Posts tagged Gaza
Commentary: The UAW Puts Academics Ahead of Autoworkers
September 29, 2024 // Nor are autoworkers heading to the picket line for student-loan forgiveness. But the UAW thinks that topic matters, once again at the insistence of graduate students who have never been to a factory. Last year, after the Supreme Court struck down the Biden-Harris administration’s first scheme to “cancel” student debt, UAW leaders oddly called it an “anti-worker decision.” That’s news to workers at the Rawsonville plant, many of whom have already repaid thousands of dollars in college tuition and have no desire to work overtime to pay off the student loans of those who chose to go to college and willingly took on debt.
Commentary: Call for End to Israel Aid Is More Proof Organized Labor Is Progressivism and Progressivism Is Organized Labor
July 24, 2024 // The UAW called for a cease-fire in Gaza in December of last year, with some UAW locals calling for one mere days after the Hamas attack on October 7. The UAW, in particular, has a large contingent of higher-education workers in its ranks, with college campuses being hotbeds of anti-Israel activism. The UAW represents about the same number of workers at the University of California system as it does at General Motors. The UAW Arab Caucus, which also supports the BDS movement, called for the union to change its stance from calling for a cease-fire only to also calling for a halt to all U.S. military aid back in February.
Self-Described ‘Most Pro-Union President’ Joe Biden Facing Skepticism From Labor Leaders Following Debate Debacle
July 16, 2024 // A day earlier, Fain met with his union’s executive board to discuss grave concerns about Biden’s ability to win the looming presidential election, according to three sources who spoke with Reuters. The UAW has roughly 400,000 members with an outsized presence in Michigan, a key swing state. Association of Flight Attendants President Sara Nelson reportedly was among the most outspoken regarding concerns about Biden’s electability at Wednesday’s AFL-CIO meeting,
Op-Ed: SEIU Brings Progressive Union Politics to Philly
June 4, 2024 // While serving as president of SEIU Local 2015, Verrett faced one of the largest union staff labor strikes in American history after accusations of union-busting, surveillance, assault, and intimidation. Verrett’s dedication to SEIU’s progressive politics, however, is unmatched. In the words of the union’s new leader, America’s “ugly, insidious, anti-black racist structures” inform her decision to make “eradicating structural and anti-black racism a core strategy” of union operations.
UC student workers expand strike as they demand amnesty for protestors
May 31, 2024 // While the strike is technically distinct from the larger protest movement against the war, the two movements are related. Last Thursday, several hundred UCLA members of the UAW 4811 held a rally in support of their impending strike. Moments later, they joined a student-led protest demanding that the UC call for a ceasefire and divest from weapons manufacturers and the Israeli economy. That same day, protesters erected a short-lived encampment and temporarily took over a campus building before being pushed out by police. It was a clear sign that, despite hundreds of arrests in May, thousands of students, union members and some faculty remain passionate about their pro-Palestinian advocacy.
UC Academic Workers Strike Over Pro-Palestinian Protest Arrests
May 22, 2024 // UAW 4811 is carrying out what the UAW calls a “Stand Up Strike.” Instead of a simultaneous systemwide strike like the one these same workers carried out in 2022, UAW 4811 is calling on its members on individual UC campuses, starting with Santa Cruz, to walk out. The strategy echoes the successful one that UAW’s traditional autoworker members staged against the big three U.S. automakers in 2023.
Opinion: Is The American Labor Movement Ready For Gen Z?
February 12, 2024 // It’s fair to ask what any of this has to do with unions’ supposed goal of bargaining for better wages and conditions for workers. The data is regrettably clear: with this trend towards increased activism, representation for actual union members has suffered. Some of the nation’s largest labor unions routinely spend as much or more on political activities than they do on representing their existing members. For example, in 2022 the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), representing over 1.8 million workers, spent $63.5 million on political activities and lobbying, which is more than double what it spent representing its membership. The American Federation of Teachers spent $46.9 million supporting Left-wing politics in 2023, while the National Education Association spent less on member representation than it did on political causes. Organized labor is already diverting too much time and money away from the well-being of workers and toward unrelated political agendas. As more members of Gen Z join unions and gain leadership positions, we can only expect this trend to increase.
Starbucks, union in legal battle over pro-Palestinian social media post
October 19, 2023 // Starbucks sued Workers United in federal court in Iowa Wednesday, saying a pro-Palestinian social media post from a union account early in the Israel-Hamas war angered hundreds of customers and damaged its reputation. Starbucks is suing for trademark infringement, demanding that Workers United stop using the name "Starbucks Workers United" for the group that is organizing the coffee company's workers. Starbucks also wants the group to stop using a circular green logo that resembles Starbucks' logo. Workers United responded with its own filing, asking a federal court in Pennsylvania to rule that it can continue to use Starbucks' name and a similar logo. Workers United also said Starbucks defamed the union by implying that it supports terrorism and violence.