NEWSFEED: US union struggles

[ckaihatsu]

Chris Kaihatsu, sign this to stop Volkswagen’s anti-union tactics


AFL-CIO


Tell Volkswagen to End Its Anti-Union Campaign at Its Chattanooga Plant
The petition to Volkswagen CEO Matthias Müller says the following:

End union-busting and abuse of workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA.

Sign the Petition Immediately ›


Chris Kaihatsu,

Working people from the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will be headed to Germany for the company’s shareholder meeting this week.

They’ll have one simple message: Respect our right to bargain together for a better workplace.

Skilled trades workers voted in 2015 to come together in a union, so they could make a good living and support their families. But Volkswagen executives have refused to sit down and negotiate with workers since the vote, even ignoring a National Labor Relations Board ruling last year that ordered the company to the negotiating table.

Sign the petition immediately to demand Volkswagen stop its anti-union campaign and we’ll make sure to include your signature in a petition at the Volkswagen shareholder meeting.

Working people at the Chattanooga plant have been fighting nasty anti-union tactics for years now. In 2014, Tennessee politicians and out-of-state, right-wing interests ran a dirty campaign to get workers at the plant to vote against forming a union. Tennessee lawmakers did everything they could to silence the voice of workers, even going so far as to threaten to take away economic incentives from Volkswagen if they allowed people at the plant to join together in a union.

Volkswagen has continued with these deceitful tactics. The company’s refusal to negotiate with skilled trades workers is not only a reversal of its pre-election statements, but violates its own Declaration on Social Rights and Industrial Relationships.

But working people at the plant aren’t giving up. They’re taking a stand this week, and they need your support.

Add your name immediately to the petition to tell Volkswagen to end its deplorable anti-union campaign at its Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant.

In Solidarity,

Tefere
------------------
Tefere Gebre
Executive Vice President, AFL-CIO


AFL-CIO Facebook Twitter
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Text WORK to AFLCIO (235246) to join our text action team. (Message and data rates may apply.)

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[ckaihatsu]

Don’t let Gerawan trash workers’ health insurance


Breaking the law doesn’t seem to bother Gerawan, one of the nation’s largest fruit growers, who markets under the Prima label. Gerawan has committed a litany of violations against their workers, who are fighting hard for their contract. Included in this laundry list of violations is what we charged to be the illegal action Gerawan took to change the health plan they offered workers, without bargaining with the union over these changes. The UFW filed charges with the ALRB in January 2015 about this. We have been pushing for a response practically every time we’ve talked to the ALRB since then--including as recently as April 2017. So far, no action has been taken. Click here to e-mail the ALRB today.


Take Action!

The law is very clear. Despite Gerawan workers still being without a contract because the company is resisting implementing the contract through various delay tactics, the UFW is the workers’ certified union. Gerawan is NOT legally allowed to make unilateral changes in the workers’ pay or benefits without negotiating or advising the UFW.

But as usual, Gerawan seems to think the law does not apply to them. Under Gerawan’s prior plan, only Gerawan workers who were employed close to a year-round basis qualified, leaving few with access to this option. And of those who qualified, even fewer opted in, as they were expected to pay nearly $500 a month for family coverage as well as have a $1,500/$3,000 deductible (individual/family). This was way beyond the means of these workers.

Only 13 of the more than 5,000 workers had health coverage under the previous plan.

Then, Gerawan unilaterally changed the workers’ health plan from bad to something way, way worse back in December of 2014. If workers want insurance, they have to pay more than $825 a month for the family plan PLUS a $5,000/$10,000 per year deductible (individual/family). If workers were not able to afford the previous plan for their families, how does Gerawan think they could afford this?!

Gerawan did not have to go with this option. During negotiations, the UFW offered them a medical plan with a low $5 deductible covering up to 80% of the workers’ health care costs—and it would cost the company almost $400 less per worker for family coverage.

Two years is too long for the ALRB to make workers wait for a ruling on Gerawan’s conduct that makes health care even less affordable for working families. The ALRB must act. Send your e-mail today!

Take Action!
http://action.ufw.org/Gerawan_health

After you sign the petition, please ask your friends and family to sign too. You can send them an e-mail, post this campaign on your Facebook and/or Twitter page by clicking here or by going to http://action.ufw.org/page/share/Gerawan_health


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[ckaihatsu]

Walmart kept me from my son


Dear Chris Kaihatsu,

Two weeks after my youngest son Zyon was born, I had to leave his side to go back to work at my job at Walmart.

I wasn’t ready to go back because my baby needed me and I was still recovering from a complicated pregnancy. But there was no choice; if I didn’t go back to work, we would lose our apartment.

That’s because despite having worked at Walmart for three years, the company didn’t even provide me even one day of paid leave after the birth of my child. Sign our petition calling on Walmart to provide all of its workers with quality paid family leave.

When I took Zyon to his two week checkup, the pediatrician expressed alarm. Something was wrong -- and Zyon needed to go back to the hospital, urgently. We went by ambulance to the hospital, and I was terrified for my baby and terrified I was at risk of losing my job at Walmart for coming in late. I called to let them know about the emergency, but it didn’t matter -- I was still penalized by the store manager.

Zyon was admitted into the NICU (intensive care for newborns), and for four months, I had to leave his side so I could go to my shift at Walmart, and then I would go straight back to the hospital. It was incredibly hard to leave him every time. I ended up having to quit my job at Walmart because of the time I needed to spend with Zyon at the NICU.

And after he was discharged, I still worried. I was stressed about making sure Zyon got his regular medication and oxygen while I was at work. I would stay up late, crying and stressed about how I could be the best parent to my kids, or wondering how I could stretch what little savings I had put aside. Please add your name.

Walmart says they are “guided by good.” Walmart defines company culture as its values in action. But Walmart’s corporate policies for working moms and dads don’t reflect those values and leaves members of the Walmart retail family flailing in the storm.

Join OUR Walmart and PL+US in calling on Walmart to do the right thing -- ensure all of Walmart retail and corporate employees have access to quality paid family leave. Sign our petition today.

Jasmine Dixon
Proud mom, OUR Walmart leader, and former Walmart worker
Denver, CO

P.S. Female executives at Walmart get 12 weeks paid family leave. Hourly associates get none. Help us fix it!





Organization United for Respect (OUR) is a non-profit organization, organized under the laws of the District of Columbia. OUR brings together low-income workers, their families and communities to improve working conditions in the retail industry throughout the United States, promote human and civil rights secured by law, build strong and healthy communities, and end all forms of discrimination. OUR Walmart is a project of OUR. OUR does not intend or seek to represent retail employees over terms and conditions of employment, or to bargain with retail employers, including Walmart.



