Work Stoppage

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Episode 5 - Automation and Attrition Emerging from the 1950s having survived government crackdowns, receivership, and attempted raids by the AFL, the ILA was immediately confronted with a new existential threat: automation. The introduction of containerized cargo posed a greater threat to the profession of longshoring than any previously faced. Organizing on the Port of New York in the 1960s was dominated by the fight to keep the shipping companies from slashing the workforce to the bone. While the union still did not implement more democratic measures, the rank and file forced their voices to be heard loud and clear in some of the biggest strikes in the history of the US waterfront. Main sources for this series include: Reds or Rackets by Howard Kimeldorf, Strife on the Waterfront by Vernon Jensen, New York Longshoremen: Class and Power on the Docks by William Mello, and Mobsters, Unions, and Feds by James Jacobs. Clips from YouTube. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Happy Labor Day to all our listeners! We kick off this week's show discussing the end of strikes at Wabtec and Leinenkugel, where workers have ratified new contracts after hard fought battles. We also have an update on the negotations between the UAW and the Big 3 automakers with less than 2 weeks until a potential strike. New Jersey Transit engineers voted unanimously to authorize a strike, but are shackled by the Railway Labor Act just like freight workers. Tragically this week yet another worker was killed by heat exhaustion because bosses, this time at Kroger, refuse to provide safe working conditions. VFX workers made another major step forward, as workers at Disney Studios filed this week to join IATSE. Finally, we discuss a recent Labor Notes piece about a creative contract campaign by Maine Ironworkers which won major gains for the workers.   Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX   Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Episode 4 - 1953 Following World War 2, longshoremen in the Port of New York refused to accept the traditional company friendly deals that ILA President Joe Ryan arranged during the war. A wildcat strike movement shook the ILA, and alongside an investigation into his corruption, Ryan finally lost his grip on the union.  1953, the same year "King" Joe Ryan stepped down as President of the ILA was a momentous year for the organization. In this episode we discuss Ryan's departure, the expulsion of the union from the AFL, the government stepping in to control hiring on the docks, and even a civil war in the house of labor. The end of Ryan's tenure and the massive changes put in place in 1953 would reshape the union for decades. Main sources for this series include: Reds or Rackets by Howard Kimeldorf, Strife on the Waterfront by Vernon Jensen, New York Longshoremen: Class and Power on the Docks by William Mello, and Mobsters, Unions, and Feds by James Jacobs. Clips from YouTube. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

We start this week following up on several major stories, first and foremost the ratification of the hard fought new contract at UPS. We also discuss the victory of grad student workers at the University of Michigan after a nearly five month struggle. There was major news out of the NLRB this week, we break down the Cemex decision and what the new restrictions on election union busting could mean for the labor movement. Also this week, farm workers in New York were attacked by farm owners who raided and broke up a UFW organizing meeting. The New School continues to hate its workers, trying this week to block student workers from organizing a wall to wall student union. Finally, the fight for a fair deal at the Big 3 automakers is heating up, as the UAW voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Episode 3 - Operation Underworld Joe Ryan's two and a half decades of leadership of the International Longshoremen's Association could be most charitably described as "stable." His focus on labor peace at nearly any cost and his cozy relationship with the shipping companies, gangsters, and the federal government created a series of strange relationships as the country entered World War 2. Finding mobsters useful in keeping radical organizers off the docks, the federal government struck a deal with the same criminal forces they would later condemn union officials for working with. However, even with strongarm goons and redbaiting as his go-to tactics, Ryan could not totally keep a lid on post-war discontent by workers returning to find low wages and inhuman treatment while shipping bosses made millions. The Rank and File made their voice heard, by whatever means they could find. Main sources for this series include: Reds or Rackets by Howard Kimeldorf, Strife on the Waterfront by Vernon Jensen, New York Longshoremen: Class and Power on the Docks by William Mello, and Mobsters, Unions, and Feds by James Jacobs. Clips from YouTube. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

REI Pledge: www.ourrei.com/pledge As with any week in the labor movement, this week we've got a mixture of good news and less good news. We start on the happier end, with students at Cornell forcing Starbucks off campus after its retaliation against workers. The first massage studio in Florida has unionized, following success by the UFCW in Colorado. Workers at Jacksonville State University are forming a wall to wall union to fight for better than their current $8.25/hr. In less good news, we heard more this week from workers at Tesla and Amazon about the horrific working conditions at both and the way Amazon weaponizes their company "doctors" against workers. Wage theft remains rampant in the US, and a new report shows how much impunity bosses in Texas have. Finally, we discuss a recent LA Times report about the impacts of climate change on the workers who put food on our tables every day. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Episode 2 - Shape Up or Ship Out To start our examination of the history of the International Longshoremen's Association, we go back to the birth of labor organizing on the docks in the late 19th century. We discuss the awful labor conditions faced by workers, forced to beg, plead, or pay for work in the hated daily shape up. We discuss the birth of the ILA on the Great Lakes, the rise of New York City as the center of US overseas trade, and the start of the long reign of "King" Joe Ryan as union president. We also talk about the earliest movements for democracy and reform within the union, and the brutal, sometimes deadly consequences faced by those who stood up for their rights on the docks. Main sources for this series include: Reds or Rackets by Howard Kimeldorf, Strife on the Waterfront by Vernon Jensen, New York Longshoremen: Class and Power on the Docks by William Mello, and Mobsters, Unions, and Feds by James Jacobs. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

After saluting the continued organizing prowess of the workers of Hadley, MA, we start this week's show discussing the NLRB shooting down eBay's appeal of the union victory at TCGPlayer. Next we check in on strikes at Wabtec and the University of Michigan, both of which have seen management escalate attacks on workers. Google is back for a second week in a row, this time for firing most of the Google Help team in retaliation for unionizing. City workers in LA staged a huge one day strike to fight for fair raises and an end to overwork, with workers in San Jose joining them this week. The American Political Science Association have decided to cross the picket line of striking LA hotel workers, to the outrage of many members. Rounding out some new unions: Visual effects workers at Marvel are unionizing with IATSE, workers at the NIH are joining the UAW, and Yellowstone workers have voted to join the National Federation of Federal Employees. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Episode 1 - Communism vs. Corruption One of the peculiarities of the US labor movement is the existence of two different unions for longshore workers, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) on the West Coast, and the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) on the East Coast. Originally, the ILA represented members on both coasts, bringing all longshore workers in the country under one union. But after the refusal of the national leadership to support the 1934 San Francisco General Strike or to support the move to expand the union to warehouse workers, the West Coast workers seceded and formed their own union.  In this series we will examine the history of the ILA and dig into why West Coast longshore workers felt they had no choice but to form their own union. We will examine the key factors that have prevented the rise of a democratic reform movement within the ILA, and how collusion between shipping companies, the federal government, and the mafia played a critical role in suppressing reform. We will discuss the long fight by the rank and file for reform, and how the federal government time and time again stepped in to squash it.  Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Burgerville Workers Support Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/defend-burgerville-workers-from-retaliation-fund  We start this week's episode with a couple stories about Grindr and Google weaponizing Return to the Office policies against their workers who have been working remotely. We also follow up with the TCGPlayer union, as eBay has refused to recognize their election win. Workers at Burgerville have been locked out after management adopted a radically anti-union posture. This past weekend 30,000 teachers protested horrific working conditions in South Korea. Doctors have struck across Nigeria after criminal neglect of the country's healthcare system by the capitalist government and its imperialist backers. Grocery workers at Metro in Toronto have been on strike for over a week fighting sub-poverty wages to just be able to afford the food they stock on shelves every day. The Teamsters still have to vote on the deal at UPS, but wins are already inspiring Amazon workers to demand more. Finally, grad workers have made big wins towards forming their union at the University of Maine. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee