Baton Rouge, LA – In the early morning hours of Monday, March 3, workers for Baton Rouge’s Capital Area Transit System (CATS) went on strike. CATS provides bus services throughout Baton Rouge. Supporters joined the picket line as early as 3 a.m. carrying signs in solidarity with the picket.

The transit system workers have been unionized since 1973, with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1546. They moved to strike after CATS attempted to illegally impose a contract which contained many issues that the union had previously rejected in negotiations. Workers also cited deplorable working conditions as a big issue.

Speaking about the illegal imposition of the union contract, Senior Organizer Stanley Smalls said, “If we allow that, what? What is the purpose of bargaining anymore? You could just go through the motions and make your proposals, let us reject it and force it on the workers anyway. That’s never going to happen in Baton Rouge. Those days of taking advantage of workers are over.”

Workers rallied outside the CATS terminal from the cold early morning to late afternoon all week, with the strike ending Sunday, March 8 after CATS agreed to rescind the imposed contract and return to negotiations with the union.

#BatonRougeLA #LA #Labor #Strikes

We in Freedom Road Socialist Organization stand with the 75,000 workers of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the 65,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) who are striking for not only higher wages and benefits but also against the threat posed by automation.

Members of The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), actors and other performance workers, have been on strike since July 14 after negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) broke down.

Writers Guild of America members have been on strike after negotiations with the AMPTP fell apart on May 2. The simultaneous strikes have dealt a gut punch to Hollywood and the film industry, shutting down every major television and film production in the country and have postponed the Emmys that were scheduled to take place in September.

The last time that the WGA went on strike was from November 5, 2007 to February 12, 2008 and it ended in a victory for the writers. For SAG members, this is the first strike since 1980 and the first time that the two unions have been on strike together since 1960. All three past strikes were won by the unions and resulted in major gains for the members, from better pensions to residual pay for home media like DVD and VHS tapes.

This time workers are demanding higher pay and fair compensation from streaming services, which has changed the way actors and writers are paid for residuals. They are also demanding protections against artificial intelligence (AI). In its contract proposal, the AMPTP said it wants to use AI to make “digital replicas” of actors based on detailed body scans. Actors’ voices, faces and bodies could be changed or recreated without their consent or compensation. For writers, AI would be used to write scripts based on various topics and prompts with minimal human input. Many SAG-AFTRA and WGA members worry that AI is an existential threat to their profession.

In a capitalist economy, capitalists replace workers with machines to boost profit in the short term by cutting labor costs and making production more efficient. While AI technology usually has a high initial and maintenance costs, it’s worth it for capitalists to avoid paying workers higher wages and benefits, and it eliminates the need to address worker demands or potential strikes. The threat of automation is not new to the working class; it first emerged in the industrial revolution, when corporations began building factories and replacing laborers with machines. Since then, the threat of being replaced by a machine has been used as a crude form of propaganda to convince workers in key industries that they can’t have higher wages or better working conditions.

In Karl Marx’s Capital Volume 1, he wrote: “…machinery not only acts as a competitor who gets the better of the workman, and is constantly on the point of making him superfluous. It is also a power inimical to him, and as such capital proclaims it from the roof tops and as such makes use of it. It is the most powerful weapon for repressing strikes, those periodical revolts of the working-class against the autocracy of capital.”

Today, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) threaten jobs across industries and across different sections of the working class. Self-checkout stations replace cashiers, autonomous driving trucks replace truck drivers, software programs replace office workers, and now “digital replicas” and AI-generated scripts are threatening to replace actors and screenwriters.

The SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes represent one of the largest organized labor efforts against automation and artificial intelligence, and the workers are unwilling to settle until the AMPTP agrees to their demands.

Many of us in Freedom Road Socialist Organization are trade unionists. We have a long history of leading shop floor struggles, taking on the boss, and leading strikes. Recently, the Teamsters reached a tentative agreement with United Parcel Service. Automation and use of technology is an important issue that threatens workers at UPS. The tentative agreement addressed some of these issues, as well as many others resulting in many big wins. This only happened because the workers took to action – with pickets, rallies and a credible strike threat. Surely, there is much to gain with this historic strike in Hollywood. We in the FRSO stand with SAG-AFTRA and the WGA and raise our fists in solidarity. Dare to struggle, dare to win!

#Strikes #SAGAFTRA #FRSO #Statement #FRSOLaborCommission

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization stands in solidarity with the 1400 workers of UE Locals 506 and 618 who have been on strike against Wabtec Corp since June 22, 2023.

Members with the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Locals 506 and 618, who build locomotive engines for Wabtec Corporation in Erie, Pennsylvania voted down the company’s last, best and final offer on June 22 and have been out on the picket line now for over two months.

The workers are striking to win wage increases, better vacation scheduling and more environmentally friendly production. However, some workers have reported that the most important issue that led to the walkout was the right to strike over grievances. Striking over grievances used to be common, but now it’s nearly unheard of in the United States.

Although fighting for the right to strike during a contract is rare, it is an important tool for class struggle unionists. The ability to strike over grievances is powerful. UE has a long, proud history of class struggle unionism, making it an outlier in history and a beacon for labor militants wanting to build a union movement capable of challenging our oppressors. UE’s pamphlet “Them and Us Unionism” published in 2020 draws a clear line in the sand between workers and the capitalist class.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization is proud to raise our fists in solidarity with the 1400 members on the picket line in Erie. Many of us are trade unionists leading fights on the shop floor every day. We hope that all workers, union or otherwise, join us in standing in solidarity with the strikers from UE. Talk to your coworkers about the courage displayed by these workers and encourage your union to send messages of support and donations to the strike fund. A united working class can accomplish anything. When we fight, we win!

#EriePA #UnitedElectricalWorkers #Strikes

Chicago, IL – 200 workers at Loretto Hospital are on the ninth day of their #StrikeForStaffing. This is their slogan because they are the lowest-paid CNAs, housekeepers and tech workers in any safety net hospital in Chicago. Because of their low wages, workers have to work 50 or 60 hours a week to make ends meet. Being forced to work excessive overtime isn’t best for patient care.

Ebony Childs is a striker who has worked as a patient care tech for 18 years on an addiction unit. On the picket line today, she said, “We are on strike for better wages, for respect, for safe staffing, and for the community to have better service as well.”

On August 7, Mayor Brandon Johnson urged management to come back to the table. At rallies throughout the strike, Illinois legislators have confirmed that the $10 million provided to the hospital this year is for staffing and support.

Other workers shared that there reportedly there are only 20 patients staying in the hospital, yet the bosses have hired scabs at agency wages much higher than the union workers.

To press management to reach a deal at the table, workers have been stopping deliveries by picketing in front of the entrances to the loading docks. According to Childs, the deliveries they have stopped include, “Yes, linen. The food trucks, the medication trucks, the mail. Yesterday I helped stop two FedEx trucks. This morning we stopped a UPS truck. Yesterday we stopped a bread truck, a sterilized equipment truck. And just a few minutes ago, we stopped another big truck. I don't know what type of truck it was, but we was able to stop that one as well!”

Kendra Sims Morris, a substance use disorder counselor, was asked if management respects employees. “Okay, I'll leave you with this. The Bible says that when the righteous is in leadership, you see the people rejoicing. But when the wicked is in leadership, the people are mourning. So if we on a picket line, we're mourning.”

#ChicagoIL #Strikes #Hospital

Chicago, IL – 200 workers at Loretto Hospital on Chicago’s West Side walked out of work at 7 a.m. Monday, July 31.

Represented by the Service Employees International Union – Health Care Illinois Indiana (SEIU-HCII), the strikers include patient transporters, certified nursing assistants, respiratory and radiology technicians, and housekeepers.

Workers charged Loretto management of paying some titles $2 per hour less than workers at other West Side safety- net hospitals. They also denounced the hospital because the wages are so low that they have to work extra shifts to make ends meet. Workers pointed out the excessive overtime is a threat to patient care.

Pleading poverty, the bosses offered most workers only 30 cents per hour raises, but spent about $1 million to bring in temporary workers. The workers will continue their strike until victory.

#ChicagoIL #SEIU #strike #Strikes

Milwaukee, WI – On July 6, Local 344 Teamsters held practice pickets at the Elm Grove UPS location to gear up for the potential nationwide strike in August.

Just the day before, Teamster leadership announced that, after over 24 hours of negotiating, no agreement had been reached. UPS walked away from the table at 4 a.m. on July 5, continuing to rob membership, especially part-time workers, of a decent economic proposal. There were no further negotiation dates scheduled.

This news was relayed to the members at the practice pickets and the importance of being out on the picket line was heavily stressed.

“We are the tip of the spear, and we need to win all that can be won, not just for us but for future generations,” stated Kevin Schwerdtfeger, a Local 344 business agent and representative for the Elm Grove building.

Teamsters held signs with demands such as “Just practicing for a just contract” and calling for recognition of Juneteenth as a holiday.

Teamsters picketed by the road, shouting chants such as “Who are we? Teamsters!” and “UPS! Pay up!” One member had even brought a giant blue custom-made Teamsters flag, flying in the wind, while cars on the road honked in solidarity.

Two practice pickets were conducted – one at 8 a.m. for the drivers and preloaders, and another at 4:30 p.m. for the twilight shift. Combined, over 100 workers attended. Most were drivers and part-timers, wearing their uniforms and sporting red and gold “Pay up” t-shirts. A decent number of members from other unions and community members were there to show solidarity.

Jason Sanchez, a former part-timer and now driver of four years, stated, “I’m excited for a new contract and I’m excited to get our part-timers what they deserve.”

Local 344 is a statewide local, and in addition to Elm Grove, around 12 other buildings held practice pickets over the last week to show the company that members are taking the possibility of a strike seriously.

Dave Burgdorf, a 37-year Teamster, remarked in comparison to the ’97 strike, “This strike is so much bigger because we have a lot more employees now than we did back then. Corporations always want to take things away from the working class. Pensions, healthcare. It’s so important to get a good contract that sets the bar.”

He continued, “It’s time to tell corporations that it’s time to give back to the workers. CEO pay compared to hourly workers’ have exploded in the last 20 years. It’s the workers that make the huge profits for the corporations. This is a watershed moment for workers in the entire world and we’re not going to back down.”

Only 23 days remain before the Teamster contract at UPS expires. Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien continues to make it clear that if a contract is not voted in by that time, UPS Teamsters nationwide will be going on strike for the first time in 26 years. President O’Brien wants to see higher wages and more full-time opportunities for the 70% of UPS workers who are part time.

