Workers went on strike and pushed union drives in record numbers after corporations made giant pandemic profits
In 2021 workers appear to have had enough.
Amid constant claims from some industries of labor shortages as the economy recovers from Covid-19 shutdowns, workers have been pushing employers and elected officials to raise wages, improve working conditions and benefits such as paid sick leave through walkouts, protests, rallies and strikes.
Continue reading...Employers are pausing efforts to call remote workers back in amid a renewed push for strikes and unionization
Large US companies are now pulling back on plans to return to in-person work in light of the Omicron variant’s rapid spread across America.
Employers planning to call remote workers back into the office in the new year are now pausing those efforts, and they are wary of setting new return dates only to push them back once again in the face of continued uncertainty and risks from the pandemic.
Continue reading...Strike, which began in October, expected to continue as workers seek significant raises, saying they work 80-hour weeks
Kellogg has said it is permanently replacing 1,400 workers who have been on strike since October, a decision that comes as the majority of its cereal plant workforce rejected a deal that would have provided 3% raises.
The Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) International Union said an overwhelming majority of workers had voted down the five-year offer.
Continue reading...A post-pandemic labor shortage has given workers leverage but experts doubt it will lead to a sustained rise in union membership
US labor unions have been on the defensive for decades but this October there has been a surprising burst of worker militancy and strikes as workers have gone on the offensive to demand more. Experts are predicting more actions to come but whether “Striketober” can lead to permanent change remains an open question.
The scale of industrial action is truly remarkable. Ten thousand John Deere workers have gone on strike, 1,400 Kellogg workers have walked out, as well as a walkout threatened by more than 30,000 Kaiser Permanente workers, all inflamed by a profound disconnect between labor and management.
Continue reading...Labor and environmental groups are demanding that General Electric stop offshoring jobs and invest in renewable energy
Kevin Smith, of Salem, Virginia, worked at General Electric for about 20 years before the town’s plant was shut down at the end of 2019, and the work moved to a factory in India.
“It was a total shock because of how things had been going, with all the overtime we were working, everything just seemed great, like there was no way this was happening. All I wanted to do was wake up, that I had a nightmare, but that wasn’t the case,” said Smith, 50, who was one of about 265 GE workers who were laid off due to the closure.
Continue reading...The company has vigorously opposed unions in the past and says its ‘partners’ in Buffalo don’t need one now
Fifty Starbucks workers in New York are trying to form a union, which would be the first in the US for the coffee chain if successful.
Last week, the group of workers in the Buffalo area publicly announced their union organizing drive and the formation of their organizing committee, Starbucks Workers United, in a letter to the Starbucks CEO, Kevin Johnson.
Continue reading...But company’s founder pushes back against criticism of its work practices in letter to shareholders
Amazon needs to “do a better job” for its employees, Jeff Bezos told shareholders in his final letter as chief executive of the online giant, but he also pushed back against criticism of the company’s work practices.
Bezos, who reclaimed his title as the world’s richest person this year, said that Amazon’s recent defeat of an attempt by some workers to form the company’s first union in Alabama did not bring him “comfort”.
Continue reading...Demanding bosses, impossible workloads, 24/7 email – no wonder many employees feel they have no time outside work to find love
Laura Hancock started practising yoga when she worked for a charity. It was a job that involved long hours and caused a lot of anxiety. Yoga was her counterbalance. “It saved my life, in a way,” she says.
Yoga brought her a sense of peace and started her journey of self-inquiry; eventually, she decided to bring those benefits to others by becoming a yoga teacher. She studied for more than eight years before qualifying. That was about 10 years ago; since then, she has been teaching in Oxford, her home town.
Continue reading...All the Democratic presidential candidates slated to participate in next week’s debate have threatened to skip the event if an ongoing labor dispute forces them to cross picket lines on the university campus where the debate will be hosted.
A labor union says it will picket as Loyola Marymount University hosts Thursday’s sixth Democratic debate, and Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders responded by tweeting they would not participate if that meant crossing it. Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang followed suit.
Continue reading...The employee-activists accuse the company of attempting to quash employee organizing, in violation of federal labor laws
The four worker-activists who were fired by Google during Thanksgiving week plan to file federal charges alleging that their former employer fired them to quash worker organizing, in violation of federal labor laws.
Google told its staff of approximately 100,000 last week that the employees were fired for “clear and repeated violations of our data security policies”, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg. But in defiant interviews with the Guardian on Monday, the workers rejected that justification as a pretext.
Continue reading...More Americans engaged in work stoppages last year than since 1986 – and the successful GM strike may encourage other union leaders, experts say
The recently ended General Motors strike was part of a surprisingly large recent wave of walkouts, and by many measures, the 49,000 strikers emerged so well from their 40-day showdown with the US auto giant that the results could help inspire more worker militancy and strikes, labor analysts and experts say.
“They did pretty well,” said Kristin Dziczek, vice-president of industry, labor and economics at the Center for Automotive Research, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “They got more money. They got a pathway to regular employment for temporary workers. They defended their healthcare” when GM was seeking to sharply increase the premiums the United Automobile Workers (UAW) members paid.
Continue reading...Despite winning six union elections, the opposition continues through legal appeals and stalled contracts
Michael Wagner has worked as a bartender at the Green Valley Ranch Casino Resort in Henderson, Nevada since it first opened in December 2001. Wagner and other workers at the casino voted to form a union in November 2017, with 78% of the vote, after years of facing union busting, intimidation, and retaliation against those participating in union organizing.
It has been a long struggle. But it is still not over. The billionaire Trump allies who own the casino – and others like it – have embarked on a campaign of stalling recognition, delaying contract negotiations and intimidation and poor working conditions, casino workers say.
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