The song remains the same...

This photograph was taken in Richmond, VA. around 1940. The woman with the sign was a member of the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers (FTA-CIO). FTA-CIO was a great union and far ahead of its time in many ways.  
 

Sacred Heart Home Care Services Strike Set For February 10-24.

 Please click on the flier if you can read the text.

The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation at the University of Oregon have declared their intent to strike on January 17...

This post came via the Oregon AFL-CIO:

The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation at the University of Oregon have declared their intent to strike on January 17 if a fair contract is not reached. Last year, we saw a wave of strikes sweep across the Pacific Northwest and nationally. Everywhere workers picketed, unions and workers stepped up in solidarity to support the workers on strike.

The GTFF strike in Eugene is no exception, and it’s time for Oregon Labor to come together and help these hard working graduate employees win a fair contract. Without the labor of GTFF members, the University of Oregon simply cannot function effectively. By supporting GTFF, we can help send a message that the community in Eugene and across the state stands behind graduate employees.

Make sure you’re checking the GTFF website and following them on Facebook and Twitter/X for the latest news about the strike.

Here’s how you can help:

Sign Up to Walk the Line with GTFF

Click Here to Sign Up for a Picket Line Shift and please encourage others to join

Check-in at Strike HQ (609 E. 13th Ave. in Eugene)

Feel free to contact Miche with questions (971-998-8794)

Bring a donation with you! Click Here for a list of goods GTFF members need

Attend the Rally on January 19 in Eugene

Stand with the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation in their fight for a fair contract at a rally on Friday, January 19 at the EMU Amphitheater at the University of Oregon at 3:00pm. Speakers include AFT President Randi Weingarten! Click here to download a flier to help promote the rally.

An urgent appeal to support graduate employees at the University of Oregon

From the Oregon AFL-CIO: 

The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation at the University of Oregon have declared their intent to strike on January 17 if a fair contract is not reached. Here are three ways you can help support striking graduate workers:

Attend the Rally on January 19 in Eugene
Stand with the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation in their fight for a fair contract at a rally on Friday, January 19 at the EMU Amphitheater at the University of Oregon at 3:00pm. Speakers include AFT President Randi Weingarten! Click here to download a flier to help promote the rally.

Donate to the GTFF Strike Fund
The GTFF, a union representing more than 1,400 Graduate Employees at the University of Oregon, has been in contentious contract negotiations with the UO since March 2023. The UO’s refusal to provide a contract that enables GEs to live with dignity has pushed GTFF members to prepare for a potential strike. In order to prepare to hold the line for a fair contract, GTFF is asking for community members, GTFF alumni, fellow labor unions, and other allies to contribute to their Strike Fund. Click here to donate today.

Please register and attend Oregon Labor's Strike School.

We are just a few weeks out from STRIKE SCHOOL - Oregon Labor’s bootcamp-style training happening at the Oregon Labor Center on Saturday, January 27 from 9:00am - 5:00pm. Click here to register today!

In 2023, over half a million union members just like you went on strike in communities across the country. As a result of the strikes and other contract campaigns, we saw nearly 900,000 union members win double-digit raises at the bargaining table. Strikes work. Employers are scared of them because they know workers truly hold the power in the workplace.

A well organized bargaining unit is a strong bargaining unit. That’s why at Strike School we will focus on the “buildup” to a potential strike rather than the strike itself. Join us to learn some best practices from experienced trainers around the preparation, strategy and organizing it takes to win.

"Unions Should Start Planning for a Mass Strike on May Day 2028."

Photo from Getty Images and Bill Pugliano/Jacobin

UAW president Shawn Fain marches with UAW members as

UAW strikes on September 15, 2023 in Detroit, Michigan.

