Labor Rights News Thread

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caltrek
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A Good Day for Labor
by Robert Kutner
December 10, 2021

http://americanprospect.activehosted.co ... 08d315cf0c

Introduction:
(The American Prospect) The certification of one Starbucks out of the thousands in the U.S. is getting an appropriate amount of attention—the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single latte. My colleague Harold Meyerson has further thoughts on how to organize fed-up workers who haven’t been reached before. But that wasn’t the only interesting development in worker organizing this week.

After 1,400 striking workers at four Kellogg plants rejected the latest contract offer, the company made plans to hire replacement scabs. There was just one problem: organized discontent. A poster on the popular Reddit community r/antiwork, which has 1.3 million members, got members to surge fake applications to the online hiring portal. Then a young TikTok user created a code to automatically fill out fake applications for the jobs perpetually. Kellogg may find it impossible to distinguish the real applications from the bogus ones. The kids are all right.

Meanwhile, in Brussels, the EU has proposed regulations that will give gig workers, an estimated four million in the 27-nation federation, most of the same rights as payroll workers. That would include minimum-wage protections, vacation pay, unemployment benefits, and protections against misclassification.

If it can happen there, it can happen here. Biden’s Labor Department has begun a major offensive against employers who try to classify regular workers as contractors to deny them benefits and the right to unionize. And if the platform model of exploiting workers can be shown to be vulnerable in Europe, that makes it easier to restore worker rights here.

Europe, incidentally, is not experiencing a Great Resignation, because workers there are treated better to begin with. Credit the pandemic or credit a shift in consciousness, but we are seeing definite gains to worker power on both sides of the Atlantic.
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
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caltrek
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Amazon Workers Will Likely Get Another Chance to Unionize in Alabama
Here is another article, this one from Other Words, on this same topic:

Amazon Can't Bust Unions Forever
by Sonali Kolhatkar

https://otherwords.org/amazon-cant-bust-unions-forever/

Extract:
(Other Words) Amazon has already begun paving the way for more interference. According to Reuters, it’s again “forcing thousands of employees to attend meetings” and “posting signs critical of labor groups in bathrooms.”

This aggressive pushback against a unionizing effort at a single warehouse indicates Amazon’s absolute determination to deny workers a say in their labor conditions.

And it’s no mystery why.

A study of 20 years of wage data for the retail industry found a clear and growing advantage for unionized workers compared to non-union workers, with the weekly wage gap between the two groups increasing from $20 in 2013 to $50 in 2019.

You can see the difference firsthand for Amazon’s workers in Europe. There, Amazon’s workers are already unionized — and actively demanding better wages and working conditions.
Last edited by caltrek on Mon Dec 13, 2021 3:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Don't mourn, organize.

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Yuli Ban
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And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
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caltrek
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'Let's End Kellogg's Gr-r-eed': Sanders to Rally With Striking Workers in Michigan
by Jake Johnson
December 14, 2021

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/ ... s-michigan

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Tuesday that he will travel to Battle Creek, Michigan later this week to rally with striking Kellogg's workers as the company's management attempts to permanently replace the 1,400 employees who walked off the job in October to protect their benefits from deep cuts.

"Kellogg's workers made the company billions during a pandemic by working 12-hour shifts, some for more than 100 days in a row. But Kellogg's is now choosing corporate greed over the workers they once called 'heroes,'" tweeted Sanders, chair of the Senate Budget Committee. "On Friday, I'm going to Michigan to stand with the workers."

According to Sanders' office, the rally is scheduled to take place at 3 pm ET (Eastern Tie) at Battle Creek Farmers Market.

"Kellogg's is a company that is worth tens of billions of dollars. They paid their CEO (Chief Executive Officer) over $11 million last year," Sanders said over the weekend. "Let's stand with the workers."
Don't mourn, organize.

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Amazon Driver was Warned She’d be Fired for Returning with Packages During a Tornado
by Mitchell Clark
December 17, 2021

https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/17/228 ... estruction

Introduction:
(The Verge) An Amazon delivery driver in Illinois was told to keep delivering packages after she reported hearing tornado sirens, with the dispatcher saying that the sirens were “just a warning.” According to a report by Bloomberg, which includes screenshots of the conversation, the driver was told that returning to the warehouse would be viewed as a route refusal, “which [would] ultimately end with you not having a job come tomorrow morning.”

The conversation reportedly happened on Friday evening, around an hour and a half before a tornado hit an Amazon facility around 30 miles away from the driver. After being told twice to “just keep delivering,” the driver was eventually instructed to shelter in place “for 15-20 minutes, then continue as normal.” (The instructions to shelter in place were repeated several more times after.) The driver, expressing that a delivery van wouldn’t provide much safety, said she wanted to return to base.

The dispatcher’s response is harrowing: “If you decide to come back, that choice is yours. But I can tell you it won’t be viewed as for your own safety. The safest practice is to stay exactly where you are.” The dispatcher said drivers couldn’t be recalled unless Amazon directed it and that she would lose her job if she returned. The tornado ended up touching down near a highway, throwing cars in the air, according to Bloomberg, though the driver involved in the text exchange is reported to be safe.

Amazon told Bloomberg that the dispatcher “should have immediately directed the driver to seek shelter” when they reported hearing the sirens and said that “under no circumstance should the dispatcher have threatened the driver’s employment.” The company says it’s investigating the incident.

The Amazon facility wasn’t a safe haven either: a warehouse collapsed during the storm, leaving six workers dead. Bloomberg reports that the warehouse didn’t conduct drills to make sure people were prepared in case of an emergency.
Don't mourn, organize.

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Senator Warren, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Other Lawmakers Demand Answers from Amazon After Warehouse Deaths
by Kim Lyons
December 20, 2021

https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/20/228 ... use-deaths

Introduction:
(The Verge) A group of progressive Democratic lawmakers, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Reps. Cori Bush and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is demanding answers from Amazon after six people were killed in a tornado strike at one of its warehouses in Illinois.

A letter sent Monday to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and founder Jeff Bezos says the events that happened on December 10th at the Edwardsville facility “fit a larger pattern: Amazon puts worker safety at risk in everyday situations and emergencies alike.

“As we work to ensure that tragedies such as this one are not repeated, we seek answers about what happened at your Edwardsville warehouse,” the letter continues, “and whether your policies may have contributed to this tragedy.”

The tornado was part of a complex of extreme weather centered in western Kentucky on December 10th, leaving at least 58 dead over more than 150 miles. The path of destruction included Amazon’s fulfillment center in Edwardsville, which was entirely destroyed by the strike. In the aftermath of the building collapse, reports emerged that workers at the warehouse didn’t receive proper safety training, and an overall lack of preparedness by Amazon left workers in harm’s way, despite weather warnings that tornadoes were likely that day.

Warren said in an email to The Verge that the circumstances in Edwardsville served as “another reminder that Amazon’s anti-worker and anti-union practices put their workers directly in harm’s way. Putting corporate profits above the health and safety of workers is unacceptable.”
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caltrek
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Amazon's Business Model Can Kill
by Sam Pizzigati
December 22, 2021

https://otherwords.org/tornadoes-can-ki ... ess-model/

Introduction:
(Other Words) Old-school home-improvement contractors have a piece of folk wisdom they love to share with prospective clients. “Listen,” they like to say. “I can do this job fast, I can do it cheap, or I can do it well. But I can’t do all three.”

This wisdom has been around forever. But not everyone gets it — take billionaire Jeff Bezos. His Amazon empire prides itself on delivering good results fast and cheap.

That works well enough for Bezos, now worth around $200 billion. And Amazon consumers, the company PR maintains, can get almost whatever they want quickly and cheaply. But for Amazon workers — and our broader society — Amazon’s empire building has been anything but good.

That became disastrously apparent in December when ferocious winds swept through Edwardsville, Illinois, leaving six Amazon warehouse workers dead. Debris from their workplace turned up “tens of miles” away, the National Weather Service reported.
Conclusion:
Amazon’s relentless quest to sell goods fast and cheap has rewarded Bezos tremendously, but it’s come at a huge cost for the rest of us. If the company rebuilds its Edwardsville warehouse, Bezos should listen to his handyman.
Don't mourn, organize.

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caltrek
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Kellogg's Strike Ends After Workers Vote to Ratify New Contract
December 22, 2021

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kellogg-st ... agreement/

Introduction:
(CBS) Kellogg's employees who have been on strike since early October have voted to ratify a tentative labor contract at the company's four U.S. cereal plants.

The contract covers approximately 1,400 workers represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union at plants in Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Kellogg said Tuesday that the new contract provides immediate, across the board wage increases and enhanced benefits for all. It also provides an accelerated, defined path to top-tier wages, a major sticking point for workers, and benefits for transitional employees.
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Covid Blamed for Oaxaca’s Radish-carving Festival Cancellation. Striking City Workers Cite Protest Over Bonuses
by Cofdy Copeland
December 23, 2021

https://www.courthousenews.com/covid-bl ... r-bonuses/

Extract:
(Courthouse News) OAXACA, Mexico (CN) — Locals and visitors alike were looking forward to Oaxaca’s pre-Christmas radish carving competition, but the Noche de Rábanos (Night of the Radishes) was canceled for the second straight year amid fears of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, according to official sources.

But members of a coalition of municipal maintenance workers unions, who used buses and garbage trucks to block streets in the city’s historic center since Tuesday, said the move was a response to their protest. Counting among their ranks trash collectors, street sweepers, and other workers who keep public spaces tidy, the union members say they have not received their Christmas bonuses, on which their families’ Christmas celebrations depend.
Union member Sergio Pérez Luna said they were supposed to have received their bonuses by Dec. 20. They launched their protest the day after the city government failed to pay them on time, refusing to clean the streets until they were paid. Waist-high piles of garbage littered the sidewalks and spilled into the streets as a result.

“The Night of the Radishes was canceled because the government didn’t want to pay us, not because of Covid,” he said. “This about Covid is just meant to hide the fact that the government doesn’t want to give us what we're owed. They don’t want the bad publicity.”

This year's cancellation adds another element of the Oaxacan people to the festival's history: the almost constant necessity to demand their rights from a government that perennially refuses to grant them.
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'Don't Cross the Picket Line': Apple Workers Organize Christmas Eve Walkout
by Brett Wilkins
December 24, 2021

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/ ... ve-walkout

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) A group of Apple employees organized a Christmas Eve walkout, demanding better working conditions and calling on customers to not shop in the tech giant's retail or online stores.

"We are Apple," Apple Together, the group organizing the walkout, tweeted Thursday. "We deserve a respectful workplace. We deserve paid sick time. We deserve protection on the frontlines. We deserve proper mental healthcare."

The workers are also asking for protective measures against Covid-19, including N-95 masks, sanitizer stations, a ban on loitering in stores, and appointment-only shopping.

"Demand that Apple upholds its image with your wallet," the walkout organizers said. "Don't shop in stores, don't shop online."

Apple Together—a group of company employees that formerly used the #AppleToo hashtag to draw attention to sexual harassment, sexism, and other workplace issues at the tech giant—said that in addition to Apple Store employees, workers at corporate offices and AppleCare are participating in the action.
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
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