(The American Prospect) The certification of one Starbucks out of the thousands in the U.S. is getting an appropriate amount of attention—the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single latte. My colleague Harold Meyerson has further thoughts on how to organize fed-up workers who haven’t been reached before. But that wasn’t the only interesting development in worker organizing this week.
After 1,400 striking workers at four Kellogg plants rejected the latest contract offer, the company made plans to hire replacement scabs. There was just one problem: organized discontent. A poster on the popular Reddit community r/antiwork, which has 1.3 million members, got members to surge fake applications to the online hiring portal. Then a young TikTok user created a code to automatically fill out fake applications for the jobs perpetually. Kellogg may find it impossible to distinguish the real applications from the bogus ones. The kids are all right.
Meanwhile, in Brussels, the EU has proposed regulations that will give gig workers, an estimated four million in the 27-nation federation, most of the same rights as payroll workers. That would include minimum-wage protections, vacation pay, unemployment benefits, and protections against misclassification.
If it can happen there, it can happen here. Biden’s Labor Department has begun a major offensive against employers who try to classify regular workers as contractors to deny them benefits and the right to unionize. And if the platform model of exploiting workers can be shown to be vulnerable in Europe, that makes it easier to restore worker rights here.
Europe, incidentally, is not experiencing a Great Resignation, because workers there are treated better to begin with. Credit the pandemic or credit a shift in consciousness, but we are seeing definite gains to worker power on both sides of the Atlantic.
(Other Words) Amazon has already begun paving the way for more interference. According to Reuters, it’s again “forcing thousands of employees to attend meetings” and “posting signs critical of labor groups in bathrooms.”
This aggressive pushback against a unionizing effort at a single warehouse indicates Amazon’s absolute determination to deny workers a say in their labor conditions.
And it’s no mystery why.
A study of 20 years of wage data for the retail industry found a clear and growing advantage for unionized workers compared to non-union workers, with the weekly wage gap between the two groups increasing from $20 in 2013 to $50 in 2019.
You can see the difference firsthand for Amazon’s workers in Europe. There, Amazon’s workers are already unionized — and actively demanding better wages and working conditions.
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(Common Dreams) Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Tuesday that he will travel to Battle Creek, Michigan later this week to rally with striking Kellogg's workers as the company's management attempts to permanently replace the 1,400 employees who walked off the job in October to protect their benefits from deep cuts.
"Kellogg's workers made the company billions during a pandemic by working 12-hour shifts, some for more than 100 days in a row. But Kellogg's is now choosing corporate greed over the workers they once called 'heroes,'" tweeted Sanders, chair of the Senate Budget Committee. "On Friday, I'm going to Michigan to stand with the workers."
According to Sanders' office, the rally is scheduled to take place at 3 pm ET (Eastern Tie) at Battle Creek Farmers Market.
"Kellogg's is a company that is worth tens of billions of dollars. They paid their CEO (Chief Executive Officer) over $11 million last year," Sanders said over the weekend. "Let's stand with the workers."
(The Verge) An Amazon delivery driver in Illinois was told to keep delivering packages after she reported hearing tornado sirens, with the dispatcher saying that the sirens were “just a warning.” According to a report by Bloomberg, which includes screenshots of the conversation, the driver was told that returning to the warehouse would be viewed as a route refusal, “which [would] ultimately end with you not having a job come tomorrow morning.”
The conversation reportedly happened on Friday evening, around an hour and a half before a tornado hit an Amazon facility around 30 miles away from the driver. After being told twice to “just keep delivering,” the driver was eventually instructed to shelter in place “for 15-20 minutes, then continue as normal.” (The instructions to shelter in place were repeated several more times after.) The driver, expressing that a delivery van wouldn’t provide much safety, said she wanted to return to base.
The dispatcher’s response is harrowing: “If you decide to come back, that choice is yours. But I can tell you it won’t be viewed as for your own safety. The safest practice is to stay exactly where you are.” The dispatcher said drivers couldn’t be recalled unless Amazon directed it and that she would lose her job if she returned. The tornado ended up touching down near a highway, throwing cars in the air, according to Bloomberg, though the driver involved in the text exchange is reported to be safe.
Amazon told Bloomberg that the dispatcher “should have immediately directed the driver to seek shelter” when they reported hearing the sirens and said that “under no circumstance should the dispatcher have threatened the driver’s employment.” The company says it’s investigating the incident.
The Amazon facility wasn’t a safe haven either: a warehouse collapsed during the storm, leaving six workers dead. Bloomberg reports that the warehouse didn’t conduct drills to make sure people were prepared in case of an emergency.
Senator Warren, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Other Lawmakers Demand Answers from Amazon After Warehouse Deaths
by Kim Lyons
December 20, 2021
(The Verge) A group of progressive Democratic lawmakers, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Reps. Cori Bush and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is demanding answers from Amazon after six people were killed in a tornado strike at one of its warehouses in Illinois.
A letter sent Monday to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and founder Jeff Bezos says the events that happened on December 10th at the Edwardsville facility “fit a larger pattern: Amazon puts worker safety at risk in everyday situations and emergencies alike.
“As we work to ensure that tragedies such as this one are not repeated, we seek answers about what happened at your Edwardsville warehouse,” the letter continues, “and whether your policies may have contributed to this tragedy.”
The tornado was part of a complex of extreme weather centered in western Kentucky on December 10th, leaving at least 58 dead over more than 150 miles. The path of destruction included Amazon’s fulfillment center in Edwardsville, which was entirely destroyed by the strike. In the aftermath of the building collapse, reports emerged that workers at the warehouse didn’t receive proper safety training, and an overall lack of preparedness by Amazon left workers in harm’s way, despite weather warnings that tornadoes were likely that day.
Warren said in an email to The Verge that the circumstances in Edwardsville served as “another reminder that Amazon’s anti-worker and anti-union practices put their workers directly in harm’s way. Putting corporate profits above the health and safety of workers is unacceptable.”
(Other Words) Old-school home-improvement contractors have a piece of folk wisdom they love to share with prospective clients. “Listen,” they like to say. “I can do this job fast, I can do it cheap, or I can do it well. But I can’t do all three.”
This wisdom has been around forever. But not everyone gets it — take billionaire Jeff Bezos. His Amazon empire prides itself on delivering good results fast and cheap.
That works well enough for Bezos, now worth around $200 billion. And Amazon consumers, the company PR maintains, can get almost whatever they want quickly and cheaply. But for Amazon workers — and our broader society — Amazon’s empire building has been anything but good.
That became disastrously apparent in December when ferocious winds swept through Edwardsville, Illinois, leaving six Amazon warehouse workers dead. Debris from their workplace turned up “tens of miles” away, the National Weather Service reported.
Conclusion:
Amazon’s relentless quest to sell goods fast and cheap has rewarded Bezos tremendously, but it’s come at a huge cost for the rest of us. If the company rebuilds its Edwardsville warehouse, Bezos should listen to his handyman.
(CBS) Kellogg's employees who have been on strike since early October have voted to ratify a tentative labor contract at the company's four U.S. cereal plants.
The contract covers approximately 1,400 workers represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union at plants in Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
Kellogg said Tuesday that the new contract provides immediate, across the board wage increases and enhanced benefits for all. It also provides an accelerated, defined path to top-tier wages, a major sticking point for workers, and benefits for transitional employees.
(Courthouse News) OAXACA, Mexico (CN) — Locals and visitors alike were looking forward to Oaxaca’s pre-Christmas radish carving competition, but the Noche de Rábanos (Night of the Radishes) was canceled for the second straight year amid fears of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, according to official sources.
…
But members of a coalition of municipal maintenance workers unions, who used buses and garbage trucks to block streets in the city’s historic center since Tuesday, said the move was a response to their protest. Counting among their ranks trash collectors, street sweepers, and other workers who keep public spaces tidy, the union members say they have not received their Christmas bonuses, on which their families’ Christmas celebrations depend.
