Tell Delta: Protect Flight Attendants from Passenger Harassment

From The Delta AFA:

On July 9, 2024, Delta Air Lines’ official X account responded to an inflammatory and racist post of two pictures taken of Delta Flight Attendants wearing small Palestine flag pins, without their consent while at work. Delta’s response, initially stating, “I hear you as I’d be terrified as well” and “Nothing to worry, this is being investigated already” showed a blatant disregard for workers’ safety and dignity, and further inflamed bigotry. This incident reflects Delta’s repeated failure to stand up for Flight Attendants and is unacceptable.

Current work provisions that allow Flight Attendants to “request they not be recorded or photographed and/or identified on camera” fail to protect us from doxxing and harassment due to non-consensual recording. This leaves Flight Attendants vulnerable to harassment, which is unacceptable especially given the industry-wide increase in aggressive verbal and physical harassment from passengers since 2020.

In response to Delta’s affirmation of bigoted and false comments, the Delta AFA Steering Committee—the national representative body of Delta Flight Attendants organizing our union at Delta—sent an Open Letter to Delta CEO Ed Bastian, demanding a public apology, prohibition of non-consensual photography, and immediate action to address Delta’s corporate social media moderation.

In response to worker and community pressure, Delta’s initial responses were deleted and the social media moderator was reassigned. But to date, Delta has not issued a public apology to the targeted Flight Attendants or taken meaningful steps to protect Flight Attendants.

Instead, on July 12, Delta issued a new policy prohibiting Flight Attendants from wearing any flag pins other than the US flag. For decades, Flight Attendant flag pins have been a proud symbol of our aviation history and a bridge between cultures. This move creates a chilling effect on anyone deemed “not American enough,” sets a dangerous precedent, and violates Delta’s own commitment to inclusivity.

Delta AFA calls upon supporters and allies to sign our community petition demanding immediate action to end the widespread harassment of Flight Attendants and to protect our rights and safety on the job.

Please go here to sign a petition telling Delta: Protect Flight Attendants from Passenger Harassment

Mental Health Equity & The Labor Movement

From the AFL-CIO: 

Top Cut:
On Wednesday, May 15, the Illinois AFL-CIO is uniting with labor activists from across the country for a webinar to discuss the relationship between mental health equity and the labor movement.

Why It Matters:
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and this webinar will offer thoughtful discussion on how union-negotiated contracts can ensure comprehensive mental health care for workers across industries. Panel members will touch on the importance of mental health equity, the resources that are available for workers and how union member-activists can use these tools to sustain movements for economic justice.

Cyndi Oberle-Dahm of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and Reggie Hubbard of Active Peace Yoga will moderate the panel. Participants will include Director of Leadership and Organizational Change Programs at the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers’ School of Management and Labor Relations Kasi Perreira (American Federation of Teachers [AFT]); Danielle Cook, firefighter, paramedic and member of the Associated Firefighters of Illinois Resiliency Committee; Paul Goodrich (Ironworkers), a founding member of Sobriety in the Trades; and Lorena Oviedo (AFSCME Council 31), a mental health clinician with the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Time: 4–5:15 p.m. CST
Where: Zoom webinar

Some important news from the labor movement!

 

Marin workers hold first strike since 2019: More than 100 medical technicians

at MarinHealth Medical Center struck for one day as they fight to protect their

 health benefits and win strong raises. Read more here.

Dolores Huerta statnds in solidarity when Sutter workers strike again in 

Sacramento: NUHW members at Sutter Health’s Sacramento psychiatric hospital 

held a three-day strike as they continue to fight for a first contract with fair wages 

and no healthcare takeaways. Read more here.

The National Council for Occupational Safety & Health is celebrating 20

 years of activism and leadership and everyone is invited. Read more here.

Labor leaders honor Key Bridge victims on Workers Memorial Day. An article in The Baltimore Sun under the date of April 28 has the photo above and says the following:

Father Ty Hullinger echoed the words of labor activist Mary Harris “Mother” Jones during a Sunday ceremony honoring the lives of workers killed on the job: “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”

The pastor of Transfiguration Catholic Community in Pigtown proceeded to offer a prayer for the six workers killed just over a month ago after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed below them. Joined by labor leaders and local officials at a solemn ceremony at Baltimore’s Middle Branch Park, Hullinger went on to call for the protection of all laborers facing unsafe working conditions.