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[ckaihatsu]

Get Ben & Jerry’s on Board With Farmworker Rights


Jobs With Justice


Dear Chris Kaihatsu,

Cherry Garcia. Half Baked. Chunky Monkey. Who doesn’t know and love Ben & Jerry’s ice cream?

So maybe you’ve never had Phish Food, but you likely know the iconic Vermont-based company loves to boast about its socially-responsible business. Its mission “aims to create linked prosperity for everyone that’s connected to our business: suppliers, employees, farmers, franchisees, customers, and neighbors alike.”

That’s why we’re so disappointed to hear the brand is dragging its feet in committing to join Milk With Dignity - a landmark human rights plan it agreed to in June 2015. The people who work on the dairy farms that supply Ben & Jerry’s with milk need our help. Tell Ben & Jerry’s: Live up to your promise to join the Milk With Dignity program.

Since 2010, Vermont dairy workers who are members of Migrant Justice have educated Ben & Jerry’s about serious human rights violations in its supply chain. In 2014, they called on the company to join a new program to secure humane conditions on farms. After public pressure, Ben & Jerry’s finally pledged to adopt Migrant Justice’s Milk With Dignity plan in its Northeast dairy supply chain.

Two years have passed and Ben & Jerry’s still has not officially signed onto or implemented the program!

Meanwhile, these jobs remain dangerous. Dairy workers often slog grueling hours – nearly 70 a week – without adequate breaks, and for low pay. Forty percent of farmworkers report having no days off and making less than Vermont’s minimum wage. The Milk With Dignity agreement would enable the people who work on dairy farms to achieve basic health and safety protections, rest periods and humane schedules, and the means to make ends meet for their families.

With your help, Ben & Jerry’s can make a huge difference in the lives of hundreds of dairy workers. Send a message to Ben & Jerry’s now to do the right thing!

Please take a minute to get involved. Your actions matter here – as a customer, Ben & Jerry’s fan, or someone who cares about how corporations treat the people who make them successful. Ben & Jerry’s cares deeply about its socially-responsible image, and if enough of us raise our voices, we can compel them to do the right thing.

Send your note to Ben & Jerry’s CEO Jostein Solheim and tell him to make good on his 2015 commitment to sign onto the Milk With Dignity agreement, without further delay!

Thanks for all that you do for working people,

Liz
Jobs With Justice

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IUF News

US union solidarity with Phillips Seafood workers in Indonesia

Posted: 10 May 2017 02:53 AM PDT



The IUF-affiliated UFCW leafleted customers at Phillips Seafood's flagship Baltimore restaurant on a busy May 9 evening in solidarity with the union fight for permanent jobs at the company's crabmeat factory in Lampung, Indonesia, where workers with up to 15 years of service are still denied permanent employment contracts.

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UPDATE 3: What You Can Do to Support Student Protestors—May 12, 2017

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May 12, 2017

Hello to all 1650+ signers of the petition in support of the students sanctioned in the 4/27 demonstration at Cunniffe House,

We’re writing to provide you with a set of updates. A lot has happened in the past week, so this letter will be somewhat long. At the end, you’ll find both our call to action and our most important piece of new information—namely, that the administration repeatedly violated the university’s procedures in this matter. So please do read this through, especially the final paragraphs.

First, there are three different procedures under way, all of which are consuming the students’ time and causing them great stress, even as many of them are finishing exams and even preparing—hoping—to graduate.

1. One is the “hearing” process. Fourteen students have been charged with long lists of violations of university regulations. These range from demonstrating without permission to participating in acts of violence. The hearings, according to the student life procedures, consist of one-on-one, closed door meetings with either the Dean of Students or a designated representative. Dean of Students Christopher Rodgers has threatened at least three students with expulsion. He has made these threats in the hearings, and also in phone calls to parents.

2. An internal investigation is being conducted by two Public Safety Officers. The lead investigator is named Patricia Scaglione. Each of the accused students, plus several additional participants in and witnesses of the demonstrations on 4/27, has been called in to speak to these officers. Students are allowed to bring a faculty member with them at these meetings, which has made at least some students find them less stressful. We are getting mixed reports about the tenor of the discussions. Some students report that the investigators seem open to hearing the full story of the events on 4/27; others perceive these meetings as little more than part of their persecution and the cover up of the full story.

3. On 5/11, several students and others received letters from University Counsel Elaine Crosson, notifying them of yet another inquiry. “To ensure objectivity, the University has hired an independent, outside investigation firm called T&M Resources, LLC to look into the recent interaction with Public Safety.” We have little information as of yet what the purpose of this inquiry might be, or whether it will be credible.

Second, to avoid too many long e-mails, we are sharing information at http://fordhamtestimonials.blogspot.com/. It’s possible to subscribe to the blog to get regular updates as more material is posted there. We’re posting media coverage, copies of statements that the students provided to the investigators, and other documents related to the events and their aftermath, and also sharing (when we have explicit permission) some of the moving and passionate comments that accompanied many of your signatures on the original petition. We’ve only just started, so there’s not a lot there yet, but either subscribe or check back regularly to stay up to date.

Finally and most importantly, we want you to be aware that:

1. There are clear university regulations governing the university’s response to “obstructive or disruptive demonstrations,” which you can read at the bottom of this web page.

2. Rose Hill Dean of Students Christopher Rodgers and the Public Safety Officers at Cunniffe Hall violated nearly every one of those regulations.

3. Those violations are at least in part responsible for the altercation that took place on 4/27.
The remainder of this note is devoted to demonstrating these three points.

In the petition we sent to President McShane last week, we refrained from making accusations against Public Safety Officers or Dean Rodgers because at the time none of us had a clear understanding of what had occurred. But based on all reports that have been made public, and on the reports of faculty eyewitnesses some of whose accounts you can read on the blog, it’s clear that:

• The students entered the administration building through an unlocked door, carrying not weapons but flowers. They had entirely nonviolent intentions. They were seeking a reply to questions they had about the President’s stance on Fordham’s use of contingent faculty--a reply they had been promised days before.

• The Public Safety officers responded by physically blocking the students’ entry to the President’s office suite. In other words, they used physical force to prevent a peaceful group from entering the president’s office to ask questions.

Pointing this out is not to say that the Public Safety officers initiated the altercation. We don't know that, and the claim here is not that all students are innocent of every charge against them. But it does mean that Public Safety and the Dean of Students violated the university’s written procedures about how to handle an unruly demonstration. Specifically (quoting, in red, from the procedures, which you can find in full at the bottom of this web page here. In bold and in brackets following each item you'll see our commentary):

“The Dean of Students, in consultation with the Dean of the College or the official responsible for the specific building or area affected, will determine the point at which the normal operations of the specific building or area are disrupted.” [Is a group of students entering an office to ask questions—even loudly and boisterously—a disruption of a building’s normal operations? Was Dean Mast or an official responsible for Cunniffe Hall asked to help determine the nature of this alleged disruption? If not, then Dean Rodgers and the Public Safety Officers violated university procedures.]

“If it is decided that the demonstration is disruptive or obstructive, the Dean of Students will take the following steps:

Inform the demonstrators that their actions are disrupting the normal process of the area in question and that they should cease and desist their activities. The demonstrators will also be informed specifically how they may continue their demonstration in a manner which is not disruptive or obstructive.

If the demonstrators fail to respond to the request to cease and desist their activities or if they fail to modify them in such a manner as to permit the undisturbed operation of the area in question the warning will be repeated and clearly stated as a final warning.” [There is no video of the event showing either of these warnings taking place. If they did, there should be video to prove it. If not, then Dean Rodgers and the Public Safety Officers violated university procedures.]

“If the second warning is ignored and demonstrators persist in the obstructive or disruptive action, the Dean of Students will apprise the President and/or Senior Vice President for Student Affairs of the situation and based upon the situation will recommend:” [Were the President and/or Senior Vice President apprised of the situation? If not, then Dean Rodgers and the Public Safety Officers violated university procedures.]

“That the New York City Police be summoned and that they be requested to arrest violators and clear the area.” [It is very clear that this did not occur. This is an unambiguous violation of university procedures.]

“The University initiate action to obtain an injunction against the continuance of the disruptive activities.” [It is very clear that this did not occur. This is an unambiguous violation of university procedures.]

Nothing in these procedures authorizes Public Safety Officers to take physical action to force demonstrators to “cease and desist their activities” or to “modify them in such a manner as to permit the undisturbed operation of the area in question.” Nothing instructs them to prevent students from passing through hallways and opening doors. It now seems clear that if Public Safety Officers had simply allowed the demonstrators to proceed from the vestibule of the building, which they entered through an unlocked door, and into the President’s office suite, no physical altercation could possibly have taken place.

To continue quoting the official procedures:

“If at any time during a demonstration, physical violence and/or destruction of property occurs, the Dean of Students will instruct the demonstrators to leave the area immediately. If the demonstrators do not leave the area immediately upon hearing the Dean's instruction, the President and/or Senior Vice President of Student Affairs will be informed of the situation and will be requested to summon the New York City Police to arrest violators and clear the area.” [As far as we know, no destruction of property is alleged. However, the Dean of Students alleges that physical violence occurred, resulting in injuries to two Public Safety Officers. There have been no allegations that those injuries were deliberate. We are sure everyone regrets those injuries. However, it is very clear that the next step taken was not a request to summon the NYC police to arrest violators and to clear the area. This is an unambiguous violation of university procedures].

“During actions to quell an obstructive or disruptive demonstration, an officer of the University, the President of the Faculty Senate, and the college Deans should be present to observe the actions of all involved.” [Evidently no effort was made to make the President of the Faculty Senate aware of the situation. No college dean was informed of the events at all, let alone brought to observe. Indeed, at the very moment the events were taking place, Dean Rodgers was scheduled to be at a Rose Hill College Council meeting, so he knew precisely where Dean Mast could be found. This is an unambiguous—and especially flagrant—violation of university procedures].

The point of this lengthy exposition is not just to demonstrate that at least four unambiguous violations of University procedures took place, and that further investigations may reveal other violations. It is also to show that these violations by both Public Safety Officers and the Dean of Students were at least part of the cause of the altercation that took place. Every available account of the events on 4/27 underscores this point. If the Public Safety Officers had allowed the students to enter the space and deliver their demands, none of this would have happened.

This fact does not mean we think every student acted uniformly admirably, nor that they should be free from sanctions for their actions. But we think these facts lead to two inescapable conclusions:

1. No sanctions should be imposed until all the factors in the case have been thoroughly investigated. These factors may not exonerate the students. But if university officials and employees violated procedures that were designed precisely to govern a situation like this one—and to prevent such conflict from escalating—those violations surely constitute mitigating circumstances that should be taken into account in any hearing and in any decision about sanctions. As should the fact that several of the students were sanctioned before any adjudication of their cases had occurred.

2. Because it is clear that Dean Rodgers participated in violations of University Procedures himself, and thus helped to cause the situation, he cannot possibly be the right person to hold the hearings on the students’ actions and to decide on their sanctions.

Now for the call to action: If you agree with these two points, we urge you to communicate them both to those investigating these matters and to authorities who have the power to change the path the university is on. Please send these e-mails to:

• President McShane ([email protected] or [email protected])
• Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Jeffrey Gray ([email protected])
• John Carroll, Associate Vice President of Safety and security ([email protected])
• Patricia Scaglione, Investigator, Office of Public Safety ([email protected])
• Elaine Crosson, General Counsel and initiator of the external investigation ([email protected])

Also, if you are willing to have your communications published on our blog, please send them to [email protected]. And again, please keep up with the situation on a more regular basis by subscribing at http://fordhamtestimonials.blogspot.com/.

Thank you for your concern for and support of our students,

Justice for Fordham Students + Faculty
Andrew Clark, Glenn Hendler, James Kim, Jacqueline Reich, Jordan Stein
News coverage of student protest:

Sanctioned Student Shares Personal Account of Demonstration for Faculty Rights
The Paper (May 4, 2017)

Fordham University Staff in Battle with Administration Over Salary and Health Benefits
NY1 (April 28, 2017)

Student Protesters Barred From Campus
The Paper (April 28, 2017)

Protest Escalates at Cunniffe House
Fordham Ram (April 28, 2017)

Students Face Physical Resistance from Public Safety During Protest for Contingent Faculty Rights
The Paper (April 28, 2017)

Student Protesters Clash with Public Safety
The Fordham Observer (April 27, 2017)


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Copyright © 2017 Fordham Faculty Students United, All rights reserved.
You signed the petition concerning the handing of student protestors at Fordham University. This is an update on that matter.

Our mailing address is:
Fordham Faculty Students United
441 East Fordham Road
Bronx, NY 10458

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[ckaihatsu]

Do you have my back if I strike?


Good Jobs at AT&T Mobility


Chris Kaihatsu,

I may be on strike soon along with 21,000 of my coworkers at AT&T. I’m a single parent of four and there is a lot on the line for me. My kids are the reason I’m fighting so hard and why I’m ready to do whatever I have to do to make sure they have a good life. We hope to avoid having to strike, but we may have to make that sacrifice to make sure our livelihoods are secure.

