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 letter include Barbara Kingsolver, Jacqueline Woodson, Kwame Alexander, and others including HarperCollins own authors and those associated with other publishers. “We stand with the people who mold and champion our work and ask that they be compensated justly and fairly for their labor,” the authors wrote. “We express deep concern about the long-term impact on our books and careers if the strike continues. Your refusal to reach an agreement with the union hurts us, your creators.” They vowed not to submit their work to HarperCollins until it reaches an agreement with the union.

The workers are demanding better pay, stronger union protections, and better family leave policies.

NPR, 12/8

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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 are the most dangerous because “the filth they they’re teaching out kids, and the fact that they don’t know math and reading or writing.”

“We fight for what kids and communities need,” Weingarten responded. In contrast with Pompeo who ran errands for Trump, pleasing dictators around the world, she said, her union fights for schools “that are safe and welcoming where kids learn how to think and work with others” and “against this kind of rhetoric and hate. Maybe spend a minute in one of the classrooms with my members and their students and you will get a real lesson in the promise and potential of America.”

Pompeo’s attack is another shot in the right-wing assault on public schools, teachers’ unions and inclusive curriculum. Across the country, they are campaigning to impose broad censorship of curriculum and books that do not reflect their view of the world and attacking teachers and school employees who do not reflect their thinking.

Common Dreams, 11/22

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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 through the law in the face of stalled negotiations with the union which represents school employees other than teachers – education assistants, library workers, administrative assistants, custodians, early childhood educators, cafeteria workers, safety monitors, and social workers. In October after  months of fruitless talks, the union, the Ontario School Board Council of Unions, voted 96.5 percent in favor of a strike. The strike took place anyway, amid threats that it was illegal and the unionbusting law would be enforced.

In response, the threat of a general strike against the law spread through the province rapidly as people rallied to the side of the union. Thousands joined the pickets Members of other unions were calling on their unions to join the strike. A committee was formed to plan a general strike. And finally Ford collapsed. He announced that the law would be repealed.

What a lesson in worker solidarity.

Labor Notes, 11/1

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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.

Striking academic workers on the University of California, Berkeley, campus.
Jim Wilson/The New York Times

At issue is pay which currently averages only $24,000 a year. Teaching assistants say that their rent alone takes up close to 60 percent of their wages. The university has offered an increase of only 5 percent the first year and 3 percent afterward which the union flatly rejected.

Campuses in the university system from Berkeley to San Diego were being picketed and many faculty members cancelled classes or transferred to Zoom rather than cross picket lines. “We’re the backbone of the university,” said Rafael Jaime, a doctoral student and president of UAW Local 2865, representing 19,000 teaching assistants, tutors, tutors, and other classroom workers. “We’re the ones who perform the majority of the teaching and the majority of the research.”

Graduate students have long been a way universities have avoided hiring more higher paid, tenured professors and saving money. Over the past year, these grad students around the country have voted to unionize and engage in collective bargaining to improve their conditions. They have successfully negotiated contracts at Columbia University and New York University and are seeking recognition at a number of other campuses.

NY Times, 11/14, KRON 4, 11/21

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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, in some cases, for the minimum wage for tipped workers to be as low as $2.13 an hour.

This has mostly affected workers in the restaurant industry where wages remain low and workers complain that they are often cheated by their employers out of their rightful tips, usually added onto credit cards. Many are immigrants who fear that there may be repercussions if they challenge employers they feel are withholding their tips. There are so many cases of employers cheating tipped workers that one former official of the Labor Department, David Weil, who headed the Wage and Hour Division, declared, “It’s baked into the model. And it’s very problematic.”

In some places, there have been steps to meet the problem. Michigan will scrap its subminimum $3.75 cents an hour for tipped workers in February. They will now be covered by the state regular minimum wage, set to rise from $9.87 to $12 an hour. Portland, Maine, has a referendum on the ballot this year to end subminimum base pay and raise the regular minimum wage to $18 an hour over a three year period. And the District of Columbia also has a ballot proposal to end the subminimum wage.

NY Times, 10/13

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MICHIGAN NURSES WIN GROUNDBREAKING CONTRACT

Nurses at the University of Michigan hospital won a big victory Oct. 1 when they approved a contract with management that ends the impossible burden placed on them caused by the shortage of nurses nationwide.

That shortage has resulted in nurses working in extra-long shifts and neglect of the patients they serve. Their schedules were consistently changed and the hospital created an uncompensated on-call system and mandatory overtime. It became a routine strategy for the hospital to try to resolve the perpetual understaffing of nurses.

After six months of difficult negotiations and the threat of a strike, a contract was finally agreed upon and ratified by the nurses. It provides that nurses will not be used to resolve issues of short staffing; it was management’s responsibility to resolve the problem but not on the backs of its nurses.

“Our job is to take care of patients,” said Renee Curtis, president of the 6,200 member Michigan Nurses Association-University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council. “Our job is not to worry about who is being hired or how to hire or how to retain staff. That is management’s job.”

The problem dates back to the 1980s with the corporate takeover of health care systems and staff cutting became a way to cut costs and increase profits. Nurses have been demanding that staffing reflect a realistic nurse-to-patient ratio that accurately reflect the number of patients a nurse can care for. Otherwise, declared union member Anne Jackson, you’re just “running room to room putting out fires.” Another commented, “It can feel a lot of times in our health care system like nobody really gets the care that they deserve.”

This new Michigan contract breaks the ground for other nurses actions that can result in better patient care.

Jacobin, 10/8

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RR AGREEMENT APPEARS TO BE BIG GAIN FOR WORKERS; IT NOW HEADS FOR VOTE

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By now, much has been written about the narrowly averted railroad workers strike. Although salary issues are nearly always paramount in collective bargaining and was an issue here, the key sticking point was the punishing work schedules that was wreaking havoc on workers lives. Workers were expected to be on call at any time for weeks on end. They couldn’t take time off for a doctor’s appointment or a family emergency without being penalized with loss of pay beyond the loss of the day’s pay or possibly even fired.

The policy comes from a business model increasingly being adopted by other companies. It seeks to enhance its profits by cutting costs, which usually involves cutting the work force, thus cutting labor costs. It means that the existing labor force is pressured to do more and more to make up for it. Rail companies are now reported to be operating with 30 percent fewer employees than 20 or 30 years ago.

Thus, as the freight railroads have racked up record profits in recent years, their workers have suffered from burnouts, marriages and family lives have been upended, and workers’ health has been severely endangered by the scheduling policies.

Although all the details of the rail settlement have not been revealed in the press, it appears that the unions have gained important concessions on this. From initial reports, aside from important salary hikes, the companies have agreed to issue set schedules that allow workers to enjoy time off without being called back at the will of the company. They will also have days off for medical appointments or family emergencies without additional penalties.

The agreement now has to be ratified by votes of the membership of the 12 unions involved.

NY Times, 9/16

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WRITING NEW BASEBALL CHAPTER, MINOR LEAGUERS VOTE OVERMINGLY FOR UNION

Most American baseball fans watching their favorite major league teams don’t think too much about the minor league players. If they do, it’s usually that these athletes are just being groomed for the high salaried majors.

But minor league players are among the most exploited people in the country with salaries that can be as low as $10,000 for the full season which amounts to less than the federal minimum. Their working conditions are miserable; up until this year the owners did not provide housing and players had to scrounge around looking to find shelter. When they are on the road, they endure long bus rides (no jet planes) and lousy meals. Most don’t make it to the majors and wind up with nothing when they hit their thirties and are let go for younger players. The teams used to be called “farm teams.” They are owned by major league organizations who have enjoyed record-breaking profits through lucrative TV contracts and as fans are rapidly coming back to the stadiums as the Covid epidemic recedes.

But the situation for 5,000 minor league players is about to change. In mid-September, they voted overwhelmingly to join the union that represents the major league players, the Major League Baseball Association. The union victory comes on the heels of the settlement of an eight-year-old federal lawsuit in August in which the owners were sued by minor leaguers over widespread violations of minimum wage laws. The settlement will result in some 23,000 current and former players sharing $185 million in back pay. The latest baseball unionization is part of the chapter that is unfolding all across the country as young workers, fed up with miserable pay and working conditions are discovering the meaning of solidarity and are forming unions.

And, breaking with the practice of other employers like Starbucks and Amazon, the union vote will not be challenged by the owners or brought to the NLRB. The players can now begin to look forward to collective bargaining with owners over their pay and working conditions like millions of other unionized workers.

The Nation, 9/16

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LOW PAY & STAGGERING WORK LOADS LEAD PUBLISHING HOUSE WORKERS TO BEGIN TO TALK UNION

Glamor industries often attract young workers despite their usual practice of paying terrible wages and imposing staggering working conditions. The recruits are lured by the superficial aspects the job promises. They become flight attendants – young women with visions of travel to exotic places who did not reckon with a job that made them glorified waitresses. Lack of pay when they were not actually in the air but in a hotel room far from home waiting for their next flight assignment. Often subject to sexual harassment. Expected to look like models and heaven forbid if they gained two or three pounds. And subject to termination as they reached their mid-thirties and no longer looked like barbie-dolls.

