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Alabama Amazon Workers Build Towards Union (Labor Briefs)

NEW YORK, NY – MAY 01: People protest working conditions outside of an Amazon warehouse fulfillment center on May 1, 2020 in the Staten Island borough of New York City. People attending the protest are concerned about Amazon’s handling of the coronavirus and are demanding more safety precautions during the pandemic. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, AL are organizing for union representation with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). This is a historic step towards organizing the first union ever in Amazon, at a time when hundreds of Amazon workers around the globe have gone on strike. While CEO Jeff Bezos’ fortune has surpassed $200 billion, Amazon workers continue to fight for benefits, a living wage, hazard pay, and safe working conditions during a global pandemic. But Amazon is already trying to sabotage workers in Bessemer by delaying the union election and will likely spend millions of dollars on union-busting campaigns. Nevertheless the struggle in Bessemer is a tremendous example to other Amazon workers around the world whose labor reaps huge profits for corporations but almost nothing for the workers themselves. A win for Amazon workers would be a win for us all!

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NYC Fast Food Workers Win Just Cause Protections (Labor Briefs)

On December 17, fast food workers in New York City became the first in the country to win protections against arbitrary layoffs and reduced hours. NYC passed two “just cause” bills that prevent bosses from firing a worker or cutting their hours without giving a valid reason, either economic or related to job performance. This is a historic win for fast food workers who have been declared essential during COVID-19 but are treated as disposable, forced to work without healthcare, a living wage, hazard pay, and paid sick leave. They are often fired without warning or reason. Like many other essential work forces, the majority of fast food workers are Black and Brown people and women, who have suffered the most from COVID-19 and bear the brunt of the exploitation and lack of job security in the fast food industry. But fast food workers have fought back valiantly. They were the first to hold rallies for a $15 minimum wage and have been rallying and striking across the country demanding safety protections and higher wages since the pandemic. We should celebrate every victory for workers, anywhere and everywhere and never forget that it is our collective power that will help us win our long overdue rights.

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Instacart Workers Unionize

Instacart is an app-based grocery delivery service, in the same family as Uber, Lyft, and Waitr. These “gig economy” companies misclassify most of their employees as private contractors, enabling them to deny workers a living wage and benefits. But workers in this sector are fighting back.

A group of part-time Instacart employees in the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois, voted to unionize early in February. They are hooking up with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1546 so that they can begin fighting for a contract. This is a landmark vote, as this will be the first time that workers have been able to form a union in a tech company that relies primarily on “contract labor.”

Alongside other companies such as Uber and Lyft, Instacart is currently challenging California Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), a law recently passed that would make it more difficult for companies to misclassify workers as contractors. This law would also allow many more workers to unionize which is another reason the companies oppose it so fiercely.

By putting pressure on the bosses, gig workers are starting to win some recognition of their long overdue rights.

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Domestic Workers Fight to Win Bill of Rights

The Philadelphia City Council has passed a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. This is the result of a year-long campaign waged by the Pennsylvania Domestic Workers Alliance, which is affiliated with the National Domestic Workers Alliance. The passage of the bill is a gigantic win for the city’s 16,000 domestic workers, including housekeepers, gardeners, and those who care for children and the elderly.

The new legislation requires employers to have a written contract outlining scheduling, pay rates, and more. Employers must now provide two weeks notice before termination. The bill stipulates requirements for paid time off, meal, and rest breaks.

Nationally, domestic workers lack basic protections. The federal government does not guarantee them the right to a minimum wage, or to unionize. They do not have the right to overtime pay, nor do they have protection from discrimination and harassment. There are over 2 million domestic workers in the U.S. workforce, and they are disproportionately women, immigrants, and people of color. They are some of the most vulnerable workers in the country.

As with other categories of workers, we can see that the only way to change this situation is to organize and fight, as the Philadelphia Domestic Workers Alliance is doing.

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Airport Workers Stage Sit-ins Across the U.S.

During the busy Thanksgiving holiday, airport workers carried out militant demonstrations in 17 cities. These included major airports in Dallas and New York, where 60 were arrested by the NYPD. The workers are tired of low wages and the high costs of healthcare, and innumerable abuses from their employer, Sky Chef.

In Miami, 12 catering workers and UNITE HERE union representatives blocked the arrivals road in front of Terminal D at the Miami International Airport. They chanted, “One job should be enough!”

In Dallas, demonstrator Preston Strickland told reporters, “We feel like because we’re the backbone of the catering operation, we should have affordable healthcare and better living wages.”

This is only the latest in a series of actions carried out by the Sky Chef workers in 2019.

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49,000 U.S. GM Workers Strike South Korean and Mexican GM Workers Join Strike

By Gregory William

Forty-nine thousand General Motors workers began striking on September 16. This is the largest private sector strike in the U.S. since GM workers walked out in 2007. The capitalists are increasingly denying workers benefits and regular jobs as they make super profits from using and discarding workers at will. A major issue of the strike in all three countries is the right of temporary workers to equal pay and job security. This strike helps all workers. As usual, the capitalist government sides with GM as it harasses and arrests strikers on various picket lines.

Members of the United Automobile Workers union, or UAW, the strikers are pushing back against GM’s attacks on the workforce carried out in the aftermath of the 2007-2009 recession. During the recession, the government bailed out GM with $50 billion in taxpayer money, just as they did with the giant banks. Instead of improving conditions for the workers, GM “restructured”, bringing in more low-paid temp workers and subcontractors. Over time, the number of regular, full-time union employees has declined. Employees are increasingly overworked.

GM has effectively increased the level of exploitation in its plants, bringing in $35 billion in profits over the last three years. In 2018, they paid no federal income taxes. Now, they have the nerve to ask employees to pay more for health insurance. The workers are not standing for it.

GM’s anti-worker restructuring shows that, under capitalism today, no workers are truly secure. What we used to call “good jobs,” (jobs with benefits, decent pay, etc.) can be put on the chopping block at any moment. It is increasingly important for workers to stand together, whether we are full-time, part-time, temp, or subcontractors.

One of the most advanced demands of the union is for GM to reopen a car factory in Lordstown, Ohio. GM had shut down this facility, along with plants in other states, as part of a cost-cutting measure that resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs. Workers demanding that a factory be re-opened indicates that the working class is becoming more assertive and confident of its power. The UAW was built when workers occupied the factories they were striking against. The time has come to say, “our labor, our plants!” and take them over.
The bosses need us. We don’t need them!

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Global Environmental Crisis: Amazon Workers Walk Out

Amazon workers in over 25 cities and 14 countries walked out their workplaces in solidarity with the global climate strike on September 20. More than 1,800 workers participated in the walkout, protesting the company’s contracts with fossil fuel companies, their shareholders’ funding of climate denying lobbyists and politicians, and the continued contracts with ICE and other agencies responsible for the oppression of refugees.

The group that organized the walk out, the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, recognized the leadership shown by tech workers at Google who last year successfully organized to demand the termination of a company contract with the Pentagon. They also emphasized the global reach of Amazon as well as its multinational workforce of 600,000. They pointed to the enormous potential and responsibility of these workers to become leaders in the movement to fight climate change.

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South African Miners Strike Against Sexual Harassment


In June, South African miners carried out an underground sit-down strike in response to the sexual harassment of a women worker and the subsequent protection of her abuser by human resources and the management of the Lanxess chrome mine outside Rustenburg, South Africa. Led by women, more than 200 miners participated in the 9-day sit-down strike. The following is from a statement by Ruth Ntlokotse of the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa.

NUMSA HONOURS LANXESS WORKERS ON WOMEN’S DAY

On this Womens’ Day the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) is honouring our members at Lanxess mines, both men and women, who came together to fight against sexual harassment and tyranny in the workplace. From the 19th of June to the 27th of June 2019, two hundred of our members suffered underground, breathing in potentially toxic fumes, sleeping in the biting cold, sacrificing time away from the comfort of their families and their homes, they risked their lives in order to stage a sit-in to protest against a cruel and vicious management. Because of their selfless struggle, they were victorious against their oppressors. The alleged sex pest who was terrorizing a worker has been placed on suspension and is facing criminal charges. The Human Resources manager and the Security Managers who were terrorizing the victim have left the company. These were just some of the achievements they secured by uniting and fighting together against oppression.

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Hundreds Join Miners’ Sit-Down Strike on Train Tracks

Word spread fast that Harlan County miners had stood up to the Blackjewel company to demand pay owed to them for digging coal. They have effectively stopped a train attempting to bring coal they dug out to be sold for the profit of the criminal owners of Blackjewel. The company, which declared bankruptcy in June, is attempting to cheat the laid-off miners out of $12 million.

The company is trying to get an injunction to order the removal of the miners, but it’s the owners of Blackjewel who should be ordered to pay the miners. Clearly the owners understand that the capitalist courts work for them. But as one miner said, “we are standing up for what is right.”

The miners train track sit-down has garnered support throughout Harlan County as well as supporters from across the country who have traveled to join them in their tent city. People are bringing food and necessities and support for their families.

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20,000 AT&T Southeast Workers Strike


On August 23, 20,000 workers at AT&T Southeast, members of the Communications Workers of America, told the company we’re fed up. 3,500 of the workers who took part in this strike are in Louisiana. These workers do everything from customer service to major infrastructure. It’s from these workers’ labor that AT&T draws its enormous profits. Until the workers carried out the strike, the company had been refusing to negotiate according to the requirements of the law. After four days of work stoppage, AT&T was forced back to the bargaining table.

AT&T is broken up into different regions and the company and union had settled contracts in other regions. In yet another display of discrimination and hatred toward southern workers, AT&T Southeast had arrogantly refused to negotiate with its workers in good faith. The union could have demonstrated its solidarity and commitment to southern workers by postponing settlements in the other regions until AT&T Southeast sat down to negotiate. Fortunately, southern workers showed leadership with this strike.

On August 30, CWA announced the settlement of a new 5 year contract which includes wage increases of 13.25 percent and improvements to pensions and health insurance plans. Workers at AT&T Southeast show that the power of a union comes from its members and their determination to strike when the bosses try to cheat them.