Please stand with us. Click here to email AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson now and demand that he settle a union contract that protects good jobs.

I work at an AT&T retail store, but the company wants to keep closing stores and instead send work to third-party dealers where workers make super low-wages and don’t have the union protections we have. Meanwhile, my co-workers at AT&T call centers worry that their jobs will be sent overseas.

CEO Stephenson made $28.4 million last year, while he cut our commissions, which meant I took home less pay than the year before. This fight is about making sure working people can make a decent living in this country. We are up against unaccountable corporations that are working us harder for less in order to pad their bottom line.

As the only income for a family of five, my budget is tight as it is, and the money I may lose if I go on strike isn’t something I take lightly. That’s why I’ve been preparing, saving money, stocking up on groceries, and making a plan.

Please take action and send a message to the CEO that you support workers fighting for their livelihoods.

There is too much on the table for us to sit back and let the company take advantage of us anymore. We want to be treated like human beings.

If we strike, we’re following in the footsteps of our brothers and sisters at Verizon who last year struck for 49 days and won big improvements for themselves, their families, and sent a message that corporate giants can be beat if working people stick together.

Thank you for your support. If we strike, we'll be back in touch with more information about how you can support us on a picket line near you. Until then, I hope you’ll email CEO Stephenson to make sure he knows his customers and members of the community have our back.

Thank you for listening to my story,

Cindi Chesters
AT&T Sales Support Representative, Shelton, CT


Good Jobs at AT&T
GoodJobsATT.org
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When workers aren’t even paid the minimum wage


EPI News—Our most important stories this week



Employers steal billions from workers’ paychecks each year

In a new report, EPI’s David Cooper and Teresa Kroeger estimate that minimum wage violations—failure to pay the legally required minimum wage—cost American workers $15 billion each year. This form of wage theft doesn’t just harm workers and their families; it also costs taxpayers money and can hurt state and local economies. The authors find that workers suffering minimum wage violations lose nearly one-quarter of their earned wages—receiving, on average, only $10,500 in annual income if they work a full year. As a result, these workers are more likely to rely on taxpayer-funded public assistance programs and to have less money to spend in their local communities. Read the report »

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Employers steal billions from workers’ paychecks each year.
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VIDEO: 94% of low income people have no access to paid family leave


Chris Kaihatsu--

In the United States today, 94% of low-income working people have no access to paid family leave. OUR Walmart leader Jasmine Dixon, made a video together with our friends at PL+US telling her story of what it's like to have to return to work at Walmart right after having a child.



Watch and share Jasmine’s story about the need for paid family leave.

Jasmine no longer works at Walmart, but she's sharing her story with the hope that by speaking out we can get Walmart to publicly commit to change their policy.

Executive women at Walmart get 12 weeks of paid time off. It's time for a fair paid family leave policy for EVERYONE at Walmart.

Please help us get her story out - will you click here and share Jasmine's video on Facebook now?


Thank you,

Everyone at OUR Walmart


Organization United for Respect (OUR) is a non-profit organization, organized under the laws of the District of Columbia. OUR brings together low-income workers, their families and communities to improve working conditions in the retail industry throughout the United States, promote human and civil rights secured by law, build strong and healthy communities, and end all forms of discrimination. OUR Walmart is a project of OUR. OUR does not intend or seek to represent retail employees over terms and conditions of employment, or to bargain with retail employers, including Walmart.




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It was like being in a real-life horror movie




“I have always known how dangerous pesticides can be,” she says. “But I never thought I would one day have to go to the emergency room because of them.”
- Aylin, cabbage worker

DONATE


On May 5th, Aylin was working on a cabbage farm near Bakersfield, CA, where 50+ workers were exposed to a pesticide from a nearby farm. An hour into her shift, Aylin noticed all of the cabbage pickers around her suddenly stopped working. Then some of her co-workers fainted. Others started vomiting. Aylin also became sick. Her lips were tingling. Her mouth was dry. Aylin told us they weren’t instructed on anything related to pesticides before or after they fell ill and they had no warning.

According to news reports, emergency responders performed a mass decontamination. But Aylin and most of the workers had left by the time medical help arrived. Aylin went to the ER on her own and following a visual checkup and no tests was told she was okay.

Something alarming happened after Aylin got home. “I didn’t dare come inside my house when I arrived because I was afraid I would also contaminate my brother and sister who live with me,” Aylin said. “I changed clothes outside. My mom’s boyfriend accidentally used my soiled shirt to pat his face dry in the backyard. Moments later, his eyes and face got irritated... I hope nobody brought their clothes inside or hugged their children or loved ones when they got home wearing their work clothes.”

Chlorpyrifos, one of the pesticides sprayed nearby, may be the chemical responsible for the mass poisoning. Because of its extreme toxicity, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires workers handling it to wear protective equipment and restricts entry into fields after use. This pesticide belongs to the same chemical family as sarin, which works by attacking the nervous system. Research has shown that chlorpyrifos slows brain development and lower IQs in children.

Working in solidarity with environmental groups, we recently came very close to ridding America’s farms of chlorpyrifos. The EPA finally moved to ban it in 2015. Then came Trump and the corporations that contributed to his campaign. Dow Chemical, the leading producer of chlorpyrifos, donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee.



On March 29, Scott Pruitt, the new anti-science EPA head, preemptively abolished the regulation banning chlorpyrifos, rejecting the EPA’s own scientists’ findings. In the last week, he also postponed the implementation of the Worker Protection Act and the Certified Pesticide Applicators rule that the UFW and their allies spent decades fighting for. Plus, Trump’s Republican Congress is pushing bills that would destroy decades of progress for workers, the environment and the safety of our food supply. We’re currently working to defeat 3 bills that just passed the House and are now in the Senate. And unfortunately we don't expect it to stop here.

Exposure of children, pregnant women, farm workers and other Americans to pesticides is a growing risk— even more, thanks to recent actions of the Trump administration. Please donate to allow us to continue our lobbying and legal work as well as allow us to do outreach and education for workers who are so critically affected. Donate so we can be there for workers like Alyin.

DONATE
https://secure.ufw.org/drift517


Chris, Thank you for receiving our emails -- we appreciate everything you do!

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United Farm Workers, P.O. Box 62, Keene, CA 93531 •http://www.ufw.org • Privacy Policy

[ckaihatsu]

Grad teachers are standing up to Yale. Sign now to show your support!


