#Labor and Workplace Reporting

[marinamitu-blog]

Covid-19: Cause of Critical Concern to Workers

In this corona crisis, the whole country is under lockdown and a general holiday has been declared. Most people are staying at home to prevent the infection from spreading. While a lot are fine staying at home and some are enjoying their time spent with their family, for some this is not the case of just staying home to relax with their family. For some it is a life and death struggle to stay at home without proper work and an empty stomach.

Kuddus is working as a security guard in Dhaka and has to stay at the workplace for the convenience of the people living in the building he is guarding. Thus he is staying alone here without his family. As he is living here alone, he has to go out for buying groceries for himself. He is worried about his health, but more than that he is worried about his family in the village as they are solely dependent on him. “It is harder to send money at home as there are less Bikas agents around. It takes few days to find an agent, I am very worried about my family”, says Kuddus.

Kuddus isn’t the only one. Many workers are facing such problems during this covid-19 pandemic. Due to the Corona crisis, many factories and businesses are closed. Some of them are unsure if they will be able to continue further even if the lockdown has withdrawn. Some workers are having financial crisis because of not getting payment properly as their employers are unable to pay properly. Abdul Baten who is working in a garments factory as a cutting master, is having trouble with his finances as he didn’t get his full wage. He received only half of his payment. This is causing trouble for him to provide for his family properly. He is worried about daily needs, especially when Eid is nearing. He is not even sure when he will get the rest of the salary let alone the Eid bonus. He is still required to pay the house rent. As the factories are open and operating, he and the other RMG workers are needed to go to work. He claims, “In the factory there isn’t any special precautions for corona and it is not possible to maintain social distance at the time of work”. In a research on Bangladesh apparel workers it is claimed that, “The factories can’t pay the workers’ salaries in this critical situation. Therefore, millions of workers have been sent home without their wages.”

This is not the case of only garments workers. Another joint survey of the Power and Participation Research Centre and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development reveals that, per capita daily income of urban slum and rural poor drops by 80% due to present countrywide shutdown enforced by the government to halt the spread of Covid-19. It also shows that 40%-50% of these people took loans to meet the daily expenses.

Sumon is working in a gold workshop as a gold smith. In normal times he makes a decent income and during the Eid season they have a lot of work. But due to the Covid-19 crisis and the lockdown all the gold shops are closed and there is no sell. Sumon says that in the time when they were supposed to get more money and bonus incomes, they are facing the threats of keeping their jobs. After all if there is no work there is no income for them as they earn on the base of their work. Al-Amin who is working as a driver and like Kuddus he is staying at home alone as his family is at the village. But unlike Kuddus he is not staying in Dhaka for the sake of work rather he couldn’t go home to his family because of the lockdown as moving from one place to another is not possible. Even though he is still in the city, his employers are not giving him any duty and are telling him to stay at home. When asked about what he was doing to stay safe from corona virus, he said that he is staying home unless it is necessary like shopping from groceries. He added that he is even praying at home instead of going to the mosque except for ‘Jumma’. He also said that he is maintaining cleanliness as well. When asked if his employers helped him to stay safe in this crisis time, he said that they gave him mask, gloves and sanitizers. They are also calling him regularly to check on him.

Like the employees the employers are also very concerned regarding the covid-19 virus and the lockdown. A lot of them are unable to run their businesses and only a few are able to run it in a limited range. A lot of them are unable to pay their employees salary; in fact some of them are unable to keep the workers and have to cut off some employees. Sahidullah, owner of Kazi Builders, a construction business, has sent his entire workers home as all the construction sites are closed due to the pandemic. He said, “All the construction sites are closed and the workers are off duty. I have paid their wage but I am unable to pay any bonus for the Eid. I can barely manage myself, but the payments will not come unless the constructions are finished. The more delayed the constructions are the costlier it will get. So in the future I might not be able to higher same amount of workers as before”. Babul, a construction worker under Sahidullah said that they are very worried, as this lockdown has taken away their income source as all the construction projects have closed down for the time being. “If we cannot work, we will not have the money to support our families. Our employer is helping us now but if the construction is closed for longer than he won’t be able to help either. This is scarier than the virus. The virus can kill us but starving to death is worse than corona for us”, said Babul.

Not just factories and businesses but those who entirely depend on house rent for their income are also facing problems. Nasrin Ara has few houses of her own and is solely dependent on the rent for her income. But due to this Corona crisis, many of her tenants are unable to pay the rent properly. Among the 48 of her tenants, only eight of them paid the rent fully. Some of them paid the half. Even some of the tenants have left because of losing her job. She said, “This is a criticaltime where we cannot pressure the people to give the rents. But we have to go on too. This is our only income source. I have already reduced the rent of this month. I am even not sure how I will pay the security guard, cleaner and the other employees next month. I have already cut off their bonus for Eid but if this continues I might not be able to keep them in their post.” A lot of her tenants are RMG workers and most of them have their factories open. They have to go for work every day. As a result, she is also concerned about the spreading of the infection.

Not only just Kuddus or Baten, there are people many workers like them who are suffering mentally and financially in this pandemic of Covid-19. There are also many people like Nasrin and Sahidullah who are also helpless and are unable to keep the workers working under them to their jobs. If a solution to this situation is not found soon many more are going to end up worse than them.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

I deleted the ask, but someone wrote one basically saying "why do you post reaction videos to Helluva Boss? Don't you know the show exploits its workers and they're overworked and get burned out?"

And, I mean, I love your energy, person who asked, definitely hold on to those values and speak up about this. But also, I am afraid I might have some bad news for you about literally the whole entire animation industry.

As near as I can make out from the sparse journalistic reporting that's been done on SpindleHorse -- and as a sidebar, please for the love of god read actual reporting about these things and not just callout posts and fandom discourse -- as near as I can make out, SpindleHorse as a studio is neither all that much better nor all that much worse than basically anywhere else in the industry on their level. It seems like it is (or was? Hazbin Hotel seems to be run differently) a studio mostly run by contracting people on a project-by-project basis, which leads to a crapton of turnover, and a huge need for organizing and onboarding, which according to the reporting I have read, the producers and freelancers have struggled to balance and manage properly, which has negatively impacted a number of the workers.

Top that with the usual catty, clique-based backbiting, sniping and poorly managed conflict resolution that's just kinda endemic in creative environments mostly staffed by twentysomethings and stressed out freelancers, and you have the recipe for a workplace where a lot of people are going to have a great time and feel creatively fulfilled, and a lot of people are going to come away feeling justifiably burnt the fuck out and exploited.

All of this is... not especially unusual for the animation industry, or indeed for any creative industry. Which is not to say that it is good, or that it should be allowed to be normal, or that it shouldn't be reported on and criticized (and please for the love of god support unionization efforts because that's the only thing that will actually address these kinds of systemic problems). It's just to say that if those kinds of issues are the line in the sand you draw where you refuse to engage with a studio's output...

Then, for starters, say goodbye to basically all of anime, because the Japanese animation industry is actively in a state of crisis trying to recruit new talent because its working conditions and pay are so astonishingly abysmal. And the horror stories that escape from that industry make the issues at SpindleHorse look like summer camp at times.

But you also have to say goodbye to a lot of American and European animation. Please do not imagine that Disney and its subcontractors, or that Nickelodeon or Warner Bros, are benevolent employers. They exploit their staff brutally and are currently trying to crush the labor value of animation with threats of generative AI being used to replace jobs. But those corporations also have extremely well-funded PR departments and the ability to silence employees with NDAs and threats of blackballing, so you don't get to hear as many of the horror stories as you might from a smaller independent studio that's less able to silence criticism by holding people's careers hostage.

All of this is to say that 1) it's valid and important to have criticism of both large and small-scale animation studios, and to keep the well-being and happiness of the workers higher in your priorities than the output of Products™.

And 2) if you're going to have a principle for what kinds of problems make a studio's output morally untouchable for you, and what kinds of problems you think should make a studio's output untouchable to other people, you do need to apply that principle consistently to the entire industry, and not just to the independent animation studio that happens to be surrounded by the internet's most inflammatory fandom discourse.

If you don't apply that principle consistently, maybe don't send reproachful messages to strangers scolding them for not living up to your standards, and even if you do apply that principle consistently, maybe still don't do that, because it's mostly quite annoying, and doesn't really do anything to support animation workers struggling for better working conditions.

The Animation Guild in the US is currently in the middle of a bargaining process with their industry, and they have a social media press kit as well as relevant talking points on their website which you can use to post in solidarity with the workers. If it comes to a full industry strike, consider donating to their strike funds to help them maintain pressure. Outside of the US, try and find out what (if any) local unions exist for animation workers, and maybe sign up to their mailing lists. They will let you know what kind of support they need from you.

[reasonsforhope]

"Millions of Australians just got official permission to ignore their bosses outside of working hours, thanks to a new law enshrining their "right to disconnect."

The law doesn't strictly prohibit employers from calling or messaging their workers after hours. But it does protect employees who "refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact or attempted contact outside their working hours, unless their refusal is unreasonable," according to the Fair Work Commission, Australia's workplace relations tribunal.

That includes outreach from their employer, as well as other people "if the contact or attempted contact is work-related."

The law, which passed in February, took effect on Monday [August 26, 2024] for most workers and will apply to small businesses of fewer than 15 people starting in August 2025. It adds Australia to a growing list of countries aiming to protect workers' free time.

"It's really about trying to bring back some work-life balance and make sure that people aren't racking up hours of unpaid overtime for checking emails and responding to things at a time when they're not being paid," said Sen. Murray Watt, Australia's minister for employment and workplace relations.

The law doesn't give employees a complete pass, however...

"If it was an emergency situation, of course people would expect an employee to respond to something like that," Watt said. "But if it's a run-of-the-mill thing … then they should wait till the next work day, so that people can actually enjoy their private lives, enjoy time with their family and their friends, play sport or whatever they want to do after hours, without feeling like they're chained to the desk at a time when they're not actually being paid, because that's just not fair."

Protections aim to address erosion of work-life balance

The law's supporters hope it will help solidify the boundary between the personal and the professional, which has become increasingly blurry with the rise of remote work since the COVID-19 pandemic.

A 2022 survey by the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute, a public policy think tank, found that seven out of 10 Australians performed work outside of scheduled working hours, with many reporting experiencing physical tiredness, stress and anxiety as a result.

The following year, the institute reported that Australians clocked an average of 281 hours of unpaid overtime in 2023. Valuing that labor at average wage rates, it estimated the average worker is losing the equivalent of nearly $7,500 U.S. dollars each year.

"This is particularly concerning when worker's share of national income remains at a historically low level, wage growth is not keeping up with inflation, and the cost of living is rising," it added.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions hailed the new law as a "cost-of-living win for working people," especially those in industries like teaching, community services and administrative work.