An article by Dom DiMaggio that appeared in the November 27, 2023 issue of Jacobin under the headline "Unions Should Start Planning for a Mass Strike on May Day 2028" got little attention when it was first published. Today, however, my email basket is full of questions, projections and worries about the main points DiMaggio made in his article. The article, or recaps of the article, are apparently hits on Instagram/X, Reddit, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Keith Naughton at Bloomberg News and Kim Kelly, writing for Teen Vogue, have picked up on the ideas behind DiMaggio's piece and run a bit with them. In fact, Bloomberg has been sounding the alarm since October, if not earlier. Hamilton Nolan at In These Times posed the possibility of a general strike and what it would take to prepare for one in the United States in an article in early November. Jenny Brown, also writing in In These Times, posted a forward-looking article with a related take on things last Sunday. 

An Instagram post under today's date that may have come from the United Auto Workers union says

“If we’re going to truly take on the billionaire class and rebuild the economy so that it starts to work for the benefit of the many and not the few,” Fain said on Facebook Live, “then it’s important that we not only strike, but that we strike together.” So what if a bunch of unions say they’re all going to walk out on May 1, 2028, unless their employers offer record contracts to make up for years of runaway inequality? What if they align some of their demands — like demands for an end to forced overtime and for the restoration of the eight-hour day? Or, hell, for workers to share in the gains of productivity with a thirty-two-hour week at forty hours’ pay. Or for a return to real pensions. What if newly unionized workers fighting for first contracts join them? Not only could it push the employers, it would also put some big pressure on politicians, in a presidential election year, to back solutions that help working people. Sure, it’s hard enough to even get a union to coordinate its contracts with the same employer: the Communications Workers of America Union have multiple expiration dates at AT&T; the Food and Commercial Workers International Union have more than a hundred different contracts with Kroger that expire at different times; and on and on. But maybe this bold idea is the push the labor movement needs."

The relevant hash tags given are @labornotes, @jacobinmag, #SolidaritySeason, #StandUpUAW and #UAW. The post makes it difficult to tell who is speaking here and who is being spoken to.

The post also points out some immediate difficulties in organizing a general or mass strike. Common contract expiration dates will be hard or impossible to coordinate, but getting there means starting to coordinate right now and being able to explain to people why a mass strike is needed. Besides that, common contract expiration dates do not make a mass or general strike by themselves. The "coincidence" of different union contracts expiring and different unions striking at the same time, even if possible, needs to anticipate what the balance of power might look like in 2028, what the levels of working-class action and leadership will be then, and where the coordination to carry out a mass strike will come from. Frankly, this will take some flouting of the laws and breaking some contractual agreements if this is going to work, and we can expect retaliation for doing that. And there is a nagging question in my mind---a mass strike, and then what?

That is not to say that the idea of a mass strike is necessarily idealistic or wrong. The Instagram blurb has it right in saying that "But maybe this bold idea is the push the labor movement needs." We have had a few mass strikes in the United States, and periods of time when it felt like mass or general strikes were underway, and May Day is a fully American labor day that we need to reclaim. We need a push, and this may be one of means of pushing us forward to do more and do better in organizing. 

But will we still need a push in 2028, and isn't that question going to be decided in part by what happens in November of this year? If Trump or another Republican wins in November, can workers still approach going on an organizing offensive or will we be forced to play defense for four years? Where will our allies be---the women, the LGBTQIA+ people, the immigrants and immigrant rights advocates, the majority of people of color---and what will we need from one another then?

Any reasonable call for a mass or general strike involves talking about leadership and our capacity to take action. If this talk is for real, then we need to be all about honestly assessing our capacity to act and putting leadership in place right now.

I have participated in two general strikes, both in other countries. One was militant and confrontational and the other was more of a mass celebration. Immigrant workers here in the United States have much to teach us about how mass strikes are built and carried out.

What is the next step here and who is going to take it?

Please read the articles mentioned here and discuss them with others. Could we do a discussion group about this here in Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties? 

The Seattle General Strike of 1919

The opinions expressed here are not those of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central 

Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.

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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America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments, and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America’s workers and their families can hear discussions on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports, and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Auto Workers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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

The workers at Law360 use direct action

 

Photo take from the AFL-CIO

The AFL-CIO's Daily Brief and a dispatch from The News Guild are both highlighting a one-day job action carried on yesterday by the unionized workers at Law360. Many of us use Law360 in our work. The company is owned by LexisNexis and the workers and their union are trying to settle their union contract negotiations on favorable terms. These negotiations have been going on since November of last year.