#MilwaukeeWI #Teamsters #UPS #picket #Strikes

New Orleans, LA – On July 1, fifteen people gathered for a panel at the Nora Navra Library to hear report backs from the successful unionization of two local Starbucks coffee stores. The panel also included a report from the frontlines of the UPS-Teamster contract negotiations.

Starbucks workers win union election

Billie Nyx, former shift lead at the Maple Street Starbucks, opened by sharing their experience organizing the union with Starbucks Workers United. Baristas at their store began their campaign to unionize in April 2022 due to issues like understaffing, inconsistent hours and unsafe working conditions.

After months of organizing, and a couple of weeks before the union vote at the Starbucks on Maple Street, Starbucks fired Nyx, allegedly for closing the store early one evening.

“The union-busting that we faced was nothing compared to the outpouring of support that we got from the community,” Nyx said. “It helped everyone stay on board with the drive to unionize.”

Nyx’s unfair labor practice case against Starbucks is still pending with the National Labor Relations Board. On June 4, 2022, the Maple Street Starbucks voted to unionize 11 to 1, making it the first Starbucks store in Louisiana to join Starbucks Workers United.

“The union is us organizing to improve our working conditions; us coming together to fight for something better than what we have,” Serena Sojic-Borne, employee at the Poydras Street Starbucks, said.

Sojic-Borne continued, “It’s really important that people do not buy into union-busting myths that Starbucks corporate will spread, adding, “they’re either lies or they’re things that Starbucks has done that are illegal and that we fight against. And in all cases, it is better to have a union than to not.”

Sojic-Borne detailed how she and coworkers worked together to successfully unionize their Starbucks store – the first majority-Black Starbucks in New Orleans to unionize. On May 22, the Poydras Street Starbucks became one of the 331 stores, as of June, to join Starbucks Workers United.

Starbucks Workers United formed in late 2021 and has a membership of over 8000 workers across the U.S. The union is demanding Starbucks meet them at the bargaining table.

Teamsters prepare strike at UPS

Efforts to unionize at Starbucks are part of the uptick in labor organizing taking place across the U.S. In June, 97% of UPS Teamsters approved the use of a strike if their contract expires before negotiations finish. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is made up of over 1.3 million workers, including over 350,000 UPS workers, many of them lower wage part-timers. A UPS strike would be the largest single-employer strike in U.S. history.

“We’re really putting pressure on the company. The end result of this is that other companies – like Amazon, like Starbucks – are going to see the result of the rank-and-file struggle in action and actively want to replicate that,” said Hannah Keith, shop steward of Teamsters Local 396 Los Angeles.

Keith continued, “The whole of the U.S. labor movement is looking towards UPS as a critical moment. I think we can win and I’m excited to see my coworkers in action.”

Contract negotiations with UPS have been underway for months, and while significant gains have been made, UPS management walked out of contract negotiations over raising part-time pay for Teamsters. As the July 31 contract expiration date approaches, Teamsters across the country are holding practice picket lines. A strike grows ever more likely.

In New Orleans, FRSO is calling a strike support committee to ensure members of Teamsters Local 270 are supported if they go on strike. The committee will meet on Saturdays at 1:30 at 2533 Columbus Street. It can be reached at makeUPSdeliver504@gmail.com.

#NewOrleansLA #Teamsters #strike #Strikes #Starbucks

Austin, TX – On Tuesday, June 27, over 200 nurses and supporters formed a picket in 100-degree weather outside of Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin. A part of the historic one-day strike of over 2000 nurses across Texas and Kansas, National Nurses United members authorized the strike by 98%.

Vanessa Villarreal, a nurse on the picket line said, “I'm a NICU nurse, so I take care of patients as small as my hand. I'm a mom and I shouldn't have to choose between taking care of my own baby and two others at work.” Villarreal continued, “I don't do it for the money, I love taking care of babies. But I also didn't become a nurse to be dragged through the dirt. The hospital has the money, but they don't want to negotiate.”

Starting in September of 2023, nurses at Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin voted 72% in favor to join NNOC/NNU, with the primary complaint being the poor quality of patient care. Beginning before the COVID-19 pandemic came to the U.S., Ascension began short-staffing their hospitals to raise their profit margins, creating unsafe working conditions for nurses and a potentially dangerous situation for patients. Because of this short-staffing, there are 128,000 registered nurses in Texas alone who either cannot find work in their field or are choosing not to due to the poor conditions at work.

Ascension is registered as a non-profit that provides “spiritually-centered holistic care,” but mistreats and understaffs its nurses so the CEO can take home $13 million a year. Despite their aim supposedly being to provide care for the communities they operate in, Ascension operates 13 investment accounts that are worth $41 billion and have $19 billion in cash reserves.

In response to the strike authorization, the management at Ascension is choosing to do a three-day lockout of all striking nurses. This move shows the bankruptcy of Ascension's supposed care of both their employees and the patients that are treated there.

Kris Fuentes, a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit said, “Ascension’s dangerous staffing practices disrupt our ability to provide quality care and it puts our patients at risk every day. This is a clear sign Ascension would rather use its vast resources to delay improvement than to invest in the care our patients and our communities deserve with appropriate staffing.”

Other unions, including AFSCME and IBEW, came out to support in solidarity of the strike and stood on the picket line. All in all, over 200 people came out to the picket, showing the greater community support for the nurses’ struggle.

#AustinTX #nurses #Strikes

Tampa, FL – Early in the morning June 5, over 40 Maximus employees, Communications Workers of America (CWA) members, and other supporters rallied in front of Maximus, a federally contracted call center, in Riverview, Florida. The rally was part of a nationwide one-day strike put on by the CWA in response to hundreds of layoffs nationwide and to demand a living wage.