The right to disconnect, it said, will not only cut down on Australians' unpaid work hours but also address the "growing crisis of increasing mental health illness and injuries in modern workplaces."

"More money in your pocket, more time with your loved ones and more freedom to live your life — that's what the right to disconnect is all about," ACTU President Michele O’Neil said in a statement.

The 2022 Australia Institute survey... found broad support for a right to disconnect.

Only 9% of respondents said such a policy would not positively affect their lives. And the rest cited a slew of positive effects, from having more social and family time to improved mental health and job satisfaction. Thirty percent of respondents said it would enable them to be more productive during work hours.

Eurofound, the European Union agency for the improvement of living and working conditions, said in a 2023 study that workers at companies with a right to disconnect policy reported better work-life balance than those without — 92% versus 80%."

-via GoodGoodGood, August 26, 2024

[hazeltongzhi]

A friend of mine is trying to unionize their workplace (retail), and I was wondering if you could offer any direct advice or resources to help guide the effort? They have a couple of comrades on the ground, but no one has any proper union connections.

Getting in contact with a well established union is crucial. not only do they have monetary resources, but they have lawyers, organizers, trainers, agitators, and a whole slew of support which can greatly help your unionization efforts and after you win a union. On this front, who to contact will depend on both your locality, your industry, and (potentially) company. Local orgs (including the DSA if need be!) should have or know union contacts and I would start there. With that being said, here's some advice that's more direct, which I will draw both from my direct experience and the book Secrets of a Successful Organizer which served as a bit of a textbook and intro to organizing. The book covers mostly unionized workplaces, but its tactics and tips apply to non-organized workplaces as well.

If you're in the early stages of a campaign, map out your workplace. This could be a physical map of where your coworkers hang out or work, where management stays/patrols/whatever, but more likely than not, it will be a map of relationships between your various coworkers. Talk to your coworkers, make friend with them without mentioning unions at first. Observe where people hang out and who hang out there. Observe groups and their leaders. The reason for this is that many workplaces are already organized, albeit in niches and cliques. Knowing who's friends with who, and who "organizes" with who can make your job significantly easier. Additionally, there are natural leaders and organizers present at workplaces. These are people who arrange socials, hangouts, parties, etc. for coworkers without being told to or not as a part of their job. If these people don't exist at your workplace, you might have to become one! Set up hangouts and socials with your coworkers. Start small, maybe only one or two at a time then grow into a large group. This serves the purpose of creating solidarity, but also an environment away from work which workers can discuss both grievances and strategies.

When approaching someone about unionization, it is better if they volunteer that information without you coming outright to ask. This particular task was the hardest for me to do (because of autism reasons) but it can nevertheless be done. Asking your target about any recent labor union successes is a great easy place to start. For example, when I worked at Amazon, I would use UPS (who are unionized under the teamsters) as a crutch to approach the topic of unions. UAW strikes happening at the time were also a common entry point. If your target responds with a neutral, unsure tone, or from a place of ignorance, they may not be the best first targets but can be marked down as potential recruits. People who respond negatively or tend to kiss up to management should be avoided (in this sense, "kissing up" refers not just to a reverence to management, but also taking the job far too seriously, reporting coworkers to management commonly, yearning for career advancement, etc.).

Things to take note of when building rapports with your targets are not just how open they are to unions, but also what their workplace grievances are. These don't have to be large ones like "they make us work in t-shirts inside a freezer", seemingly small grievances can be points of contention as well. When you have built enough rapport, when you are nominally friends with your target, know enough about their feelings about unions or organizing workers, and know their main grievances, you can agitate them towards action. This can be something small like confronting a manager or a petition, things that give your targets courage and confidence. When doing this, you will have to fight their tendency towards apathy, e.g. "this will never work" or "what's the point, I'm not that interested in the job anyway". You can address this by bringing up past victories or victories at other workplaces, or you can say things like "we won't know until we try!". When you have given them enough encouragement to attempt change, you must also inoculate them against failure. When management refuses their suggestion, you have to prepare them for that possibility and turn them away from going back to apathy towards trying something else. Alternatively, if you do succeed, you can use that as an example of how workers do have power. The goal is to ramp up confrontations until you can form a unionization vote.

The most important aspect of unionization is the organizing committee. This is a secret group of leaders at the workplace which work with other leaders at the workplace to agitate and organize the workers. This committee should be made up of your comrades, but also any other organic leaders who are pro union at your workplace. You can agitate and educate leaders at your workplace to a point which they can join, or you may find them naturally willing to join. Security for this committee must be extremely tight as this group is at highest risk of being discovered and having the entire effort be wasted. Only let in people who you have a very good rapport with and who you know does not kiss up to management and who is pro union. Those leaders who do not fit the bill can still help as "local" leaders.

Finally, make sure that you take care of yourself above all. It is no help to your coworkers if you cannot seem to help yourself. An organizer who has their life together, so to speak, can bring confidence to your coworkers who you are trying to organize with. Make sure that you get plenty of rest, have support groups, and ground yourself in some way.

Sorry for the essay! Good luck and I hope this helps!

[iww-gnv]

American workers are dying, local businesses are reporting a drop in productivity, and the country's economy is losing billions all because of one problem: the heat. July was the hottest month on record on our planet, according to scientists. This entire summer, so far, has been marked by scorching temperatures for much of the U.S. South, with the thermometer reaching triple digits in several places in Texas between June and July. In that same period, at least two people died in the state while working under the stifling heat enveloping Texas, a 35-year-old utility lineman, and a 66-year-old USPS carrier. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 36 work-related deaths due to environmental heat exposure in 2021, the latest data available. This was a drop from 56 deaths in 2020, and the lowest number since 2017. "Workers who are exposed to extreme heat or work in hot environments may be at risk of heat stress," Kathleen Conley, a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told Newsweek. "Heat stress can result in heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, or heat rashes. Heat can also increase the risk of injuries in workers as it may result in sweaty palms, fogged-up safety glasses, and dizziness. Burns may also occur as a result of accidental contact with hot surfaces or steam." While there is a minimum working temperature in the U.S., there's no maximum working temperature set by law at a federal level. The CDC makes recommendations for employers to avoid heat stress in the workplace, but these are not legally binding requirements. The Biden administration has tasked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) with updating its worker safety policies in light of the extreme heat. But the federal standards could take years to develop—leaving the issue in the hands of individual states. Things aren't moving nearly as fast as the emergency would require—and it's the politics around the way we look at work, the labor market, and the rights of workers in the U.S. that is slowing things down.

[feminist-space]

"Now, already experiencing the clawing pangs of contractions, she pulled out a frozen pizza and a salad with creamy everything dressing, savoring the hush that fell over the house, the satisfying crunch of the poppy seeds as she ate.

Horton didn’t realize that she would be drug tested before her child’s birth. Or that the poppy seeds in her salad could trigger a positive result on a urine drug screen, the quick test that hospitals often use to check pregnant patients for illicit drugs.

Many common foods and medications — from antacids to blood pressure and cold medicines — can prompt erroneous results.

The morning after Horton delivered her daughter, a nurse told her she had tested positive for opiates. Horton was shocked. She hadn’t requested an epidural or any narcotic pain medication during labor — she didn’t even like taking Advil. “You’re sure it was mine?” she asked the nurse.

If Horton had been tested under different circumstances — for example, if she was a government employee and required to be tested as part of her job — she would have been entitled to a more advanced test and to a review from a specially trained doctor to confirm the initial result.

But as a mother giving birth, Horton had no such protections. The hospital quickly reported her to child welfare, and the next day, a social worker arrived to take baby Halle into protective custody.

...

To report this story, The Marshall Project interviewed dozens of patients, medical providers, toxicologists and other experts, and collected information on more than 50 mothers in 22 states who faced reports and investigations over positive drug tests that were likely wrong. We also pored over thousands of pages of policy documents from every state child welfare agency in the country.

Problems with drug screens are well known, especially in workplace testing. But there’s been little investigation of how easily false positives can occur inside labor and delivery units, and how quickly families can get trapped inside a system of surveillance and punishment.

Hospitals reported women for positive drug tests after they ate everything bagels and lemon poppy seed muffins, or used medications including the acid reducer Zantac, the antidepressant Zoloft and labetalol, one of the most commonly prescribed blood pressure treatments for pregnant women.

After a California mother had a false positive for meth and PCP, authorities took her newborn, then dispatched two sheriff’s deputies to also remove her toddler from her custody, court records show. In New York, hospital administrators refused to retract a child welfare report based on a false positive result, and instead offered the mother counseling for her trauma, according to a recording of the conversation. And when a Pennsylvania woman tested positive for opioids after eating pasta salad, the hearing officer in her case yelled at her to “buck up, get a backbone, and stop crying,” court records show. It took three months to get her newborn back from foster care.

Federal officials have known for decades that urine screens are not reliable. Poppy seeds — which come from the same plant used to make heroin — are so notorious for causing positives for opiates that last year the Department of Defense directed service members to stop eating them. At hospitals, test results often come with warnings about false positives and direct clinicians to confirm the findings with more definitive tests.

Yet state policies and many hospitals tend to treat drug screens as unassailable evidence of illicit use, The Marshall Project found. Hospitals across the country routinely report cases to authorities without ordering confirmation tests or waiting to receive the results."

Read the full piece here: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/09/09/drug-test-pregnancy-pennsylvania-california

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Medieval Times invents a modern union-busting tactic

In the summer of 2020, I committed a minor heresy: I published a column that argued that — contrary to the orthodoxy of free culture and free software advocates — the term “IP” has a very crisp meaning: “IP” is any law or rule that can be used to control one’s critics, competitors or customers:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

In free culture/free software circles, the term “IP” is viewed as a smokescreen, one that indiscriminately blended a basket of unrelated regulations and laws (copyright, trademark, patent, trade secrets, anticircumvention, noncompetes, nondisclosure, etc) and then declared them to be “property” and thus sacred to the neoliberal religious doctrine.

In my column, I argued that the policies grouped under “IP” were not an incoherent mess — rather, they all shared this one trait that made them useful to those who had, advocated for, or tried to expand “IP”: they were tools that would allow you to reach beyond your own business’s walls and exert control over the conduct of others — specifically, competitors, critics and customers.

