Strike while it’s hot
Strike while it’s hot
We’re back from a busy summer during one of the hottest times ever for the climate and for workers, so here’s a round-up of our stories since June.
Have you been seeing that study going around that says an auto workers strike could harm the economy?
Anderson Economic Group, which has boasted General Motors and Ford as clients, released a study about a potential strike’s cost to “the economy,” leaving out important context readers should know about the whole purpose of strikes. Read about the insidious narrative below in Sarah’s latest hot and informed take, co-published with The American Prospect: The Conflicted Analysis of What an Auto Workers Strike Would ‘Cost’.
“What’s harmed in a strike is corporate profits, a harm that can end at any minute, when the companies, which have raked in those record profits, decide to negotiate in good faith and make concessions.” 🔥
In a Summer of Record Heat, These Striking Workers Are Making Climate Demands
Pennsylvania workers represented by United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America have been on strike since late June. They’re fighting for a green overhaul of the rail industry.
Check out Sarah’s previous reporting on UE’s “Green Locomotive Project”: The Filthy Emissions of Railroad Locomotives—and the Rail Unions Sounding the Alarm.
“We Are Drowning”: Nurses Say Illinois Hospital Plagued With Unsafe Staffing
Nurses who have been negotiating for months warn that Ascension St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet is failing to comply with a 2021 Illinois law to ensure safe staffing. They’ve been on strike this week, and Ascension has locked them out through tomorrow.
Biden Says There’s No Blockade. Tell That to Yemenis Who Need Medical Care.
There are just three flights leaving Sana’a every week. But Yemen has an estimated 71,000 cancer patients who need out-of-country care. One of those patients is 11-year-old Raneem Isa Muhammad Jaber, who suffers from a skin condition that leaves black spots all over her body and an itchy and painful black tumor-like growth that covers her backside.
Delayed Care, Stolen Wages: The Human Cost of Worker Misclassification
José Alfredo Gómez, a construction worker who was severely injured after falling two stories while building a home, poses with his wife and two children.
Isabela’s story shows how the abusive tactic of misclassification can lead to wage theft, intimidation, and delayed treatment for workplace injuries. And when companies are actually held accountable for worker misclassification, it's not for the harm caused to workers or interfering with medical treatment, but for insurance fraud.
Long live Roger
Roger A. Kieca was an Amazon worker who died while on the job in early June after suffering a medical emergency at the company’s cross-dock facility in Joliet, Illinois. Amazon denies the death was work-related, but a FOIA request of the 911 call revealed the cause may have been dehydration. Read more about the workers and organizers seeking the truth about what happened to him: Amazon Says a Worker’s Death Was Not Work-Related. But a 911 Call Appears to Contradict the Company’s Narrative.
More labor stories!
Climate justice, worker action: Racket broke the news about the Inside the Messy Union Fight at Progressive Climate Nonprofit MN350. Read more recent reporting from the Sahan Journal on how the firing and disciplining of treaty rights organizer Nancy Beaulieu and pipeline resistance organizer Andy Pearson went down.
When we fight, we win: Somali-American worker organizer Khali Jama spoke with Maximillian Alvarez on the Working People podcast about how immigrant warehouse workers took on Amazon and won. Earlier this month, Luis Feliz Leon reported for Labor Notes on how the gains won by UPS Teamsters have inspired workers at Amazon to organize and demand more.
More craven capitulation to corporations: The Sahan Journal reported on Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s veto of the Fair Rides Fair Drives Safe Rides ordinance put forth by city council members to establish better wages and protections for rideshare drivers. Rideshare drivers with Uber and Lyft are typically classified as independent contractors, who do not qualify for minimum-wage protections, so legislation like this is one thing that could have helped them.
See you tonight!
East Side Freedom Library is hosting another solidarity supper tonight from 6-8 pm. We hope to see you there!
Stay hydrated and cool. We are each other’s harvest.