Work Stoppage

Unfortunately, we’ve got a few setbacks to start the episode this week. First, we follow up with the USW workers at Chevron’s refinery in Richmond, CA, where workers have narrowly approved a new contract that doesn’t meet the main goals their two month long strike set out for. Next, we talk about workers at the unionizing Apple store in Atlanta being forced to withdraw their election petition due to union busting. Also this week, workers at Great Lakes Coffee in Detroit have been on strike for recognition of their union for three months, and rather than recognize it and reopen a profitable location, the owners decided to close the store. Workers with Amazonians United held a walkout this past week in Chicago to demand the reinstatement of a recently fired Black worker who had faced racial discrimination on the job. 600 Planned Parenthood workers in six states have filed to unionize with the SEIU, and hopefully we don’t see a repeat of the organizations 2017-18 union busting. Workers at America’s Test Kitchen in Boston are unionizing because for many, they spend all day making recipes they could never afford to eat. Finally, we close out with our Starbucks Workers United update, as many workers struck or walked out over Memorial Day weekend, and the movement crossed the 100 union store threshold. Leesburg Strike Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/leesburgbaristas 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 the first episode of the series, we talked about the reasons why rank and file unionism, running your union in a democratic fashion, is so important to rebuilding the labor movement.  On our second episode, we dig into a few historical examples of rank and file organizing which demonstrate the power of these organizing methods.  First, we start out by discussing the history of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers, the UE.  The UE was started back in the 30s as a democratic union, and despite facing fierce attacks from business unionists and the US state, they have stayed true to their organizing methods for over 80 years.  Then, we discuss the history of the One Member, One Vote campaign, which was the result of decades of struggle for more democracy within the UAW.  Finally, we discuss a couple other real world examples of how rank and file methods can build real power on the jobsite and sum up with how these methods can be the foundation for a revival of the US labor movement as a base for a class conscious movement.  In the final part of the series, we will discuss a few more major examples of rank and file organizing from the Chicago Teachers Union and the Industrial Workers of the World. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Labor never stops, and neither does labor news.  We start this week’s show with a couple quick follow ups on the status of the Hudson Workers United and Target Workers Unite campaigns.  Then, in great news, we discuss this week’s victorious union election at Raven Software, where testers have formed the first recognized union in a major video game studio. We also cover the union busting campaign at Apple retail stores where workers are organizing with the CWA.  Workers at a Refresco bottling plant in New Jersey have had to win TWO union elections to get their union with the UE recognized due to a insane legal technicality, but now hope their determination will inspire others.  30,000 workers in South Africa’s gold mines have been on strike for three months as the company refuses to budge on a raise of $63 a year.  As the war in Ukraine continues, companies and politicians in the country have used it as an opportunity to strip workers of many of their labor rights, while putting no controls on capitalists reaping superprofits from the increased exploitation.  Finally, we wrap up with our weekly update on the many actions and union elections in the Starbucks Workers United movement. If you like the show, please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage.  We couldn’t do the show without your support, and patrons get access to evergreen Overtime episodes and periodic Shop Floor Discussion episodes on current issues too long to cover in our regular episodes. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee.

We start this week’s episode of Work Stoppage following up on several stories we’ve previously covered.  First, the Indiana Grad Students have suspended their strike for the summer after winning overwhelming faculty support for recognition of their union.  Next, educators in Brookline held a one day strike on Monday after negotiations stalled, winning their first new contract in three years.  Also this week, the protests and mass resignations at BNSF have had an impact, forcing the company to alter their draconian attendance policy.  Independent union SINTTIA reached a tentative agreement on their first contract to represent workers at GM Silao and won big wage gains.  The crisis in Sri Lanka entered a new phase last week, with protestors forcing the Prime Minister to resign.  Target Workers filed for union representation with the IWW in Virginia last week, bringing their many years long struggle into a new stage.  Workers at Trader Joe’s also announced their union drive last week, yet another “progressive” company whose actions during the pandemic exposed them as the same as any other capitalist enterprise.  Finally, we run through the most recent series of union election wins by the inspiring Starbucks Workers United movement. If you like the show, please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage.  We couldn’t do the show without your support, and patrons get access to evergreen Overtime episodes and periodic Shop Floor Discussion episodes on current issues too long to cover in our regular episodes. 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’ve tried to cover all the news coming in from the Starbucks Workers United movement on the regular show every week, but this week there was just so much news we had to give it its own episode. We start out covering Howard Schultz committing a ULP on an earnings call by threatening to withhold benefits from unionizing employees. We also cover a recent study showing just how much extra profit Starbucks has raked in during the pandemic, and how little has made it to workers. The NLRB finally responded to Starbucks’ massive illegal union busting campaign this week, filing a flurry of complaints against the company for violations of the NLRA. These suits demand the rehiring of several of the worker organizers that Starbucks has fired in retaliation for unionizing, as well as changes to captive audience meetings and even changes to the Starbucks employee handbook. In weirder news, Oscar nominated actor James Cromwell glued himself to a counter at an NYC Starbucks as part of a PETA protest. Finally, we wrap up with a roundup of the results of the 14 union elections since our last episode. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