AFL-CIO


Chris,

Yale is one of the most prestigious and influential universities in America. Every year, the school recruits from the best and brightest students and teachers in the world to create an academic environment that should be a shining example of what the best college education in the United States should be.

But its efforts to stop graduate teachers from joining together in a union are putting that at risk. Graduate teachers voted to unionize in February, but the university administration is refusing to sit down and negotiate with them. Eight graduate teachers now are fasting to get the university to respect their rights.

Sign the International Solidarity Statement now to stand with the courageous young scholars at Yale University who have chosen to fight for their future.

Yale’s graduation ceremony is Monday, May 22, and graduate teachers are doing everything they can to keep the pressure up before then. Teachers, students and community members have marched, protested, engaged in civil disobedience and, for more than three weeks, have fasted to bring recognition to their struggle to be heard, respected and protected.

So far, university officials aren’t budging on their anti-union stance. They’re delaying negotiations with graduate teachers in the hopes that Donald Trump will appoint people to the National Labor Relations Board who will invalidate the right of graduate teachers to form a union.

But we can make the university administration feel enough pressure that they’ll drop their union-busting tactics.

Add your name to the International Solidarity Statement to demand that the Yale Corporation and Yale President Peter Salovey immediately stop their tactics of delay and respect the values of equality and democracy.

In solidarity,

Liz
--------------
Liz Shuler
Secretary-Treasurer, AFL-CIO


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Join Low-Wage Food Workers Telling Airlines That We're Fed Up!





Dear Chris,

My name is Dharon Golding and I’ve been an airline food worker serving United Airlines flights at O’Hare Airport in Chicago for 3 years. I’m writing to ask for your support because your business and my hard work have made it possible for the airlines to reap historic profits, yet we are not getting the treatment we deserve!

Sign the petition today to tell the airlines that you, like me, are Fed Up!

The airlines made $35 billion in profits in 2016, yet my raise this year was just 30 cents. After this year I won’t get ANY raise because my employer isn’t giving them to workers with more than three years of service.

And it’s not just workers who are getting a bad deal—from overbooked flights to hidden fees, passengers like you are not getting the treatment you deserve, either.

This morning I went to United’s annual shareholders meeting to deliver that message straight to the company’s leadership. And next month, I'll join 12 other airline food workers from across the country for a tour through Charlotte, Washington, D.C, Philadelphia and New York, where we’ll attend American Airlines’ annual shareholder meeting.

After you sign the petition, we'll personally deliver a postcard with your message to American Airlines’ leadership.

Together, let’s tell the airlines that we are Fed Up and ready for a change!

In solidarity,
Dharon Golding

Connect with us!



UNITE HERE | 275 7th Ave., New York, NY 10001 | www.unitehere.org | privacy policy

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Action: It's time for paid sick days in Illinois


Dear Chris,

One-and-a-half million workers in Illinois cannot earn a single paid sick day.

When they get sick or a family member needs care, they risk losing pay or even their jobs. Missing just a few days of work can compromise families’ entire monthly grocery budgets, their ability to heat their homes or pay their rent.

Right now, the Illinois Senate is considering a bill that would guarantee working people across the state the right to earn paid sick days.

Take action: Urge your state senator to support the Healthy Workplace Act &raquo

This vital legislation, which the Illinois House already passed, would allow employees to earn up to five paid sick days per year that they can use for their own or a family member’s illness; because of domestic or sexual violence; or for a public health emergency that closes an employee’s place of business or a child’s school.


Ask your senator to stand with working families in Illinois by passing the Healthy Workplace Act »

Take Action


Thanks!

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Vicki Shabo
Vice President




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Tell Congress to Support the Raise the Wage Act


Stand with working families. Take action now!


Dear Chris,

Since January, Republican leaders in Congress have targeted working families. The House of Representatives voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would strip health care from 23 million people. The Senate confirmed conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, along with a Cabinet full of individuals like Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, who have each promoted dangerous policies that will hurt women and their families. And Congress repealed the Fair Pay and Safe Workplace executive order issued by President Obama, which means it will be harder to hold federal contractors responsible for discrimination.

It’s long past time for Congress to stand up for working people. And thankfully, there’s a clear way for members to prove they’re on our side: by fighting for a $15 minimum wage and supporting the Raise the Wage Act.

Urge Your Members of Congress to Support the Raise the Wage Act

Tell your lawmakers to stand with working families and women.

Take Action


Millions of workers—mostly women and disproportionately women of color—struggle to make ends meet for themselves and their families on poverty-level wages. The Raise the Wage Act, would give one in three women a raise, lifting millions of families out of poverty. It would:

• Increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour by 2024, then make sure it continues to rise along with wages for other workers.

• Ensure that tipped workers—who are mostly women—have paychecks they can depend on, by phasing in a requirement for employers to pay their tipped employees the regular minimum wage before tips.

• Help close the gender wage gap.

• Reduce poverty and strengthen the economy.


Tell your members of Congress: Make hardworking families a priority by supporting the Raise the Wage Act.


The Trump Administration has made it clear that its attacks on the well-being of women and working families won’t stop. That’s why we need to make sure our representatives in Congress will stand up to these assaults—they work for us, after all.

The Raise the Wage Act puts women and families first. It’s time for Congress to side with working families over corporations.

Tell Congress: Show us your support for this important legislation, now.

Thanks for everything you do for women and families.

Sincerely,
Emily J. Martin
General Counsel and Vice President for Workplace Justice
National Women's Law Center

We the Resistance is our fight to protect our rights and freedoms and to defend the most vulnerable among us through powerful collective action. Every conversation you have with a loved one about the issues important to you, every call you make to Congress, every rally you attend is a part of that resistance. Join us — sign on to the We The Resistance manifesto.

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[ckaihatsu]

On Strike from Coast to Coast


[see source for links in text]


CWA NEWSLETTER
May 25, 2017

Send tips to [email protected] or @CWANews.

Bargaining Update
Any New NAFTA Deal Must Benefit Working People, Not Corporations
IUE-CWA Local 84901 is CWA Strong
CWA-Endorsed Candidate Wins in New York
CWA Condemns Budget Handout to the Top 1%
Customer Service Update
Organizing Update
Court Interpreters' Lobby Day


Bargaining Update

Share This Article: Facebook Twitter More...

AT&T

In an historic weekend, CWA members at AT&T wireless, wireline (CA, CT, and NV), and DIRECTV technicians (CA and NV) walked off the job from coast to coast. From Philadelphia to Oregon, many elected officials – including Sen. Jeff Merkley (OR), Rep. Tim Ryan (OH), Reps. Dwight Evans and Bob Brady (PA), Congressman Ro Khanna (CA), Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, California Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, and others – supported AT&T strikers' fight for a fair contract.

In their first strike, AT&T wireless workers walked off the job in unprecedented numbers – marking likely the largest national retail strike in U.S. history. Hundreds of stores closed across the country, while many others closed early during the strike.

Sarrah Nasser, an AT&T wireless call center representative from Paramus, NJ, said, "CWA is looking forward to returning to the bargaining table with the expectation we see genuine proposals that protect good jobs and quality service from AT&T. We are organized – with the support of our families, neighbors, elected leaders, and customers – and if AT&T doesn't do what’s right, we’ll keep doing what we need to win. AT&T: it's your move."

The strike, picket lines, and rallies caught the attention of major media outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Associated Press, Fortune, CBS MoneyWatch, Buzzfeed, VICE, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, LA Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and many others.

Check out all the action here, here, and here.



Across the country, CWAers at AT&T stood together for fair contracts. Clockwise, from top left: Members of CWA Local 4603, Milwaukee; Local 9415, Hawaii; Local 1298, Connecticut, and Local 9412, Reno, Nevada.

###

CenturyLink

District 7 CWAers at CenturyLink (legacy Qwest) joined a tele-town hall call this week about the tentative contract. Locals will share the contract explanation materials with members and conduct a ratification vote. The vote must be reported to the D7 office by noon MDT, June 16.

The tentative agreement extends the current contract for three more years and provides for substantial wage increases, among other changes. It has been unanimously recommended by the bargaining committee.

Read more here.


CWA members at CenturyLink stand together for a fair contract. Above, members of Local 7803 in Renton, Wash. Below, CWAers from Local 7101 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.




###

CenturyLink Florida

CenturyLink workers in Florida, members of Local 3176, voted down an unacceptable package CenturyLink proposed and approved authorization for a strike.

The local has launched a website CenturyLinkDoesNotCare.com, which explains the workers' issues and brings attention to the 12 NLRB charges and 1 UC Petition filed against the company. The local also continues to hold weekly pickets through the central Florida area.

All updated information can be found by going to www.cwa3176.org.

###

State of New Jersey

CWA is challenging Gov. Chris Christie's illegal action denying public workers the pay increments due after contract expiration. Christie did this to bully CWA members into accepting inadequate pay increases.

"CWA will not be bullied," the bargaining committee said. The state also is demanding extreme concessions that CWA has rejected in the areas of arbitration rights, discipline, layoff and recall rights, and more. "Although we will pursue negotiations with the administration, we reject the demands to gut our contract of respect and dignity language, due process protections, overtime and leave rights, layoff and job security rights, and other issues," the committee said.

CWA public worker members in New Jersey will be joining a telephone town hall call on Wednesday, May 31, at 7 p.m. ET, for an update on the latest in contract bargaining.

###


Members of Local 1040 put the school district on notice that workers will fight for job security.

Camden City School District

Camden City, N.J., School District custodian and maintenance workers, members of CWA Local 1040, are mobilizing for job security as part of contract negotiations. More than 40 workers delivered a petition to Superintendent Rouhanifard calling for job security. Members are receiving strong support from CWA locals and other unions, as well as clergy and local activists.


[...]


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Victory! Charter Teachers in Chicago...







Chris,

Charter teachers in Chicago are organizing and winning!

Late last night a strike was averted at Passages Charter School at Bryn Mawr and Ashland. Teachers organized with Chicago ACTS fought successfully to direct more resources to the classroom instead of the administration.

Our heartfelt congratulations to the hard-working members of Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff!

When we fight, we win!

Chicago Jobs with Justice was there, along with parents, students and staff (and Alderman Cappleman!) Check out more photos and video on our twitter feed: @ChicagoJwJ

This is what we do and who we are. You can join us! Be a part of our solidarity committee-we have mobilized in the last week for charter teachers, airport workers, fast food workers, bakery workers, and more. Be a part of large and small victories every day, with Chicago Jobs with Justice.

Click here to sign up to receive urgent solidarity action text alerts!

You can also email me directly at [email protected], or call me at 312-738-6161.

Thanks and In Solidarity,

Susan Hurley

Chicago Jobs with Justice

www.chicagojwj.org


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http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017.../cons-m26.html


Rampant safety hazards, wage theft on Nashville construction sites

By Warren Duzak

26 May 2017

Construction has always been a dangerous job, but it has never been more dangerous in large southern US cities like Nashville, Tennessee.

In a survey of 1,435 construction workers in six major southern cities, Nashville ranked number one in frequency of injuries, almost double the average of construction related injuries in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Miami and Charlotte, North Carolina in 2016.

The injury rate reported by the 200 Nashville construction workers was one in four compared to the one in seven average for the entire survey, which is published in a new report entitled “Build a Better South: Construction Working Conditions in the US South.” The study was conducted by the Workers Defense Project (Proyecto Defensa Laboral), Partnership for Working Families and Urban Planning, and Policy Collage of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago.


Workers on new home in West Nashville working on roof without any safety equipment to prevent falls

Construction of high-rise apartment buildings has been quite common in Nashville over the past few years. At one point one could count 12 giant 19-ton, 150-foot high “Tower” cranes in and near the Nashville downtown area at a time.

Residential development has also demanded more construction workers. Older, one-story, wood frame houses in working-class neighborhoods have given way to gentrification and expensive narrow townhouse/row house-style homes.

Older neighborhoods seem to disappear overnight in the city. The threat of a housing bubble seems to mean nothing to bankers and builders caught up in fevered construction anarchy, with each hoping to be the one with the last loan paid off or the last home built and sold before the bubble bursts.

“These cities are the engines of growth in the South and are home to some of the largest and most important construction markets in the US,” the survey stated. “Nearly 1 million construction workers were employed in these six cities in 2013, accounting for 43% of all construction workers employed in the five states. Furthermore, more than one in four construction workers who are employed in the South are located in one of these six cities, and nationally one in 10 workers labor these six southern cities.”

An increasing number of construction workers are undocumented immigrants who are subjected to even greater frequencies of wage theft and other exploitation by employers who exploit their fear of arrest and deportation. Thirty-two percent of respondents in Build a Better South reported that they lacked legal documentation to work in the US.

Builders and contractors will turn to temporary employment agencies to keep down costs while the “temp” companies feed off the workers’ need for a job.

Injured economically by their employment status, temporary workers also run a higher risk of being injured on the job. The survey showed that workers hired through temporary employment agencies suffered a high injury rate that could be traced to “constantly changing work environments and poor access to training.”

Again, Nashville topped the list, with 18 percent of workers reporting that they got their jobs through temporary “staffing” companies.