Union member Sergio Pérez Luna said they were supposed to have received their bonuses by Dec. 20. They launched their protest the day after the city government failed to pay them on time, refusing to clean the streets until they were paid. Waist-high piles of garbage littered the sidewalks and spilled into the streets as a result.
“The Night of the Radishes was canceled because the government didn’t want to pay us, not because of Covid,” he said. “This about Covid is just meant to hide the fact that the government doesn’t want to give us what we're owed. They don’t want the bad publicity.”
…
This year's cancellation adds another element of the Oaxacan people to the festival's history: the almost constant necessity to demand their rights from a government that perennially refuses to grant them.
(Common Dreams) A group of Apple employees organized a Christmas Eve walkout, demanding better working conditions and calling on customers to not shop in the tech giant's retail or online stores.
"We are Apple," Apple Together, the group organizing the walkout, tweeted Thursday. "We deserve a respectful workplace. We deserve paid sick time. We deserve protection on the frontlines. We deserve proper mental healthcare."
The workers are also asking for protective measures against Covid-19, including N-95 masks, sanitizer stations, a ban on loitering in stores, and appointment-only shopping.
"Demand that Apple upholds its image with your wallet," the walkout organizers said. "Don't shop in stores, don't shop online."
Apple Together—a group of company employees that formerly used the #AppleToo hashtag to draw attention to sexual harassment, sexism, and other workplace issues at the tech giant—said that in addition to Apple Store employees, workers at corporate offices and AppleCare are participating in the action.
(The Verge) Apple is sending independent auditors to investigate an iPhone assembly facility in India, after poor working and living conditions at the plant prompted workers to go on strike.
The facility in southern India is operated by longtime Apple partner Foxconn. An investigation by Reuters found that women working at the plant were laboring in extremely difficult conditions, forced to sleep on the floor in crowded dorms and sharing toilets without running water. Recently, an outbreak of food poisoning left 150 individuals hospitalized, prompting workers to strike and shut down the plant on December 18th.
In response, Apple says it’s put the plant on “probation” (though the company hasn’t said what this means for Foxconn or the workers who assemble its iPhones). The plant employs some 17,000 people, and is located around 25 miles (40km) west of Chennai.
A spokesperson for Apple told BBC News: “Following recent concerns about food safety and accommodation conditions at Foxconn Sriperumbudur, we dispatched independent auditors. We found that some of the remote dormitory accommodations and dining rooms being used for employees do not meet our requirements, and we are working with the supplier to ensure a comprehensive set of corrective actions are rapidly implemented.”
Foxconn apologized for poor conditions, and, as reported by the state government of Tamil Nadu, has agreed to upgrade its facilities — expanding living spaces, improving bathrooms, and providing drinking water. The company says it will resume work at the plant soon.
(Axios) Officials at Chicago Public Schools have canceled classes today after 73% of Chicago Teachers Union members voted to suspend in-person teaching to protest COVID safety conditions in schools.
The official word came down to CPS families at 11:28 pm last night.
Why it matters: The move affects the lives of about 360,000 students and staffers along with their families and the businesses that rely on them.
CPS view: District officials call the move "an illegal work stoppage" and a "walkout."
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(KIMA TV) YAKIMA -- The start of the new year means local agricultural workers now have access to overtime pay when they work more than 55 hours.
Governor Inslee signed the overtime bill into law in May.
The overtime rule will be phased in over the next three years. In Jan. 2023, overtime will be due after 48 hours By 2024, time and a half will be due after 40 hours.
"It further recognizes the hard work and the long hours in the hot and cold and the dust to make sure that we have food for our families," says Gov. Inslee.
It's been over 60 years since the Fair Labor Standards Act was put into law guaranteeing overtime protections for nearly all workers, except farm workers.
Maine governor vetoes bill to allow farm workers to unionize
Source: WHDH TV 7 News/AP
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s Democratic governor has vetoed a bill that would have given farm workers in the state the right to unionize, citing the possibility of heaping new costs on an already struggling agriculture sector.
The Maine Legislature passed the proposal, which called for people working in agriculture to be able to organize for the purposes of collectively bargaining for wages, hours, working conditions and benefits.
But Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the proposal Friday with a message that said she could not “subject our farmers to a complicated new set of laws that would require them to hire lawyers just to understand.”
Maine is the country’s sole producer of wild blueberries, as well as a major producer of potatoes and maple syrup. The largely rural state also has a significant dairy industry and small and midsize farms dedicated to livestock and specialty crops.
Maine governor vetoes bill to allow farm workers to unionize
Very disappointing and in marked contrast to California, where Democratic governors like Jerry Brown were very supportive of farm worker rights to organize. I am beginning to think that one problem with the national Democratic party is that it is not as progressive and open minded as that Democratic party here in California. Another example is the cooperative and mutually respectful relations with the Green party, which stands in marked contrast to Pennsylvania where the Democrats apparently acted to keep the Green party off the ballot. Politicians in California were smart enough to dream of fusion politics and to take steps in that direction. They would never dream of pulling a stunt like keeping Greens off the ballot. At least not the ones I knew up close and personal, and I am talking based on behind-the-scenes discussions and strategizing, not just carefully considered statements meant purely for public consumption.
CHICAGO (AP) — The leader of the Chicago Teachers Union on Monday blamed the city’s mayor for the continued standoff over COVID-19 protocols as classes for hundreds of thousands of students were canceled for a fourth day.
CTU President Jesse Sharkey said union and district representatives negotiated until 10 p.m. Sunday but “remain apart on a number of key features” that teachers want before returning to classrooms, including a testing program and triggers to close a school for in-person instruction due to an outbreak.
Sharkey accused Mayor Lori Lightfoot of refusing to compromise on teachers’ main priorities and said union leadership can’t go back to members with what the mayor’s team has offered so far.
“The mayor is being relentless but she’s being relentlessly stupid, she’s being relentlessly stubborn,” he said during a Monday news conference. “She’s relentlessly refusing to seek accommodation and we’re trying to find a way to get people back in school.”
Sharkey’s comments came a day after Lightfoot said many teachers had abandoned their students by refusing to teach in-person.
(Common Dreams) The Maine AFL-CIO, however, stressed that the bill would have empowered farmworkers to push back against abuses including sexual harassment and wage theft—a rampant problem nationwide, especially in industries where a large proportion of workers are vulnerable immigrants.
"We are greatly dismayed that Gov. Mills vetoed legislation to grant farmworkers the fundamental human right to join together and form unions for fair treatment and a better life," Matt Schlobohm, executive director of the Maine AFL-CIO, said in a statement.
"Farmworkers provide the most essential service to our communities by growing, picking, and processing the food we eat every day," he added. "They perform back-breaking labor and are among the most exploited workers in our nation."
While the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 guarantees the majority of private-sector workers in the U.S. the right to form unions and collectively bargain without fear of termination, agricultural and domestic workers, independent contractors, and public-sector employees have been excluded from basic protections afforded by federal labor law.
As historian Touré F. Reed has shown, agrarian proprietors lobbied to deprive millions of—disproportionately but not exclusively Black—farmworkers of benefits provided by the New Deal not only because "most southern farm owners in the 1930s were racist," but also in an effort "to keep their labor costs down and retain control over the operation of their farms."
(The Verge) Facebook moderators at an Accenture site in Austin are facing a payroll disaster that has left many without their holiday paychecks. Workers at the site handle moderation, customer service, and other tasks for Facebook and WhatsApp — and a work stoppage has already been threatened if the situation is not resolved.
The problems began as early as January 4th, when some workers noticed errors in the system that tracks paid time off (PTO), a clerical confusion that was attributed to a recent change in payroll providers at the site. Things got more serious when the January 6th round of paychecks failed to arrive. Internal pay stub systems showed many paychecks as zeroed out, and workers were left with no idea of when they might get their money.
In an open letter to the CEOs of Facebook and Accenture, posted on an internal message board, a group of workers pledged to halt work at the site until the paychecks were issued in full.
“If these issues are not resolved immediately a work stoppage will be enacted,” the letter promised. “The work stoppage will begin on January 7th, 2022 if nothing is resolved.”
Several lump-sum payments were issued to affected workers shortly after the letter posted, and Accenture says the company has not seen any indication of coordinated work stoppage at the site in the days since.
(The Verge) A judge appointed by the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Google must turn over some 180 documents related to an internal campaign to fight union organizing efforts by employees. Dubbed Project Vivian, a Google attorney described the ongoing effort between 2018 and 2020 as a way to “engage employees more positively and convince them that unions suck,” according to one of the documents.
The documents are part of a case the NLRB brought against Google in December 2020, which alleged the internet giant violated US labor law by spying on and firing employees who were organizing protests and trying to unionize. Former Google employee Laurence Berland, fired in 2019, was organizing against the company’s hiring of IRI Consultants, a firm known for its union-busting efforts. He said he was fired for looking at other employees’ calendars, breaking a Google policy which the NLRB found to be unlawful. And former Google employee Kathryn Spiers said she was fired after she created a pop-up for Google employees who visited the IRI Consultants website. The company claimed Spiers had violated security policies, but the NLRB found that her firing was also unlawful.
Google tried to claim attorney-client privilege to shield some of the documents that were subpoenaed in the case. But administrative law Judge Paul Bogas said Google’s “broad assertion, is, to put it charitably, an overreach,” according to a January 7th order The Verge received following a Freedom of Information Act request. Bogas wrote in his ruling that IRI provided Google with “antiunion messaging and message amplification strategies” that were tailored to Google’s workforce, but IRI didn’t give Google legal advice that would be protected by attorney-client privilege.
He added that Google had CC’d its legal counsel on documents that would not be considered privileged otherwise, in what appeared to be an effort to try to keep the documents private. He said Google “cannot spin the mere fact of a nascent organizing effort among employees into ‘litigation’ — like straw spun into gold — that entitles it to cloak in privilege every aspect of its antiunion campaign.”
(Counterpunch) The return to in-person K-12 education after holiday breaks hasn’t been smooth as some had hoped, as cases of Covid-19, made worse by the Omicron variant, have skyrocketed, and teacher groups have called for delays in reopening (Boston Globe, 12/31/21).
In-person return plans were disrupted at schools in Milwaukee (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 1/2/22) and Atlanta (WXIA, 1/3/22). Chicago canceled school after the Chicago Teachers Union “approved a labor action to work remotely due to safety concerns as Covid-19 and its Omicron variant surge in the city” (WTTW, 1/4/22).
The Chicago labor dispute has drawn the most eyeballs, as it is the third-largest US city, but teacher unionists nationwide are indicating that the Omicron surge is pushing school systems to their breaking points. In San Francisco, the system saw as many as 600 educators out of work, with the union blasting the district for its severe deficit in Covid-19 testing kits (Mission Local, 1/6/22). The left caucus of New York City’s United Federation of Teachers reported 10,000 student absences and 2,000 staff absences, criticizing the mayor for inadequate “baseline testing” (Twitter, 1/6/22), while dozens of New York state and city lawmakers have demanded a remote option for the city’s schools (Twitter, 1/6/22).
Media have responded with dismay to teacher objections, backing political leaders who insist that schools must remain open. Prominent outlets argue that children’s education is of tantamount importance and that the health risks of the pandemic are simply overstated. This stance oversimplifies both the risks involved and what teachers are demanding.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board (1/5/22) declared, “The political scandal of the year so far is unfolding in plain sight in Chicago, where the teachers union has effectively shut down the public schools.” That an economically conservative editorial board would be against the Chicago Teachers Union isn’t a surprise; however, that position is also supported by the Biden administration (Politico, 1/5/22).
