tuesday.
I also liked what Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh had to say about revenue sharing before his Wolverines won the National Championship Monday night.
And workers at a Wells Fargo branch in Daytona Beach, Fla., voted to unionize Thursday.
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Now that we’ve collectively gone once more 'round the sun, the stories this week in large part have to do with how work will play out in the new year. We’ll examine two of those, one from a general standpoint, and another focused on technological developments in the workplace and what this means for employees.
Then, speaking of technology meant to benefit the world, but proving questionable for the worker, we’ll get to a story out of Long Island of solar workers voting to unionize and why addressing climate change must involve organized labor.
To wrap up, Costco workers unionize in Virginia.
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My wife and I were in an accident Saturday--my birthday--but came out in one piece, so I want to acknowledge all the labor involved in the entire situation, from the cops, to the hospital, to the collision shop and more.
In other updates: according to the Economic Policy Institute, 22 states will raise their minimum wage on January 1st, impacting 9.9 million workers and boosting their wages by $6.95 billion.
And 2024 applications for the NYS Excelsior Scholarship will soon be open, with the promise of free tuition-- but still plenty of costly caveats.
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As reported by Labor Notes, “Major contract fights in 2023 at UPS, the Big 3 automakers, and Hollywood studios set the tone for next year’s contract campaigns. Impressive gains and increased transparency got members of other unions asking, “Why can’t my union be like that?”
Another fast-emerging sector is highlighted by the NY Times this week in “The Newest Union Members Are Undergrads.”
R.A.s working in college dorms help crime victims, enforce health protocols, and handle mental health crises. They want more pay — and will strike to get it.
And on truly propelling labor forward: Hamilton Nolan out with a piece at progressive.org, “Organize or Die.” Unions must use their current momentum to propel new organizing.
Finally, the Southwest Airlines Pilots union won a historic contract, and Wells Fargo employees at the Albuquerque, New Mexico branch voted 5-3 to join the Communications Workers of America's Wells Fargo Workers United (WFWU).
The vote makes the San Francisco-based lender the first big U.S. bank with a union.
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On today’s show, two intersecting stories that really indicate another push and pull of where we are today. “Bill weakening Florida’s labor laws advances in state legislature.” And Business Insider out with a piece, “Gen Z will change capitalism as we know it.”
Then, the labor actions aren’t taking a holiday break. “Teamsters expand DHL-CVG strike over unfair labor practices.” And we’ll wrap up with more Starbucks union busting exposed.
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Looks like it is possible for a major corporation and labor to work together for the common good. The AFL-CIO and Microsoft on Monday announced the formation of a new partnership to create an open dialogue to discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) must anticipate the needs of workers and include their voices in its development and implementation. This partnership is the first of its kind between a labor organization and a technology company to focus on AI and will deliver on three goals: (1) sharing in-depth information with labor leaders and workers on AI technology trends; (2) incorporating worker perspectives and expertise in the development of AI technology; and (3) helping shape public policy that supports the technology skills and needs of frontline workers.
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Two years nearly to the day of Starbucks Workers United's first union victory, as reported by the NY Times Friday, “Starbucks Tells Union It Wants to Resume Contract Talks.”
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The holiday season rings true with solidarity on today’s show. Washington Post employees walkout. A big raise for NYC delivery drivers after a long fight. One thousand Volkswagen workers in Tennessee launch a union campaign. Service workers at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, unionize. And Syracuse city ballet dancers fired for striking over unsafe working conditions last month are returning to the stage in a holiday performance of their own.
- Sign Washington Post Guild letter
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette support
- Syracuse ballet dancers GoFundMe
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Michigan outlawed right-to-work earlier this year, and the Missouri Supreme Court in 2021 struck down a 2018 state law that made it harder for some public-sector unions to organize and collect dues. Now seven Wisconsin unions representing teachers and public workers filed a lawsuit challenging the state's 2011 law, Act 10, which severely restricts collective bargaining for most public employees. The law, a key achievement of former Republican Governor Scott Walker, has faced multiple legal challenges over the years.
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Shawn Fain said it’s not just the Big 3, but the Big 5, the Big 6 and more, and the UAW is set to make it happen. As reported by Reuters, "The UAW is launching a campaign to organize the entire non-union auto sector in the U.S. The union said workers at 13 non-union automakers were announcing simultaneous campaigns across the country to join the union, including at Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Rivian, Nissan, BMW and Mercedes-Benz."
And 5 of 8 Syracuse City Ballet dancers were fired last week just before "The Nutcracker," the biggest performance of the season. The dancers characterized their actions as a strike due to unsafe working conditions-- while the Board sees it differently, of course. But their conditions were unsafe and unreasonable, to say the least.
Dancers' GoFundMe
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Macy’s workers in Washington state ended their three-day unfair labor practice, or ULP, strike and returned to work Monday. According to UFCW 3000, “Macy’s should know that we will be back on the picket line, unless Macy’s bargains fairly and stops violating labor law.”
And ride technician engineers at Legoland in Carlsbad, CA filed for a union election to join International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), District Lodge 947 in September. They await a ruling by the NLRB on accepting their bargaining unit, and permitting the election to be scheduled.
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As reported by The Guardian, "Hundreds of strikers outside Amazon’s UK Coventry warehouse were joined on Black Friday by trade unionists from Europe and the U.S. as part of a global campaign calling for better working conditions at the internet retailer."
