Tag: organizing
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Beat the Heat: How US Workers Are Winning Fans, AC, and Even Heat Pay
In 2022, the latest year for which we have data, 43 U.S. workers lost their lives to heat on the job. That’s up from 36 in 2021, and we can expect this cruel number to keep climbing. But from warehouses to coffeehouses to construction sites, workers using solidarity and creative action—even without the protection of a union…
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How University of California Researchers Began Refusing Military Work
As unionized workers in higher education, we are positioned to intervene at the very beginning of the military supply chain. The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions issued an urgent call on October 16 to stop arming Israel—including the specific request to disrupt military funding and military research.
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Management Rights: A Pitfall When Negotiating Your First Contract
In the past year, retail and service sector workers have started organizing unions with success in companies like Starbucks and Amazon. The negotiation process for their first contracts is challenging, with employers seeking language that weakens the union. Management rights clauses have become a point of contention, as employers aim to limit union rights. Changes…
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#FeesMustFall in Nigeria
The current crisis in education demands a bold response: student resistance must evolve beyond local campus struggles. It is time to embrace the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist spirit that marked the heydays of a vibrant NANS, understanding that the fate of public education is inextricably linked to the broader struggle for social justice.
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UE Support for Ceasefire Was Built on Decades of Membership Education and Debate
Our union, the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE), was able to mobilize quickly on this critical issue because we have a strong tradition of international solidarity and taking a critical view of U.S. foreign policy. When Israel launched its brutal assault on the people of Palestine in the wake of the…
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New York’s Tenant Unions are Playing the Long Game
Tenant unions fight evictions, rent overcharges, disrepair, and landlord harassment. They also may fight for legislation, and for pro-tenant electeds. While labor unions wield the power of the shop floor, the site of production, tenant unions wield the power of the home—the site of social reproduction. In each case, their greatest leverage comes from the…
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The Death of Slavery, The First Dawn of Freedom
An organized clandestine underground network to resist the slave state was not inevitable. The path of fatalism and despair, a pale specter that still haunts many would-be rebels today, was just as likely. In those days, given the seemingly low odds of success, an overwhelming feeling of helplessness doubtless consumed many hearts. Courageous people, most…
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How Students are Fighting the Arms Industry on Campus
In terms of education, we have a document that we’ve made public via our Instagram and emails we’ve sent out to interested students really detailing UMass’s connection to Raytheon — and detailing Raytheon’s connection to the IDF and the war on Palestinians. At our weekly meetings, we’ve also had things like teach-ins for interested students. We’ve also…
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How to Organize in High Turnover Jobs
By Jenny Brown for Labor Notes, published May 22nd 2023 Original article here. When the Amazon Labor Union first submitted union authorization cards, “we had to withdraw and file again,” recalled organizing committee member Justine Medina, “because Amazon challenged over 1,000 of our signatures saying they no longer worked there.” The sky-high turnover at the…
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Independent, locally focused unions are expanding the playing field for workers’ rights
While union efforts at corporate giants have gained the most national attention, labor organizing is also happening in businesses less accustomed to unionization, including small restaurants, the video game industry, museums, newsrooms, theaters, the arts, and nonprofit organizations. These unions are on the front lines of developing new ways of operating to bring new groups…
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