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!
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.
In response to the coronavirus outbreak, National Nurses United, which represents more than 150,000 registered nurses across the country, is demanding better protection for healthcare workers, temporary paid sick leave for all workers, and a ban on monopoly rights for vaccines manufacturers in order to ensure free, universally available vaccines.
In a March 2 letter addressed to the federal government they note that “the for-profit motive in our health delivery system has led to hospital closures in rural and underserved communities, system-wide short-staffing of health care workers and inadequate supplies of medicines, medical equipment (including ventilators), and PPE in health care facilities. As a result, our hospitals and health care facilities are unable to adequately respond quickly to potential COVID-19 infections.”
They note the urgent need for a national health system “in which everyone living in this country is guaranteed the health care they need.”
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.
Mayor Cantrell threatens firefighters lives and our safety by refusing to hire more firefighters. Cantrell’s attacks on the firefighters are a disgrace.
An attack on the firefighters is an attack on all parish workers.
Mayor Cantrell gives away millions in tax exemptions to corporations and real estate developers but denies funds to firefighters, youth, and other essential services. Every year the city gives $180 million in stolen tourism tax dollars to big corporations for their private profit.
The union is calling for more firefighters: in the last ten years, staffing has decreased by 25% while the number of calls they have to answer has gone up 150%. NOFD cannot attract or retain firefighters with wages starting at $11/hr and meager retirement benefits.
Firefighters are being forced into brutal overtime at a moment’s notice. Many firefighters are working 96 hours a week.
Because of low pay, many firefighters have to work two jobs to support their families.
Firefighters’ families are suffering from forced overtime. They cannot plan childcare or appointments at schools and doctors.
Our neighborhoods are not safe when firefighters are overworked and understaffed.
The union is fighting for our neighborhoods to be protected.
The union is calling for an immediate end to unsafe, less effective two person crews on firetrucks. Two person crews pose a lethal hazard to firefighters.
Feb. 17: New Orleans Workers Group joins firefighters union at a Press Conference at City Park.
By refusing to reform brutal overtime rules, raise wages, or hire more firefighters, Mayor Cantrell is jeopardizing the safety of the firefighters and the residents of our city. But New Orleans firefighters are fighting back.
Because the firefighters union (IAFF Local 632) is making their grievances known, the mayor and the fire chief have attacked them for being “bullies.” The mayor has got it twisted; she’s the one putting the firefighters and residents’ lives at risk by working firefighters to the bone.
Residents should stand on the side of the firefighters because this is a fight for our safety too!
Take action:
The New Orleans Workers Group will be distributing flyers and talking with residents to rally support for the firefighters’ struggle. To get involved, contact us at nolaworkersgroup@gmail.com or by phone at 504-900-6748.
Go to the firefighters’ union website and follow links to their social media accounts, such as Facebook, and like the page for updates. Show up for press conferences and other actions called by the union.
Call or email Cantrell’s office and tell her to accept the union’s demands (ph. 504-658-4900, mayor@nola.gov).
Millions of workers in France have been on strike to protest the anti-worker policies of the Macron government. Sign reads “Let’s Revolt!”
Workers Tell Capitalist Government, “Don’t Mess With Us!”
By Nath Clarke
Current French President Emmanuel Macron, who puts the interests of bankers and big business above the people, announced plans to gut Social Security, affecting millions of people across the country. The Yellow Vest movement and many unions have been struggling against his policies (cuts to public spending, increased taxes for the poor, and tax cuts for the super-rich) for over a year. Working French people are not done fighting back against cuts to Social Security, public hospitals, and aid for poor families.
After the government announced plans to reform retirements, several of the most powerful unions offered an ultimatum on December 15th: scrap this law or feel the rage of the people. Since December 3rd, the teachers’ union, the train workers’ union, the bus drivers’ union, the hospital workers’ union, the truckers’, the EMTs’, the airport workers’, the refinery workers’, the firefighters’—and even the lawyers’— unions have issued a call to strike.
The rage of the people is a force to be reckoned with: in Paris, public transportation has come to a halt; only every third train is running across the rest of France; entire refineries have been shut down as their workers walk out. Although the government and corporate media are claiming these unions are just lazy or that these reforms will not affect restaurant workers, cashiers, and other workers in the private sector, nobody is fooled.
Nico, a trucker from the Corbières in Southern France, said that although the strikes have made getting around difficult, he understands that these folks are fighting for everyone. Macron’s reforms will mean that Social Security is a fixed rate. In a country where inflation is constantly on the rise, this will affect all workers, particularly women and folks who earn inconsistent salaries throughout their career.