One worker said temporary jobs added insult to injury because it seldom led to a full-time position. “Many times, you’ll get close to a permanent job and you get switched out or they don’t hire you,” he told reporters.

Nashville workers may suffer greater injuries because more than one-third are not provided most proper safety equipment. According to the survey 36 percent of the workers are not provided eyewear protection; 36 percent have no harness or fall protection, with nearly the same rate for those without hardhats (32 percent) or gloves (29 percent).

“Working or living in these new buildings, or gazing at their beautiful facades, you can no longer sense the presence of those construction workers and the challenges they faced, toiling long, hard hours to support their families,” David Michaels, PHD with the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, said in the forward to the report.

“The evidence of pervasive wage theft, and of widespread employment misclassification, disappears once the buildings are finished and the crews go home,” Michaels added. “There is no more blood on the rebar where workers fell, and no signs of the back injuries that came from lifting too heavy loads or the gasping for air that comes from breathing silica dust day after day...

“The outrage is that dangerous, unjust employment occurs in plain sight, in our downtowns and suburban malls and office parks, abetted by owners and builders who participate in this system without complaint...We can no longer be silent knowing that our homes and commercial centers, our universities and hospitals, are built by men and women who work long hours but who can barely feed their families, who face dangerous working conditions daily with no recourse or compensation if they are injured, and whose labor rights are too often violated.”

The survey listed a litany of crimes against this group of workers:

* Just 5 percent of workers who were injured in the past 12 months had workers’ compensation insurance to cover their medical expenses.

* Workers may not even receive the most basic safety protections like rest breaks or access to drinking water. One-third of workers do not have drinking water provided on their worksite, a basic necessity that employers are required to provide under federal law.

* Few construction workers have access to basic employment benefits. Less than half (43 percent) of construction workers are offered medical insurance by their employer. The problem of access to medical insurance is exacerbated by the fact that only 45 percent have an employer that has workers’ compensation insurance.

* Approximately three out of four workers lack paid personal time (73 percent) or paid sick time (78 percent). More than half (57 percent) of workers surveyed earn less than $15 per hour despite high average levels of experience in the industry.

* One in seven workers has been injured during their construction career, and more than one in three of these workers have suffered an injury in the past 12 months.

*Thirty-six percent of workers struggle to pay for basic necessities, such as rent or food, even though 82 percent of workers reported working overtime with their current employer.

In 2015, based on US Department of Labor statistics, a construction worker died every nine hours for a total of 924 that year, the report noted.

The Department of Labor also reported that in 2015 several construction occupations recorded their highest fatality totals in years, including construction laborers (highest since 2008); carpenters (2009); electricians (2009); and plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters (2003).

Copyright © 1998-2017 World Socialist Web Site - All rights reserved

[ckaihatsu]

[LaborTech] AIRBNB Employees Speak Out About Company Bullying Tactics & "Toxic" Work Environment

AIRBNB Employees Speak Out About Company Bullying Tactics & "Toxic" Work Environment

http://brokeassstuart.com/blog/2017/...lying-tactics/

25 MAY 2017

ALEX MAK - MANAGING EDITOR 2 2 5

According to current and former employees, the corporate culture at Airbnb has become ‘toxic’ over the last year. In 2015, Glassdoor ranked the company as the #1 place to work, in 2017 that ranking dropped to 35th, and many employees are speaking out. A person who has worked in Airbnb’s Food Department for more than 2 years first approached us with grievances concerning company’s changing work environment, and when we reached out for more sources to confirm the story, many were all too happy to share.


Airbnb Office, San Francisco

“The original working culture at Airbnb was ‘be a host to each other‘, but that’s not how it is anymore”. Claims a source inside Airbnb, who insisted on remaining anonymous. “It’s become a toxic work environment where management bullies the staff, I know several people who have left and several people threatening to leave.”

When we pressed for specifics: “Many complaints have been filed to HR against management, because of ‘bullying tactics’, and passive aggressive management. At one point people were even afraid to file for overtime even if we were working longer hours, because management was so hostile.”

Another Airbnb employee’s email complaint about management was leaked to us, it voices concerns about a hostile work environment and suspicions of a management strategy to force full time employees out. Screenshots of the actual emails have been removed as requested by their original source for fear of retribution:

“THIS IS A COMPANY OF BELONGING AND INCLUSION, EVERYTHING OUR NEW MANAGEMENT HAS DONE THUS FAR PERSONNEL WISE HAS BEEN THE OPPOSITE OF THAT”

“THERE IS A CONCERN THAT UPPER MANAGEMENT IS NOT INCLINED TO HELP TENURED EMPLOYEES SUCCEED, AND RATHER IS DOING EVERYTHING THEY CAN TO MAKE CERTAIN PEOPLE LOOK BAD AND MAKE THEM BECOME FRUSTRATED”

“THERE IS A BUSINESS NEED TO ELIMINATE FULL TIME EMPLOYEES…AND MOVE TOWARDS ALL CONTRACTED EMPLOYEES”

Several Airbnb Food Department employees felt there was a corporate strategy to push out full time employees (FTE’s) so that they might be replaced with cheaper contractors.

A third Airbnb employee sent us his feelings on the department: “(I) saw a lot of my friends treated like dirt, manipulated and exploited for their hard work, while being completely ignored as contributing members to the team.”

We looked at Glassdoor employee reviews to see if these trends existed in other departments. The reviews on Glassdoor are anonymous, so should be taken with a grain of salt, but there is a clear trend of long term employees speaking out against new management in several departments. Many reviews complaining about ‘inexperienced’ or ‘uncaring management’, as well as a corporate structure that does not allow for upward mobility. Which should come at no surprise given their business model of relying on cheaper, part-time contractors as way of cutting costs and company responsibilities.

There were also of course many positive reviews from employees, and feel free to read them yourself glassdoor.com. Below, we’ve concentrated on reviews that brought up concerns with management, company culture, and growing pains in May of 2017, to which there were many in several departments:








“HONESTLY EVERYONE SEEMS MISERABLE AND LIKE THEY’RE PHONING IT IN. IT’S SUCH A FAR CRY FROM THE MAGICAL OFFICE I JOINED THREE YEARS AGO.” – AIRBNB EMPLOYEE









“PEOPLE ARE TREATED LIKE CATTLE”


Airbnb’s growth in the last 4 years has been astronomical. In March 2017, Airbnb continued to raise money and was valued at 31 billion dollars. This growth has not come without pains. Airbnb owes much of its success to the ‘sharing economy’, a model that allows corporations to pass off costs of doing business to their own work force. Like Uber or Taskrabbit, these companies avoid paying taxes or benefits to their workers by mostly supporting part-time positions. At the same time they find ways to duck governmental regulations and taxes, thereby gaining a huge advantage on traditional competitors. As a result labor unions and local city governments have been fighting Airbnb’s aggressive expansion for years.