Sunday was Workers Memorial Day, an annual day of remembrance for laborers killed or hurt on the job, started in 1989 by the AFL-CIO. Thousands of workers nationwide are estimated by the organization of labor unions to be injured or killed on the job each day, and the issue became front and center in Baltimore on March 26 after the six men, all employees of Brawner Builders, died while working an overnight shift filling potholes on the bridge that was struck by a cargo ship early that morning. Read more here.

Alabama AFL-CIO President Says Out-of-Touch Lawmakers Are the ‘Real Leeches.’ The AFL-CIO has provided the following copy on an op-ed piece written by Alabama AFL-CIO President Bren Riley in response to some southern governors recently publicly opposing the United Auto Workers' successful organizing campaign in Tennessee.

Top Cut:
Alabama AFL-CIO President Bren Riley gave a powerful response to recent aggressive attacks on the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) and the larger labor movement in the South made in the media by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Alabama Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter.

Why It Matters:
Last week, both state politicians called the UAW a “dangerous leech,” just days after Ivey released a joint statement with five other Southern governors claiming unions are special interest groups that threaten jobs and regional values. President Riley, a third-generation union member born and raised in the state, pushed back against these outright lies and pointed out that lawmakers on taxpayer-funded salaries that do nothing for their constituents were the real leeches on the South. He also wrote about his family’s connection to the labor movement, what union membership provides to both workers and our communities, and how union values of good wages, quality benefits and job security are Alabama values.

“Corporations and the politicians they bankroll want to keep workers divided and afraid of demanding the rights and freedoms we deserve. They’re working overtime right now to spread fear and lies so bosses can keep paying poverty wages while they rake in record profits,” Riley said in the op-ed. “But the Alabama AFL-CIO sees right through this charade, and I know the honest, hardworking people of Alabama can see through it, too. When workers stand together in unions to bargain for good wages, quality benefits and their fair share of corporate profits, we have the power not just to change our own lives, but the lives of our neighbors and communities, too.”

Read all about it here.

  

Another union victory: We have a new Silica Dust Exposure Rule!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APRIL 16, 2024

United Mine Workers of America Hosts Department of Labor Silica Rule Kickoff Event

[TRIANGLE, VA] – The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) hosted a Department of Labor Silica Rule Kickoff Event to celebrate the finalization of the new Silica Dust Exposure Rule. The event aimed to raise awareness about the importance of the rule in protecting the health and safety of miners across the nation.

Speaking at the event were UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts, Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, Assistant Secretary of the Mine Health and Safety Administration Chris Williamson, NIOSH Director of Respiratory Health Division David Weissman, President of the Black Lung Association Gary Harrison, as well as members of the United Mine Workers of America and United Steelworkers.

The new silica rule significantly reduces respirable crystalline silica exposures and improves the early detection of related diseases. It also includes updates to the respiratory protection standard, ensuring that miners are adequately protected from the harmful effects of silica dust.

“The UMWA has been advocating for this rule for many years, so we are glad that the Agency has created a rule to address the rise in silica-related lung diseases in our nation’s miners (both coal and metal non-metal),” said Roberts. “Young miners in their 30s and 40s are getting lung diseases that are being exacerbated by silica dust. What was thought to be a disease of the past is coming back with a vengeance because miners are cutting more rock than ever before.

“This is a critical step to keeping miners safe and healthy not just day to day, but for their full lifetime,” Roberts said. “Now, our focus shifts to holding mining companies accountable. Together with our labor partners, UMWA remains steadfast in our efforts to ensure strict adherence to the new legislation within the industry.”

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler Applauds Critical Protections for Mine Workers from Deadly Silica Exposure

“In a definitive step toward safeguarding the health and well-being of our nation’s miners, we applaud President Biden for issuing a final rule to protect coal and metal and non-metal miners….Today’s final rule is another victory in the century-long battle against silica in the workplace, which affects working people across industries….

“We extend our deepest appreciation to acting Labor Secretary Julie Su for her resolute leadership, recognizing the urgent need to provide mine workers with lifesaving protections.”

Read the full statement from AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler here.

Improving Health and Safety for Modern Miners a Priority for UMWA

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President, Cecil E. Roberts joined America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the Warrior Met Strike in Alabama, outdated protective equipment for miners, and the dangers of silica dust.