Edouard, a landscaper who has been going to Yellow Vest protests since last year, told the Workers Voice:
“The government is trying to change the entire system so that different careers get access to different monthly sums based on their supposed societal value. Meanwhile, senators and other politicians will keep their own separate social security system—which receives 1.4 billion euros of funding every year. Cops will also maintain a more beneficial retirement, as France has slowly devolved into a police state under a state of emergency; cops are maiming protesters every week in order to maintain order, while nurses, teachers, servers, and countless other workers are left to starve…This reform is just an attempt to make more money off a system that works perfectly fine… except that it doesn’t generate enough profits for the super rich.”
At the protest on Thursday the 17th, hundreds of thousands of working class folks chanted: “This is democracy,” “Less money for the bankers, more money for the people,” and “Macron, we won’t slow down ’til we stop this reform.” The French government is nothing without the working people whose labor produces all the wealth. It’s the people’s money, and when we unite and fight, we always win.
Workers picket outside of Instacart headquarters in San Francisco on September 5, 2019, to demand a $15/hr minimum pay rate, ane nd to employer tip theft, and a line-item breakdown of earnings and expenses.
Instacart is the Uber of grocery shopping. It is a delivery service where customers order through a digital grocery list. Orders are shopped, checked out, and delivered by workers like Vanessa Bain of Palo Alto, California.
Vanessa Bain (VB): I used to work in education and was experiencing burnout. Around four years ago, I decided that I needed to do something different. Things were decent for the first 6-7 months. I was making more money working less hours than I did when I was teaching. I wasn’t coming home totally drained, which was a new feeling for me. I loved it at first.
Around September of 2016, they told us they were going to be taking tips out of our apps. Tips accounted for about 50% of my income. I was devastated, and I knew that I couldn’t take this lying down. I typed “#BoycottInstacart” into Instagram and found somebody else who was thinking like me, and we started organizing together. That was my entry into organizing.
Overcoming the obstacles of organizing in the gig economy
VB: There are a lot of obstacles to organizing in the gig economy:
1) We’re misclassified as independent contractors, so we have no protections under the National Labor Relations Act. This also means we’re not entitled to a minimum wage, overtime, rest, and meal breaks. We’re not entitled to draw from programs like workers compensation, unemployment insurance, and disability insurance.
2) The other major hurdle is that we have no centralized workplace. When organizing typically happens, you’re organizing with people in close proximity who you see on a regular basis. Instacart shoppers and Uber drivers are an atomized workforce. There could be a month or two months at a time where you don’t run into someone else who’s doing the same work. The infrastructure that is necessary to organize in a meaningful way is intentionally absent.
The companies want to pit us against each other and call it the hustle and say that we’re our own boss and our own CEO. This is bullshit. They don’t want us to see ourselves as coworkers who could fight back together. Camaraderie breeds collective action, unionizing, and feeling like we’re interconnected. That interconnectivity between folks and the feeling of being accountable to your fellow worker is incredibly important for organizing. The way in which they are implementing this structure is new, but this is centuries’ old bullshit that was regulated away in decades past, but they’re finding ways to bring it back.
Workers Voice (WV): Capitalists would like to see the whole economy go in this direction. They want to radically increase exploitation, thus increasing their profits. So venture capitalists just threw money at startup companies like Uber and Instacart.
VB: Totally. And none of these are profitable business models. In a nutshell the gig economy is a Ponzi scheme. Not to sound conspiratorial, but that’s really what it is.
Vanessa uses the internet plus face-to-face organizing WV: How did you face the challenges?
VB: Our organizing is necessarily going to be a hybrid of doing things in person and doing things digitally because we don’t have a centralized workplace. We don’t have a break room, for example. We have to create the equivalent of that online, but not everybody is plugged into social media, so how do you organize? You’re going to have to do it in person. We’re lucky that we do have some sense of shared workspace in grocery stores.
Instacart workers have carried out four walk offs since 2016 VB: Our very first walk off had a couple hundred participants. When we started organizing I don’t think we had the intention of continuing to do this. We did walk outs in 2016 and 2017 and 2019. We did a work slowdown in 2018.
The company has caved to some worker demands, but they are still on the offensive.
VB: Historically, when we do an action, the company gives it about a month and then implements our demands, acting as though it had nothing to do with our action. They don’t want to seem as if they’re responding to worker grievances because workers will see that this works, and we should keep doing it.
