Posts tagged rank and file
Opinion: Workers have almost no say over what union bosses do — even their votes don’t count
December 6, 2022 // Unfortunately, as a practical matter, federal law prohibits unionized workers who are dissatisfied with how an “exclusive union bargaining agent” is handling their careers from decertifying it except for a small fraction of the time. For example, under the so-called “contract bar,” once a multiyear union contract is ratified, decertification efforts are forbidden for up to three years, except during a 30-day window beginning 90 days before the contract expires.
Labor secretary expects Congress to block rail strike
November 7, 2022 // The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 19, which represents 4,900 rail worker, on Saturday announced it had approved a tentative deal by a 52%-48% margin [see “Machinists narrowly ratify …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 5, 2022] Just 52% of voters approved the agreement, after the union’s rank and file had turned down a previous deal. The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division and Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen have turned down tentative agreements, with the BMWED set to strike as soon as Nov. 19.
Opinion: Can Unions Still Transform the Workplace?
August 18, 2022 // Starbucks workers across Buffalo created a citywide account on the GroupMe app, which enabled them to track corporate executives as they moved from café to café—and alert one another to be prepared. “What you’re seeing is organizing evolving with the times,” Eisen says. Soon after the successful union vote at her store, Eisen hopped on a Zoom call with workers at a Starbucks café in Mesa, Arizona, to share what she had learned with her counterparts on the other side of the nation. Bill Fletcher Jr, geriatric millennial, Shaun Richman, Jane McAlevey, people of color,
Worker Advocate Slams Biden Labor Board Plan to Gut Reforms Protecting Workers’ Right to Vote Out Unwanted Unions
June 24, 2022 // Workers’ Right to Vote Out Unwanted Unions Biden NLRB announces rulemaking to expand union boss power to block decertification votes and trap workers in union ranks opposed by rank-and-file National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix today slammed the National Labor Relations Board’s announcement that it would be initiating rulemaking to overturn 2020 reforms that strengthened the ability of rank-and-file workers to hold votes to remove unwanted union representation Colorado Fire Sprinkler, Obama Board
Labor’s Militant Minority How a new class of “salts”—radicals who take jobs to help unionization—is boosting the organizing efforts of long-term workers.
June 16, 2022 // On May 1 organizers from the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) joined the New York City Central Labor Council and community organizations to march from Washington Square Park to Foley Park. After a long afternoon of marching and chanting in the sun, about a third of the core organizing committee made their way to a May Day party at the Communist Party headquarters in Chelsea. In the Party’s spacious office, adorned with pictures of William Z. Foster and Lenin, a racially diverse group of twenty-somethings—ALU organizers, members of the Young Communist League (YLC), and fellow travelers—drank Modelos and Bud Lights, ate pizza, and danced to the Backstreet Boys. They were celebrating May Day and the first successful union election at Amazon—the ALU’s April 22 victory at the JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island. Mie Inouye, Boston Review, May Day, Young Communist League, post-Occupy, post-Bernie, Organizing Methods in the Steel Industry, militant minority, Jaz Brisack, New Communist Movement,
President Biden Sides Against Union Rank-and-File
May 5, 2022 //
Employees who crossed King Soopers picket lines now face consequences from union
April 20, 2022 // The King Soopers grocery strike lasted nine days in January. For workers who crossed the picket line, however, the effects of that strike could last months. UFCW Local 7, the union for grocery workers, issued fines to members who chose to work. Those fines average more than they earn in a day. Fines that are legally allowed.
Don’t Expect Unions To Make a Comeback
April 18, 2022 // The biggest problem for unions, it turns out, is that workers are making real progress without them
President Biden Sides Against Union Rank-and-File
April 18, 2022 // Of course, siding against workers is not the best look politically. Neither is shutting down transparency. The Biden Administration understandably rolled back the transparency regulation very quietly. Biden’s Labor Department killed the rule without fanfare on December 30 — the day before the New Year’s Eve holiday, when most union members and the press enjoyed Christmas vacations.
A grocery worker strike was imminent. Then came a 30-hour bargaining marathon
April 6, 2022 // Ralphs responded Sunday with an equally combative statement, saying, “UFCW locals collected $23 million in membership dues from Ralphs associates, yet if their members choose to walkout, strike pay from the union would be $15 per hour.”