That all began to come to an end when they started coming together in their union, the Association of Flight Attendants, which has fought for and won contracts that put an end to many of the medieval practices in their treatment by airlines. Their president, Sara Nelson, is among the most prominent of the current group of progressive leaders in the labor movement today.

Another industry in this category is book publishing. The prospect of cocktail parties where they would meet famous writers, helping to influence national discourse, and of rising to top positions at major publishing houses has lured many young men and women into the editorial departments at these houses for years, tolerating the low pay and working conditions that have grown more grueling year after year.

A recent article in Publishers Weekly titled “Is the Publishing Industry Broken?” discusses some of the problems that have accumulated over the years. Editorial assistants, the position they start out at  (and often remain for years), talk about the growing corporate consolidation of the industry – medium-sized companies devouring the smaller ones and large companies gobbling up the medium-sized ones – that have seen the disappearance of some of the legendary publishing houses. Accompanying this is the “intensifying corporate culture that prizes meetings over meaningful work” during their days at the office and forces them to spend hours of work at home on their editing jobs. A “creeping feeling that they’re pushing a product more than a passion.” And the fact that many of these publishing houses are located in New York where their low pay cannot support the high cost of living in the city. The prospects of promotion have also largely dried up as corporate consolidation leaves fewer and fewer companies and corporate structures bring in business executives to higher positions.

In the face of these miserable salaries and staggering work loads, many of these young editorial assistants are looking to the prospects that unionization could bring. On July 20, unionized workers at HarperCollins went out on a one-day strike in an effort to push the company into negotiations with their union (see item further down on this page.)  HarperCollins is about the only publishing house that has had a union for a long time. Before it was swallowed up in a corporate merger, it was known as Harper & Row. At other publishers, including Image Comics and Seven Seas Entertainment, employees have recently unionized. And labor organizers are reported to have been building organizing networks in the industry for the past few years.

No one is sure how the current drive for unions will go in the publishing industry. There have been efforts before. For right now… stay tuned.

Publishers Weekly, 9/22

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ORWELL’S PREDICTION HAS ARRIVED FOR MILLIONS OF WORKERS

When George Orwell wrote his classic novel 1984, few people could envision the idea of Big Brother watching over them every minute of the day. Well now, the Big Brother moment has arrived in many workplaces and is rapidly expanding.

An astounding piece in the NY Times, 8/14 (8/15 in the print edition), details the mushrooming growth of the “spying on workers” industry that installs apps in computers used by them to monitor their “work periods” and “idle periods” at their computers.

“In lower paying jobs,” the Times writes, “the monitoring has become ubiquitous:” not just at Amazon, where the second-by-second measurements became notorious, but also for Kroger cashiers, UPS drivers and millions of others. But the practice has also spread to professional and white-collar jobs that require advanced degrees where workers are subject to being “tracked” and “pauses can lead to penalties, from lost pay to lost jobs,” with “electronic surveillance over every minute of their workday.” The relentless tracking has robbed them of any semblance of workplace dignity that many have described as “demoralizing,” “humiliating” and “toxic,” with some saying “they don’t even have enough time to use the bathroom.”

In many cases, the system prevented them from doing the job they should be doing, Social workers, for example, at UnitedHealth, a company that uses the system, complain that much of their time is spent on counseling patients which counts as “idle periods” because it is not spent at their computer keyboards. Grocery cashiers complain that monitoring the rate at which they scan items often prevents them from spending a little more time with older folks who are slower at checkout stations, causing tension between workers and customers. Many say that even if these situations are taken into account by electronic systems, they are often wrong because they are “inept at capturing offline activity, unreliable at assessing hard-to-quantify tasks and prone to undermining the work itself.” In some instances, workers have been monitored for signs of union activity.

The system has also given rise to apps that are advertised to beat the system, such as a “mouse jiggler” that create the appearance of computer activity. One professional employee said, “You have to be in front of your computer, in work mode, 55 or 60 hours just to get those 40 hours counted and paid for.”

The system conjured up by Orwell was also satirized by Charlie Chaplin in his classic film Modern Times, where the worker spends his day tightening bolts on an assembly line. When he takes a bathroom break and an extra minute or two for a smoke, the boss appears on a screen in the men’s room and shouts at him to get back to work. And, in an old folk song about miners and railroad workers who have to use explosives, a lyric goes that one day a premature blast went off and a worker was blown “high in the sky.” When the next payday came around, the worker found his pay short and asked why. The boss responded, “You’re docked for the time you was up in the sky.”

What was once in the imagination of writers and satirists has now become a reality for millions of workers and it is no longer funny.

The NY Times, 8/14

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