news Labor Movement Megathread | Workers of the World Unite ✊

[DAP]

 

A lot going on in the labor movement and they’re only getting stronger, so much that I feel there should be a generalized megathread for posterity. 

 

So here it is. Welcome to the official home for discussion of all global labor movements. This is the thread to chat and document news and ongoing development in workers and class struggle, from strike action to unionizing, protest, bargaining, law, theory, and history. Please feel free to contribute in any way you can.

[DAP]

Just a few key moments from the past three months alone

 

A strike at a Tesla factory in Sweden escalates into a shipping blockade

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/world/europe/sweden-tesla-strike.html

 

Garment factory workers in Bangladesh conduct ongoing mass strike

https://apnews.com/article/bangladesh-garment-workers-protest-minimum-wage-928de69317e2f39911987f9369285bdf

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/09/business/bangladesh-wage-hike-protests-fashion/index.html

 

UAW workers in Kentucky, Michigan reject tentative deal

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/uaw-workers-gms-flint-assembly-narrowly-vote-against-new-labor-deal-2023-11-10/

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/ford-production-workers-kentucky-vote-uaw-labor-deal/story?id=104843315

 

Field staff at the NEA (teacher’s union, largest union in the US) vote unanimously to authorize strike

https://www.axios.com/2023/11/13/nea-labor-union-strike-vote-teachers

 

Sanitation workers at Anheuser-Busch in Missouri seeking to unionize

https://www.theintelligencer.com/news/article/anheuser-busch-brewery-st-louis-unionize-18449553.php

 

Generalized rundown of strike action in Europe, Asia, and Africa

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/11/09/avnk-n09.html

 

Generalized rundown of strikes in Australia

https://jacobin.com/2023/11/solidarity-bargaining-labor-movement-strategy-uaw-australian-unions-may-day

 

 

 

 

[Mean Trees]

Interesting thread. I'll have to stay updated with it.

[Jormungand]

I'll definitely be lurking👀 Wish my garbage state Florida wasn't so hostile to unions. 

[DAP]

Portland Public School teachers enter their 10th day of striking 

 

 

[DAP]

Workers United (Starbucks union) stages US-wide one-day strike from 200 stores. For context, Starbucks has yet to begin bargaining with the union or the 363+ unionized stores

https://apnews.com/article/starbucks-strike-red-cup-day-7c07617260ea1c4760410e29b4509b6b

 

The CWA (Communications Workers of America) files a complaint against SEGA for unfair labor practices, as it prepares to fire 80 of its 200 unionized workers and outsource to Europe and Japan. SEGA and CWA have been negotiating a deal since September

https://www.engadget.com/sega-faces-unfair-labor-practice-complaint-for-planned-mass-layoff-of-union-members-073046095.html?guccounter=1

 

Strike action continues in Sweden against Tesla; dockworkers at all the country’s ports are refusing to offload cars, sanitation workers will not clean showrooms, and mechanics will not maintain the charging ports

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/sweden-tesla-strike-cleaners

 

Unions in France threaten a mass strike in time for the Summer Olympics in Paris

https://www.reuters.com/sports/strikes-could-mar-paris-2024-run-up-if-worker-demands-not-met-union-says-2023-11-17/

 

Millions of workers in Indonesia striking over minimum wage laws

https://asianews.network/millions-of-indonesians-to-strike-over-2024-minimum-wage-unions/

 

After a two-day demonstration involving 10k people, Seoul Metro workers will stage a second strike on November 22

https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20231114000770

 

Public school staff in South Australia organize a one-day strike in Adelaide, the second in two months. They are currently the lowest paid teachers in the country and the strike follows a tepid proposal from state Labour government that was said to be worse than their initial offer.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/11/11/usik-n11.html

[DAP]