As commuters rolled by, honking horns and waving in solidarity, picketers chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, poverty wages have got to go!” Laid-off workers spoke about the type of abuse they received from management at Maximus such as timed bathroom breaks.

Laid-off Maximus Tampa employee Dedra Dawes spoke out, saying, “Maximus should be protecting their employees but instead they laid us off. I have parents and kids to take care of, which is hard enough to do on $16 an hour.”

Later in the day the picket moved to another Maximus location in Tampa. The nationwide action is part of a larger campaign called Call Center Workers United.

#TampaFL #CommunicationsWorkersOfAmericaCWA #Strikes

Los Angeles, CA – At 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday March 21, over 30,000 school workers in the Los Angeles Unified School (LAUSD) including food service workers, custodians, special education assistants and many more job titles will walk off the job on a strike. The workers are members of SEIU Local 99, also known as Education Workers United.

LAUSD and SEIU Local 99 have been in contract negotiations since 2020. After three years of bargaining, they decided to call a strike to show the boss they are serious about winning a contract with significant wage increases, expanded health care benefits and sufficient staffing and resources to keep schools clean and safe.

On Friday, March 17 LAUSD filed charges saying that a strike by the school workers would be against the law. However, those charges were quickly found to not have merit and dismissed. The union members say they are ready to move forward with the strike as planned.

David Huerta is the president of SEIU California and SEIU United Service Workers West. Huerta released the following statement about the strike.

“Workers’ right to take collective action – free from threats or intimidation – is what binds us together as a labor movement. We won’t stand by while a powerful employer like LAUSD bullies and harasses workers to gain leverage at the bargaining table. SEIU members in California – 700,000 strong – stand united with SEIU Local 99 school workers who are striking to demand the district respect their fundamental rights. School workers have our unwavering support as they bargain in good faith for wages that allow them to put food on the table for their own children and for the staffing and support that matters to all students in LAUSD.”

The strike is set to run from 4:30 a.m. Tuesday through the school day on Thursday.

#LosAngelesCA #PeoplesStruggles #strike #LAUSD #Strikes #TeachersUnions

Los Angeles, CA – On March 15, the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) and SEIU Local 99, which represents cafeteria workers, bus drivers, custodians, teacher assistants and other education workers, held a massive rally at Grand Park in Downtown Los Angeles. The action culminated with the announcement that UTLA and SEIU Local 99 would go on a joint three-day strike, the first in the two unions’ history, from March 21-23.

Enthusiastic delegations of union members arrived from all over the LA area carrying their schools’ banners or posters. Members of Centro CSO, a longtime ally of UTLA, joined the mass rally in solidarity.

Both unions, which together represent roughly 65,000 workers in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), have been in contract negotiations with the district for close to a year and are fighting for their members to be able to survive as inflation rises in Los Angeles. The district, led by superintendent Alberto Carvalho, have only responded with counter offers that show a disregard for the wellbeing of LAUSD’s workers, students and schools. He has also sent out voice messages and emails to parents discouraging the union plans.

In February, 96% of SEIU Local 99’s members in LAUSD voted to authorize a strike. Many of its members are part-timers who make little more than minimum wage and must take on other work in order to support their families. The average salary of LAUSD school workers is $25,000 a year. Local 99 is demanding a 30% raise and $2 per hour equity wage adjustment as well as more full-time hours, staffing, and health benefits.

UTLA – made up of roughly 35,000 teachers, psychiatric social workers and counselors – is demanding a pay increase of 10% for each of the following two years. Currently, two out of three LAUSD teachers can no longer afford to live where they teach, and many educators have considered leaving the profession. The force of Wednesday’s Grand Park rally has already made LAUSD move toward UTLA’s proposals, as the district offered a 14% salary increase over three years during the latest negotiations. UTLA countered by maintaining its position of 20% over two years.

UTLA also wants the district to meet the demands of its Beyond Recovery platform, which addresses the needs of students, their families and underfunded schools. These demands include smaller class sizes, increased support for special education programs, fully staffed schools, more green spaces on campuses, and equitable funding. Superintendent Carvalho, rather than use the district’s $5 billion in reserves to transform public education in LA, has largely ignored the Beyond Recovery platform.

In order to weaken the power of the strike, Carvalho has said that LAUSD will likely close next week while teachers and other LAUSD workers picket. However, UTLA and SEIU Local 99’s members, supported by students and parents, will not be deterred by Carvalho’s word and intend to show the superintendent – who only recently moved to the district from Miami – the power of organized labor in Los Angeles.

#LosAngelesCA #SEIU #teachersStrike #Strikes #TeachersUnions

Although they’ve been battered by rain, bitter winds and cold temperatures over the last week on the winter picket line, the workers say they are resolute and will keep fighting until they win the contract they deserve.

Laurie Pottoff is a worker in the kitchen of Hastings High School. Pottoff said, “I am still pumped! We deserve more than the crumbs the district is offering. I am not ready to give up.”

On Friday, February 17, the afternoon picket lines swelled with Steelworkers from the nearby Flint Hill Refinery; Minneapolis Educators; University of Minnesota AFSCME members, supportive community allies, and many more. A local congresswoman spoke at their afternoon press conference to express her support. The district has still refused to come to the bargaining table. Workers remain committed to winning their demands of meaningful raises, access to quality health coverage and stability in hours.

Monday is President’s Day and picket lines will resume Tuesday morning and will continue until the district comes back to the table to negotiate a fair settlement.

#HastingsMN #PeoplesStruggles #SEIU #SEIULocal284 #Strikes

Tampa, FL – February 19 is the 55th anniversary of 35,000 Florida teachers submitting their resignations in the United States’ first statewide teachers strike. Teachers and administrators took a stand against the Florida legislature worsening schools. This historic action is relevant today with renewed attacks on teachers unions by the DeSantis administration.

The strike

By 1968, Florida had experienced a large population rise with little to no increases in state-level funding. Schools were in poor condition, textbooks were out of date, there were staffing shortages, class sizes were too large, and teachers had to buy their own supplies. Florida teacher pay did not increase to match rising inflation and cost of living. The state’s refusal to increase taxes led to worsening education. The Federal Education Association (FEA) wanted to fix this.

The former Governor Claude Kirk threatened to veto any spending package that increased taxes. In response, tens of thousands of teachers rallied in Orlando on August 14, 1967 to listen to the FEA president speak.

When a special session over the spending package lasted for months, teachers took a stand in February. Public sector strikes are illegal in Florida, so teachers instead submitted resignations. For weeks, half of all teachers in the state were for all intents and purposes on strike.

The statewide strike ended three weeks later in March with some demands met and some losses. The funding package passed without Governor Kirk’s signature. Schools received an estimated $175 million, or about $2000 per classroom. Florida teacher pay went from 22nd in the nation to 13th, a ranking it has never achieved since.

Weeks after the FEA declared the strike over, some counties remained on strike. The strikers demanded the reinstatement of all striking teachers. Hundreds of teachers were not rehired, and dozens had their teaching licenses revoked. The retaliation haunted many teachers.

On September 18, 1968, the Florida supreme court confirmed the right of public sector unions to collective bargaining. The strike also paved the way for teacher retirement and pensions. To quote Don Cameron from his book Educational Conflict in the Sunshine State, giving credit to legislators for these gains “allows Florida’s power structure to obviate FEA’s success, and lets itself off the hook for abandoning education and forcing teachers out of their classrooms.”

Teachers today

Florida teachers today face many of the same issues as 55 years ago. Teacher pay is low and class sizes are high. The Florida legislature’s refusal to raise taxes is a major reason for the state’s low rankings in reading and math comprehension in the nation.

DeSantis’ attacks on teachers are different from Kirk's because of the increased unionization. This year, there is legislation that would decertify a union with less than 60% membership at a workplace. This would end collective bargaining rights for many union workers in Florida. DeSantis admits this is an attempt to break teacher unions.

The wins of the 1968 teacher strike have eroded in the five and a half decades since. Yet teachers have not lost their right to unionize and to bargain collectively. To stop attacks from the Florida legislature and get funding for schools, educators took statewide action. Learning of the 1968 teachers strike serves as inspiration for how to defend worker’s rights and fight for a public sector that serves everyone.

#TampaFL #education #Strikes #TeachersUnions #teacherStrike

Chicago, IL – On January 22, the United Faculty Union of the University of Illinois at Chicago ended a four-day strike, winning major improvements for the 1500 full time, tenured and non-tenured faculty represented by the union. The strike has brought more than 300 days of negotiations to a close.

The stated goals of the strike centered around a few key points in the negotiations, chief among them, increased starting pay for faculty across the board, and stronger mental health support for students and faculty.

Despite publicly and repeatedly claiming that it didn’t have the money to pay for these improvements, the UIC administration has in part or in whole given into each of both of these demands. Starting non-tenured faculty pay, previously far below public school teachers, has now increased by $9000 a year, with tenure-track faculty seeing a smaller but still significant raise as well.

While the university refused to include a commitment to free mental health screenings for students in the contract with UF, the union has forced them to make a public commitment to expanding mental health services for students to the tune of millions over the next six years.

These victories came after consistent and overwhelming support from both local and national unions as well as the UIC student body. The first day of the strike saw a rally of over 500 students, faculty and supporters. Speakers ranging from Stacey Davis Gates of the Chicago Teachers Union and Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers to mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson and Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez stood in solidarity with UF.

The second day of the strike members of SDS and other progressive student groups spoke alongside youth activist and candidate for the first district council elections in the county, William “The Kid” Guerrero.

Liz Rathburn, president of SDS attacked the administration’s union busting propaganda and emphasized student-faculty unity. “Admin sent out lying, anti-union emails to the whole student body; up to the last hour of bargaining they were trying to poison the well and divide us from our professors. I’m here to say that they have failed. Your students are with you!” Students and faculty then led a march of more than 300 people into the second to last bargaining session, filling the room.

The next two days saw numbers on the picket lines hold steady. Large student contingents bolstered faculty ranks, with the UIC marching band, instruments in tow, coming out in force to support the union. More union officials, and a coalition of progressive elected officials gave speeches on Thursday and Friday, with a civil disobedience training preparing faculty to disrupt the board of trustees meeting in the event the strike continued.

Bargaining over the weekend went on well into the night, with the union ending the strike five minutes before midnight Sunday, January 22. Students and faculty woke up to the news that the faculty has won a victory against the greed of the UIC administration. A ratification vote for the tentative agreement will be held by the union within the next week.

When asked to sum up the effect the strike has had on the UIC student body, third year English major and SDS member Erin Boyle said this, “Many of my classmates weren’t clear about how or why unions operated, or what a picket line was, much less that they could be crossing one. Then this showed them the power of collective action and directly combatting an exploitive job economy that as students we’re dreading to enter if we haven’t already. The faculty union’s fight for the common good, for all of us, is a beacon of hope for me.”

#ChicagoIL #strike #UniversityOfIllinoisChicagoUIC #Strikes

Chicago IL -The United Faculty union at the University of Illinois at Chicago went out on strike, January 17. United Faculty (UF) represents the 1500 full-time tenured and non-tenured faculty at the university. The strike announcement comes after nearly 300 days of negotiations between the administration and UF.

The union is demanding an increase in starting pay for non-tenured faculty, improved access to mental health resources for students and faculty and stronger protections for survivors of sexual assault and harassment.

In emails sent out to the whole student body, the university administration claimed it simply can’t afford the additional $17 million in expenses needed to raise wages and provide the same mental health services as the Urbana-Champaign campus. Bargaining has revealed that on top of its nearly $4 billion-dollar annual budget, the university has $1 billion in unspent reserves.

Members of the local SDS chapter have joined the picket lines, along with more than 500 students and workers, in support of their faculty. When asked why he supported the faculty strike, Apollo Blair, a third-year architecture student and a member of SDS, said this, “Our professors didn’t want to go on strike. The administration refusing to give in to perfectly reasonable demands just for their own greed has made it impossible for our faculty to keep working. We stand behind our faculty and their demands 100%. They make UIC work.”

#ChicagoIL #strike #UniversityOfIllinoisChicagoUIC #Strikes

I first drove out to Loudoun County in early 2016 to help organize the transit workers, who had just been unceremoniously abandoned by their former “union.” This outfit walked off after four attempts over two years to get the workers to ratify a contract containing a 25-cents per year increases. Not surprisingly, almost none of the workers by that time still belonged to that absentee and moribund “union.” They were abandoned without notice by that union and cut loose to suffer their fate.

As organizing director for the ATU International union, I had received phone calls from several workers who at that time were employed by the Transdev, the previous French-owned transit firm in Loudoun County. These workers had been ATU members previously at other transit companies and wanted to join up again. I went out to meet them the next day and ran a union meeting in the bus garage until Transdev management had the police evict me from the county-owned building. Workers were on a multi-hour mid-day split break.

Disgusted with the heavy-handed police action, about 40 workers followed me outside where I continued the meeting standing on the back of my pickup truck in the street. Workers were fired up at the thought of joining ATU and union card signing for an NLRB election with ATU started on the spot. The enthusiasm was not contagious, however, and the following morning at my office in the ATU headquarters a long-overdue-to-retire-and-never-should-have-been-hired international representative of the union counseled me that, “There’s nothing you can do. If they didn’t join the other union, they won’t join ATU. It’ll be a lot of work.” I promptly disregarded this “advice,” but it sadly expressed the lethargic and defeatist views of many in the ATU leadership – then and now. That staff member was needed in the drive, but as was the case with most other campaigns, I cobbled together what staff I could to do the work – without him.

Our campaign was off and running from the street meeting. But, as is one of the preferred anti-union devices of Transdev, the next day the company set up a fake “Driver Council” with hand-picked pro-company bootlickers as leaders. This offer of a freebie “union” of sorts split the group badly and had the desired effect of creating dissent among the workers. Our organizing stalled immediately. In the interim I played the role of morale officer with the ATU stalwarts, talking to them every week and making numerous trips out to meet with them. I assigned a staff organizer to the property, and we confidently told the workers that once the company believed the danger of ATU had passed that all company improvements would evaporate.

It took six or seven months, but the ATU campaign was renewed. As is the case with all fake “company unions,” people increasingly saw the fraudulent nature of the scheme and chose a real union – ATU. The many promises came to nothing and the company stooges fronting the scheme exposed themselves as tools and spies for the personnel department.

After an all-out fight with Transdev – one of the most anti-union firms of all the private contract companies that ATU deals with – the group was finally organized in early September 2017 by a 62 to 5 landslide margin in an NLRB election. After another tough fight, a good first contract was reached and ratified overwhelmingly. Shop leader Sandra Vigil, one of the key early leaders and a solid supporter through all the ups and downs, explains in the Labor Notes article the benefits of the first contract that the union had worked so hard to win.

As is the custom in the musical chairs of transit contracting, Transdev was eventually outbid and removed. Keolis is the company now employed by Loudoun County to provide transit, commuter and paratransit service to the people of this fast-growing and wealthy suburb of Washington, DC. The county agreed to hire Keolis in 2021 despite their miserable record of performance and labor relations; no due diligence of any consequence was performed by the county administration. The ATU confidently predicted this entire eventual debacle, but as is the case in Loudoun County, the transit agency management staff are reflexively anti-union and constantly in cahoots with the companies they supposedly oversee.

The otherwise liberal Democrats who control the county are sympathetic, but otherwise paralyzed in their own bureaucratic cul-de-sac. Rather than decisively drop the hammer on the company for their outrageous conduct, the politicians are inclined to mediate and coax rather than govern. The company and the transit agency management are well aware of the contracting racket, and constantly conspire against the workers and the political leadership that – at least on paper – are supposed to be in charge.

