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Labor is all ablaze

www.upwiththeworkers.org

Labor is all ablaze

Workers at Blaze Pizza are celebrating a settlement over stolen wages and damages, plus historic Amazon union election news and #WorkShouldn’tHurtMN.

Amie Stager
Apr 1, 2022
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Labor is all ablaze

www.upwiththeworkers.org

🍕💪 Blaze Pizza workers recognize and exercise their power

“I remember going into work one day and hearing a coworker complain about our wages. This was maybe three months into me working at Blaze. Until then, I had no idea that anything was wrong…I expected them to pay me a legal wage. I trusted them to do that, because why wouldn’t they?” –Sydney Kuran, worker at Blaze Pizza and nursing student at the University of Minnesota.

three people stand in front of the blaze pizza fast food store front wearing quilted and denim jackets
Sydney Kuran, Jessie Fetting, and Kieran Riebel stand in front of Blaze Pizza nestled in Stadium Village near the University of Minnesota campus. Photo credit: LoonarCity.

Read up on how Blaze Pizza workers learned their workplace rights and organized with ROC-MN to reach a settlement.


🗳️ Historic Amazon union election

The independent Amazon Labor Union (@amazonlabor), led by fired Amazon worker Christian Smalls (@Shutdown_Amazon), held an election this week for Staten Island warehouse workers, and the results are in!

Twitter avatar for @greenhousenyt
Steven Greenhouse @greenhousenyt
BREAKING: A HUGE, HISTORIC UNION WIN NLRB's final count is 2,654 to unionize, 2,131 against Many experts said it would be nearly impossible to unionize an Amazon warehouse because Amazon is so fiercely anti-union Big congratulations to Christian Smalls & the Amazon Labor Union
4:32 PM ∙ Apr 1, 2022
2,137Likes429Retweets
Twitter avatar for @LaurenKGurley
Lauren Kaori Gurley @LaurenKGurley
This is Karen Ponce, a JFK8 worker and ⁦@amazonlabor⁩ organizer. She commutes 2 hours from Brooklyn to JFK8 to work. Before Amazon, she worked at Popeye’s. “I just learned about unions, but now I think every job needs a union.”
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3:24 PM ∙ Apr 1, 2022
2,117Likes298Retweets
Twitter avatar for @jordanzakarin
Jordan Zakarin @jordanzakarin
With this historic union victory comes perhaps the even harder part: Negotiating a first contract. Among many other things, @amazonlabor wants FT job guarantees instead of massive seasonal turnover as well as the end of the brutal productivity quotas that cause most injuries.
4:23 PM ∙ Apr 1, 2022
132Likes30Retweets

🤕 Work shouldn’t hurt

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, the Awood Center and Rep. Emma Greenman held a press conference this week on HF2774, the warehouse worker safety bill in the state legislature. The bill passed through the House on a 72-60 vote and will now make its way through the Senate. ​​

Twitter avatar for @AwoodMpls
The Awood Center @AwoodMpls
We’re proud to be working on this bill with @IBTJC32 and to have the support of so many allies. Because we know Amazon doesn’t just hurt Amazon workers. #WorkShouldntHurtMN #mnleg🧵 4/x
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3:32 PM ∙ Mar 28, 2022
13Likes7Retweets

📞 Union conversations in public media

This week, MPR’s Angela Davis (@AngelaDavisMPR) answered calls from listeners on unions with the help of history professor William P. Jones (@willpjones3) and labor economist and associate professor Aaron Sojourner (@aaronsojourner) from the University of Minnesota.

Some notes:

  • Unions are often customized based on the industry.

  • A welder who works in Minneapolis said joining a labor union was the best decision they ever made. They appreciated the economic and relational benefits as an African-American worker.

  • One former union employee expressed concern for small business owners being told how to run their companies and said unions should be restricted to public entities that may have less accountability at the top. 

  • The huge increase of wealth from investing and owning capital contrasts the wage stagnation of the lower classes. 💰

  • A former worker in the low voltage industry lamented the lack of outreach from their union and sexist abuse from union coworkers.

  • A nurse from MNA said their union gave them the opportunity to advocate for their patients.

  • A worker from the Guthrie Theater wants you to know that artists can unionize, too. 🎨


✈️ Solidarity with airline workers 

As part of an SEIU campaign for better pay and working conditions, workers with Airport Workers United (@goodairports) in airports across the country demonstrated this week.

Michael Sainato (@msainat1) reported on the actions:

“I’m only paid $12 an hour. I work a lot of hours and some days I work so late that I just sleep over at the airport. I can’t afford a car, rent and to send money home to my family in Sudan,” said  Omer Hussein, a wheelchair attendant servicing American Airlines at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, in a press release on the actions. “I like working with passengers, but I’m so tired all the time. That won’t fly any longer.”


🤳 Tiktok tactics against union-busting at Kroger subsidiary

Tens of thousands of workers at Krogers are preparing to go on strike, and Ralphs, a subsidiary of Kroger, attempted to hire scab workers…however, tech savvy youth activists created and used coding that floods the site with fake applications.

Twitter avatar for @EliseJoshi
Elise Joshi @EliseJoshi
Yesterday our team at @genzforchange led the flooding of over 27,000 false job apps to prevent Kroger from hiring scabs. Today, thousands of Kroger workers marched for labor rights and @amazonlabor is in the midst of unionizing. What’s that? Oh yeah, hope.
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12:32 AM ∙ Apr 1, 2022
98Likes18Retweets

🎮 Candy isn’t the only thing being crushed

An EEOC lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and discrimination against gaming entertainment company Activision Blizzard, which is currently being acquired by Microsoft, has led to an $18 million settlement. The company is being separately sued for equal pay violations. 


🏆 If you’re still mad about #TheSlap…pay more attention to the Chateau Marmont allegations

Jay-Z’s party saw protests by workers with UNITE HERE who’ve accused the hotel of racial discrimination and sexual misconduct.


🚨 It’s not too late to sign up for more labor skills & organizing classes!

Check out the remaining Labor Education Service courses here. 


🗓️ Save the date: Register for UALE’s Midwest School for Women Workers!

info about UALE's midwest school for women workers on a green and blue graphic

🗓️  Mark your calendars

The MN AFL-CIO Retiree Council has announced an in-person fundraiser for August 20!

The event will draw a crowd of retired workers, families and friends to the Sheet Metal Workers Local 10 Hall, 1610 Cope Ave., Maplewood, MN 55109. Attractions include delicious free foods, live music, games, a silent auction, hourly drawings for prizes and the pleasure of good company.


🌱 A poem for you to begin National Poetry Month!

An Earth Song, by Langston Hughes

It's an earth song,—
And I've been waiting long for an earth song. 
It's a spring song,—
And I've been waiting long for a spring song. 
    Strong as the shoots of a new plant 
    Strong as the bursting of new buds
    Strong as the coming of the first child from its mother's womb. 
It's an earth song, 
A body song, 
A spring song, 
I have been waiting long for this spring song. 

Do you hear it? We are each other’s harvest.

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Labor is all ablaze

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