Farmworkers at Washington's Sakuma Brothers farms have voted to join what could be the first union for Driscoll's berry pickers in the nation. In September, they voted to be represented by Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ), the first farmworker union led by workers who are indigenous to Central America.
As a proud Columbia alum (College '69) and an officer of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) I was excited to learn of the NLRB's decision last week. However, I was shocked and, frankly, disgusted to read your condescending and arrogant message to the campus community. As one graduate student put it, your letter 'simply encourages graduate workers to eschew this newly right, like telling workers management will look to their interests.'
Fight for $15 organizers have a long list of grievances against SEIU. They say they themselves do not get $15/hour. They are worried about the instability of their jobs and a tendency of the union to ramp up staff for one campaign, then shift only some of the staff to the next project. Ultimately, some workers say, SEIU's position may undermine public support and open up lines for employer attacks. See SEIU's response below.
The speakers and the workshops at the Labor Notes conference celebrated labor's new potential both in fighting the boss and becoming more active in pro-worker electoral struggles. The 2,000 or more participants overfilled the Hilton Hotel and spread out into two other nearby venues. The young workers definitely outnumbered those with more seniority at these kind of events, and the diversity of participants was great. Special reports by Judy Atkins and Dan La Botz.
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Can the movement rebuild itself below the Mason-Dixon line, and change Southern politics in the process?
In July, Emeryville, California, passed the highest city-wide minimum wage in the country. Here's how workers' lives changed - and didn't. As the gears of federal government have ground to a halt, a new energy has been rocking the foundations of our urban centers. From Atlanta to Seattle and points in between, cities have begun seizing the initiative, transforming themselves into laboratories for progressive innovation.
UNITE HERE's Culinary Union Calls for Immediate Contract Negotiations. We voted yes to make our jobs good jobs with fair wages and job security, said Celia Vargas, a housekeeper at the property. We won that vote, so our voices and votes should be respected.
Fifty years ago, young people inspired and moved our whole country away from Jim Crow, war and McCarthyism in the 60s. Today a new generation of young activists are inspiring and moving our country. Today's youth are active for justice, jobs, immigrant rights, against police murder and racism, peace, and are revitalizing the labor movement. Just this week, from Missouri to the Fight for $15 actions, young people are again inspiring a generation and the whole country.
In any case, union contracts and the working conditions they codify are the current compromise between labor and capital in any given workplace. With or without a contract, workers will have to struggle. Staughton Lynd doesn't seem to consider the possibility that some workers may not be looking for constant class warfare on the job, and that settling a decent contract offers a much needed respite to lock-in gains.
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