There’s so much to cover this week we had to pull Starbucks out for its own episode, watch for that in the patron feed later this week. We start by following up with the striking Chevron workers in Richmond, CA, where the oil conglomerate has hired local cops to act as strikebreakers. After a few more quick-hit follow up stories, we discuss a strike at Case New Holland in Wisconsin and Iowa, where 1000 members of the UAW have hit the picket lines to fight a two tier system. In Amazon news this week, the company’s newly announced abortion benefit leaves out the workers who need it most, the NLRB files a massive complaint arguing captive audience meetings are illegal, and Chris Smalls testifies on Capitol Hill. Boston teachers have been fighting for a new contract for months and have turned to creative tactics since they are banned from striking. The Connecticut state legislature banned companies from holding captive audience meetings in the state this week, and bus drivers in DC won major wage gains after just 3 days on strike. Case New Holland Workers Strike Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-striking-uaw-local-807-cnh-workers If you like the show, please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage. We couldn’t do the show without your support, and patrons get access to evergreen Overtime episodes and periodic Shop Floor Discussion episodes on current issues too long to cover in our regular episodes. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee.

We start this week’s episode of Work Stoppage with some tough news, as the organizing drive at the LDJ5 facility by the ALU was defeated 62%-38% in their election.  The same week, OSHA refused to do anything to Amazon after they murdered six of their workers in last year’s tornado, while at the same time Amazon has now dropped any covid protections for their workers.  Meanwhile, Delta is feeling the heat from the ongoing organizing efforts among their flight attendants, announcing new benefits to try and head off the surging union support.  We also discuss the continuing fight for independent unions in Mexico, where another auto parts plant has voted to throw out the old company union and replace it with a worker led one.  Canadian chain Freshii’s has been testing a pilot program where they replace their cashiers with remote workers in the Global South in order to evade Canadian labor law and profit from superexploitation.  A general strike paralyzed Sri Lanka last week as workers demand the resignation of the current government, which has responded to their economic crisis by slashing state services.  Workers at a store in Atlanta have filed for the first NLRB election by Apple workers, with several more stores across the country hot on their heels.  Finally, the Starbucks victories don’t stop rolling in and it’s getting hard to keep track when there have been over 20 elections since our last episode. If you like the show, please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage.  We couldn’t do the show without your support, and patrons get access to evergreen Overtime episodes and periodic Shop Floor Discussion episodes on current issues too long to cover in our regular episodes. 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’ve talked about the importance of unions being organized and run in a “rank-and-file” manner a million times on the show, but we hadn’t really had a good opportunity to sit down and layout exactly what that means.  On this episode, we discuss what exactly rank-and-file unionism is, what it is not, and why it’s so vital if we want to build effective organizations that will fight for the working class.  We go through counter examples of Consumer Co-ops, ESOPs, and the methodology used for many bureaucratically run unions here in the US, Business Unionism.  We finish off by discussing a short guide to rank-and-file organizing used by communists during the Depression, Organizing Methods in the Steel Industry by William Z Foster, and how that methodology is still relevant today.  On part two of this series, we will discuss several examples of rank and file unionism in practice in more detail. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

For International Workers' Day, we decided to unlock our recent patron episode on the organizing methods of the Amazon Labor Union since it's a discussion on such an important, ongoing organizing campaign.  Happy May Day Comrades! Original Description: On April 1, the Amazon Labor Union won one of the most historic labor victories in the US in decades.  Despite the enormous difference in resources, the ALU was able to defeat one of the richest, most anti-union corporations in the world.  This is such a momentous development, we thought it would be important to try and learn as much as possible from their incredible work.  So in this Shop Floor Discussion, we discuss the ways that the ALU’s campaign differed from traditional union organizing campaigns.  We go over their commitment to worker-led, rank-and-file organizing, the way they embraced the diversity of the JFK8 workforce and made it a strength, how they used every tactic possible to get their messaging out, and how their adaptability and willingness to go beyond the scope of traditional tactics helped them succeed. While there’s no single blueprint that can be copied from one workplace to another, there’s a lot that the ALU’s success can teach us about how to successfully organizing in today’s harsh labor environment.  If we want to revive the US labor movement, we would be wise to learn from this amazing upset. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee.

We start this week’s episode following up with Verizon workers, where the company seems to be taking a page from Starbucks’ union busting as they have illegally fired a worker at a store in Washington for organizing.  Then we catch up with the striking Finnish healthcare workers, who have ended their strike and are threatening mass resignations in response to threats from the government to make healthcare worker strikes illegal.  Also in healthcare, workers staged 24 hour strikes at a nursing home in Saugus, Massachusetts and at healthcare facilities across Northern California last week decrying low wages and unsafe staffing levels.  The ALU held a major rally this weekend to bring out support for the workers at the LDJ5 sorting facility who will vote on whether to unionize this week.  Teachers in Richmond, Virginia have voted overwhelmingly to unionize for the first time in over 40 years, after a change in law allowing collective bargaining for public workers.  University of Chicago Illinois grad students went on strike for the past week to protest poverty wages and lack of protections against discrimination and sexual misconduct.  Finally, another week, another huge slate of wins for the Starbucks Workers United movement.  This week saw 8 more locations unionized, including the Seattle Roastery, a huge hub just 2.5 miles from Starbucks corporate HQ. If you like the show, please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage.  We couldn’t do the show without your support, and patrons get access to evergreen Overtime episodes and periodic Shop Floor Discussion episodes on current issues too long to cover in our regular episodes. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee.