Work Stoppage

By popular demand and in order that as many folks as possible are able to hear about the amazing organizing effort going on at Amazon in Kentucky, we've decided to unlock the entire interview!  We hope you enjoy, and if you like the show, please consider supporting us at patreon.com/workstoppage Original Description: We were very lucky to be joined this week by Matt, a worker-organizer at Amazon’s SDF1 facility in Campbellsville, Kentucky working to organize his facility with the ALU.  Matt explains the challenges of organizing in a rural area where Amazon more or less runs like a company town. We discuss the differences in worker consciousness you encounter when working to organize at Amazon, the different tactics that they’ve used, and how they’ve worked to explain the importance of unions in fighting against exploitation. We also discuss the ways that Amazon has retaliated against Matt and other organizers for their work, including calling the local sheriff on organizers. We encourage our listeners to donate to the SDF1 organizing committee’s solidarity fund: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/fundraising/b524f63e-8261-41dc-b593-b775eb35c3f3 Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Workers are flexing their power all over, and we start this week with a quick update on the situation in Sri Lanka, where the people have had enough and stormed the presidential palace this weekend, chasing the government from power. Next we have a check-in on the Planned Parenthood workers in Massachusetts, who have voted nearly unanimously to join the SEIU this week. Also this week, the ABK Workers Alliance is planning a major walkout to fight gender inequity at Activision. In Mexico, the independent union movement continues to spread and help empower workers, now moving to the agricultural sector. We had another major national strike in Latin America this week, this time in Panama, where like so many other places workers are demanding something be done to address the inflation and cost of living crisis. Back in the US, workers at REI in Berkeley, California have joined the union wave. The ALU has expanded its efforts to unionize Amazon to multiple other organizing drives this week, including one just outside of Albany. Finally, we close with our weekly Starbucks update as the union movement nears 200 stores. College Ave Starbucks Solidarity Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/sbworkerunited-ithaca-relief-fund  Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @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. We were very lucky to be joined this week by Matt, a worker-organizer at Amazon’s SDF1 facility in Campbellsville, Kentucky working to organize his facility with the ALU.  Matt explains the challenges of organizing in a rural area where Amazon more or less runs like a company town. We discuss the differences in worker consciousness you encounter when working to organize at Amazon, the different tactics that they’ve used, and how they’ve worked to explain the importance of unions in fighting against exploitation. We also discuss the ways that Amazon has retaliated against Matt and other organizers for their work, including calling the local sheriff on organizers. Finally, we talk a bit about how people can get involved if they're interested in helping organize Amazon, whether it's by becoming a salt, or donating to one of the groups already organizing on the ground. We encourage our listeners to donate to the SDF1 organizing committee’s solidarity fund: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/fundraising/b524f63e-8261-41dc-b593-b775eb35c3f3 Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

We start this week with some rapid fire follow-ups with workers organizing at Apple, Trader Joe’s and Amazon. Then we discuss the end (for now) of the national strike in Ecuador, what was won, and where it goes from here. Next we check in on the Case New Holland strike, which is going international as UK Case workers have also gone on strike.  Also this week, knights, squires, and falcon-handlers are organizing into a guild at Medieval Times to fight for safer, fairer work conditions.  Airlines took massive bailouts early in the pandemic, then slashed staff and lobbied against covid protections, and now the whole air travel system in this country is messed up.  Workers installing solar fields are doing incredibly important work towards a renewable energy future in the US, but face some of the most atrocious work conditions in the country due to the temporary, contract nature of the work. Finally, as usual, we check in on the Starbucks Workers United campaign, where the company’s illegal retaliation continues, but the union has grown to over 5000 workers strong. Chicago Starbucks Strike Fund: https://t.co/h7XVJQD7FF  Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

We start this week’s episode with a discussion of how unions can play a major role in fighting for workers’ right to reproductive healthcare in the wake of the Supreme Court gutting abortion rights. Then we start the episode proper with a follow-up with the Indiana University grad workers, where despite winning overwhelming support from faculty, the administration is digging in and refusing to recognize the union. Then we have some on the ground labor reporting from Dan, who discusses a local strike of Teamsters at DHL in Pawtucket, RI, where workers are fighting for healthcare and a living wage. Next, over 4000 workers in one of the largest platinum mines in the world in South Africa have gone on strike to protest horrible wages paid to contract workers.  Also this week, workers in Maine filed for the first union in the country at a Chipotle and are fighting against understaffing and overwork leading to unsanitary conditions. Train drivers in New Jersey delivered a master class in a well-timed industrial action when they staged a sickout the Friday evening of Juneteenth weekend in protest of not receiving holiday pay. The big story this week is obviously the massive rail strike in England, where 40,000 workers shut down the rails for three days to protest the government’s plan to slash thousands of jobs, destroy pensions, and enforce a pay cut during record inflation. Finally, as usual, we close with our update on the Starbucks Workers United movement as it continues to rack up wins. No Contract, No Coffee Pledge to Support Starbucks Workers: https://crm.broadstripes.com/ctf/SJID0H Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @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. On June 2, Microsoft announced that it planned to shift its position on how it relates to unions, rather than pursuing scorched earth union busting campaigns like Amazon and Starbucks, it would embrace “neutrality”.  While it’s possible this is just cover to try and smooth the approval of Microsoft’s $70B acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it presents some big questions for unionists.  We know our interests are directly opposed to the bosses, and they will never tolerate militant unions that fight for what the workers deserve, so how should we approach this sort of “neutrality”? We decided this was a topic a bit too long winded to squeeze into the middle of a regular episode, and so this Shop Floor Discussion is dedicated to trying to hammer out how unions should react to these sorts of “olive branches” from companies.  Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Filled with renewed energy from watching some of the amazing panels and speeches at this weekend’s Labor Notes conference, it’s another episode of Work Stoppage.  We start with several follow-ups, first in South Korea, where truckers won their strike and secured an agreement to extend minimum wage protections. Also this week, XPO Logistics truckers at the Port of Los Angeles finally won their NLRB hearing and have been reclassified employees rather than independent contractors and will now have a union election. The Massachusetts Supreme Court struck down a proposed Prop 22 clone this week, in a good move for gig workers in the state. In big news this week, we finally have our first unionized Apple store, as the workers of Towson, Maryland won their election by a 2:1 margin to organize with the Machinists.  Retaliation against ALU organizers continued this week with yet another being fired, the same week as the hearing to determine whether the JFK8 election will be upheld got underway in Arizona. 1450 researchers at the University of Washington voted overwhelmingly to unionize with the UAW after the University refused voluntary recognition last December.  For our big story this week, a massive national strike has been underway in Ecuador as Indigenous groups are leading huge swaths of the working class in protest of the right wing government. Finally, as usually, we close out with a look at the many Starbucks wins this week, even as the company continues its failing scorched earth campaign of union busting.  ALU Hearing Zoom Link: https://www.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJIsdeCqrTouHO9YNidbEDeTe2Ea38X-NqU  Passcode: 968885 No Contract, No Coffee Pledge to Support Starbucks Workers: https://crm.broadstripes.com/ctf/SJID0H Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

It’s shaping up to be a hot labor summer out there, we’ve got union busting, we’ve got strikes, we’ve got unions working together on this week’s episode of Work Stoppage.  First we check in on the union drive at Trader Joe’s in Massachusetts, where the company has started its union busting campaign by violating the Button Clause of the NLRA.  Next, we got exciting news this week as Workers United and CWA announced they will be working together on their efforts to unionize Apple Retail stores, starting in NYC.  Truck drivers in South Korea have been on strike for the last week and have paralyzed commerce across the country as they seek fair minimum wages for all truckers.  In LA, workers at the Genwa Korean BBQ chain signed their first contract after a five year organizing drive.  Intelligentsia Coffee workers are joining the union coffee ranks in Chicago, as they have filed for union representation with the IBEW.  Dollar General workers have been fighting back against the atrocious conditions at their stores with protests, walkouts, and mass resignations.  Finally, we check in with the non-stop momentum of the Starbucks Workers United campaign, now pushing 150 unionized stores. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @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. As we discussed in our first episode of this series, there’s a long, sordid history of collaboration between the upper leadership of the AFL-CIO and the US National Security State, specifically the CIA.  Over several decades during the Cold War, through the American Institution for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), the CIA used US labor to infiltrate, subvert, and destroy independent labor movements in numerous countries around the world. We continue the discussion of that history in this episode, largely drawn from the new book El Golpe: US Labor, The CIA, and The Coup at Ford in Mexico by Rob McKenzie.  The collusion between the AFL-CIO and the CIA continued all the way up through the 90s, and in this episode we cover how that relationship led to the involvement of the CIA in violently crushing a nascent rank and file labor movement at Ford in Mexico in 1990.  The history of this collaboration is dark, but understanding it is vital to building a revived, transparent, worker-led labor movement in this country that will learn from the class collaborationist mistakes of the past. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Another jam packed episode of Work Stoppage this week, as we start with a check in on workers at Amy’s Kitchen, where a second plant has started a union drive. We also follow up on the Case New Holland strike where 2000 UAW workers remain on strike as the company refuses to bring a fair offer to the table.  Amazon has continued their campaign of harassment of organizers, and new documents released this week show the details behind how they discipline workers. There’s also a new independent union drive at Amazon, this one in North Carolina, that deserves all our support. Also this week, Seattle passed a first of its kind minimum wage law for gig workers to prevent companies from evading labor regulations.  We may be on the verge of the biggest national rail strike in England in nearly a century, with 40,000 workers voting to authorize a strike in the coming weeks. Workers at Moog in North Carolina are unionizing with the IBEW due to the company paying poverty wages while workers assemble synthesizers that cost more than they make in a month.  Finally, we catch up on the Starbucks Workers United movement, which has just set up a $1 million strike fund to help workers fight the company’s vicious union busting campaign. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee