Entries by Paul Becker

NYC Retirees Protest Attempts to Push Them into Privatized Health Care

We reprint below an article from the labor website Work-Bites by its editor Joe Maniscalco. Reprinted by permission. Giving ‘em Hell For The Holidays… DEC 22 NYC municipal retirees march down Broadway this week protesting the city’s ongoing campaign to push them into a for-profit, privatized Medicare Advantage plan. Photos by Joe Maniscalco By Joe Maniscalco […]

DECEMBER BITS AND PIECES

UNIONIZED STARBUCKS WORKERS STAGE WEEKEND STRIKE Starbucks workers at 100 of their unionized stores staged a weekend strike earlier this month to protest the company’s refusal to bargain with the union. Starbucks has engaged in illegal union-busting tactics like firing union organizers, denying workers at unionized stores the same benefits as other stores, closing unionized […]

OVER 500 AUTHORS GIVE STRONG SUPPORT TO HARPERCOLLINS STRIKERS

Striking workers at HarperCollins, one of the nations largest publishers, got a big boost in early December from over 500 leading authors. In a letter to the company, they expressed strong support for the workers in the editorial, marketing, design, and other departments who have been out on strike since Nov. 10. Signers of the […]

AFT LEADER BLASTS POMPEO’S ATTACK ON TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS

In response to the attack on her and teachers unions, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten responded forcefully to the slander by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that she, not any of the world’s dictators is “the most dangerous person in the world.” In an interview with Semafor, Pompeo claimed that teachers’ unions […]

ONTARIO THREAT OF GENERAL STRIKE FORCES END OF ANTI-UNION LAW

Four days after he pushed  a law through the Ontario legislature outlawing labor’s right to strike, the governor was forced to announce its repeal. The humiliating retreat by the governor, Doug Ford was the result of a general strike call announced by the Canadian province’s labor movement set to begin Nov. 14. Ford had rammed […]

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA STRIKE ENTERS ITS SECOND WEEK

With tens of thousands of workers at the state’s university campuses still on strike, negotiations continue between the unions, affiliated with the United Auto Workers and the administration of the University of California. The strike, which began Nov. 14, involves some 48,000 teaching assistants, lab assistants, researchers and other UC employees. At issue is pay […]

NOVEMBER BITS AND PIECES

MORE GRAD SCHOOL WORKERS SEEK TO UNIONIZE Over the past month, graduate workers affiliated with the United Electrical Workers (UE) at Northwestern University in Chicago, Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore launched organizing drives with rallies and record-breaking numbers of workers signing union cards. Workers at all three campuses are seeking a living wage, more […]

RE-EXAMINING LOWER MINIMUM WAGE FOR WORKERS WHO RELY ON TIPS

In the current tight labor market, an area that is currently coming under increasing scrutiny is the pay of workers who rely on tips for a living. Existing labor laws, both federal and in all but eight states, substantially modify prevailing minimum wage requirements. In these states, employers can pay tipped workers subminimum wages, resulting, […]

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OCTOBER BITS & PIECES

SECOND APPLE STORE VOTES FOR UNION An Apple store in Oklahoma City became the second one in the nation in which workers have voted to be represented by a union. The Oct. 14 vote conducted by the NLRB saw 56 workers at the company’s Penn Square Mall voting to be represented by the Communication Workers […]