The closing paragraph of the union's press release describes some of what happened yesterday as follows:

Workers will march in a day-long picket line beginning at 10:30 a.m. outside LexisNexis headquarters at 230 Park Ave. in Manhattan. At 2 p.m, the Guild will hold a rally on the north side of the building on 46th Street featuring speakers including NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss, NewsGuild of New York President Susan DeCarava and members of the Law360 Union. Throughout the walkout: Law360 members at offices around the country will gather via Zoom.

I think that this brief description of what occurred yesterday gives a good picture of what a disruptive one-day job action can look like. These actions certainly test the water and raise the bar and assert union and worker power when they involve critical numbers of union members and when they disrupt operations. For many workers such actions may be used to lead up to a more protracted period of protest or to a longer, and hopefully successful, strike.

What occurred yesterday raises some good questions about the increasing use of short strikes and direct action at work. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA has detailed how an extended period of worker-led disruption at work in support of reasonable union demands can look like. The Washington State Labor Council has had much to say as these tactics were put into practice at Alaska Airlines. I mention the workers in the airlines in order to make the point that coordinated union disruption at work can win support from many places that we might not expect. Taking direct action can be scary, but it is much easier to do when you can be confident that you will have support and that others have your back.

Thank you to the workers at Law360 for your bravery!

(The views expressed here are the views of the author only.)   

Support Washington Post employees who are on strike today---Your solidarity is needed!

Image taken from The News Guild

Washington Post employees went on a 24-hour walkout strike today, December 7. After 18 months of employer-obstructed bargaining and several rounds of layoffs and "voluntary" buyouts, the Guild says, enough is enough. The workers are members of The News Guild. The Freelance Solidarity Project of the National Writers Union (FSP-NWU) has issued a solidarity statement supporting the strikers.

You can read more about the reasons for the strike here, and send a letter to the Post management in support of the union, using this Action Network tool.

The FSP-NWU statement says "The Post Guild is asking supporters to respect a digital picket line by not engaging with any Post content, including print and online news stories, podcasts, videos, games, and recipes. As freelancers, we should also make sure to avoid performing scab work — that is, work that would otherwise be done by a striking employee. Read more about our principles of solidarity with striking staff unions here."

The strike has been covered on National Public Radio, The Guardian, Reuters, and many other media outlets.

 

Photo from Communications Workers of America.

Two inspiring Oregon labor events coming up that you won’t want to miss!

The Oregon AFL-CIO has announced the following important learning and organizing opportunities. Please sign up if you are a union member, and please ask other union members to sign up as well. Local or regional unions may cover any expenses, but if we nee to have a fundraiser to support participation in these kinds of events then let's talk about that. 

Webinar: How Recent Changes at the NLRB Can Help Your Union

Tuesday, December 12, 2023 | 5:00 - 7:00pm
Via Zoom (Registration Required)
Please join us for a webinar to learn more about recent changes at the National Labor Relations Board and what they could mean for union organizing in Oregon and across the country. We will be joined by long-time Labor Attorney and NLRB expert, Noah Warman, who will provide an overview of the changes and what it can mean for your union.
Click here to register for the webinar.

Strike School 2024

Saturday, January 27, 2024 | 9:00am - 5:00pm
Oregon Labor Center in Portland (3645 SE 32nd Ave)
The Oregon AFL-CIO is hosting an all day bootcamp-style training we’re calling “Strike School” in January. Union leaders, activists, and bargaining team members from unions across the state will come together to learn ways to harness the power of a credible strike threat. We aim to leave participants with tools for planning and executing powerful shop floor campaigns that will turn up the heat at the table and leave the boss sweating on the fair contract they’re about to sign.
Click here to register for Strike School. Registration is $75 per person and includes breakfast, lunch, and a union-made t-shirt.