1. Tesla strike in Sweden triggers boycotts in Denmark, Norway, and Finland among unionized transport workers. As well, a Danish pension fund (PensionDanmark) is selling its $69 million stake in Tesla.
2. Teachers’ strike in Portland, Oregon ends after three weeks. The union ratified a three-year, $175 million bargaining contract with 94.7% of the vote, augmenting cost-of-living adjustments, planning time, and class size resolution for educators.
3. Postdoctoral workers at Mount Sinai Hospital’s Icahn School of Medicine in New York organize a strike three months after authorization vote. Pay increases, wage adjustments for inflation, greater access to healthcare, childcare, and housing services (ie rent stipends), and increased transparency of authorship intellectual property are chief among the workers’ demands. This comes after about 14 months of stalled negotiations with the hospital.
4. Public sector workers launch a 7-day mass strike in Quebec. Nearly 80K unionized nurses and nurse aids join today on the heels of a recently passed privatization bill hollowing out services statewide.
5. Salaried public sector workers in Germany reach a collective bargaining deal that aims to raise their pay by 11% by October 2025.
6. Global strike commences in the fallout of failed UN ceasefire initiative for Palestine.
7. World Socialist Web Site publishes analysis of bureaucracy underscoring unions such as the United Auto Workers, the UAW’s history, their recent unionization campaign, and collusion with capitalists to contain class struggle among workers.
8. Overwhelming majority of healthcare workers in Italy conduct a one-day strike in response to exploitation and proposed pension cuts by the state. 
9. Unions in Nigeria suspend an indefinite mass strike that arose after a trade unionist protesting wage theft was beaten by police.
10. Argentine transit workers stage strikes in Cordoba and Rosario, the latter following the murder of a bus driver.
11. Scientists at New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) are striking starting today to agitate NIWA for a better bargaining deal. Workers are prepared to strike into late January 2024.
12. Half of workers at a Yamaguchi-based broadcasting network organize a strike after negotiations reach an impasse over winter bonuses. 
13. Thousands of steelworkers in Iran join mass demonstrations over deteriorating living conditions.
14. Generalized rundown of labor struggle in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific in the past week.

[DAP]

1. As labor solidarity against Tesla escalates further in Scandinavia, it faces another dispute with nonunion workers at their factory in Berlin (in Danish). IG Metall, Germany’s largest union, is stepping in to negotiate on behalf of workers and reports testimonies of “extreme workload [and] excessive production targets”.
2. As well, railroad workers in Germany are in the midst of a three-day strike, starting from today to Friday. This coincides with an ongoing strike among farmers over proposed cuts to fuel subsidies.
3. In the past month, thousands of airline workers launch a mass strike in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, and Greece, while a railroad strike in Portugal is currently underway.
4. Rail, Maritime, and Transport (RMT) suspends a planned strike by London Underground workers after contract negotiations resume with the Transport for London (TfL).
5. After a six-day strike, junior doctors in the United Kingdom contemplate another strike ahead of a wage mandate expiration on February 29.
6. Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT), one of the most powerful unions in Argentina, is scheduling a general strike on January 24 in response to Javier Milei’s austerity measures.
7. Workers as a copper mine in Chile approve a collective bargaining contract by a 347-26 vote. Among the concessions are a 19.6 million peso (USD$22,700) bonus and a $3500 preferential loan benefit.
8. A consortium of Bangladeshi labor groups were threatening to inflict more pressure on the state with an indefinite general strike as of December 2023. 
9. In Quebec, the Common Front (Front Commun), a four-union federation of education and healthcare workers, and la Féderation Autonome d’Enseignement reach tentative deals on the heels of one of the largest strikes in North American history. The terms of the Front Commun deal includes the largest salary increase for workers in 45 years. Negotiations remain in progress for several public sector unions, including la Fédération Interprofessionelle de la Santé du Québec, the nurses’ union, and further strikes may be necessary should unions and the state fail to reach an agreement. Rank-and-file leaders are strategizing against threats to a broad class struggle in the interim.
10. Faculty at the California State University system reaffirm plans to conduct a one-week strike across 23 campuses in late January. At 5%, the university’s pay raise offer is well below the demands of the California Faculty Association (12%) and was proposed to avoid renewing discussions with unions that had previously agreed to said terms.
11. Corporations retaliate against California’s recently passed minimum wage bills with mass layoff of service workers.
12. Hospitality workers in Las Vegas are prepared to strike as they approach the February 2 deadline for a bargaining contract, a week before the Super Bowl. The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and affiliate Bartenders Local 165 ratified five-year agreements with the three largest casino owners—MGM, Caesars, and Wynn—that entailed 32% salary increases the previous November, and workers at smaller properties are agitating for an equivalent deal.
13. Michigan hospital workers describe abysmal working conditions amid COVID-19 resurgence.
14. The Sinai Postdoctoral Organizing Committee (SPOC), an affiliate union of United Auto Workers (UAW), ratifies a contract with a 98% vote following a two week strike by Icahn School of Medicine workers in New York. None of their initial demands were met as a result of the SPOC’s capitulation to Mount Sinai management.. 
15. Hollywood reps at a trade show express solidarity with Teamsters and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) as contract expiration looms. 
16. Generalized rundown of labor struggle in Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa, Middle East, and the Americas in the past week.

