UNION HITS SPEEDUP ON POULTRY PRODUCTION LINES

Adding another item to the attack on workers the Trump administration is dishing out, the US Department .of Agriculture on March 18 issued waivers to rules that limit line speeds in pork and poultry production plants across the country. The faster line speedups cuts down the time workers in these plants have to process the meats and increases the risk of accidents to workers and disease to consumers.

“Increased line speeds will hurt workers – it’s not a maybe, it’s a definite – and increased production speeds will jeopardize the health and safety of every American that eats chicken,” declared  Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which represents over 15,000 poultry workers at facilities across the southern United States, as well as meatpacking and processing workers in other parts of the country. “The announcement by the USDA and Secretary Rollins echoes the same lack of consideration they had for our essential food processing workers during the first Trump administration and it will put us all at risk. We rely on the thousands of workers to safely produce the food on our tables every single day, they can’t do that safely at these speeds – we learned that lesson the hard way just five short years ago – let’s not irreparably injure workers to learn what we already know.

 “Worker safety must be a priority, and these facilities cannot operate at these speeds without increased staffing, which cannot happen the way they are constructed now. Issuing waivers to a multi-billion dollar industry with no oversight to ensure it’s done safely and properly is a recipe for disaster

 “The USDA must make worker safety a priority, not profits.”

Labor Start, 3/18

Labor Notes, an organization dedicated to the growth of the labor movement is holding a special on line workshop Jan. 6 to discuss what unions can do to protect immigrant fellow workers and union members from the threatened attacks by the incoming Trump administration.

The Labor Notes call to action, as posted on their website, reads as follows:

“As the Trump administration cracks down on undocumented workers, that persecution threatens the power and solidarity of all of us in the labor movement. From farm workers to food processing to janitors to taxi drivers to building trades to everyone whose labor makes society run, we draw strength from the recognition that an injury to one is an injury to all.

“Join rank-and-file union members at the Labor Notes National Call on building solidarity to support immigrant workers.

“When: Monday, January 6
Time: 8 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. PT
Where: This is an online event and will be held via Zoom.

“This national online workshop will start with a panel of union members and leaders sharing lessons on how we beat divisions in our unions and communities, and then laying out action plans for how we go on offense when immigrant co-workers are under attack.”

Courtesy Locker Associates, New York

For further information and how you can join in the Zoom conference click this link.

In a significant judicial victory, a judge in Wisconsin state court threw out a 2011 state law that had deprived public workers of the right to collective bargaining. The law, pushed through the legislature by the anti-labor governor at the time, Scott Walker, was enacted after Republicans won control the executive and legislative branches of the state government in 2010.

But, in a brazen political move, the law exempted police and firefighters unions, two unions that were supporters of Walker and Republicans. The law caused an uproar across the state at the time as thousands of workers turned out at the capital to protest it.

Judge Jacob Frost of Dane County Circuit Court ruled Dec. 2 that this selective choice of workers who get collective bargaining rights was a violation of the state constitution.

While former Gov. Walker condemned the decision of Judge Frost, the present governor, Tony Evers, hailed it as “great news for Wisconsin workers.” And Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale declared that “restoring union freedoms to Wisconsin workers will strengthen Wisconsin’s middle class, lift up the voices of workers and lead to better public services for our communities.”

The decision is certain to be appealed.

NY Times, 12/2

AT&T WORKERS STRIKE, CITING COMPANY’S STALLING TACTICS

Accusing AT&T of deliberately delaying bargaining on a new contract, over 17,000 workers in nine southeastern states hit the bricks August 16 in a strike that has resulted in a tentative agreement. But the company has continued to stall on a final agreement. The strike involves technicians, customer service representatives, and workers who install and maintain the AT&T network. The union, Communication Workers of America, is seeking improvements in wages that take into account increases in the cost of living, keeping affordable health care, and protections for a younger tier of workers who are subject to forced overtime without notification. This practice by the company make it impossible for them to plan time with their families. The union has filed charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor  Relations Board on AT&T’s delaying tactics.

 AT&T strike, 9.10

HOTEL WORKERS STRIKE OVER STAFFING CUTS

Communication Workers of America

About 10,000 hotel workers went out on strike over the Labor Day weekend, disrupting services at 25 Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott hotels across the country. The strike by members of Unite Here was set to last for several days during the busy holiday week. It affects hotels in Boston, Seattle, San Diego, Honolulu and San Jose, California and could spread to Oakland, California, Providence, Rhode Island, and New Haven, Connecticut, among other cities. The strikers are demanding reversal of the cuts in staffing that hotels put into place during the Covid pandemic when travel was reduced. But after the pandemic when hotel business recovered, the hotels maintained the cuts to save money, causing an overwhelming work load for current workers. The union is also demanding increases in pay in an industry that is severely underpaid.

Hotel Workers,9/2

EV BATTERY PLANT WORKERS JOIN UAW

After a majority of the 1,000 workers at the Ultium Cells battery plant in Spring Hills, Tennessee, signed union cards to join the United Auto Workers, the company agreed to recognize the union. Ultium manufactures battery cells for GM electric vehicles. The union victory is part of UAW’s plan to insure that it will keep representing workers in places that make auto parts during the transition to electric vehicles. The union finalized a contract with another Ultium plant in June that included a wage increase for workers from $15 to $35 an hour over three years plus a signing bonus and health and safety improvements.

The Tennessean, 9/4