The last time they responded by cutting pay. We had a quality bonus, a measly $3 that we were paid for each order when customers rated their experience five stars. It seems like a small sum of money, but a batch can pay as little as $7.00 when you’re shopping and delivering for three customers, so $3 is a big deal. When they cut the quality bonus, it disproportionately hurt people who had done this the longest and were the best at their jobs because it is ostensibly a performance bonus.
Solidarity between shoppers and customers VB: This outraged a lot of customers. So that was like a secondary boycott. Customers were on Twitter and FB sharing the hashtag “DeleteInstacart.” Instacart’s tactics backfired. Instacart is nothing without shoppers and customers. Pissing off both is really a bad business tactic.
I think that solidarity between customers and shoppers is natural because Instacart is just a software program, but we’re the face of it. Customers have more loyalty to the human being than they do to the company that employs them. And if we’re unhappy, customers know.
Instacart began as a luxury service but it’s becoming more of a service that is oriented toward people who are located in food deserts, no transportation, or people who are disabled and house-bound. We provide a vital lifeline. I saw so many instances of people saying, “I can’t leave my home,” “I can’t go to a grocery store,” “I’m house-bound,” or “I have chronic fatigue and I can’t lift things.” But they are still extending solidarity by boycotting.
2020 should be a lit year for labor WV: How do you view the strength of the U.S. labor movement right now and in the coming year?
VB: 2019 has been pivotal year for labor. There’s been an explosion of raw energy and cross-sector solidarity. People from all different types of organizing have expressed solidarity. Some are white collar workers who are well compensated, but they are still organizing in their workplaces because they don’t want the technology that they’ve built to be contracted out to the Department of Defense and ICE. They don’t want the technology that they’ve built to be used to oppress people and contribute to climate change.
I’ve been organizing for three and a half years now and I never felt more optimistic than I do now. And I think that we’re gonna see expansion of a lot of the organizing that has sprung up. I think it’s gonna get bigger, and more powerful. Our problems are rooted in capitalism itself.
A lot of current organizing is rooted in the understanding that capitalism is unsustainable. A lot of the problems that we’re struggling with are inherent to capitalism. At some point, capitalism must go. I’m inspired, and I hope that other people can share in that optimism and can feel like when they look at what Instacart workers did in their organizing, they think, “If this person can do it, then I can do it,” and reach out to one another.
The day that we kicked off our walk off, the Google walkout organizers called us and expressed solidarity. They offered an infrastructure that they had available, and we didn’t. They lent their expertise in areas that we didn’t know much about.
I think it’s going to be a lit year for labor! I’m 33. I think that the tides are changing. I think that people are feeling more empowered and emboldened to take bold action.
Honor New Orleans Sanitation Workers with Higher Wages, Better Conditions, Respect, Union Rights
By Sanashihla
Memphis and New Orleans are cities with rich traditions, culture and histories of resistance to oppression. Both cities have ports to the Mississippi river. Both cities have a high population of Black people suffering from poverty. Both cities have had workers who died from unsafe work environments, neglect, and abuse of power. It’s time for workers to rise and fight!
Time for all workers to stand up
On February 1, 1968 two Memphis based sanitation workers, Robert Walker and Echol Cole, were crushed to death by a malfunctioning truck.
On October 12, 2019 three New Orleans construction workers, Jose Ponce Arreola, Quinnyon Wimberly, and Anthony Magrette were killed during the collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel. Construction continued despite workers having voiced concerns about bent beams and flawed materials being used during construction.
Had the Hard Rock workers in New Orleans not been denied union rights, they could have forced the bosses to address the safety concerns or walked off the job without punishment and with pay.
However, due to the greed and disregard for the workers, the bosses and city officials in both cases put dedicated workers’ lives in jeopardy. The bosses know workers need paychecks, even under unsafe situations. They push the workers because they know that other business owners are pressing them for rent or charging them for food and all other necessities for daily survival. This puts workers in a bind.
History has lessons for us today
After almost two weeks of getting no response from the city about the 1968 death of the two Memphis based sanitation workers, 1,300 Black men from the Memphis Department of Public Works went on strike for improved safety standards and better wages.
The Memphis workers of 1968 had a union. And because they were organized and had learned the lessons of a previous strike, they were able to gain necessary support. The strike became not only part of the union struggle but the national fight for civil rights. Memphis sanitation workers were Black, and the bad conditions they faced were also a byproduct of racism.
The working class cannot and will not wait for anyone else to come save us
Workers in New Orleans face the same conditions. But most workers here do not have a union. In order to improve conditions, workers must get organized on all fronts! The business owners know that a union would have had the power to do something about the safety concerns expressed by the workers. A union could have saved lives. But they don’t care. We workers must care, get organized, and fight back!
