Entries by Paul Becker

LABOR STIRRINGS ARE IN THE AIR

For many years labor unions have been in a “long slide,” declining from the 1950’s when more than one in every three workers belonged to unions to only 11.6 percent in 2021. There are many factors responsible for this, writes William E. Scheuerman in his book A New American Labor Movement. Among them are the […]

JUNE BITS AND PIECES

NYC RAISES MINIMUM PAY FOR FOOD DELIVERERS In a milestone for the fight for fair treatment of the lowest paid workers, New York City will become the first place in the country to raise the minimum pay for food delivery workers to something approaching a decent standard. These workers, who deliver meals to our doors […]

CORPORATIONS OVER WORKING PEOPLE: SCOTUS DOES IT AGAIN

“The teamsters will strike any employer, when necessary, no matter the size or the depth of their pockets,” was the defiant response of Teamster Union President Sean O’Brien to the latest Supreme Court decision that sharply impedes the ability of labor to conduct strikes. “The political hacks at the Supreme Court have again voted in […]

LABOR SEES VICTORY AT BLUE BIRD AS A “BELLWETHER” FOR THE SOUTH

Daniel Flippo, regional director  of the United Steelworkers of America’s Southeastern district, was very happy with the vote. “For too long,” he said “corporations cynically viewed the South as a place where they could suppress wages and working conditions because they believed they could keep workers from unionizing.” But union officials are beginning to show […]

TEAMSTERS BEGIN FIGHT TO UNIO0NIZE AMAZON DELIVERY TRUCKERS

Amazon often contracts out its delivery services to trucking contractors. Most of them, like Amazon, are non-unionized. But the beginnings of change are in the air. On April 24, Amazon delivery drivers at Battle-Tested Strategies, a southern California company contractor, announced that they had joined Local 396 of the Teamsters Union. A week later, they […]

‘PENCILS DOWN’ AS MOVIE & TV WRITERS GO ON STRIKE

The big labor news so-far this month is the walkout of 11,500 movie and TV writers, members of the Writers Guild of America after their negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke down. The strike was immediately felt in New York and Hollywood with late night TV shows cancelled or showing […]

MAY BITS & PIECES

STARBUCKS TRYING TO DECERTIFY 3 UNION STORES Starbucks, which has been using all kinds of tricks, legal, borderline, and down-dirty, to combat the union organizing drive in its stores, now is possibly involved in a new one. At three Starbucks locations where workers have voted for the Starbucks Workers United union, a worker has filed […]

HEALTH & SAFETY RE-IMERGE AS BIG JOB ISSUES

In 2015, Carlos Moncayo, an Ecuadorian immigrant construction worker, was crushed to death on his job of helping to build a rooftop restaurant in New York City. His death made little news because on-the-job deaths, despite rules promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, are a common occurrence in the country. According to the […]

RUTGERS STRIKE ‘SUSPENDED FOR NOW’

The faculty at Rutgers University ended their week-long strike April 15 after the three unions representing them reached a “framework” of an agreement with the school. Students at the school were slated to return to their classes on Monday, April 17. Rutgers, the flagship in the New Jersey state university system, has 67,000 enrolled students. […]