Milwaukee, WI – On November 16, nearly 50 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 998 and their supporters marched from their union hall to the Milwaukee County Courthouse, raising the demands for greater security on their buses, better healthcare, and an overall decent contract. Chants of “Who are we? ATU!” and “Who moves this city? We move this city!” could be heard as the demonstrators marched through the streets of downtown Milwaukee. At least one on-duty MCTS bus driver along the route opened her window with a beaming smile and voiced her support for the action.

ATU 998 represents the bus drivers for Milwaukee County Transit Services and the mechanics who maintain those buses. These workers have been in contract negotiations with Milwaukee County since April of this year, but negotiations came to a standstill in October when the members voted to reject the county’s final offer. The rejection was followed by a successful strike ratification vote, but no strike action has been taken as of the writing of this article. Negotiations with the county are expected to resume on November 18, but the union is adamant in their demands.

ATU 998 Vice President Michael Brown spoke, referring to County Executive David Crowley, “Crowley, I hope you’re listening, because we’re tired. During COVID, we worked 24 hours a day. We kept those buses moving. And you forgot about us. You said you were gonna take care of us, but you didn’t. So now we’re asking you to give us a fair contract. You’ve doubled [the cost of] healthcare for us. Hell, the pay don’t even match with inflation. You said you were gonna take care of all the departments that work for the county, but you forgot about transit, and we’re calling you out.”

ATU 998 President Donnell Shorter picked up the same line as his VP. “When the pandemic first started, MCTS didn’t want their drivers to wear facemasks to ‘protect their image.’ They put the company’s interests before those of their workers. And then, when the pandemic got worse, MCTS stopped allowing workers to come into the administration building to even use the bathroom, once again putting the company over their employees. And then, when the vaccine was made available to the public, the county gave other workers a day's wages to go and get vaccinated, but they only offered transit workers $100.”

“I did contact Crowley on that and he wanted to keep it the way it was, told us to talk at contract time,” Shorter continued. “Now it’s contract time and we’re asking you to pay up.”

A point that highlighted the demand for greater security on the job was the fact that Milwaukee County is suppressing news about drivers being assaulted by angry passengers. The issue of safety is one that all workers at the rally, transit or otherwise, felt strongly about, although the particulars of their respective jobs are different. Whether it’s package handlers being overworked in the package hub, or healthcare workers facing unsafe patient loads, or manufacturing workers being expected to speed up production, safety measures are slashed in all industries to help make more money for the bosses.

Allies present at the action included members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 344, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 212, and the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (WFNHP) Local 5000.

Yasin Madhi, president of United Auto Workers Local 180, which represents almost 700 manufacturing workers at a factory in nearby Racine who’ve been on strike since April, was also there and spoke in solidarity with the drivers and mechanics. The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association had several members at the demonstration and delivered a message of solidarity to their union comrades in their fight against MCTS.

“Our community relies on public transportation here in Milwaukee. We are here today to support our brothers and sisters at ATU because just like public schools can’t run without us, public transportation cannot run without ATU,” said Adrienne Hicks, a member of MTEA and president of the Milwaukee Educational Assistants’ Association. “With gas prices up, our city should be expanding public transit, getting more people out of their cars and onto buses. Students, educators and MPS families rely on public transportation and we demand the county invest in transit workers and in our public transit system.”

The rally at the courthouse ended with ATU members passing out flyers calling for action in the form of phone calls and emails to members of the Milwaukee County Executive Board pressuring them to meet the demands of the transit workers for better pay, better healthcare and better security on the job. ATU 998 VP Michael Brown assured the crowd that there will be future actions if their contract demands are not met.

#MilwaukeeWI #PublicSectorUnions #transitWorkers #contractFight

American Federation of Teachers Local 3535, a union of faculty, academic staff and graduate student workers at UW-Milwaukee and UW-Parkside, said enough is enough. In a statement, AFT 3535 explained that the request comes as a result of UWM administration’s irresponsibility. “The university has failed to attract adequate paid staff to service the students they have admitted.” They also identified many solutions the administration should have taken before trying to guilt overworked and underpaid professors into working overtime for nothing.

One possible solution was that Chancellor Mark Mone could have taken a pay cut from his $452,000 salary to redistribute it to a living wage to attract more employees. In comparison, some faculty and staff do not even make $45,000 for full-time positions. “Asking them to accept starvation wages is insulting enough, but asking them to work more hours for free is inexcusable,” read the union’s statement.

AFT 3535 went on to point out that teachers are often the target of such requests. When administrators mess up, they think they can fall back on teachers by claiming it’s for the sake of the students. When teachers stand up for themselves and say no, that’s more ammunition they have against teachers so they can pit students, their families, and lawmakers against educators. It is not the responsibility of already overworked and underpaid staff and faculty to solve the problem the university administration made by not creating a hospitable and worthwhile work environment. Fortunately, the Students for a Democratic Society chapter at UW-Milwaukee understood this and took a decisive stand in solidarity with AFT 3535.

“Many students recognize that staff and faculty are already working above the university’s standards, doing unpaid work to provide a better learning experience for students. Asking them to volunteer their hours for a whole other job is abusive,” said Liam Farin, a student at UWM and member of SDS.

SDS chapters across the United States stand behind the slogan “Chop from the top,” meaning that budget cuts should be made to the top first before cutting things that support students. When budgets get tight, student support, particularly for Black, Chicano and other oppressed nationality students, is usually one of the first things to go. Meanwhile, the administrators at the top still enjoy their excessive salary and put out empty statements about how they value the student experience and diversity on campus, and that we have to come together during economic hardships.

The UWM administration has yet to respond and rectify the situation. For now, AFT 3535 and UWM SDS know that when students and teachers unite, they win!

#MilwaukeeWI #Labor #unions #PublicSectorUnions #studentworkerSolidarity

“Florida State University wants GAs basically to come to work, be overworked, underpaid and just die on their own dime and do nothing about it. There are a lot of things on this campus that are impacting GA safety in particular,” said Jordan Lenchitz, grievance officer for GAU. Lenchitz went on to explain how COVID-19 threatened both teachers’ livelihoods and ability to financially support themselves. “We’re here today to let the university know that we’re not going to go quietly, and we’re not going to die and pay for our own funerals, because they don’t pay us enough for that anyway.”

Organizing chair for GAU, Jordan Scott, elaborated on the conditions FSU students and faculty have been facing. “With the majority of graduate workers making between $16,000 and $25,000 annually, we cannot afford to subsidize Florida State University’s response, or lack thereof to the crisis.” He said they wanted to unite other organizations on FSU’s campus to fight for better conditions within the pandemic.

“We are currently building relationships with different student organizations including but not limited to Students for a Democratic Society and an array of international students’ organizations on campus, and the staff and faculty unions. The best thing that anyone can do is show up to the impact bargaining. Our first impact bargaining meeting. There will be a hybrid option. The best way to hear about any updates is by following us on social media Twitter @fsu_gau, Facebook facebook.com/fsugau/ or on Instagram at fsugau.”

Some of GAU’s demands include workplace modifications for disabled workers, compensation for in-patient medical costs, and paid sick leave when a graduate worker is exposed to COVID-19.

GAU members say they will keep fighting for a successful bargaining and to hold FSU accountable for its role in allowing the COVID-19 pandemic to spread.

Jordan Lenchitz also criticized FSU for attempting to hold in-person meetings for their negotiations when several members from GAU had contracted COVID-19. He urged people to come support them at their bargaining meeting. “People are welcome to come and get involved. FSU’s entire team is six people, and so, if we can bring out 50 people, we can outnumber them nine to one.”

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PublicSectorUnions #GraduateAssistantsUnionGAU #FloridaStateUniversityFSU #TeachersUnions #COVID19

“Florida State University wants GAs basically to come to work, be overworked, underpaid and just die on their own dime and do nothing about it. There are a lot of things on this campus that are impacting GA safety in particular,” said Jordan Lenchitz, grievance officer for GAU. Lenchitz went on to explain how COVID-19 threatened both teachers’ livelihoods and ability to financially support themselves. “We’re here today to let the university know that we’re not going to go quietly, and we’re not going to die and pay for our own funerals, because they don’t pay us enough for that anyway.”

Organizing chair for GAU, Jordan Scott, elaborated on the conditions FSU students and faculty have been facing. “With the majority of graduate workers making between $16,000 and $25,000 annually, we cannot afford to subsidize Florida State University’s response, or lack thereof to the crisis.” He said they wanted to unite other organizations on FSU’s campus to fight for better conditions within the pandemic.

“We are currently building relationships with different student organizations including but not

limited to Students for a Democratic Society and an array of international students’ organizations on campus, and the staff and faculty unions. The best thing that anyone can do is show up to the impact bargaining. Our first impact bargaining meeting. There will be a hybrid option. The best way to hear about any updates is by following us on social media Twitter @fsu_gau, Facebook facebook.com/fsugau/ or on Instagram at fsugau.”

Some of GAU’s demands include workplace modifications for disabled workers, compensation for in-patient medical costs, and paid sick leave when a graduate worker is exposed to COVID-19.

GAU members say they will keep fighting for a successful bargaining and to hold FSU accountable for its role in allowing the COVID-19 pandemic to spread.

Jordan Lenchitz also criticized FSU for attempting to hold in-person meetings for their negotiations when several members from GAU had contracted COVID-19. He urged people to come support them at their bargaining meeting. “People are welcome to come and get involved. FSU’s entire team is six people, and so, if we can bring out 50 people, we can outnumber them nine to one.”

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PublicSectorUnions #GraduateAssistantsUnionGAU #FloridaStateUniversityFSU #TeachersUnions #FSUGAU

(Photo by Brad Sigal)”)

Minneapolis, MN – On March 12 a car caravan brought honks of solidarity to Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) negotiating committee members while they were in talks with the school district administration at the Davis Center after a week of being on strike.

Organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) and Asamblea de Derechos Civiles, the caravan started on Lake Street in the heart of immigrant communities of south Minneapolis. The cars in the caravan were adorned with signs supporting Minneapolis Public Schools educators who are on strike for the safe, secure and fully-funded schools that Minneapolis students deserve. The caravan started on Lake Street in south Minneapolis and then wound through many different neighborhoods before ending at the Davis Center on the Northside, honking the whole way and spreading the message of support for educators through the streets of Minneapolis.

When the caravan arrived at the Davis Center, union negotiating committee members waved and showed appreciation out the window from inside the building. The educators’ strike remained strong through the first week. Now on top of that, community pressure is also increasingly being brought to bear on the district to meet the educators’ demands.

#MinneapolisMN #ImmigrantRights #PeoplesStruggles #PublicSectorUnions #teachersStrike #Strikes #TeachersUnions #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommitteeMIRAC #MinneapolisTeachersFederationMFT

Minneapolis, MN – Teachers and education assistants in both Minneapolis and Saint Paul will hold a joint march on February 12 to call for the safe and stable schools that their students deserve. The Minneapolis educators are members of the Minneapolis Teachers Union, and the Saint Paul educators are members of Saint Paul Federation of Educators. Both groups have been in bargaining over their next contract.

The march will start at the Wabun Picnic Area at Minnehaha Falls Park at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 12, and they are calling for educators as well as parents and community supporters to come out to show the school districts that they will fight for the schools that their students deserve.

While the two groups have separate proposals and bargaining, both groups of educators are fighting for enforceable caps on class size, COVID safety, workload language, mental health support for students, proposals to recruit and retain oppressed nationality educators, and competitive compensation to recognize their work.

Educators in Minneapolis have announced a strike vote starting on February 14, and the Saint Paul educators will hold their strike vote starting on February 17. The two groups of educators are expected to strike in early March if the strike vote passes.

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #strike #PublicSectorUnions #Strikes #TeachersUnions #MinneapolisTeachersUnion #SaintPaulFederationOfEducators

Chicago, IL – Hundreds of workers clad in purple rallied in 90-degree heat in front of Provident Hospital on Chicago’s South Side today, July 5. According to Ericka White, a county employee in the business office and an elected member of the bargaining committee for Local 73, “Our members are strong and we’re going to win our demands.”

The strike of 2500 employees of Cook County Health, County Jail, and the county corporate offices continues because of this strength. A popular chant heard for two hours was, “One day longer, one day stronger!”

Earlier last week, management settled with three other unions: National Nurses United (who had staged a one day strike on Thursday, June 24), the Teamsters, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. On June 28, a “best and final offer” was made to Local 73, but management hid that the other agreements included additional pay raises in anniversary steps.

Local 73 members include the county employees with the lowest pay grades, and the negotiators for County Board President Toni Preckwinkle are threatening to make worse the pay disparity between SEIU and the other workers.

A large number of Local 73 members were prevented from striking by a court injunction. Those workers report to the strikers that the county's plan to bring in strikebreakers failed because the agency workers are refusing to do the work and complaining about the hours. Earlier this holiday weekend, Larry Alcoff, lead negotiator for SEIU, said, “Management came to the table on Friday not to settle the contract, but to get you back to work, because they can’t run this hospital without you!”

Today, Alcoff reported that management had put more on the table than in their ‘final offer,’ but the two sides are still separated by a dollar amount so small, it amounts to one-twentieth of 1% of county’s $7 billion budget, not including the $1 billion county is receiving from the federal American Rescue Plan. The difference in the two sides amounts to $25 per worker per year.

“This is not an economic decision. This is a political decision by management,” Alcoff added. “We will give them 24 hours to get this deal done. If it’s not finished, tomorrow we will march the entire labor movement, and our elected officials, into Hyde Park [Cook County President Preckwinkle’s neighborhood] to show we’re not taking it anymore!”

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #publicSectorUnions #Strikes #CookCountyStrike

Chicago, IL – Striking members of SEIU Local 73 in the highway and transportation division of Cook County government shut down a construction site in Buffalo Grove, a town in the suburbs northwest of Chicago. This two-mile long bridge project was shut down on Friday, June 25, the first day of the strike. The union Operating Engineers, Laborers, and Carpenters are respecting the picket line at the county construction site in Buffalo Grove. This is a $60 million project with $29 million in federal funds.

Monday, June 28, in the southwest suburbs, the same division of Local 73 members shut down construction at 95th Street and Roberts Road in Hickory Hills at 6 a.m.

Tuesday, June 29 was the most dramatic day of protest yet. Hundreds of workers in purple marched around the building which houses Chicago City Hall and the Cook County offices. Then they marched in and occupied the building for an hour. Accompanied by drums and cymbals, they sat down and with purple whistles, filled the air with the noise.

Purple is SEIU’s union color.

After an hour, they marched across the street to Daley Plaza, where Stacy Davis Gates, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), addressed the rally. “Your dignity is embedded in what you are willing to fight for and win. CTU is here to say if you need six or seven days, we got your back. And if you need any more than that, we’ll shut it down with a sea of red and purple!”

Red the is union color of CTU.

After the downtown protest, 50 strikers went to Hyde Park to protest at a fundraiser for Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle. The politicians and big donors attending the event had to walk through a formation of strikers. Preckwinkle herself had to get through the picketers, who booed her on the way in. The workers appealed to Preckwinkle’s supporters to give their money instead to the hardship fund to supports the strikers. Local 73 members include the lowest-paid employees of Cook County.

#ChicagoIL #SEIULocal73 #PeoplesStruggles #strike #PublicSectorUnions #Strikes #TeachersUnions #CookCountyStrike

Many classrooms appeared as if they had not been cleaned since the district’s initial shutdown last March, while in others, window treatments remained covered in dust or with windows that would not stay open at all, despite CPS’ claim that “we worked to ensure every classroom has a working window or a mechanical ventilation system to dilute air particles that may have viruses or bacteria and allow old air to move out of the classroom.”

One school was asking workers whose rooms had no portable HEPA filters to sign a release saying they would not hold the school “liable for any health consequence of been [sic] in the building.”

A common concern was the Intellipure Compact air purifiers provided by the district, which work “best if used in spaces below 500 sq. feet,” according to the company website, but are being deployed by CPS to ‘protect’ much larger classrooms.

“CPS and the mayor are saying that they desperately want to open schools, but in many buildings, they’ve done nothing to make conditions any safer – and that’s without the threat of a pandemic,” Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Jesse Sharkey said. “Parents, students, teachers, community groups and elected officials aren’t demanding that CPS and the mayor keep buildings closed; they’re demanding that they exhaust all resources in making schools as safe as possible before reopening.”

More than half of the teachers scheduled to start teaching directly from unsafe school buildings on Monday chose to work remotely.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #ChicagoTeachersUnion #ChicagoPublicSchools #PublicSectorUnions #TeachersUnions #MayorLoriLightfoot

Kalamazoo, MI – Joining hundreds of protests across the country, 70 postal workers and union supporters gathered outside the Arcadia Creek United States Post Office in downtown Kalamazoo on August 25. They held signs reading “Save the Post Office” while hundreds of drivers passing by during rush hour honked their horns and shouted approval.

A giant postcard signed by many of those present was being mailed to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. The postcard demands that the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate pass a new house bill providing $25 billion in emergency pandemic relief. It also calls for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and President Trump to reverse the delays in USPS service.

“Much of the financial crisis at the USPS Is due to the interference of big money politicians and President Trump’s appointment of Louis DeJoy as the Postmaster General. 91% of the public supports the USPS, but DeJoy is doing everything in his power to wreck the place and put it up for sale,” said Stan Sacha, union stagehand and officer of IATSE Local 26 in West Michigan.

Sacha continued, “Now it is more important than ever for unions to stand together and support each other. We cannot go back to the way things were.”

Jon Hoadley, a Democrat running to win Michigan’s 6th Congressional District, showed up to support the four postal workers’ unions and gain support.

As the November election nears, a movement demanding a working postal service, as well as public spending for jobs and unemployment extensions for millions hurt by the economic crisis, will grow.

#KalamazooMI #MI #PeoplesStruggles #PublicSectorUnions #UnitedStatesPostalService

Milwaukee, WI – On August 18, amid public outcry, political scrutiny and protests, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced that his so-called ‘reforms’ will be put on hold until after the election. While voting rights advocates can and should take this as a partial win, postal workers and concerned postal customers must continue to escalate and build a movement that can permanently end DeJoy’s policies of deliberate sabotage and reverse the damage that has already been done.

What have the ‘reforms’ meant for postal workers and customers?

People around the country were shocked to see images appear of dismantled mail sorting machines, piles of removed collection boxes, and limited public hours for post offices. In and of themselves, these specific issues are not new. It is the speed, location and the context in which these changes are occurring which have caused concern to postal workers on the shop floor.

While USPS has claimed these changes are a result of lower mail volume, the decline is expected to be temporary. Abnormally low mail volume has been caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Volume is expected to rise dramatically in the coming months with an election and a holiday season right around the corner, and while it feels like coronavirus can’t be shook in the U.S., at some point life will get back to normal and mail volume will stabilize.

The dramatic limiting of overtime is more concerning than the removal of equipment which will be needed in the future. USPS has been hit hard by the pandemic and had been relying on overtime to meet service standards. In clearly perjurious testimony to the Senate, DeJoy claimed that he never attempted to eliminate or curtail overtime. However, according to his own document titled “Pivoting for Our Future,” “Carriers must begin on time, leave for the street on time, and return on time.”

This is a perplexing line, as volume fluctuates daily for mail carriers, as does the weather. There is no “on time.” The job takes as long as it takes. To demand that fluctuating volumes of work are completed by an arbitrary time is in essence a speed up. In fact, the title “Pivoting for Our Future” has a sly double meaning. Pivoting is a postal term in which a carrier does work in addition to their own route to fill out an eight-hour day. Management frequently attempts to force pivots on carriers to get them to run off eight-and-a-half to nine hours of work in an eight-hour day.

At every point in the collection, transportation, distribution and delivery of mail, DeJoy’s policies have either opened the door for frequent delays or have even enforced delays. Postal management was well aware of the consequences of the new polices. To quote again from “Pivoting for Our Future,” “One aspect of these changes that may be difficult for employees is that – temporarily – we may see mail left behind or mail on the workroom floor or docks.” This change has indeed been difficult for employees to stomach as just one month ago, such actions were worthy of termination and even prosecution. They have now become postal policy.