Take trademark: Apple engraves miniature logos onto the parts inside your iPhone, which you will likely never see. But these logos allow Apple to argue that when someone breaks up a dead iPhone for parts sells them to independent repair shops that compete with Apple’s repair monopoly, they are violating Apple’s trademarks:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/evk4wk/dhs-seizes-iphone-screens-jessa-jones

Or take DRM: DRM is useless for preventing copyright infringement (if you want to break the DRM on, say, an audiobook, you need only do a quick search). But because breaking DRM is illegal, Amazon’s Audible — the monopolist that controls the audiobook market — can prevent a rival like libro.fm from offering you a way to switch from Audible to its platform and move your audiobooks with them:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#acx-ripoff

Anyone performing a security audit of a modern digital product most likely violates some IP — either terms of service, or DRM, or both, or some other right. When these security researchers criticize manufacturers for their insecure products, the manufacturer can silence them with IP threats:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/10/canada-chile-security-researchers-have-rights-our-new-report

IP rights also prevent you from using the things you own in the way you want — they can control customers For example, IP rights allow your printer to refuse to print with ink of your choosing — it’s not that your printer can’t use that ink, rather, it won’t:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

Ever since I published that piece, I’ve noticed lots of examples of IP that fit within this box, and today, I found a particularly egregious one. Medieval Times has sued its workers’ union, Medieval Times Performers United, under trademark law:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/medieval-times-sues-union-trademark_n_63485fa5e4b0b7f89f54546b

Medieval Times argues that its workers can’t call themselves “Medieval Times Performers United” because this will fool people into thinking that the company endorses the union, and that is a source of “consumer confusion,” and thus a trademark violation.

This is, of course, bullshit. Trademark contains a broad “nominative use” exception: trademark doesn’t let Coca-Cola stop Pepsi from claiming, “Our drink tastes better than Coke.” It doesn’t let HP prevent companies from advertising “HP-compatible ink cartridges.” It doesn’t let Apple prevent shops from saying “We fix iPhones.”

The union is contemplating mounting a defense at the National Labor Relations Board — not in a courtroom — “arguing that the lawsuit itself violates workers’ rights.”

It’s part of a broad union-busting campaign from Medieval Times, including anti-union “consultants” who bill $3,200/day. The performers are unionizing over pay, respect and workplace safety issues caused by inadequate staffing, especially staff who police the audience to prevent them from spooking the horses during jousting tournaments. Some performers have been attacked by drunken audience members.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/medieval-times-workers-first-union_n_62bb1d29e4b0d26a9b14fa17

[Striking workers in front of a factory, being fired on by teargas. Between them and the factory are a pair of jousting knights in the style of a medieval tapestry. Behind the factory looms a giant, ogrish boss in a top-hat, chomping a cigar. He is pulling on a lever made from a stylized dollar sign. In one gloved hand, he holds aloft a medieval night, who is bent over in supplication.]

[autisticadvocacy]

"However, for disabled people, the labor market has never really worked and continues to showcase the persistence of systemic ableism."

[warabidakihime]

One More Day

★ characters: dazai x reader | fluff x smut x comfort

★ plot summary: Another day, another opportunity for you and your boyfriend, who is equally broken, to conquer the world.

★ content warnings : mentions of su!cide, can be psychologically triggering, smut.

-

It's three o'clock in the afternoon, and a serene silence has engulfed the whole workplace of the armed detective agency. All you can hear is the sound of fingers tapping away on the keyboard, fresh breezes passing by through the half-open window across the room, and, last but not least, Kunikida and Dazai's never-ending banter.

You're at your desk, as usual, finishing a report that Kunikida had asked you to do on his behalf as his plate is already full. He and Dazai just completed handling a very complicated case, and now you're just summarizing everything for documentation purposes, as required by the client. 

They didn't exactly impose a timeframe, but knowing Kunikida, he wants to accomplish the work as quickly as possible so you can proceed on to the next one.

As you continued to type on your computer, you felt a shadow fall over you and two hands on your shoulder.

You didn't have to turn around to see who it was, so you continued on with your work without pausing.

As your lovely boyfriend proceeded to indulge you with a shoulder massage while watching you work diligently, a smile slowly dawned on your face.

“Aren't you working way too hard, Y/N-chan? If you keep up this pace, you'll become a second kunikida."

Kunikida glared at Dazai from his desk. "Shouldn't you be working? Have you finished your report?"

"Nope!" said the flamboyant investigator, to which his colleague scowled at him as a reply.

"You really should stop procrastinating, you know?" you joked, and then your boyfriend dramatically recovered his hand and placed it over his face as if he were in a theatrical play. 

"Oh, Belladonna, why must you subject me to tedious labor?"

"Because it's part of your job, dumbass; did you even start?"

"Nope," Dazai said with a huge smile, to which you deadpanned.

From the corner of your eye, you noticed Atsushi doing the same thing, which caused you to giggle.

"You're hopeless; I have my own pile to attend to, so I won't be able to assist you this time."

"Can you resist me, though?"

"Occasionally," you said, with a knowing smile on your face.

Dazai mimicked your smile, caressed your face, and squeezed your cheeks, one of the few mannerisms he picked up after you two started dating.

"Only occasionally, because oftentimes you can't resist me and my charms."

He's not wrong, but you're not going to admit it, or it would feed his already huge ego. 

The man knows he's hot, and he knows the effect he has on people, particularly you.

"Go back to work, Osamu; if I finish my report early, I'll try to help you with yours; in the meantime, be on your best behavior at your workstation," you say, not glancing away from your laptop.

That seemed to have satiated your very needy boyfriend as he practically skipped back to his desk, but instead of behaving like you asked him to, he moved on to the next unfortunate person to bother, which is Atsushi, the newcomer.

He was the weretiger that you looked for everywhere for weeks. It was Dazai who found him. According to your boyfriend, the poor boy was kicked out by the caretakers of the orphanage he was staying at. 

As someone with a similar background, you instantly felt attached to the boy and immediately took him under your care.

Dazai was initially perplexed as to why you showered so much attention on him. He is aware of your past, but it surprised him that you would be so proactive in caring for Atsushi. A little part of him is even jealous of the fact that another person has your undivided attention.

"I guess I'll let it slide," Dazai joked after seeing you hold a weeping Atsushi after the Port Mafia attacked your headquarters for the umpteenth time. He was somewhere else when it happened, so when he returned and spotted you being intimate with someone else, he was stunned to say the least.

Curiosity got the best of you when you heard Atsushi whining as your partner annoys him to no end. You then made the decision to take a glimpse at them. You couldn't help but laugh as you watched the two, since they're so entertaining to look at right now. Dazai was obviously playing the "annoying older brother," character while Atsushi was his victim of the day.

 *

Night came, and everyone else had gone home to their respective dorms except you and Dazai. Fortunately for him, you managed to finish your report, and so here you are, instead of relaxing at home, you’re helping him with his report.

Despite being exhausted from all of your mental gymnastics today, you still have a lot of energy. 

The biggest reason could be that you get to spend some alone time with your boyfriend. Though you'd go on dates regularly and you'd interact with one another at work, you cherish every moment you get to spend with him. 

Even more so when it's just the two of you.

"Are you finished yet?"

"Almost."

"You can write whatever you want; Kunikida-kun won't notice."

"I mean, if you want to have your ass whooped, be my guest," you chuckled.

Dazai chuckled, and since his chin was resting nicely on your shoulder, his breath tickled you a little bit. You instinctively reached out to him and caressed his cheeks before going up to his hair, to which your golden retriever of a boyfriend leaned towards your touch.

"What do you want for dinner?" You asked him softly

"Hmm... let's just buy something from the convenience store. My treat, take it as a thank you for finishing my report."

You rolled your eyes playfully, turned to look at him momentarily, and muttered, "Gee, thanks."

"You're welcome." He replied merrily.

Time passed quickly, and before you knew it, you were through with the report. After being nearly stuck to your chair all day, you let out a whimper as you stretched from your seat. The only times you stood up were when Yosano invited everyone to Uzumaki Café for a much-needed coffee break and for your bathroom breaks. 

While you were tending to your sore joints, you heard sounds of clapping. Slightly out of your mind due to fatigue, you thought an intruder had entered the ADA headquarters, but when you whipped your head to see who it was while getting into a fighting stance, you saw your idiotic boyfriend clapping as he emerged from the restroom.

You deadpanned, "What are you doing?"

"I'm giving you applause for a job well done!"

Tired of his childish jokes, you scowled at Dazai and said, "Gee, thanks. Hurry up, I want to go home and sleep."

Dazai approached you with eager, long strides and wrapped his long arms around you, his hands resting comfortably on each side of your hips. 

His voice brimmed with mirth as he murmured, "If looks could kill."

As soon as he began stroking your sides with his mischievous hands, you felt yourself loosening up in his grip.

The bandage-wasting detective effortlessly unraveled your neatly tucked-in dress shirt. You closed your eyes unconsciously and smiled softly. "I thought an intruder had broken in."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, so don't scare me like that; I could have roundhouse kicked you."

Dazai dipped his head and nestled in between the juncture of your neck, making you gasp slightly. Even more so after feeling his gentle lips touch your skin in a kiss: "That could have been bad, no?"

"Yeah?" you said, mimicking his voice, to which your boyfriend replied delightfully by nibbling on your neck, knowing fully well that it's one of your sensitive spots. 

And as soon as a moan erupted from your lips, a smirk dawned on Dazai's face; he was obviously satisfied with his handiwork as per usual.

"Yeah."

At this point, the detective has you caged between your desk and him, and one of his hands has shamelessly found its way under your pencil skirt, squeezing your thighs.

"Stop being a tease." You whined at your boyfriend, whose fingers continued to ghost over your underwear, to which he replied with a dark chuckle, "I thought you wanted to go home?" 

"No," you replied in haste. You then grabbed his face and reeled him in for a searing kiss. "Overtime's not over yet."

-

"So?" 

"So, what?" 

"How was today?"

 Despite how much time has passed, you and Dazai have not gone home yet. Instead, the two of you are sitting on top of a bridge, your legs dangling over the city river.

This is one of your routines as a couple. From time to time, you would go to this particular bridge to either kill some time or wallow in each other's deepest, darkest thoughts.

It came as such a surprise to Dazai when he heard your response to him when he first invited you to his infamous "double suicides". 

He genuinely didn't expect you to ride along and actually accept his offer. And ever since then, you have caught his interest, and at first he thought it would soon pass, but as he spent more time with you, he became more enamored with you.

You were like the flame, and he was the stupid moth.

And then he learned about your story; he found himself falling deeper, and when you almost died in action, something in him snapped.

Images of Odasaku and his final moments flashed in his mind.

The thought of cradling you in his arms while you were drenched in your own blood as he failed to save you scared the living shit out of him. 

Never again. 

He thought to himself.

But despite being smooth with other women, he found himself stumbling stupidly in front of you. He didn't know how to act, because in  a way, it was his first time pursuing someone not out of any self-serving motives but rather out of a genuine desire to win your heart and become your significant other.

And because everything was pretty much new to him, he liked the challenge, and by extension, it made him feel alive. 