Roberts began by detailing the two-year Warrior Met Strike in Alabama. He said the coal company was the target of many protests because management did not try to negotiate for a Collective Bargaining Agreement. Roberts called the company anti-union and discussed why the miners were forced to return to work. He noted the UMWA invested about $35 million into the strike. Once the company succeeded in getting individuals back to work, Warrior Met unsuccessfully attempted to dismantle the union. This plan ended up backfiring on the employers who claimed no involvement, Roberts said.

Roberts then spoke about silica dust, which has affected a large number of young miners, who have developed “black lung disease.” He explained how the dust is created by equipment that cuts through rock and puts silica dust into the air, which is then inhaled by the miners. When the dust is inhaled for an extended period through outdated safety equipment, workers get sick. He noted the only cure for “black lung” is a lung transplant. Sadly, he added that Congress has blocked the implementation of a new silica dust rule.

Finally, Roberts discussed the use of outdated protective equipment. He explained how the masks that miners wear put them at risk of suffocation and death due to multiple breathing hazards. Roberts urged the public to fight against a Congressional plan to end needed safety funding and introduce new bills to implement better health and safety measures for miners. The industry is in a decline because workers die from a disease they contract at the workplace, Roberts said. He added that coal companies need to make sure workers are not allowed to enter an area until silica dust is at safe levels.

For more updates on the UMWA and President Roberts, listen to the episode here.

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The main text of this post came directly from a press release issued by the UMWA. I added several links.

On this date in labor history: The worst industrial disaster in U.S. history

 

Photo taken from We Never Forget

On December 6, 1907 at least two explosions and a wayward train of coal cars caused the deaths of at least 362 mine workers and a few others who happened to be in two interconnected mines in Monongah, West Virginia. We will never know the exact number of those killed, but Davitt McAteer's good book on the Monongah mine disaster puts the number at around 500 killed. 

The majority of those killed were immigrant workers, and of their number most were Italians and many were fathers and sons or other relatives working together. The coal company, the state, and charities colluded to obscure the facts of the blasts and the numbers killed and injured and to pay off family members of those murdered by company and state indifference and to bury the dead quickly without properly identifying them or giving the family members and the communities affected much time to mourn. 

I recently visited two of the cemeteries where most of those killed are buried. One holds a mass grave and a few markers and two commemorative monuments. A large marker provided by the Italian government and many gravestones mark the areas where the dead lie. We protest against corporate greed and for stronger occupational safety and health provisions and for the rights of immigrant workers---all movements that we need---but it comes to my mind that it was left to the Italian government to remind us of our history and that the monument provided by the Italians was put in place in 2007. Could we not teach a true labor history in our schools and unions and honor with our outrage those who died building this country as well? Must the truth wait for one hundred years to be commemorated?

The photograph above shows families gathered near the mines that blew up waiting for news of their loved ones. The company and the state wanted to avoid criticism and the very-much-deserved public anguish and outrage that should have followed the explosions and prevented many of the dead from being publicly identified by family members. Most of the dead were buried without proper or traditional funerals and mourning. And most of the Black workers who perished were not buried with their white and immigrant fellow workers. The mines that blew up on November 6, 1907 were back in operation in a few years' time and employed the children of some of those who had been killed.

The company ultimately responsible for the Monongah mines was the Consolidation Coal Company, now known as Consol Energy. That company's Farmington mine, just a short distance from Monongah, blew up on November 20, 1968 and that explosion took the lives of 78 mine workers. We also mark today the 1962 Robena mine explosion in Greene County, PA. that took the lives of 37 mine workers. That mine was owned by U.S. Steel. Consol and U.S. Steel have come to be regarded as powerful corporate citizens, and both used their considerable influence to set public policy and divide working-class people for generations.

We continue to protest. And workers continue to be killed at work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 5,190 workplace fatalities in 2022. That is almost a 9% increase from 2020, and it does not include those who died from occupational diseases like black lung, mesothelioma and stress. In 2021, a worker died every 101 minutes from a workplace injury. What happened at Monongah on this date in 1907 was not a unique event that we can consign to history. There is a "us" and there is a "them" in this system and thousands of us are dying because of their greed.

Saverio Pignanelli was only 16 years old when he perished in the

 Monongah mine disaster. What did he know of the world? 

The photos above were taken by me. The opinions expressed here do not reflect those of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.