For more than a year after winning the Loudoun transit contract, Keolis worked feverishly to destroy ATU, forcing another NLRB election and committing a mountain of NLRB Unfair Labor Practice violations with their illegal conduct. Finally, after many months, the union members were able to win their union a second time in an NLRB election in March of 2022, by another landslide margin of 71 to 2.

In recent years the unit has also grown from the original 70 to more than 130 workers, more than double the size of the original group that joined ATU. Despite every company maneuver to destroy the union – first by Transdev and now Keolis – the workers have succeeded and triumphed. Bargaining for a union contract began shortly after the second NLRB election win. But little bargaining took place.

The current strike is yet again another attempt by the outlaw Keolis company to destroy the union, and it will fail as all of the previous schemes have failed. Underlining the Keolis strike is also the amazing fact that over the past eight years, ATU has managed to win and organize 45 new transit units in the greater Washington, DC region. More than 3500 transit workers have been added to ATU’s ranks, taking the total working membership of ATU well past 15,000 in the region. It is a feat unmatched in the country to see such a concentration and perseverance of a union’s organizing efforts focused on its core jurisdiction in a given region.

ATU Local 689 has now grown into somewhat of a North Star for transit workers in the region, bargaining ever-better contracts and ensuring that the organizing wave with the unorganized transit workers in the region will continue.

The workers will prevail in the current battle, just three years ago ATU won a landmark rollback of privatization and a great contract settlement after almost three months of striking only 40 miles away in Lorton, Virginia. Once again, the Transdev menace was defeated and the interests of the transit workers in the region were advanced.

The workers on these transit properties, the international union organizers, the local union leaders and members all deserve recognition for these events. They are an example for the ATU as well as the labor movement generally. It has been proven that substantial union organizing, bargaining – and, if needed, strike action – can succeed in Virginia. Further, the ATU has proven that when persistence is shown, huge numbers of unorganized transit workers can be organized and brought into the union.

Stay tuned for updates on the strike at Labor Notes and at the ATU web site at Amalgamated Transit Union (atu.org) Chris Townsend was most recently the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) International Union organizing director. Previously he was an international representative and political action director for the United Electrical Workers Union (UE), and he has held local positions in both the SEIU and UFCW.

#AlexandriaVA #AmalgamatedTransitUnion #Strikes #ATU

New York, NY – On December 30, nurses at eight hospitals, including New York City’s largest, representing approximately 16,000 members submitted their ten-day notice to strike beginning January 9. As of Monday, January 9, all but three hospitals have reached a tentative agreement. This means that nurses represented by the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) are beginning their strike at four different locations.

Nurses throughout the city are fighting for a decent union contract.

While building up towards the strike, nurses have repeated time and time again that their primary concerns are severe understaffing which leads to poor patient care. Their goal with this contract is to ensure patients are not left alone due to nurses being overworked, overtired and overwhelmed.

Currently, Mount Sinai Hospital alone has over 500 nursing vacancies. This results in nurses taking on too many patients, such as in the neonatal intensive care unit, where they are forced to take on more sick babies that they can safely care for – sometimes up to three when the standard is one, maybe two babies at a time. At Montefiore, there are 760 nursing vacancies, which means that nurses are sometimes in charge of 20 patients when the standard is one nurse per three patients.

Executives of these hospitals are running smear campaigns calling nurses negligent and saying they’re abandoning their patients. All the while, the hospital executives are making hundreds of thousands in their salaries and refusing to hire more nurses to safely care for their patients. Hospital executives are the ones being negligent.

Matt Allen, an RN from Mount Sinai Hospital and a member of NYSNA said, “We felt abandoned by hospital management when we worked around the clock, facing death and suffering on a 9/11-level scale every single day at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic without enough staff or PPE – at the same time that Mount Sinai’s CEO worked from the comfort of his vacation home. During one of our union contract negotiation sessions, a manager had the audacity to tell us that he has not stepped foot in the hospital in more than two years due to the pandemic.”

And instead of hiring new full-time nurses, hospitals have hired scabs at $300 an hour rather than negotiate the terms that NYSNA put forward.

NYSNA demands are the following: “Safe staffing; fair wages to recruit and retain enough nurses for safe patient care; no cuts to our benefits, including the healthcare benefits that keep us healthy and at the bedside; better health and safety protections; and, community benefits, including a voice in local healthcare services and a local training and apprentice program to train the next generation of nurses.”

To support New York nurses on this historic strike, please find them in the following locations:

Montefiore Moses: 111 East 210th St, Bronx, NY

Montefiore Weiler: 1825 Eastchester Rd., Bronx, NY

Montefiore Hutch: 1250 Waters Pl, Bronx, NY

Mount Sinai Hospital: 1 Gustave Levy Pl, Madison & 99th St, NY, NY

The pickets begin at 6 a.m. and go until the late evening.

Support striking nurses to demand better patient care.

#NewYorkNY #Healthcare #strike #Strikes #NewYorkStateNursesAssociationNYSNA

Milwaukee, WI – The Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Healthcare Professionals (WFNHP) Local 5000 held a rally and picket outside of the Milwaukee home of Bernie Sherry, the CEO of Ascension Wisconsin, one of his many houses. The January 4 action was in response to the abrupt announcement of the December 23 closure of St. Francis Hospital’s Labor and Delivery (L+D) Unit.