You basically gave him a reason to live and look forward to tomorrow.

Your boyfriend looked over the big night sky and took a heavy sigh, as if it were one of his ways of relishing the day he'd had today.

"I guess you could say the look on your face while I was fucking your mouth will stay etched in my brain for a really long time." 

You snorted, "Same goes when I rode you on Kunikida-san's chair." 

"That was your best performance yet." 

You could only roll your eyes at your boyfriend and his silliness.

“Glad I could amuse you.”

The chilly breeze continued to howl in the distance, stroking both of your hairs. 

After a moment of silence, you got to your feet on the edge of the bridge and peered down at Dazai, who was still gazing thoughtfully into the horizon. 

"Is this the day, or do you wish to live one more day with me?" 

The former Port Mafia executive didn't say anything; instead, he stood up and held your hand. 

"Well, committing double suicide could very well be a fantastic way to end this wonderful day, but the sex was too good, so I'll have to decline your offer today."

You broke off into a melodious laugh at your boyfriend's reply.

"Who knows? Maybe we can have amazing sex in hell too?" 

Dazai shook his head and pulled you off the bridge with him, and right after that, he enveloped you in another embrace. 

"Maybe next time, Y/N." 

You gladly returned the hug, and this time, it was your turn to dip your head into his neck and inhale his scent.

 "So, one more day?" you asked him

 "Yes, one more day.”

And maybe, just maybe, for all of eternity.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Chris D'Angelo at HuffPost:

The Biden administration unveiled a sweeping rule on Tuesday to protect American workers from extreme heat — an already deadly threat that is becoming worse as climate change drives up temperatures around the globe. The long-anticipated regulation from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would, if finalized, establish the nation’s first-ever federal safety standard for excessive heat in both indoor and outdoor workplaces. It is expected to cover some 36 million workers — agricultural laborers, roofers and warehouse workers, to name a few — and dramatically curb heat-related injuries and deaths, the administration said.

During a speech about extreme weather and climate change at the District of Columbia’s emergency operations center on Tuesday, President Joe Biden detailed the proposal and paused when he noted it will ensure workers who toil in sweltering conditions have access to shade and water. “To think we’d have to tell people [to provide] access to shade and water,” he said. The move comes amid dangerous heat warnings across much of the U.S. South, Midwest and West and on the heels of the hottest year in recorded history. An estimated 2,302 heat-related deaths were recorded in the U.S. last year, up from 1,722 in 2022 and 1,602 in 2021. An average of 33 heat-related workplace deaths and 3,389 injuries and illnesses occurred each year from 1992 to 2020, although the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said those numbers are “likely vast underestimates.”

The new rule requires employers to implement a variety of safety measures once the heat index reaches certain thresholds. At 80 degrees, workers must be provided with access to water and shaded or indoor rest areas, as well as paid rest breaks as required to prevent overheating. At 90 degrees, the proposed rule mandates a paid 15-minute rest break every two hours and requires employers to monitor workers for signs of heat-related illness. Additionally, new or returning employees must be given multiple days to acclimate to jobs that expose them to high temperatures.

[...] Whether the workplace heat protections ever see the light of day could hinge on the upcoming presidential election. The rule is not expected to be finalized until 2026, Politico reported. And while former President Donald Trump often touts himself as pro-worker, he has a long record of siding with corporate employers and has promised to dismantle many of President Joe Biden’s climate and environmental policies if elected to a second term in office. [...] The rule, if finalized, is all but certain to draw legal challenges, and the Supreme Court just made it harder for federal agencies to enact and defend new rules and regulations. In a 6-3 decision, conservatives on the court overturned a 40-year precedent that afforded agencies broad discretion to craft regulation, effectively shifting federal regulatory power to judges.

The Biden Administration announces a new OSHA rule to protect workers from the extreme heat in both indoor and outdoor workspaces.

[burningtheroots]

💜🤍💚 Introduction Post & Guide/Masterpost 💜🤍💚

IMPORTANT

After three months, I think it‘s time to introduce myself and clear this mess of a blog a bit 💀

So, I‘m 20 years old and have been learning about radical feminism for quite a while before joining in myself, and I‘m really grateful to be part of this community and even be mutuals with some of my favorite women on here. <3

I joined Tumblr (and Instagram) to share information, my own opinions and to connect with like-minded women. Before discovering radical feminism, I always felt left out from the discussions and didn’t know that there would be anyone who‘d understand me and accept me. I tried to fit in somewhere where I didn’t belong, and whilst it‘s not always easy to be here, I‘m happy that this community exists. :‘)

DMs & anons are always open, and I‘m always interested in having discussions and meeting new people.

I‘m rather shy and struggle a bit with my social skills, but it gets better eventually.

The only people who aren’t welcome on my blog are p0rn obsessed men and generally anyone who only wants to harass me or spread misogyny. I‘m all for respectful discussions and willing to share my viewpoints, but I‘m not a punching bag.

As there‘s a lot going on here, I collected the most important posts and reblogs (quite many, to be honest) and decided to link them here. Some are simply informative, some are very subjective and some are a mixture of both. The list will be updated over time.