I’m heartened that workers are standing up worldwide on an American capitalist holiday. It should tell us a hell of a lot about the state of things.
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The holiday season is approaching, and we always hear about helping the needy during this time. But four local news stories from here in Central and Northern NY piqued my interest recently, because they were all released this past week, and they’re such a stark juxtaposition with our status as the richest country in the world.
We’re talking about food insecurity at pandemic levels, helping the homeless with the most basic of needs, and finally, so much need, our local Salvation Army is short staffed. In the year of our Lord 2023.
So it might be Happy Thanksgiving, but it’s really more like Happy to Have Enough.
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"Red Cup Day (November 16th) is Starbucks’s biggest sales event of the season - and also one of the most infamously hard, understaffed days for the baristas that work them.
Last year, workers went on strike. This year, on the heels of victories won by striking workers across different industries nationwide, Starbucks workers are taking the rebellion to the next level!
In addition to our nationwide ULP strike on the 16th, we’re also asking customers and allies to lead actions at Starbucks stores in their communities in solidarity with workers rising up for a fairer workplace.
If you’re a customer or ally, join the rebellion at an action near you on November 16th!"
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Elon Musk recently said that in the future, AI will save us all from having to work. Hopefully we colonize outer space by then, or that will not be true for his SpaceX workers having to feverishly toil to let him claim that distinction– which he would surely do, and never mind the labor that actually accomplished it.
A new investigative report from Reuters dives into an unforgivable price of progress. “At SpaceX, worker injuries soar in Elon Musk’s rush to Mars.”
This is just sheer negligence and hubris, leaving workers to fend for themselves in dangerous working conditions. And that’s an understatement.
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An article I came across by Jennifer Mittelstadt of Rutgers University, published in International Labor and Working Class History in 2011, "The Army is a Service, Not a Job": Unionization, Employment, and the Meaning of Military Service in the Late-Twentieth Century United States" examines the "often forgotten attempt to unionize the U.S. Armed Forces in the 1970s."
In 2022, The Department of Justice gave the green light to National Guard members on active duty for their states to join labor unions, despite a U.S. law that makes it a felony for military personnel on active federal duty to unionize.
Altogether, this makes for fascinating history on Veterans' Day.
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As reported by the Las Vegas Sun, Culinary Union Local 226 will not be striking on the Las Vegas Strip.
The union agreed to a tentative five-year contract for hospitality workers at Wynn Resorts about three hours before this morning’s strike deadline, union officials said.
After seven months of negotiations with resort companies on the Strip, new five-year contracts were tentatively approved Wednesday for Caesars Entertainment and Thursday for MGM Resorts International.
And Detroit casino workers have been on strike for almost a month, since October 17. A piece published Friday by Outlier Media, “How Detroit casino workers are betting on themselves with a first-ever strike,” states at the outset: "After 8 years of stagnant wages, 3,700 workers at the city’s three casinos want a better deal."
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Per the Los Angeles Times, SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee has approved a tentative deal with the major studios that would end a nearly four-month-long strike that has sidelined thousands of workers and hobbled much of Los Angeles’ signature entertainment industry.
And Teamsters Local 243 members at Chipotle in Lansing rallied last Friday to demand a fair contract from the multibillion-dollar fast casual giant that hauled in more than $8 billion last year.
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From The Guardian, The UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, has called on the CEOs of Amazon, Walmart, and DoorDash, along with the US government, to address allegations that major US corporations pay low wages, trapping workers in poverty and forcing them to rely on government assistance programs. De Schutter's concerns center on the US minimum wage, wage theft by employers, unpredictable working schedules, the situation of undocumented workers, violation of union rights, and automation.
Turns out “peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet,” the slogan of the UN, doesn’t square with rampant, unchecked capitalism. You don’t say…
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Another strike to talk about, and this one close to my heart. Moreover, it’s a textbook example of how a union can both mobilize and coalesce. As we say, a teacher’s working conditions are students’ learning conditions. The two are intertwined, even if some administrations seem to discount that fact.
As reported by Labor Notes, The Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) walked out on strike Tuesday, closing 81 schools. The 4,500-member union is demanding more counselors, more planning time for teachers, more support for special education students, smaller class sizes, and increased salaries and cost-of-living adjustments.
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And now, 3-out-of-3 for the UAW against the Big 3, proving definitively that targeted strikes work.
As reported by the Associated Press, GM and the UAW have reached a tentative contract agreement that could end a six-week-old strike against Detroit automakers.
The agreement follows the pattern set with Ford last week and Stellantis over the weekend.
Meanwhile, the SAG-AFTRA strike continues, and employees at Walgreens and CVS are staging a three-day walkout to demand better working conditions and staffing levels. Finally, the UNITE HERE culinary union in Las Vegas primes to strike against the big casinos.
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Two down, one to go in the UAW campaign against the Big 3. As reported by the AP, Stellantis has reached a tentative contract agreement with the UAW that follows a template set earlier this week by Ford, the UAW announced Saturday night, calling it “another major victory.”
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Recorded last weekend at the NYS United Teachers North Country Regional Leadership Conference. The presenters are two Labor Relations Specialists, who work with local presidents to provide assistance before, during, and after contract negotiations.
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Recorded last weekend at the NYS United Teachers North Country Regional Leadership Conference. The presenters are two Labor Relations Specialists, who work with local presidents to provide assistance before, during, and after contract negotiations.
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After 41 days of targeted strikes, the UAW has reached a tentative agreement with Ford. It includes wins that were said could never happen, resulting in headlines with phrases like “record pay raise” and “breakthrough.”
A long time coming, for sure.
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Recorded last weekend at the NYS United Teachers North Country Regional Leadership Conference. The presenters are two Labor Relations Specialists, who work with local presidents to provide assistance before, during, and after contract negotiations.
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Recorded last weekend at the NYS United Teachers North Country Regional Leadership Conference. The presenters are two Labor Relations Specialists, who work with local presidents to provide assistance before, during, and after contract negotiations.
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Per the AP, "The UAW has turned up the heat on GM, as 5,000 workers walked off their jobs Tuesday at a highly profitable SUV factory in Arlington, Texas. The move comes just a day after the union went on strike at a Stellantis pickup truck factory in Sterling Heights, Michigan."
What a time we’re in. It sure is grand.
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Recorded last weekend at the NYS United Teachers North Country Regional Leadership Conference. The presenters are two Labor Relations Specialists, who work with local presidents to provide assistance before, during, and after contract negotiations.
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Happy Monday. Shawn Fain said anytime, anywhere, if we get any more raw deals, and he wasn’t kidding. As reported by Reuters, “The UAW went on strike at Stellantis's largest assembly plant on Monday, hitting the automaker's profitable RAM 1500 pickup truck production in a major expansion of the more than month-old strike.”
You see a lot of those trucks on the road, so this one’s gonna hurt.
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It’s food, drinks, a raucous raffle, and union business over the course of the weekend. It's a NYS United Teachers regional leadership conference. My region is the North Country, bordering Canada, and we held our event this weekend in Lake Placid.
Meanwhile, Shawn Fain and the UAW continue to pull no punches as their strike surpasses one month, and St. Lawrence Seaway workers go on strike.
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Bill Ford came out today with a brief talk about the rich history of the company, and calling for an end to the UAW strike for the common good of all involved.
Here’s some common good: Ford’s wealth due to the leadership of the Ford family is almost beyond imagining. It is well into the hundreds of millions of dollars because he owns Ford shares. His family is worth over $1 billion. He does not need the $17.5 million he made last year.
And as reported by the NY Times, doctors employed by the Allina Health System, a nonprofit healthcare system in Minnesota and Wisconsin, have voted to unionize, making them one of the largest groups of unionized private-sector physicians in the United States.
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A lot of time has been spent on the UAW strike lately, and for good reason. But I also wanted to take some space to lift a smaller, but no less consequential campaign to those involved. Especially if you have a soft spot for a drink and some Dungeons and Dragons, let’s say.
From the AFL-CIO NYC Central Labor Council: Workers at Hex & Co., the three-location board game bar/cafe chain, including the largest board game cafe in Manhattan, delivered a letter to their management in late September asserting their right to collectively bargain, and asking them to voluntarily recognize their union with Workers United.
"We want a livable wage; we want a path to advancement in the company to be clear, and we want adequate staffing to handle the multitude of jobs we are asked to do."
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Sign their petition for recognition.
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The company wouldn’t play ball, so the UAW called another strike. Last night, 8,700 auto workers at Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville walked out, significantly escalating the ongoing labor disputes against Detroit Three automakers. The strike affected Ford's largest and most profitable plant, which produces heavy-duty F-Series pickup trucks and Ford and Lincoln SUVs.
Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA tweeted, "It is with profound disappointment that we report the industry CEOs have walked away from the bargaining table after refusing to counter our latest offer."
And Amazon workers at JFK8 in Staten Island, the only unionized location in the U.S., "calling on Amazon to raise our wages, return profit sharing, and return bonuses.”
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The UAW announced a strike against Volvo Group-owned Mack Trucks Inc., which began this morning. 73% of UAW members in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida rejected a tentative agreement, involving 4,000 workers.
Other campaigns to watch include UNITE/HERE’s culinary workers and bartenders possibly striking the Las Vegas casino-hotels, and SAG-AFTRA maybe striking video game manufacturers.
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Striketober is officially what it is. And even though the northeast at least is set to cool down after a record-breaking heat wave this week, the heat remains firmly on in the labor movement across various sectors, both large and small, but in either case, no less consequential.
From Kaiser Permanente, to the UAW, SAG-AFTRA, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Durham sanitation workers, fair is fair, and there's no stopping until fairness is reached.
And on the legislative side, the Chicago City Council has approved the "One Fair Wage" initiative, ending the subminimum wage for tipped workers in the city.
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"The Education Myth" challenges the prevailing belief that education is the primary path to economic opportunity in America. Author Jon Shelton argues that from the 1960s onwards, the pervasive influence of the education myth stifled alternative social democratic solutions, leading to a lack of viable ideas for ensuring economic security and social dignity for non-college-educated Americans. This concept was embraced by both Democrats and Republicans, resulting in a deeply unequal economy and a polarized political system over the past four decades.
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Granted, two incomes are better than one. But that alone isn't a fix for decades of policy-making that have exacerbated inequality and undermined the working class; attempted to take away women's control over their own fertility; and made "deaths of despair" an actual phrase in the richest country on Earth. Not to mention anything else you can think of.
If only "Let's get together and feel alright" was enough.
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The major film and television studios and striking writers reached a tentative agreement on Sunday after days of marathon negotiating sessions, the Writers Guild of America said Sunday evening, paving a path forward to end the historic work stoppage that has frozen production and paralyzed much of Hollywood.
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Per the Albany Times-Union, “NY State Public Employees Federation workers say 'enough' to 'toxic' work environments.” The union, representing 50,000 employees across all state agencies, held a rally on Thursday at the Empire State Plaza to bring attention to alleged workplace bullying. It was the first time they brought the issue into the public light, as workers say instances of abuse from supervisors have only gotten worse.
And the UAW expanded its strike Friday, walking out of 38 GM and Stellantis parts distribution centers in 20 states. Ford was spared additional strikes because the company has met some of the union’s demands during negotiations over the past week, said UAW President Shawn Fain.
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So what’s the pay? Is that not a question you should be able to attain before you apply for a job? Apparently it takes a law to make it so. And we’ve rightly heard a lot about the 13,000 UAW members on strike, but what about the other 133,000? Ten, twelve hour days? Voluntary overtime? More like ‘eight and skate,’ and that’s quite enough. And by the way, if no serious progress by Friday at noon, As Fain announced yesterday, more plants will strike. Then an update on the writers and actors’ strike, and a union drive in NCAA basketball– another sign that this labor upsurge will not be going quietly.
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Glorious sounds of workers out on the line right at the stroke of midnight last night, just as planned if the Big 3 didn’t come to the table with reasonable offers. We didn’t think that would happen, and sure enough, it definitely didn’t.
We’ll see for how long and to what ends, but no doubt– it’s the big strike we thought we would have for some time now come to life. Chalk up another one for this era of broad worker militancy.
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We have to emphasize yet again that every worker, no matter the work, needs a union. We begin with the same old shit, different negligent employer, with a ration of exploitation to boot.
Willamette Week reported yesterday, “The strippers at Northwest Portland’s (OR) Magic Tavern have unanimously voted to unionize with Actors’ Equity Association, making it the second unionized strip club in the country.
“I’m over the moon,” says Daphne, a Magic Tavern stripper who helped lead the club’s unionization efforts. “There’s no feeling like hearing, ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ 16 times as they counted the votes.”
Then the UAW is most certainly on course to strike, with only two days before the deadline. The contract expires at 11:59 PM Thursday, so Friday will very likely be the day. Tick, tick, tick...
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Continuing with the economy on this one.
- Jacobin out with a piece, “Inflation Is Slowing Down. But Working-Class Life in the US Is Still Hard to Afford.” Will the Biden administration respond adequately?
- The UAW not endorsing the corporate duopoly at this point, for good reason.
- My wife and I discuss a financial surprise– a good surprise– which illustrates that in this economy, one’s own wits and genuine effort still need a lift now and then.
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Eight members of the Labor Radio Podcast Network:
- Labor Force’s Mike Struchen
- Work Stoppage’s Dan
- Labor Exchange’s Robert Lindgren
- Labor History Today’s Patrick Dixon
- Activate L!ve’s Tanya Hutchins
- The Heartland Labor Forum’s Judy Ancel
- Labor Week’s Harold Phillips and The Labor Heritage Power Hour’s Chris Garlock enjoy a “Happy Hour” conversation about what’s brought us to our present “Hot Labor Summer,” and where we might go from here.
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The business of business CNBC out yesterday with, “63% of workers unable to pay a $500 emergency expense, survey finds. How employers may help change that.”
Now you know what you’re going to get from CNBC, but that headline caught my eye nonetheless. Just guess what you won't hear about the solution.
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“Do you know how hard it is to get two-thirds of Americans to agree on anything? Let me put it another way: More Americans believe in unions than like chocolate ice cream,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told union organizers and members during the organization’s inaugural “State of the Unions” address.
No one should be surprised after this smoking, sizzling, blazing hot labor summer that will, at the very least, become a warm labor fall.
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UAW votes 97% to strike if necessary. The NLRB cracks down on union busting by bosses. And a trip to the our local community college enrollment center to talk the maze of financial aid juxtaposed with a bright, welcoming kindergarten letter at home.
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According to Biden, "Bidenomics" is a restoration of the American dream. The Inflation Reduction Act was passed one year ago today.
On the ground, at your kitchen table, in your apartment after work, etc. are you feeling dreamy about your economic circumstances? Is your life touched by macroeconomics, or do we need real policy to address each of our microeconomies? You know the answer.
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Stellantis North America Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart said in a letter to employees seen by Reuters the automaker is "committed to working with the UAW to reach an agreement based on “economic realism."
How’s this for economic realism? Stewart’s house in Detroit cost $5 million last year. Instagram posts show he's spent the past two weeks at his vacation home in Mexico– his second mansion, of course– during contract negotiations.
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Labor Notes out with a piece recently, “As Big 3 Auto Contracts Expire: Hurried Line Speeds and Horrible Hours.” Let’s take a dive through it for the reality of work in the factory, including topics such as marathon shifts, injuries epidemic and chokepoints, among others. Let’s just say the marvel of Henry Ford’s assembly line 100 years later in 2023 is as ugly and fraught as you might well imagine.
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Wisconsin Education Advisory Council and members in Verona, WI found a troubling disparity in their district: gender-based pay differences of up to nearly $20K. Due to their advocacy, 10 teachers received $450K in back pay, interest and retirement earnings. The district also agreed to correct placements of other teachers on the salary schedule, impacting 367 teachers.
This in the continued face of Act 10, the virulent anti-union law passed in 2011, which eliminated most collective bargaining rights for public workers, including teachers.
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We already look through the lens of relentless capitalism driving the hot labor summer, including the writers' and actors' strike, and what almost was a major Teamsters' strike against UPS, among others.
But what about all of us and our expectations and habits? The Associated Press out with a piece today: “Consumers are demanding speed and convenience. It’s driving the labor unrest in Hollywood and at UPS.”
It begs the question: how much are we willing to put on others just to be comfortable ourselves?
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Sounds good on its face, but to be clear, the bargaining process is not yet complete. You've now got 340K members who have to closely digest the details and vote whether to ratify the deal. The voting window will be from Aug. 3 to 22.
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Is work therapeutic? It reinforces our sense of routine, and underlies our social connections. But where’s the line? Surely we know now that there’s definitely a line, but can America’s workaholic culture take pause and recognize it?
Today we're diving deep into the pervasive issue of presenteeism in the workplace and exploring possible solutions. Presenteeism, for those unfamiliar with the term, refers to the compulsion to work long hours and be available around the clock, even when unwell or unproductive. Two articles this week shed light on this problem from different angles, and we'll be discussing their insights. A few terms that come to mind include support, adjustments, balance, boundaries. At least one of them probably applies to all of us– and to all of our bosses.
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Well, the hits of capitalism just keep coming.
Who would have known that as my classmates and I were born at the end of the groovy 1970s, went to school and eventually graduated on a sunny day in 1998, the year we sent our first email and Google was founded, that our outcomes, so full of promise and potential, would end up so uneven and lopsided.
As reported by CBS News, “Millions of Americans born between 1965 and 1980, collectively known as Gen X, are headed toward retirement woefully unprepared financially, a recent analysis shows."
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As expected, the actors of SAG-AFTRA announced today they will join the Writer's Guild on strike. Welcome to the club!
What really underscores all this is how many important labor stories are all happening simultaneously. You hear those who have been involved in labor for decades pointing out that fact. Movements just continue to build on each other post-pandemic, coalescing into a true zeitgeist moment of worker empowerment.
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The bright blue sign on the door at Old Navy tries to be convincing: "We’re Hiring! Why you’ll love it here: 50% merchandise discount at Old Navy, plus all Gap brands*. Discounts on expenses through the Perks at Work program. Special rates on health, dental and vision insurance. Mental health and well-being programs."
Of course, no mention of starting pay, but you get the idea. Workers are in the drivers’ seat. And they are firmly taking the reins.
Also:
- Marquee campaigns: Amazon Labor Union and Starbucks United updates.
- UPS strike imminent?
- Canadian dock workers shut down critical west coast ports.
- Writers' Guild still on strike, with SAG-AFTRA close behind.
- SpiritAero Systems machinists in Kansas get a contract after a five-day strike.
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If you wanted to exploit our capitalist system for your own gain, knowing what you know through general experience or even hardship; maybe even desperation, given its exploitative qualities– how would you do it? With surreptitious computer hackery in the dead of night, or brazenly out in the open in a public space, with a golden touch of irony?
If you’re the three suspects who placed skimming devices in multiple NY Walmarts recently in broad, open daylight, you’d choose the latter.
The suspects strategically targeted Walmart, of course; the retail giant emblematic of voracious capitalist ethos, where countless transactions take place daily. People are getting off work, and have to stop off somewhere to pick up this or that. And chances are, they’re going to Walmart. The last thing they can afford is for their card information to be hacked and stolen, and their account, already brimming with their err.. thousands of dollars, to be compromised.
This operation underscores the fundamental risks and complications associated with an economic system that prioritizes profit over the well-being and security of individuals. Full stop.
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"As workforce well-being dips, leaders ask: What will it take to move the needle?
Empowering managers. Promoting accountability. Focusing on human outcomes. The Deloitte Well-being at Work survey sheds light on what leaders can do to make progress."
For this one, think of the private sector. Obviously the big ones: Google. Apple. Amazon. Starbucks. UPS. Any company with a Chief executive officer (CEO), or a Chief financial officer (CFO), or a Chief operating officer (COO), etc.
No surprise, things are not well for the employees in these organizations. Let’s start here: as reported by Reuters. Average weekly earnings for U.S. private sector employees was $1,132 in December, up 3.6% from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The CEO's higher gains pushed the median "pay ratio" at companies led by the CEOs studied by Equilar to 288 times the pay of their median employee, up from 254 times in 2021.
But hey, who needs a fair distribution of wealth or any semblance of economic justice? Let's continue applauding the CEOs for their exceptional leadership and for single-handedly lifting the economy on their broad shoulders, while their workers struggle to catch a glimpse of that elusive American Dream.
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The Supreme Court strikes again. Affirmative action defies our color-blind constitution, when the framers were anything but. A website designer never asked by any LGBTQ couple to design anything is now free to discriminate. And today’s topic, as reported by NPR, “Student loan borrowers blast Supreme Court Decision on Debt Forgiveness.”
The image accompanying the piece features a graduate in cap and gown, one tassel being pulled forward, and the other with a dollar sign at the end of it pulling her back. The halls of academia and all of their promise in the background. Her face, needless to say, is pointing forward.
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My wife and I are at Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Geneva Lake, WI. The kids are with their grandma in Illinois. We drove 13 hours for a babysitter so we could get away for a few days-- a much needed respite to reclaim us for us.
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Hospitals and other health care providers in New York would be banned from reporting medical debt to credit agencies under a bill passed this week by the state’s legislature — a measure intended to limit the damage that illness and injury can do to someone’s financial health.
If signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the law would make New York the second state, after Colorado, to prohibit medical debt from being collected by credit reporting agencies or included in a credit report.
It would make you laugh if it wasn’t so unconscionable. Maybe it still does. It’s an angle I never considered, having never been burdened this way, but you sure know it if you have.
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Two intersecting labor stories reinforce firmly that elections have consequences, and those consequences are borne right down to the ground level by the working class. On one hand, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the nullification of local water break rules for construction workers in Texas. Yes, you heard that right. On the other, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, which took effect yesterday in New York.
I’ll be the first to say that at the national level, both parties are either batshit insane, in the case of Republicans, or bought and sold, in the case of Democrats. It’s at the state and local levels where politics generally impacts the populace at large. And so it goes here, whether it’s you vs. nature in the scorching heat, or vs. algorithmic quotas in the warehouse.
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Per NPR's Planet Money, a new working paper, ‘The Economics of Financial Stress' looks at what stress can do to a household's financial situation.
The paper is by economists from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, and the University of California, Berkeley. They polled a group of 10,000 prime-age, employed American workers about their current financial situation, and asked them to speculate about how they would behave if certain financial conditions prevailed in their lives. And they found that the respondents fell into two rough groups: financial sophisticates, and financial naifs.
Most of us are naifs, while a select few are sophisticates. With another recession on the horizon, this has implications-- and reflects, as usual, on capitalism.
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As reported by CNBC:
- The “quiet luxury” trend has quickly caught on, even though, these days, most Americans are more likely to live paycheck to paycheck.
- Marked by expensive materials in muted tones, quiet luxury is also known as "stealth wealth."
- As Americans’ economic circumstances get increasingly divided, consumers could benefit from the shift to low-key basics over loud logos, one financial expert says.
Trouble is, all that still assumes a certain privileged economic position. Quiet or loud, it's all the same at the margins.
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My wife has working a couple nights a week at the rollicking Bad Apple Garage Bar & Grill, leaving me to hold down the fort until bedtime. Meanwhile, the show hits 500 listens. What's 500 more?
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Last year, our new contract included a provision for a $500 retention bonus to acknowledge what we'd been through as a staff during the pandemic. So we knew we were getting it at some point this year-- we just didn't know when. As it turns out, payday is coming tomorrow-- on payday. And it isn't sudden generosity. It was negotiations, and tomorrow would be just the same old payday without the union.
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If you're a public worker who joined the NY State and Local Retirement system after April 1, 2012, you're unfortunately in Tier 6. Work until 63, or retire at 55 with a steep penalty. Pay in for your entire career, and pay more if you get a raise.
Meanwhile, Watertown (NY) is set to hold its first-ever job fair to try and fill vacant public and civil service positions. Some jobs have been vacant for over a year. Something has to give. We MUST #FixTierSix.
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My neighbor down the way, Chris, grew up the son of a school administrator. He left home and lived all around the country, having done service in AmeriCorps St. Louis, and was a librarian in Wisconsin and member of his local AFSCME chapter in the aftermath of Act 10. He also volunteered for Bernie 2020, and today is a stay-at-home dad to he and his wife's young son. We talk about Chris's experiences in progressivism; the challenges of organizing; the campaign and Democrats' problem in rural areas; the vital importance of libraries, and the labor of love that is fatherhood.
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For the past decade, I’ve taught English 11, which generally is American Literature, paired with US History. To end each year, the students compose one of two final writings centered around the American dream: either a documented essay with three sources (one of our works and two reliable outside sources, or two works and one outside source). Pick a lens: definition or obstacles. Or an original 3-5 page short story, incorporating a current issue, trend or concern into the plot. Create characters who must encounter, overcome or not overcome the issue.
Needless to say, their responses are revealing, and their knowledge at their age is real. It's all part of this grand American experience they'll soon be joining.
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I couldn’t call this podcast “Labor Force” without giving recognition to the great unpaid labor in America today: motherhood. Sincere kudos to all the mothers doing the juggling act and somehow making it all work. As a husband, father and teacher, I recognize the significance of your sheer effort and your labor of love.
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Florida teacher pay already ranks #48 in the country, and now Gov. Ron DeSantis has gone for the jugular.
Per Florida Phoenix, “The governor took the occasion of a bill-signing ceremony at a Miami charter school to blast the teachers’ unions, which have opposed him on numerous policy matters, including whether to keep schools closed to prevent COVID-19 transmission during the pandemic and require mandatory masking.
The bill (SB 256) bars public sector unions, including those for teachers– but not for police or firefighters that tend to support the governor– from deducting dues from members’ paychecks, requiring employees to write checks instead. Furthermore, unions’ membership would have to constitute 60% of a bargaining unit, an increase from the old threshold of 50%."
