Posts tagged Protest
REI Opens New Store in Ithaca Amid Union Busting Allegations
July 2, 2024 // The rally will feature speeches from New York State Senator Lea Webb, Assembly Member Anna Kelles, Ithaca Common Council Members Kayla Matos and Phoebe Brown, and unionized REI workers. The event aims to draw attention to the difficulties REI workers have faced in negotiating their first contracts. Since 2022, ten REI stores have voted to unionize, including locations in SoHo, New York; Berkeley, California; Cleveland, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; Durham, North Carolina; Maple Grove, Minnesota; Bellingham, Washington; Castleton, Indiana; and Santa Cruz, California. Workers at these stores have cited a desire for better wages, improved working conditions, and greater job security as reasons for unionizing.
OPINION Unionized academic workers go on strike, for what?
June 4, 2024 // The union, which states on its website that it “will not negotiate on behalf of encampment organizers,” has filed multiple complaints against the University of California with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) since the beginning of May, when the university called in law enforcement to break down the “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” at UCLA. By then the initial 30 tents had grown into a massive, self-barricaded site that attracted angry counter-protesters in a violent overnight clash. The union’s complaint listed “workplace demands” that included the “right to opt out of participation in military-funded research,” and the “disclosure and divestment of University funds from Israel’s war effort.” The UAW local also complained that a new discipline policy of an “applicable review process” for employees who are arrested or cited was imposed without “notice or opportunity to bargain.” Further, the union wants the university to “make whole” any employees who were reported for criminal activity by paying their civil fines, attorney fees, bail and damage expenses.
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.
UAW chief slams mass arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses
May 3, 2024 // The leadership at UAW 4811, the union chapter representing postdoctoral scholars and researchers of the University of California campuses, voted on Wednesday to hold a strike authorization vote as early as next week should the “circumstances justify.” “Should the university decide to curtail the right to participate in protected, concerted activity; discriminate against union members or political viewpoints; and create or allow threats to members’ health and safety, among others, UAW 4811 members will take any and all actions necessary to enforce our rights,” UAW 4811 wrote in a statement.
Georgia Today: Waffle House workers try to unionize; Chatham County DA race; Ocmulgee Mounds park
May 3, 2024 // Workers attachment to the system and commitment to tip earning, is exponentially higher in the fine dining sector, where menu prices are higher, and tips are higher too. Amanda Andrews: But a 20% tip on the Waffle House All Star special is just $2.30. Goldberg says the instability of the restaurant industry in general is another reason wages are low.
EDUCATION JUSTICE University of Alaska student workers union members protest for contract, after judge bars strike
May 2, 2024 // Hundreds of University of Alaska graduate students protested in marches on Monday at the Fairbanks and Anchorage campuses to increase pressure on the university system as it negotiates a contract with their union. The marches are a step down from a strike the Alaska Graduate Workers Association planned, after a Fairbanks Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order on Friday at the request of the University system. Student employees say the marches come as their window to negotiate closes.
Labor employees show up to protest for more telework
April 3, 2024 // Ernst and Franklin wrote to Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su seeking more details about what the protest cost the department. “Clearly, these employees know how much more effective they can be when they show up in person. We just wish they had the same level of dedication to serving Americans that they do to serving themselves,” the lawmakers wrote. “As White House Chief of Staff [Jeff] Zients said in January, agencies are still ‘not where they need to be’ on returning employees to the office. If your employees can show up to the office to protest, they can show up to the office to work.” Ernst and Franklin want Su to respond to answers to three questions by April 10: How much taxpayer-funded union time did representatives of AFGE Local 948 log with the Department of Labor (DOL) in the four weeks preceding their rally on March 19, 2024? Were the DOL employees paid—either through taxpayer-funded union time reimbursements or otherwise—for their protest against returning to the office, which they staged at their office? If so, what is the cost to the DOL including but not limited to labor and resources—of this protest?
VIDEO: Union boss punched in the face after annoying siren deployed during protest
March 12, 2024 // A fight broke out on a picket line last week in front of a downtown federal office building when striking custodians accused a woman of punching a union leader. The altercation happened in front of a federal government office building at 630 Sansome St., where janitors employed there have been on strike since last week. The custodians, who are members of Service Employees International Union Local 87, said the skirmish took place around 7 p.m. on Wednesday after the woman, an employee who works in the building, came out and confronted the striking janitors for playing a loud siren from a bullhorn.
Forbes to Lay Off 3% of Staff as Union Stages 3-Day Work Stoppage in Protest
January 26, 2024 // The Forbes editorial union began a three-day walkout Thursday to protest management negotiation tactics and layoffs hitting around 3% of staff. "To meet our 2024 business goals, like many companies, we needed to reprioritize resources, resulting in the difficult decision to reduce less than 3% of staff," a Forbes spokesperson said in a statement to TheWrap.
OPINION: LOS ANGELES PROTEST UNDERSCORES PARENTS’ DISGUST WITH UNION-BACKED DEPRAVITY MASQUERADING AS EDUCATION
September 11, 2023 // A protest staged this week in the very heart of the beast at the Los Angeles City Hall brought home the point in lurid detail. Organized under the banner, “Leave Our Kids Alone!” the event brought together a diverse coalition of groups ranging from LEXIT (Latinos Exiting the Democratic Party), Gays Against Groomers, an Armenian parental group, the Dad Army and many others to speak out about the serial transgressions of the California educational system. Among these were the revelation that public schools no longer be compelled to inform parents of a child’s gender transition and the imposition of a curriculum openly advocating for the LGBTQ agenda. What these parents were demanding is the simple right to be informed about life-altering decisions that have been assumed by the California state government. Virtually every speaker had a horror story about how children are being victimized by this misinformation movement, whose leaders alternately deny their actions or falsely claim the smut-centric curriculums have broad public support.