Posts tagged labor action
One-day strikes are in: Why unions are keeping it short on the picket line
December 4, 2024 // When it comes to getting employers to cave to demands, the success of one-day strikes is mixed — especially for those low-wage, low-leverage workers. Short work stoppages failed to unionize Walmart in the 2010s, along with those fast food workers from Fight for 15. Starbucks and its unionized employees are still negotiating a first contract. Long strikes are still happening — just ask SAG-AFTRA — and probably won’t be phased out entirely because they still carry much more leverage. Instead, one-day strikes often have a different goal in mind that’s still essential for a union victory — getting workers excited.
UAW Staff United launches strike as auto workers union accused of “bad faith bargaining”
December 4, 2024 // UAW staff are demanding fair wages and job security, as many organizers only have temporary three-month contracts renewable for up to three years. They want stable staffing, just cause protections, severance payments, at least two months' notice before layoffs, as well as sick days according to the law.
Labor strikes shut down operations at Canada’s container ports from East to West Coast, with U.S. trade left in limbo
November 5, 2024 // Ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert are at a standstill after ILWU Local 514 walked off the job in a strike. The labor action comes on the heels of a strike at the Port of Montreal. In July 2023, 13-day strikes at these two West Coast ports impacted the delivery of U.S.-bound goods for months, from apparel to auto parts and key industrial chemicals.
Dozens of striking S.F. hotel workers arrested during march over labor dispute
November 3, 2024 // Dozens of striking San Francisco hotel workers were arrested on Wednesday as hundreds marched in protest amid a monthslong contract dispute. The union workers prompted arrest after sitting in the middle of Powell Street next to Union Square just after 5 p.m., at the end of a march that started next to the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, the city’s largest hotel. Workers wore red T-shirts that read “One Job Should Be Enough” and carried blue-and-yellow signs that said “Bet on SF” as they circled the Hilton. They chanted, “No contract, no peace,” and blasted air horns. Outside the Grand Hyatt, members slammed on drums made out of barrels.
Philly’s largest city workers union votes to authorize strike during rush-hour rally
November 3, 2024 // During the rally, the union members held a voice vote to authorize a strike, FOX29 reported, but the union is expected to take a formal vote during a meeting in the next week. Union leaders will give Mayor Cherelle Parker's administration a 10-day notice about a potential strike, 6ABC reported. In August, District Council 33 submitted a 17-page proposal for a four-year contract that included pay raises, better pension plans, alternate work schedules, pandemic relief and a change in the residency requirement that most workers live in the city.
Opinion: Why union workers are abandoning the Democratic Party
October 15, 2024 // Scott Sauritch, the president of United Steelworkers Local 2227, drew significant public attention recently when he told a writer for the New Yorkerthat despite being a longtime Democrat, he would be voting for Donald Trump in November. He also said that most of the current rank-and-file members of the union planned on doing the same. “I don’t care what you see on TV,” Sauritch said. “The grunts in the lunchroom love Trump.”
AFSCME union organizes state-wide rally over UC patient care contract
October 15, 2024 // Employees at the UCI Health Lakewood and Placentia Linda hospitals picketed similarly in front of their workplaces. Rallies were held simultaneously at all 10 UC campuses, including UC San Francisco and the UC San Diego, UC Davis and UCLA medical centers. Participants at UCI gathered at 8:30 a.m. to protest an ongoing impasse between the union and the UC system on negotiations for patient care technical and service employees, according to an Oct. 9 press release from AFSCME Local 3299.
Port strike longshoremen union boss linked to murdered mobster in ‘farce’ racketeering case he beat at trial
October 8, 2024 // George Daggett, the attorney, said the case began after his cousin asked a Catholic priest for financial advice and had $18 million in union funds placed under the supervision of the same money manager who worked with Our Lady of the Lake Church in Sparta, New Jersey. "So at the trial, every time a mobster’s name was mentioned, the government had a big board, and they made a circle, [and] every time a mobster was mentioned, they put his picture up on this big board," he said. "The government’s case ended, and I took Father Cassidy’s picture and I put it in the middle of all those mobsters. So that's the kind of trial it was."
Dockworkers strike suspended, tentative agreement includes 62% pay raise over 6 years
October 4, 2024 // The tentative agreement would increase workers’ wages by 62% over the life of the 6-year contract, sources familiar confirm to ABC News. This represents a significant increase from the shipping industry group’s offer of a 50% wage increase earlier this week. The union had been pushing for a 77% pay hike over six years.
Postal workers to hold day of action, ID rallies planned
September 30, 2024 // "It just kind of grew as more people became interested," said Butler. "The small idea of a letter-writing campaign turned into a larger movement called 'We Won't Be Silenced.' With this movement we are ending the silence and sharing why our stories need to be told." Members at the American Postal Workers Union national convention in July then passed her resolution for a rally. Rallies are scheduled across Idaho - including in Boise, Caldwell, and Idaho Falls. Workers will call for more public comment opportunities at Board of Governors meetings, better staffing and services, and more cooperation from management at the bargaining table.