San Francisco ‘Yes’ on Prop F campaign sign. A campaign to regulate Airbnb in 2015.

The silicon valley term for these types of companies is ‘disruptors’. In the industries they are changing, and to the cities they are manipulating, these companies are sometimes called far worse. In San Francisco for example the chief concern was that +8,000 unregulated Airbnb ‘hotels’ were taking away much needed housing stock during a historical housing shortage. City Residents fought to regulate Airbnb’s ‘temporary’ hotels, so that they could make sure Airbnb would pay their fair share of taxes. But Airbnb spent over $8 million in a smear campaign full of obvious untruths and scare tactics to defeat regulation.



‘No on F’ Airbnb advert. Prop F asked Airbnb hosts to file their guest bookings just like a hotel, so that they do not skip out on paying their taxes.


This year, under judicial pressure, Airbnb has agreed to register it’s hosts who rent homes and rooms to tourists. This is an important step in a city where housing costs have sky rocketed as more and more homes are taken off the market to be used as unregulated hotel rooms.

Now that Airbnb is worth 31 billion dollars, maybe it’s time they think about treating their employees and the cities who host them with a little more respect. As the first Airbnb employee who interviewed put it:


“IT’S A COMPANY ABOUT BELONGING ANYWHERE, BUT HOW CAN WE BELONG IF WE FEEL LIKE THEY ARE TRYING TO PUSH US OUT”. – CURRENT FULL-TIME AIRBNB EMPLOYEE, SOON TO BE REPLACED WITH ANOTHER PART-TIME CONTRACTOR.


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More Wins! Kale Workers Reach Settlement with Teachey Produce


On June 24, 2016, Pedro went to pick corn for Teachey Produce in Rose Hill NC. When he got to the field, he realized there was no water despite dangerously high temperatures. That day, he had a heat stroke and had to be hospitalized. What made the situation worse was that the Teacheys then refused to file a workman’s comp claim or help Pedro with the hospital bill that was equivalent to almost a whole season’s worth of Pedro’s wages.

Meanwhile, Teachey Produce was stealing wages from three other farmworkers at their farm, at times making unauthorized deductions from their checks or outright refusing to pay them for their day's work. Pedro along with his three coworkers decided to stand up for their rights and demand justice.

“When we got a lawyer in the case, [the owner] brought me out and told me that if you don’t drop this case, I am gonna call immigration, and immigration is gonna take you and kick you back to Mexico,” says [Victoria] Hernandez.
However, the workers didn’t back down. Instead, they filed a class-action lawsuit alleging violations of wage and hour protections, safety laws, and retaliation for speaking out.

Payday Report: Kale Workers In NC Show How Immigrants Can Win in the Trump Era

Last month, with the assistance of FLOC, a settlement was reached, and in total, Teachey Produce will pay over $60,000 to resolve all claims. Read more here!

Join us in celebrating this victory by sharing this image on Facebook. And please consider making a donation to help even more farmworkers stand up for justice!
Hasta La Victoria,

The FLOC Team

To find out more about the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO, please visit our website at www.floc.com.

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http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017.../amaz-m29.html


Amazon workers speak out

Ex-worker: I was close to heatstroke and Amazon forced me to keep working

By our reporters

29 May 2017

Hundreds of Amazon workers have signed up for the International Amazon Workers Voice newsletter in recent days. Workers continue to send in their horror stories of exploitation, and workers in fulfillment centers in North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa are discussing the need for an international strategy to fight back.

Here is what workers are saying:

Amazon to worker on verge of heatstroke: keep working

Amazon tries to keep the lid on scenes like this one, described by an ex-Amazon worker who feared he would die on the job.


Amazon-owned distribution center in Kentucky

“I worked there [for Amazon] for a year and I was treated like complete trash,” the young worker said. “One day I actually got really bad heat exhaustion from there when I was trying to keep myself hydrated. I was on water bottle number seven by lunchtime and that still wasn’t cutting it. Everyone agreed at my fulfillment center that it was hotter than usual, and the managers weren’t doing anything about it.”

The company only cared about shipping its goods and making profit.

The worker continued, “I almost passed out while rebinning. I was taken to Amcare [the company medical team] and was told I was only allowed there for 20 minutes because I had to get back on the floor when they knew I was getting very close to having a heat stroke. They even said I was very close to having a heat stroke. So I left Amazon that night and never returned because I felt like my life was more important than dying at the job. If I died there that night I would be number four on the list of people who died while working at my fulfillment center, and I didn’t want that.”

“Why not share the benefits of industrial progress, instead of accepting our fate as slaves for the rich?”

One former warehouse worker in the UK explained: “I worked in a warehouse in Manchester as a picker for XPO/Missguided under conditions very similar to those recounted by Amazon workers. Workers were demeaned with a barrage of dictatorial policies and pushed to the limit of physical and mental endurance. A few workers passed out due to overexertion.”

The worker continued, “Why shouldn’t society share equally the benefits of productive development? After all, it was the workers who built the warehouses, and the means of production and operations, not Bezos. Why not share the benefits of industrial progress, instead of accepting our fate as slaves for the rich? The social condition today is appalling and given the productive forces available, entirely medieval.”

No to nationalism! Unite Amazon workers across the world!

One worker in the UK messaged the International Amazon Workers Voice to report stressful and dangerous conditions at their facility. The worker thanked the IAWV for exposing Bezos’ wealth, but said that part of the problem is that English workers are mistreated while Polish workers are favored.

The International Amazon Workers Voice responded:

“The rich want you to compete with workers of different national origins so that all workers don’t unite and fight the real enemy: the rich. We are socialists, that means we’re for the international unity of the working class, regardless of national origin. English workers have much more in common with workers from Poland than they do with David Cameron, and the Polish workers have more in common with you than they do with Polish oligarchs, too.

“Imagine how much power Amazon workers would have if they united in the US, UK, Poland, Germany, Mexico, China, Germany, India, and all over, in a common struggle for social equality. Divided by nationality, the workers are powerless. But united across the world, the working class is a powerful force that can change the course of history.”

The worker responded with a “thumbs-up.”

Amazon workers, if you have stories to share, sign-up for our newsletter and send them in the comments field. We keep all sources anonymous to protect from arbitrary firing.



Copyright © 1998-2017 World Socialist Web Site - All rights reserved