Postal customers have likewise felt the consequences of this policy as their bills, ballots, medications and parcels have all been severely delayed. One Los Angeles area mailhandler reported, “Packages piled up, blocking the aisles and the heavy sorting machinery. Boxes of steaks, fruit and other perishables rotted. Rats dashed across the floor. At one point, the whole building was filled with gnats.” People paid postage on these products with the expectation that they would be received in a timely fashion. In the world of shipping and logistics, speed is everything, and mail delays are unsustainable.

Postal workers fight back

For the most part, postal workers have been fighting back on the shop floor and through the grievance procedure. Mail delays have led to violations of USPS handbooks and manuals as well as multiple articles of the national agreement. That being said, the grievance procedure can be slow, especially when the orders are coming from the top. Management will force legitimate grievances to be appealed again and again just to delay justice for as long as they can. Some postal workers have been looking to other methods for achieving their goals.

In the Milwaukee area, a station fought back against the delays. By sticking together and resisting the speedup, they were able to get back to doing the job correctly weeks before DeJoy announced that his delays would be put on pause. It has also been reported that workers in Seattle-Tacoma and Dallas mail sorting plants have been reconnecting mail sorting machines against the direct orders of USPS.

The community stands in solidarity

On August 15, demonstrations began occurring outside of Louis DeJoy’s home in Washington D.C. Carrying pots and pans, protesters issued a ‘wake up call’ to DeJoy. A similar demonstration of over 100 people occurred outside of DeJoy’s home in Greensboro, North Carolina. The demands included the need to maintain high standards for ballot deliveries, reverse the policies of sabotage, and for DeJoy to resign.

Move On called countrywide demonstrations to occur on August 22. Over 800 documented demonstrations occurred throughout the country. In Portland, Oregon there were 25 simultaneous demonstrations throughout the city. In Milwaukee, over 100 people turned out to take action outside the post office downtown.

Postal unions to the front!

These protests seemed to have varying levels of labor backing, and for the most part postal workers participated in personal capacity. This isn’t a fight that the community should be expected to fight alone. Postal unions should participate in and lead the rallies. One consequence of the low level of postal worker participation seemed to be that there was a heavy emphasis on the 2020 election rather than on the new horrific working conditions and dramatic decline in service which threatens the long-term viability of a public postal service.

The American Postal Workers Union seems to be standing alone among the postal unions in calling for and leading public demonstrations. On August 25, APWU-led protests will occur outside of post offices throughout the country. This is a good sign as it shows that the temporary end of DeJoy’s tactics of sabotage won’t lull postal workers into letting their guard down.

Continue the struggle after November

While the Move On demonstrations focused primarily on the elections, the real fight is going to begin after the 2020 election, when DeJoy’s policies are expected to resume. Postal workers need to take advantage of the time left between now and November to pressure their leadership to take bold action and to build the networks necessary to keep the heat on and escalate the fight until DeJoy has been completely defeated.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #PeoplesStruggles #PublicSectorUnions #UnitedStatesPostalService

Zee Rainey, a steward from Teamsters Local 455 stated, “There’s no hate unless we divide.” The group then marched to the capitol building and joined up with an estimated 1000 protesters, where speeches continued.

When the fight against police takes the form of community control of the police, it begins to echo the political dynamic of the labor movement; civilian police accountability councils and labor unions both protect the masses by offering real consequences to enemies of the people. As Rainey notes during his speech, “I’m for the people. I’m for the union that cares about the people, and all my brothers and sisters here with me today are for the people.”

#DenverCO #Labor #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #Teamsters #AFLCIO #SEIU #PoliceBrutality #PublicSectorUnions #Antiracism #laborUnions #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

Josh Pauly, who is a member of the school board, put out a statement regarding the resolution, as quoted in The Guardian, “Public schools cannot partner with organizations that do not see the humanity in our students, [and] cannot align itself with [the Minneapolis Police Department] and claim to fight institutional racism”

Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59 also support the call to end the contract with MPD.

Staff and students spoke of their experiences with ‘School Resource Officers’ (SROs) in their schools and that the money spent on officers could be better spent on counselors, social workers and support staff. A student from Washburn High spoke of the conditions at her school and that SROs do not make it safe for her to attend. George Floyd, the man who was killed May 25,was not far from the minds of folks at Davis Center. After every speaker his name was chanted.

U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar was also in attendance. She spoke of sending her children to school in Minneapolis and is herself a graduate of Edison High School. She said that Black students in the Minneapolis School District are 338 times more likely to be suspended from school.

In a unanimous vote (8-0) Minneapolis Public Schools voted to end the contract with Minneapolis Police.

This was one of many actions in the city June 2 regarding the murder of George Floyd.

#MinneapolisMN #StudentMovement #Labor #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #PublicSectorUnions #Antiracism #MinneapolisPoliceDepartment #TeachersUnions #MinneapolisUprising #MinneapolisPublicSchools

Minneapolis, MN – Around 500 rank-and-file union members and officials from dozens of unions came together at Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman’s house in Southwest Minneapolis, May 31, to demand justice for George Floyd and an end to racist policing. The protesters were resolved not to let racist tropes about outside agitators stop them from doing what is right.

The crowd was fiery and boisterous as 13 speakers gave moving testimony and calls to action to stand up for justice and stand up for George Floyd. Many speakers remarked on their experiences as Black people in America and what it is like to be routinely harassed and threatened by racist policing. Several mentioned that they are not outside agitators but instead are from the community where these events have occurred and have seen community members come out in huge numbers to fight for justice. Many calls were made for everyone there to stay out in the streets and do what it takes until justice is served. Demands were made to arrest all four cops who were part of murdering George Floyd.

Mahva Jones is an executive board member with AFSCME Local 3800, which represents clerical workers at the University of Minnesota, and she had this to say, “The system is not broken, it is working as designed. At no point in this country's origin were Black people meant to be anything other than slaves or dead.”

Hennepin County Attorney Mike freeman waited four days to file any charges against any of the officers who participated in the murder of George Floyd. When he did he only charged police officer Derek Chauvin, and only with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, despite his kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for eight and a half minutes as he begged for his life and slowly slipped into unconsciousness with a crowd surrounding him shouting that Chauvin was killing the man. Three other officers participated both directly and by standing watch and keeping people back so they could not help stop officer Chauvin and save Floyd’s life.

Harrison Bullard, executive board member with SEIU Local 26, said, “When Jamar Clark met with his unfortunate end, I said this on the steps of the government center, and I'll say it here today: When someone who is elected by you refuses to do the job they are there to do, so do what they do to you. Fire them.” He went on to talk about the need for the intense actions and protests that have occurred by members of the community over the last five days. He said, “You got to put fear in the police's hearts just like they put fear in the hearts of the Black people in our city. We got to live standing on our feet, not on our knees.”

SEIU Healthcare Minnesota executive board member Deb Howze said, “You want to talk about police brutality? It’s been going on since the beginning of time. It ain’t nothing new. But now we got a generation that’s standing up, speaking out, fighting back and saying hell no! We talk about boots on the ground? You’re damn right we got boots on the ground! We're going to turn this around. One is incarcerated. We don’t want no one. We want one, two, three, four incarcerated and all the rest of them that did wrong around here. We gotta stand up and keep fighting back.”

The protest was organized by Minnesota Workers United, which is rank-and-file union members united for solidarity, struggle and workers’ rights. One of the emcees at the event was AFSCME 3800 President Cherrene Horazuk who read a powerful quote from Dr Martin Luther King Jr reminding us of his calls to fight.

Here is the MLK quote that President Horazuk read: “We’re tired. We are tired of being at the bottom. We are tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression. We are tired of our children having to attend overcrowded, inferior, quality less schools. We are tired of having to live in dilapidated substandard housing conditions where we don’t have wall to wall carpet, but so often end up with wall to wall rats and roaches. We are tired. Smothering in an airtight cage in the midst of an affluent society. We are tired of walking the streets in search of jobs that do not exist. We are tired of working our hands off every day and not even making a wage that is adequate for the basic necessities of life. We are tired.”

President Horazuk went on to further quote Dr King saying, “Now the other thing is that nothing is gained without pressure. Never forget that freedom is not something that is ever voluntarily given by the oppressor. It is something that must be demanded by the oppressed.” She went on to remind us that Dr. King said that “A riot is the language of the unheard.”

Minnesota Workers United will continue to stand together in the streets and in their unions to fight for justice until police are no longer able to kill Black and brown people in the streets.

#MinneapolisMN #Labor #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #Teamsters #AFLCIO #SEIU #PoliceBrutality #PublicSectorUnions #Antiracism #AFSCME #TeachersUnions #MinnesotaWorkersUnited #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

San José, CA – On May 14, Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom laid out his plan to deal with a projected $54 billion budget deficit for the state of California. Included in the plan was to save almost $3 billion by cutting state workers’ pay by 10%.

Eleven years ago, California state workers were furloughed for one to two days a month as part of the effort to cut spending after a large budget deficit developed with the deep recession and financial crisis. While the unions tried to fight this, the courts ultimately sided with the state government. The furloughs continued for five years, even though the recession ended in 2009.

Ultimately, this is another attempt to put the costs of today’s pandemic and economic crisis on the backs of workers. This is being done directly, through pay cuts and/or furloughs of state workers. There are even larger indirect cuts, through cuts in education, health care and other state services. These cuts will fall on teachers and medical workers. They will also fall on the children of working people who rely on public school, and the lower-paid workers, the unemployed, and the poor who rely on public services.

These cuts will have a heavy impact on oppressed nationalities – Chicanos and Latinos, Asian Americans, and African Americans who are both state workers and whose communities will be hit by the cuts in services. Already, as in many states, Chicano, Mexicano, Central Americans and other oppressed nationalities are most heavily hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis. Cuts to state workers and education and healthcare just add even more pain to our communities from government austerity.

#SanJoséCA #Labor #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AsianNationalities #ChicanoLatino #SEIU #publicSectorUnions #California #GovernorGavinNewsom

Chicago, IL – Close to 400,000 students in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) are in their seventh week of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this haze of attempting to teach the children of Chicago one thing is becoming crystal clear: disparity. According to NBC Chicago 52% of coronavirus deaths are of African American people and 25% are Latinos. Working-class African American and Latino neighborhoods on the South and West Sides are being hit much harder than predominantly white neighborhoods downtown and on the North Side.

This disparity is being felt in ‘schools.’ Remote learning is impossible without access to technology and the internet, something lacking for all too many working-class families. Students in residential facilities are expected to complete work without sufficient access to a computer. Before the pandemic it was estimated that CPS served 17,000 homeless students. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is not addressing the needs of working-class families effectively or efficiently. Students are not being educated.

Chicago Teachers Union Area Vice President Sarah Chambers said, “The Chicago Public Schools should not use a ‘one size fits all approach’ to the pandemic. The allocation of resources should prioritize students with the greatest need, including Black and brown students as well as those with disabilities.”

Teachers and staff need training on how best to help undocumented families. Many of these families are facing a deep economic crisis on top of the health crisis facing our communities. Undocumented immigrant workers are ineligible for the stimulus check. Some are hiding from ICE raids that continue in Chicago during the pandemic. Students and families are traumatized by their conditions.

In addition, teachers and staff need training to provide emotional support for students who have lost family members due to COVID-19. Also, despite massive layoffs working-class people are still required to pay rent. “We need a rent, mortgage and eviction freeze,” Chambers demanded. “How can students who are possibly facing homelessness learn in the face of the emotional distress that arises from this health and economic crisis?”

Mayor Lightfoot, Chicago Public Schools, and the city of Chicago need to address these issues for our students, their families and the entire working class if people are going to survive this crisis. The Chicago Teachers Union has joined the Right to Recovery coalition. This is a massive grassroots organizing effort to win the recovery that working people need.

The boss will give us nothing, if we do not demand it. Join the working class and people of conscience making these demands, we need you.

Thomas Leng is a special education teacher at World Languages Academy and a member of the Chicago Teachers Union.

#ChicagoIL #PoorPeoplesMovements #StudentMovement #OppressedNationalities #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #ChicagoPublicSchools #PublicSectorUnions #TeachersUnions #COVID19 #MayorLoriLightfoot

Chicago, IL – A University of Illinois health operating room technician, represented by SEIU Local 73, passed away this week of COVID-19 complications. An UI Health RN, represented by Illinois Nurses Association (INA), passed away last week. Over 200 hospital workers have tested positive for COVID-19. The two workers who died were not assigned to COVID-19 designated floors. There is a growth of infection outside the COVID-19 designated floors. Many employees throughout the hospital are only given surgical masks and gloves as protection.

“We are responding to the biggest crisis our country has seen in years. Public employees are on the frontlines working together to defeat this historic and deadly pandemic. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who have lost loved ones to COVID-19. Essential workers are risking their lives. Proper PPE will save lives. We make these demands so further deaths of UIC workers will be avoided,” said SEIU Local 73 President Dian Palmer.

“Our question for UIH is: How many nurses have to die before we get the protection we need? The employees who so tragically passed away this week did not have proper protection. Every nurse needs an N95 mask. We must do everything in our power to protect healthcare workers and their families from this deadly virus. UIH administration has not protected us,” said Doris Carroll, an RN at UIC Hospital and vice president of the Illinois Nurses Association.

INA and SEIU Local 73 are demanding the following to protect all workers and their families:

-- Universal PPE Standards for all workers – this means all employees providing patient care in UI Health Hospital and Clinics will be gowned, goggled or shielded, and provided proper N95 masks. All essential workers on campus will be provided nitrile gloves, proper masks and ready access to alcohol-based hand sanitizer and cleaning agents.

-- Universal free COVID-19 testing for any employee who requests it whether symptomatic or not.

-- Designate the entire hospital a “COVID Unit.”

-- All workers who can be working at home will be working at home throughout the shelter-in-place order.

-- Workers who must work on campus or in the hospital will be given time to perform self-care to keep their own immune systems strong by being fairly rotated through Excused Absence with Pay (EAP).

-- Individual workers and the union will be notified of potential exposure to COVID-19 as soon as the employer learns of it.

-- UIC will post appropriate signage and notification regarding all changes in policies and procedures in response to the pandemic, including but not limited to the above points.

#ChicagoIL #UIC #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #SEIU #PublicSectorUnions

Plymouth, MN – AFSCME members from Local 2822 and other Hennepin County library and service center workers were out protesting for the second week in a row on Friday, April 24. The protests revolve around Hennepin County’s unsafe decision to keep some libraries open for curbside pickup of books even while businesses all around have been shut down and the state is under a Stay at Home order from Governor Tim Walz.

Driver's license expiration dates and library material due dates have been extended in this time as ways to keep people safe from the COVID-19 pandemic and avoid having to put themselves in public near other people. For several weeks, the AFSCME members have been raising serious concerns over being told to come to work or risk losing income despite not having been provided a safe way to do so. They are asking for an immediate end to curbside services until a time when it is safe and adequate measures have been taken.

Some protesters stayed in their cars and honked in support and others stood outside at safe distances from each other, wearing masks and gloves to stay safe. AFSCME 2822 President Ali Fuhrman gave a speech and led the crowd in a series of chants. Cars could be heard honking along in time with the chants.

In her speech President Fuhrman said, “Workers are being put at risk by being in this building. That’s why we are calling for an immediate closing of curbside services, and giving workers remote work to do.”

Fuhrman continued, “Why is the county focusing on giving a limited number of people curbside services while the people who really need us are in desperate need of internet and technology access? That’s where our resources should be going.”

AFSCME members and other concerned workers will continue to raise these demands and any others needed to keep workers safe as long as the pandemic continues.

#PlymouthMN #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #PublicSectorUnions #AFSCME #COVID19 #AFSCMELocal2822 #HennepinCountyPublicWorkers

AFSCME Local 2822 President Ali Fuhrman said, “Books are not an essential service. The most important services our libraries can provide safely are the remote, online services that the county is no longer allowing our workers to perform.”

Library workers also demonstrated at six of the eight curbside locations, using chalk to mark slogans such as “Your books aren’t worth our lives,” “Close corona-curbside,” and, “Lives > books.”

On March 31, library specialists were informed that the remote services they were providing was not considered meaningful, and they were forced to choose between paying themselves with their sick and vacation leave balances or going back to providing whatever in person services the county administrator could dream up. One of those in-person services is the curbside hold pickup service being offered at eight Hennepin County libraries.

Hennepin County is also operating a drive-up window for its service center in Maple Grove, again providing more chances for transmission of COVID-19 through fomites. Said a Hennepin County Service Center worker and Local 2822 member, “Before the coronavirus we would regularly get documents stained with bodily fluids. There is no way to remove the risk of contamination when you are exchanging documents with the public.”

AFSCME 2822 Chief Steward Shane Clune stated, “The only way to ensure that our workers and our communities don’t spread this disease to one another is to close down in-person services. Instead of public health and worker safety, the county is caving to political pressure from the privileged.”

AFSCME Local 2822 continues to demand that the county keep buildings closed and expand remote services to the community; that the county ensures no loss in pay or benefits to workers who are unable to work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; and that the county provide hazard pay and adequate protective equipment for all workers who are required to provide services in person.

There will be another action at the Plymouth Library at 12:30, on Friday April 24.

#MinneapolisMN #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #PublicSectorUnions #AFSCME #COVID19 #AFSCMELocal2822 #HennepinCountyPublicWorkers

Plymouth, MN – Last week, over 60 cars converged on Ridgedale Library and Service Center in Minnetonka to demand public health and worker safety. Now Hennepin County union library and service center workers represented by AFSCME Local 2822 and supporters will be gathering at Plymouth Library parking lot, 15700 36th Ave N, Friday, April 24, 12:30 pm to press their demands to: end library curbside pick-up program until the spread of COVID-19 is better understood in Minnesota; end the DMV drive thru window at Maple Grove Licensing Service Center, and delay drop box service at service centers until workers can process motor vehicle transactions remotely.

According to a statement form by AFSCME Local 2822, “People need safe remote access to educational materials, information and entertainment. Workers need safe remote work.”

Two weeks ago, Hennepin County opened non-critical services at eight libraries and one licensing service center. Library curbside pick-up and DMV drive thru services offer very limited services and pose a significant risk to public health and worker safety.

“No one cares more about the library collection and access to it than frontline library workers. But circulating materials that only a few patrons can access is not worth the risk to workers and the community,” Lindsey Fenner, library specialist at Hosmer Library in South Minneapolis, and AFSCME Local 2822 executive board member.

Hennepin County has the highest infection rate in the state. Circulating thousands of physical library materials, and processing motor vehicle transactions increases potential transmission of COVID-19 and unnecessarily endangers the lives of members of the public and library workers.

Guidelines for library materials sanitation and safe handling from industry-specific sources range from one day to 14 days for quarantining materials. The lack of conclusive research means that an abundance of caution should be used to protect worker and patron safety. Providing these non-critical services also takes away much needed PPE and sanitizing supplies from other critical services of Hennepin County.

Liz Knaeble, a worker at Webber Park Library in North Minneapolis said, “I have had to choose between going back to work where I am putting my health and perhaps my life at risk – I am 60 years old – and staying home, without knowing if I will have any money coming in. We get the message that our lives are not valued.”

Library workers are also pushing Hennepin County Library to focus more on providing innovative remote services that support more community members. Jayne Mikulay, a library worker and vice president of AFSCME Local 2822, said, “I am supporting my son with distance learning and we continue to see the digital divide with children and families not having access to technology. We are not supporting the communities that need the most support right now by focusing on picking up books. Holds for books are primarily placed by patrons who already have access to technology. I want to support my library community by doing what’s best for safety and what’s best for communities that experience the most disparities.”

AFSCME Local 2822 continues to demand for the entire pandemic period:

• Remote work for all non-essential workers; essential workers at risk or caring for those at risk;
• In the event no work is available paid administrative leave/COVID-19 leave OR
• Extended SLWOP so workers can access unemployment benefits and maintain full employment status for the entire Pandemic period;
• Truly voluntary reassignment process: No loss of income or benefits for workers who decline public facing work assignments;
• PPE and Hazard Pay for any workers working onsite and in the field.

#PlymouthMN #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #AFSCME #PublicSectorUnions #COVID19