Our power is our labor and organizing
From Memphis to New Orleans, the words of Dr. King’s very last speech should inspire us today: “The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya: Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee—the cry is always the same: We want to be free!”
Dr. King believed in the power of the people. He believed in the power of organizing, and the organizing of power. The real power is in our labor and what we decide to do or not do collectively with that labor! Dr. King emphasized, “we don’t have to live like we are forced to live[…]When people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.”
34,000 unionized school personnel in Los Angeles made major gains in a strike this year.
Workers Have the Power—Let’s Use It!
Question: My wages suck and my boss treats me like sh*t. I never know how many hours or days I will work. I have no sick days or vacation pay. What can I do? Answer: Under capitalism workers sell their labor to the boss. The boss then makes a profit from your labor. Unless you organize, the boss will pay you no more than the minimum. They can be racist or sexist and change all your conditions of work any way they want. There are few laws, and those that exist are hard to enforce. You can fight this with a union.
Question: That’s not right! We do all the work. Does it have to be this way? Answer: No! I won’t say it’s easy, but you have to get together with the other workers at your job, stick together no matter what and make demands on the boss.
Question: Do we have to get a union to do that? Answer: You can form a group of workers at your job first. You have a right to do that.
Question: Why get a union then? Answer: It’s better to get a union because you’ll have more support. You will get a written contract that the boss signs and you can enforce it.
Question: I heard this is a “Right to Work” State. How is forming a union legal? Answer: The bosses did get the politicians they pay off to pass a “right-to-work law.” The law is also called an “at will” law, which means the boss can fire you without reason. The law is wrong, but that law only limits on paper what unions can do. It does not ban unions.
The law in Louisiana says in Section 981: “All persons have and it shall be protected, in the exercise of the right to freely and without fear of penalty or reprisal, to form, join and assist a labor organization…”
Question: I heard a union just takes your money. Answer: The boss says so you won’t want a union. Workers in unions or worker groups make much more than unorganized workers, plus benefits and more, so of course the boss says that.
Question: Can I get fired? Answer: It’s illegal, but it happens. However, if you’ve organized the other workers and have solidarity and community support, the business can be pressured to rehire you. It is important to get other unions, other workers, family, and community involved.
Question: Why is this part of the freedom struggle? Answer: Because organized workers have power. The power to fight for better wages, for a workplace without racism and sexual harassment, for sick pay and health benefits, for a right to fight a grievance against discipline or an unfair boss.
Question: Where can I get help doing this and learn how to get started? Answer: Get in touch with Workers Voice, and we will help you get started: nolaworkersgroup@gmail.com.
Nov. 26: New Orleans Workers Group holds a rally in solidarity with workers, peasants, Indigenous people, unions, and women’s organizations against the CIA-engineered coup in Bolivia.
New Orleans Workers Stand With Bolivian People Against Fascist U.S. Coup
The New Orleans Workers Group stands in solidarity with the workers, peasants, Indigenous people, unions and women’s organizations against the CIA-engineered coup in Bolivia carried out on behalf of the ultra rich. This anti-democratic coup is aimed at destroying the immense gains made by the Bolivian people under the leadership of Evo Morales and the Movement for Socialism (MAS). The ultra-rich in Bolivia are deeply racist and want to crush the historic liberation of the Indigenous masses in Bolivia. The rich are horrified that the oppressed, the indigenous people of Bolivia, including Morales, took their fate into their own hands.
These forces of the ultra-rich are destroying schools, burning homes, and attacking women and popular organizations. Their aim is to turn back health, education, and equality gains made in recent years. They seek to return to private profit-making vultures the vast mineral riches of Bolivia such as lithium. They seek to cut the country’s social services in order to get into the good graces of the International Monetary Fund and U.S. banks. It is total nonsense that an uprising against Morales took place on the basis of election fraud. The generals installed a president and cabinet who all hail from the non-indigenous super rich in a majority indigenous country.
This is yet another example of how even the most admirable efforts to build socialism remain vulnerable to reversal if they are confined to electoral politics. History shows us that the only way that the basis for socialism can be won is by arming the workers and peasants and getting rid of the military generals and police of the old state. We know that the Bolivian workers and peasants are up to the task.
U.S. labor unions have denounced this coup and have expressed support for Morales. These include the United Electrical Workers union, the National Nurses United and the AFL-CIO, the main union federation in the U.S. representing 12 million active and retired members.
