Posts tagged labor activism
Dartmouth basketball team votes to unionize, rattling college sports
March 7, 2024 // The team’s 13-2 vote to join SEIU Local 560 is a massive achievement for the long-percolating campaign to upend college sports, and one that could motivate others to follow suit. “It is self-evident that we, as students, can also be both campus workers and union members,” teammates Cade Haskins and Romeo Myrthil, who helped lead the organizing effort, said in a statement Tuesday. “It’s time for the age of amateurism to end.”
From Hollywood to auto work, organized labor is flexing its muscles. Where do unions stand today?
November 9, 2023 // There are also limits for organizers under current labor law. That means that what worked in auto workers' labor campaign, for example, may not look the same or be possible in other industries. Larger, more established unions typically have more bargaining power — and that's reflected in new contract wins seen today. “We have a labor law that was designed in the era in the 30s and 40s, when auto plants of 10,000 workers (were organizing)," he said. Starbucks is “split into these small coffee shops of 15 workers. ... They need to join together to have any kind of bargaining power against a big employer. But our labor law isn’t structured to help them do that,” Colvin said. Service jobs can also be hard to organize due to part-time work and high turnover rates. The same can be said for Amazon warehouses, where there have been pushes for unions.
American University staff preparing to strike over wages
August 22, 2022 // Hundreds of staffers at American University plan to go on strike next week if negotiations over wages and health-care benefits with the school in D.C. do not produce a contract. American and a union representing about 550 clerical, technical and academic staff members have been hammering out a labor agreement for more than a year. While they have made progress on issues such as job security, they remain at odds over salary increases, said Sam Sadow, an organizer with Service Employees International Union Local 500, the union representing the staff members. Matthew Bennett, Amanda Kleinman,
Opinion: Starbucks Workers United Is The Template For Modern Labor Organizing
July 6, 2022 // “We will have the right to negotiate a union contract and have a real voice in setting organization policies, rights on the job, health and safety conditions, protections from unfair firings or unfair discipline, seniority rights, leaves of absence rights, benefits, wages, etc.” Michelle Eisen, Reggie Bores,
The Bureau for Labor Statistics data only reported 16 strikes in 2021. A new database argues there were 14x as many
March 1, 2022 // Prior to 1982, the Bureau for Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on all work stoppages that involved at least six workers and lasted for a full shift or longer. Reagan-era budget cuts changed its methodology, and for the past four decades, the institution has only reported on work stoppages it considers “major” — those involving at least 1,000 workers.
ILR School tracks scope of 2021 US labor unrest
February 26, 2022 // The most common demands of the 140,000 striking American workers in 2021 involved health and safety protocols, pay and health care benefits, according to the Cornell ILR Labor Action Tracker 2021 annual report.
3,500 Hennepin County workers announce plan to strike beginning Feb. 2
January 19, 2022 // The strike would disrupt social services for the county’s 1.3 million residents if a deal isn’t reached by Feb. 2, with nurses, child protection workers, psychologists and workers in dozens of other roles walking off the job. County officials say they’re working on contingency plans to mitigate any disruption.