kind of urgent - question about part time work

[jake williams]

Okay, here's the deal. I'm pretty excited because I may have a chance to have some input on the "Careers" class at my school - including information about unions. I want to explain the situation for part time workers in places like Wal-mart or fast food - teenager jobs. What sort of unions do work with part-time workers in retail and fast food, what problems/successes do they have, etc.

[which doctor]

Mostly the IWW and the SEIU organize within service and food industries. Industries that are traditionally part time are notoriously difficult to organize though since there's such high turnover that it's hard to get a dedicated group of individuals to get the ball rolling.

[More Fire for the People]

High turnover is a big problem. Another problem is that service industries conduct terror campaigns against unions. Not to mention that Wally world is now restricting all new workers to part-time so that they don't have to provide them with full benefits.

[Charles Xavier]

In Canada, the UFCW organized a number of retail and food based jobs. However its not the greatest of unions, its concession bargaining is quite extreme usually minimum wage plus union dues. Most unions will not touch small shops as it is expensive for them to organize and they usually do not receive a return. Franchises also make it quite difficult to organize as franchise laws make it quite hard to organize a union.

These people working in the service industry are very easily replaced and are heavily exploited. Over worked and underpaid. My own experience organizing a fast food place was very hard as no union would touch the place and help organize it. Without a big union behind you, going on strike means you don't pay rent or eat.

Organizing places like these are hard since many workers start and leave the job.

I read that CAW organized a corporate owned McDonalds in BC, it took them two years and only 2 out of the original 60 employee who were employeed at the time of the organizing drive were still active employees.

Walmart on the otherhand has shut down its stores for organizing a union.

[The Douche]

In Canada, the UFCW organized a number of retail and food based jobs. However its not the greatest of unions, its concession bargaining is quite extreme usually minimum wage plus union dues. Most unions will not touch small shops as it is expensive for them to organize and they usually do not receive a return. Franchises also make it quite difficult to organize as franchise laws make it quite hard to organize a union.

These people working in the service industry are very easily replaced and are heavily exploited. Over worked and underpaid. My own experience organizing a fast food place was very hard as no union would touch the place and help organize it. Without a big union behind you, going on strike means you don't pay rent or eat.

Organizing places like these are hard since many workers start and leave the job.

I read that CAW organized a corporate owned McDonalds in BC, it took them two years and only 2 out of the original 60 employee who were employeed at the time of the organizing drive were still active employees.

Walmart on the otherhand has shut down its stores for organizing a union.

This.

It has been pretty common through out the history of unions (and even pre-dating that, with craft guilds) that "unskilled" labor will not be organized.

I would suggest looking into the struggles of the IWW/barrista union and starbucks in the US.

Virtually nobody will organize retail/fast food except for radical unions.

[Revy]

UNITE HERE, also, I think...the HERE part stands for Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees.

Most fast food places, like McDonald's are very hostile toward unions, though.

[PRC-UTE]

another difficulty is the nature of the work. workers on an assembly line are next to each other talking regularly. there's usually a lot of contact and almost always some kind of unofficial resistance to the bosses constant demands for productivity. I worked in factories where I did light industrial work in assembling packaging. I could tell you he life stories and beliefs of most my co-workers, and they in turn knew me quite well, but it wasn't usually the same situation in retail jobs I worked where the workers are not in as much contact with each other and atomised in their work much of the time.

[DancingLarry]

Do some research on this word:

Precarity

You'll find it relevant, not just to this project you're working on, but what young people should expect as they move into the 21st century labor force.

[jake williams]

Hey, thanks a lot all. That's more or less the situation I assumed. The fact that it's so hard to do is a great opportunity to stuff in some class struggle speak.