“These are political organizations that are not looking out for the interests of parents or the interests of students,” DeSantis has said.
Contrast this with NY, with a 600,000-strong state teachers federation-- and #1 in teacher pay. #UnionYES
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A new report from Center for American Progress analyzes union membership for households without a four-year college degree, defined as working class. It’s no secret: as the report indicates, “Union membership not only increases wealth for working-class families but also narrows racial wealth gaps and offers a path to the middle class.”
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Per the AP: “People squeezed by inflation and demanding economic justice took to the streets across Asia and Europe to mark May Day on Monday, in a global outpouring of worker discontent not seen since before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the world into lockdowns.
French police charged at radical protesters smashing bank windows as unions pushed the president to scrap a higher retirement age. South Koreans pleaded for higher wages. Spanish lawyers demanded the right to take days off. Migrant domestic workers in Lebanon marched in a country plunged in economic crisis.”
Turns out that capitalism’s global appeal is also a dividing line between the working class and the employer class. Who knew that this dynamic didn’t magically provide equality and stable living conditions across continents? Where one is impacted, all are impacted. Let’s get into some of these discontents, and equate them with our discontents.
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Need medical attention? Chances are, you’ve gone to an urgent care facility. Here in Watertown, NY, we have QuikMed Urgent Care, WellNow Urgent Care, and so-named Watertown Urgent Care. These facilities provide quick, convenient care on a first-come, first-served basis. We probably can’t really imagine a community now without one.
But those address your physical health. What about an urgent care for mental health, with the same open access and convenience? A ribbon cutting was held in Watertown last week for just that, at Citizen Advocate’s new Behavioral Health Campus. A game-changer for open access, in a time when workers report mental health challenges having a significant impact on their lives.
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From the moment we ask children what they want to “be” when they grow up, we exalt the dream job as if it were life’s ultimate objective. Many entangle their identities with their jobs, with predictable damage to happiness, well-being, and even professional success.
In The Good Enough Job, journalist Simone Stolzoff traces how work has come to dominate Americans’ lives—and why we find it so difficult to let go. [...]
Visit simonestolzoff.com for more.
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From the moment we ask children what they want to “be” when they grow up, we exalt the dream job as if it were life’s ultimate objective. Many entangle their identities with their jobs, with predictable damage to happiness, wellbeing, and even professional success.
In The Good Enough Job, journalist Simone Stolzoff traces how work has come to dominate Americans’ lives—and why we find it so difficult to let go.More: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/704142/the-good-enough-job-by-simone-stolzoff/
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The village nestled in an idyllic valley. Kids up and down the block. Riding bikes everywhere. Trudging up hills and sledding down at high speed. Building ramps hard as ice. Over the guardrail ramp, skidding onto the frozen creek. Intense backyard football and baseball. Youth football and Little League. Winter soccer, summer soccer. Adventures by night– manhunt, campouts, the cemetery, which also had the best sledding hills. Nintendo, Gameboy and Sega Genesis, but no algorithms, and lots and lots of outdoor time.
That was growing up in the 80s and 90s in Portville, NY, a small town in Cattaraugus County. Picture the lower left-hand corner of the state, about two hours south of Buffalo, right on the border with Pennsylvania. Down the road from the city of Olean and St. Bonaventure University.
I left fifteen years ago now. But of course, those days will always be special. It was with dismay then, that I saw in the Olean Times Herald earlier this month, “Cattaraugus County remains among unhealthiest in state.”
Pick your poison. Think why the richest country in the world has to rank its citizens at all.
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The Salvation Army describes its mission as, “…dedicated to doing the most good. Also, “Sharing is Caring is a long-standing motto that succinctly describes the partnership between The Salvation Army and the community.”
One way it demonstrates these qualities is through the stomach, with its well-known pancake breakfast fundraisers. It hosted one here in Watertown, NY on Sunday. In March, the Salvation Army’s soup kitchen served more than 4,000 meals–three times more than last year.
We may be able to order groceries or food with the tap of a finger. But all the toys in the world can’t make up for an economic system prone to sharp inequality and widespread instability. Maybe you want eggs to go with those pancakes? According to CNN, “High egg prices send profits at largest US producer soaring more than 700%.”
Not much else captures inflation like breakfast.
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It’s one of those things we obviously take for granted. The ability to bathe and feed ourselves; the ability to come and go as we please. We can do it all for ourselves… until we can’t. Or until a loved one can’t. Home care workers know this all too well, and there’s a shortage of them, like there’s a shortage of teachers and nurses. How might such shortages be solved? By collaboration, investment, professional respect. To the New York home care workers who rallied at the Capitol this week, the most tangible answer is, of course– and what else would you expect? Pay.
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Two stories yesterday of workers vs. billionaires. One of them played out on Capitol Hill, and the other on baseball diamonds far from the cathedrals of the Major Leagues. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz lied, denied and weaseled his way through his testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill. Later, it was announced that Minor League baseball players–among the lowest paid workers in the country–paid as little as $7 per hour by billionaire owners– have reached a first union contract that will more than double the pay of all players.
Baristas and baseball players, an unlikely pair in any other context but this one.
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Big news on the labor front this past week, as reported by Politico: Michigan on Friday became the first state in more than half a century to repeal a right-to-work law.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature, overturning a 2012 GOP law that allowed workers to choose not to join unions or pay union dues as a condition of employment, even if the union represents them in negotiations.
That last part is the kicker. You work in a unionized workplace, you’re not in competition with your colleagues. You’re not on a pedestal. You can’t bargain your own contract. You’re subject to the contract the union negotiates on your behalf. Don’t like it? Talk to the negotiating committee and suggest changes. Get involved. Or, just give up your benefits. Plunge into our capitalist paradise and be your own boss, and set your own terms. Good luck.
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My wife makes a mean pasta bake. Our neighbor is a busy single mom of two sweet kids, one of whom had her eighth birthday over the weekend. So why not get together, share a meal, and let the kids play? An old-fashioned get together in a time that could sorely use more of them--even this introvert has to admit. And leftovers to last for days.
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An annual tradition dating back to the mid-70's when a group of 100 local leaders came to Albany to fight for pension reform, the NYS United Teachers Committee of 100 lobbying day was this week. Today, members from every region of the state convene to meet with legislators about education issues. The main takeaway? Red or blue don't matter when it comes to the public good, public servants, our children and their future. And we're still talking about pension reform in 2023. Another: this access would not happen without the union.
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The Washington Post out with a piece, "How you feel about your job affects how well you parent your kids."
“People spend 40 hours a week at work, and that experience affects you and your mental health, your physical health, everything,” said Maureen Perry-Jenkins, a professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. That, in turn, affects how supportive and responsive a parent is.
How this stacks up with paid leave laws in the U.S. (or lack thereof) is another matter.
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Tax season means you get the most significant money at once you see all year: your tax refund. But it can get messy with credits or advances with breakable strings attached.
- Obama’s First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit saga
- H&R Block Emerald Advance cautionary tale
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Both my state and local federations celebrate 50 years this year. With all the workers striving for a contract and figuring out how to structure the union they fought so hard to win, I profile my local and all it has built in that half century. How is it structured? How does it function? What does it do? And why is the contract so important?
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Watertown, NY-- Samaritan Medical Center nurses picket over an understaffing crisis, and my doctor at Samaritan Family Health Center down the street tells me she's doing the work of three providers due to understaffing.
Private hospital system = profit. Place it within our for-profit system at large-- in the wake of the pandemic-- and it's all laid bare.
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True friendship ignores accounting, according to philosopher Todd May. Tell the #NFL and its average career of 3 years, and players having to last that long for any benefits. We're relieved #damarhamlin is recovering, but at what cost?
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The advent of ChatGPT caused a major stir late last year upon its release, but it's not the only AI endeavor either striving to influence our lives, or already doing so. In the education sphere, according to EdSurge, "A number of startups are trying to bring so-called generative AI to classrooms as a teaching tool."
There's Prof Jim, “a software company that can turn existing written materials—like textbooks, Wikipedia pages or a teacher’s notes—into animated videos at the push of a button.” An avatar for a teacher, with a realistic twist.
https://www.profjim.com/
More perniciously, Amazon delivery drivers are surveilled by an app as much or more so than the warehouse workers. OpenAI brought ChatGPT to the masses through wage suppression and exploitation of outsourced Kenyan "content labelers."
https://time.com/6247678/openai-chatgpt-kenya-workers/
And while Mark Zuckerberg claims the Metaverse will transform our work experience, those working in it now aren't quite impressed.
https://slate.com/technology/2023/01/vr-work-meetings-oculus-new-horizons-metaverse.html
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Two intersecting stories this past week:
Cornell University researchers: “Fewer than 40% of New Yorkers earn a living wage.”
https://blogs.cornell.edu/livingwage/
"Elected Officials, Education Advocates Call on Governor Hochul to Fund Free School Meals for All Students"
Todd May is a philosopher who published Friendship in an Age of Economics: Resisting the Forces of Neoliberalism in 2012. The book centers deep friendship as above gain seeking and all the tendencies of profit, into authentic connection and appreciation of those with whom we share a close bond. This contrasts sharply with the NFL, described by The Nation's sports editor Dave Zirin in the wake of Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest: "The callousness of this league never ceases to shock. Players are treated like equipment—easily found, easily disposed of."
Todd May is a philosopher who published Friendship in an Age of Economics: Resisting the Forces of Neoliberalism in 2012. The book centers deep friendship as above gain seeking and all the tendencies of profit, into authentic connection and appreciation of those with whom we share a close bond. This contrasts sharply with the NFL, described by The Nation's sports editor Dave Zirin in the wake of Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest: "The callousness of this league never ceases to shock. Players are treated like equipment—easily found, easily disposed of."
The rich get richer, and the rest us... get what we get. A pathetic federal minimum wage. Universal programs that would transform American society, such as the Child Tax Credit, free public college, or Medicare for All, dropped or not in the political will, despite popular appeal and desperate need. Union density at just over 10% of workers nationwide. Add to it all, major inflation. The ramifications of these are felt by the vast majority in the 42-year period dating back to 1980, when the current tide toward the top truly turned.
The experience of class solidarity interconnects workers' stories. Three labor book recommendations of note profiled:
Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Laborby Kim Kelly (2022)
On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity and Two Women's Epic Fight to Build a Union by Daisy Pitkin (2022)
On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane by Emily Guendelsberger (2019)
Labor revival 2022; NYS United Teachers at 50 and collective bargaining; know your "laborhood."