The staff losing their jobs as a result of this closure wants their union to back them in fighting to have their services reopen. WFNHP- a union of fighters- will do whatever it takes to reopen St. Francis’s L+D unit. This is not just standing up for the union jobs lost, but the fatal risk it will bring to the predominantly Latino, Chicano, immigrant and uninsured populations that this hospital mainly serves. Connie Smith, president of WFNHP Local 5000, said, “Women would have to travel to deliver at St. Mary’s or St. Joe’s, both 15-20 minutes away from St. Francis, and St. Mary’s is also having a staffing crisis.”

About 50 people attended the picket including community members, members of WFNHP, other unions, and grassroots organizations. Labor and community organizations joining in this effort to save the L+D unit have been at the heart of the struggle. Nadezhda Young, chief steward of the St. Francis Chapter, spoke to this when she said, “We’ve seen support like never before on this issue from staff, community members, and electeds, and we’re gonna use all of that to fight for more than just the St. Francis that Ascension has been stripping for parts. We’re gonna fight for the St. Francis its community needs.”

WFNHP, which represents the workers of the L+D Unit, made the message loud and clear that the union will not be letting the L+D unit close without a fight. As Tracey Schwerdtfeger, registered nurse and president of the Nurses Chapter at St. Francis Hospital, said, “This is what we can do as a fighting union. We fight for workers in the workplace and we can fight alongside our sisters and brothers in the community because we are stronger together.”

WFNHP calls on anyone and everyone who supports the cause to keep essential services open at St. Francis Hospital. Join the newly formed Coalition to Save St. Francis at their first meeting Tuesday, January 17 at 6 p.m. at WFNHP’s union hall. Follow their Facebook page for more details.

#MilwaukeeWI #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #Strikes #WisconsinFederationOfNursesAndHealthcareProfessionalsWFNHPLocal5000

Racine, Wisconsin – On December 17, union members and supporters rallied in support of UAW Local 180 members who have been on strike at Case New Holland Industrial (CNHi) since May. The Racine workers are demanding the large multinational agricultural equipment corporation give workers a better contract as the company hauls in record profits.

UAW 180 President Yasin Mahdi spoke to the crowd of supporters, calling out the company for cutting off health insurance to striking workers’ families.

Local unions and labor groups delivered thousands of items to the rally to support striking workers and their families through the holidays, including truckloads of food, diapers and toys for Christmas.

After a rally, a large car caravan of 100 cars and trucks drove from the UAW 180 hall to the CNHi Racine facility, honking horns and waving signs. There was a heavy police presence at plant gates to protect scab strikebreakers and to ensure production continued.

#RacineWI #strike #UAW #Strikes

Consisting of academic student employees, graduate student researchers, postdoctoral researchers and employees, associate instructors and teaching assistants, and spanning from San Diego to Davis, academic workers are not backing down to the University of California (UC) system.

They are demanding that the United Auto Workers represent them and bargain for a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). “The $54,000, it would be a significant cost-of-living adjustment and it would be an amount that would lift most of us out of rent burden,” said Galen Liang, a graduate student instructor at UCB. The adjustment is a necessity for these workers across California as the cost of living continues to rise and their wages do not. Liang states, “We are living in a private housing market, where rates at other campuses can change so drastically.”

They used UC San Diego’s rent as an example, where the university-owned graduate housing rent goes up 100% every two years. Delena Ngo, an academic worker from Yale, who was there in solidarity with the UC strikes, confirms, “There’s just no housing anywhere, now.” The proposition from the UC system lacked other substantial benefits like childcare services and affordable healthcare, especially for those entering their workforce. “The UC should make sure that we have enough to live and get adequate housing,” states Ngo.

At a pre-bargaining caucus, the UAW union discussed dropping COLA from their bargaining demands with the UC. Academic worker strikes erupted across California, a demonstration of the rank-and-file workers’ frustrations with their union and employer. Conor Jackson, a head steward for UAW Local 2865, responds, “First step is raise everyone’s pay, right now, to a livable wage and also, make sure that we have annual increases that are commensurate with the change in the cost of living over time. So, our current proposal for both units is a 7% general range adjustment each year.”

Sean Malloy, professor at UC Merced, states “Given the cost of inflation, 7% isn't even keeping up with it,” echoing the dissatisfaction the academic workers have with these potential contracts. Leadership in UAW 2865 made promises to incorporate COLA as a demand in two years, but the academic workers have not remained silent as an integral demand is threatened to be discarded. “Just because we are treated so horribly and we were paid so little in the past, literally below poverty wages, doesn’t mean that we should normalize that circumstance and situation and we should demand more,” stated Galen Liang.

The workers know they are the ones to decide their demands, and they are prepared for months-long strikes to hold their leaders responsible. Liang adds, “Only through collective action can we really change the direction of how things are going.”

The workers’ demand living wages (adjusted for inflation), inclusive childcare programs, extensive parental benefits, and affordable healthcare for all academic researchers and workers.

With the growing strikes and demands for living wages, those picketing are hopeful for the futures of unions and workers’ rights. “For the first time in my adult life, I’ve seen a growth of union activity, rather than a shrinkage,” Sean Malloy said, “We’re now seeing both increased membership and militancy, as well.”

As of the week of December 4, the postdoctoral researchers are voting to ratify their contract. The Student Researchers United bargaining team made a new proposal to the UC, which lowers the $54,000 stipend to $43,000. Many academic workers are dissatisfied with the new potential contract; they will continue with the statewide strikes against the UC system until their demands are met.

#BerkeleyCA #UnitedAutoWorkers #UniversityOfCalifornia #Strikes