[DAP]

Oh wow should be happening now though

 

[DAP]

1. Tesla strike in Scandinavia has evolved into a state of attrition. Tesla refuses to engage with IF Metall on a bargaining agreement and workers continue their resistance, although CEO Elon Musk (erroneously) claims the "storm has passed".
2. Bus drivers in Germany coordinate a mass strike with climate activists in 57 cities in response to budget cuts and mass privatization.
3. In February, Eiffel Tower workers launched a strike against the operator's speculative business practice that undercut money for renovations and maintenance. It was the second strike in three months.
4. Since February 5, 1800 steelworkers at an Acerinox plant in Cadiz, Spain have been on an indefinite strike for hazard pay, salary increases, and fixed hours. Acerinox experienced steep declines in output and profits (1200 tons, US$3.8 million) within a month. This is occurring simultaneously with another ongoing steelworkers' strike in Finland at Outokumpu.
5. Proposed labor reform by Finland's right wing government, led by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, aroused a wave of mass strikes. Strikes have taken place sporadically since September 2023, but escalated in February because of increased provocation from the state. These proposals target the country's democratic model of collective bargaining in favor of an "export-driven" model that empowers corporations. The most recent strike among dockworkers has been suspended by unions to facilitate negotiations with the government.
6. In mid-March, healthcare workers in Japan conducted a nationwide strike protesting insufficient wage increases. 
7. At the same time, Hyundai Steel union workers in South Korea staged general strikes over stalled collective bargaining negotiations.
8. Hospital workers in Kenya reject a wage offer from the state to end their strike, active since March 15.
9. Municipal workers in Durban, South Africa launch a wildcat strike condemned by the union.
10. A mass strike in Argentina has destabilized the Milei regime's offense on workers' rights. The National Congress of Argentina rejected Milei's Omnibus Bill, the proposed law that would expand the surveillance powers of the state and dispossess the working class of severance pay agreements, collective bargaining rights, regulations, etc. A much weaker, labor concession-heavy iteration of the Omnibus Bill is pending approval.
11. Port workers in Chile launch a one-day strike to disrupt activity at the country's seaports.
12. Resistance to mining projects intensifies in Ecuador.
13. Layoffs in the US reach a 14 month peak as a result of state and private tech cuts.
14. United Auto Workers announces it will materially aid workers organizing in Mexico.
15. Two years after unionizing, a Staten Island-based Amazon plant approaches its first leadership election season.
16. In February, Amazon became the third company to submit a legal filing denouncing the National Labor Rights Board (NLRB) as unconstitutional, part of the capitalist elite's organized attacks on a widespread labor struggle. This follows more than 250 NLBR complaints against Amazon's labor practice.
17. Generalized rundown of labor movements in the Americas, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

[DAP]

Bump

 

[Virgos Groove]

10,000 US hotel workers strike over Labor Day weekend

 

Quote

Some 10,000 hotel workers across the United States have gone on strike over a major holiday weekend to demand better pay and conditions.

 

Workers on Sunday walked off the job in eight cities, including Boston, Honolulu, San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle, after the UNITE HERE union and the Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott hotel chains failed to reach a deal in contract negotiations.

Quote

"Too many hotels still haven't restored standard services that guests deserve, like automatic daily housekeeping and room service. Workers aren't making enough to support their families," Mills said in a statement.

 

"Many can no longer afford to live in the cities that they welcome guests to, and painful workloads are breaking their bodies. We won't accept a 'new normal' where hotel companies profit by cutting their offerings to guests and abandoning their commitments to workers."

Al Jazeera

[DAP]

Period 

[Mean Trees]

[DAP]

Some 30K+ Boeing workers in California, Oregon, and Washington are two weeks into an indefinite strike. The machinists' union rejected Boeing's voting deadline yesterday. I hope it continues for as long as possible; Boeing is one of the largest profiteers of war after all and only through labor action can their autonomy be challenged.