Here you go:

(I‘d also heavily recommend to check out @/radfemfox5, @/woman-for-women, @/butch-reidentified, @/radsplain, @/meanevilandcruel … and many more — not actually tagging them because this post is long & I don’t want to annoy them) 💜🤍💚

if a link doesn’t work, please let me know

Sex-based violence 🔗 links

‼️ Self-protection in emergency situations

Pornography 🔗 links

Prostitution 🔗 links

Gender Critical 🔗 links

Surrogacy 🔗 links

Sexual assault 🔗 links

LGB & Pride 🔗 links

Women‘s health 🔗 links

Pro-choice 🔗 links

Questionable men 🔗 links

Women‘s rights movement // General stuff continued 🔗 links

Women‘s movement // General stuff

Donation Megathread

Stop the infighting

"Not like other girls"

"Not All Men" is a war propaganda tactic

Age and attraction

Key elements

Andrea Dworkin works

Why feminism should center women and women only

Statement

How men see us

Prioritize women

Radical feminism is intersectional

Radical feminism definition

Double standards in terms of "unconditional love"

Favorite quote

We‘re not Nazis

We don’t support Nazis & vice versa

Misogyny vs. misandry

Why I‘m a radfem

Actual radfeminism

No good men

Feminist book list

Libfem hypocrisy

Andrew Tate fans

"Withholding sex" is a misconception

Sexism against women in sports

Choice feminism

Men ☕️

Sex-based violence

Radfeminism is superior

On motherhood

On motherhood 2

Workplace sexism

Motivation

Men‘s mental health month

eXtRiMiSm

Women are not protected 1

Women are not protected 2

Oversexualization

Oppressor classes

Men who want children

Bodyshaming

Misandry

Men‘s sexual entitlement

Beauty Myth

A man‘s world

It‘s all men

Double standards

Women in fiction

No conservatism

Lies about emotions

The system isn’t broken

Resist, don‘t comply

Male hypocrisy

Woman arrested in Saudi Arabia

"Unconditional love"

Beauty ideals

Again, men ☕️

Parental alienation ‼️

Men & gossip

Men dislike their own daughters

Women aren’t objects

On religion

Sexism at school

Women‘s labor

Men‘s victim mentality

Arranged marriage

Women are an afterthought

Oppression in the US

Purity culture

American women & maternity leave

Body neutrality

Dangerous men are around us

Anti-natalism

Men don‘t actually "love" women

Socialization

Stereotyping men

Neha Wadekar in Baringo county, Kenya

Tomiekia Johnson

Child marriage in the US

Workplace sexism

UN report (alarming)

"You are a man-hater"

People with disabilities matter

Disability Pride Month

Girls‘ clothing

So you‘re partnered with a male

[tsukimefuku]

Human resources, tasukete!

You're concerned and decide to ask your friends about Jujutsu High's HR policies regarding romantic relationships.

Tags: Implied/Past Nanami x OC/f!Reader. Higuruma x OC/f!Reader. Slight jujusanpo vibes. Crack taken (somewhat) seriously. Slice of life vibes. Humor. Angst. Fluff. Gojo, Shoko and Ijichi are at a loss. Reader is terrified of Shoko.

This is part of my "Jujutsu Partners Canon Divergence AU". A sequence of short stories and random drabbles for a Nanami x Reader x Higuruma long fic I might write. To see the ever-growing list of one-shots and short stories, please visit my masterlist :) 

Disclaimer these stories are NOT written and posted in chronological order of events. To see where this story fits in the timeline, please check the masterlist mentioned above.

"So, Hiromi, I have some concerns." You said, sat beside him on a bench, as you both took a break from strolling around Tokyo. You had a bag of sweets to bribe Gojo the following day, and licked mindlessly at your popsicle.

"You always have concerns, my dear." Higuruma answered, sipping on his soda through the straw, glad the cold beverage provided him with some relief in such a hot day. "What is it?"

"I have no idea if we should be publicly involved. I mean, I don't mind keeping it to ourselves, but-" You stopped to ponder for a moment. "Does Jujutsu High even have some kind of policy regarding relationships in the workplace?"

He looked at you and shrugged. "Whichever you decide is fine by me." He took another sip. "They might, given there are some missions involving two or more parties."

"Yeah, but there are those two weird siblings that usually go together on every mission, so I don't know, really." You paused. "Do you think they need to follow labor laws of any sort?"

Higuruma snorted at the sheer absurdity of it, grinning sardonically. "Well, I really don't think so. And if they do, any sensible lawyer would refuse their case. I mean..." He vaguely gestured in the air.

You smiled, a little embarrassed at the stupid question. "Yeah. Probably not. But it is a possibility they have some sort of internal policy about it, so I'll try finding out about it, okay? Because they barely tolerate me, and your sentence is merely suspended, as far as we know."

"Well, if we make our relationship known," he said, pulling you from your waist to press against him. You chuckled, and he planted a small kiss on your lips. "I'll get to kiss you whenever, wherever. I'd like that very much."

***

"Spill it." Shoko said, turning around and looking straight at you, while holding her cup of coffee. You were both seated at the morgue, as you helped her with her reports, having nothing else to do today. She clearly noticed your eyes burning a hole through her back, choked up on words.

"So, if someone hypothetically had a relationship with a co-worker here in Jujutsu High, how should they proceed?"

"What?"

"I mean, paperwork. What should they do?" You explained.

She was silent for a few moments, a little taken aback by your question. "Are you and Nanami-"

You sighed. "Shoko, the question is hypothetical."

She walked towards you, putting her coffee cup over one of the gurneys, and hovered, ominously. You involuntarily made yourself smaller, pinching your shoulders, as you sat on a small bench.

"Well, hypothetically, are you and Nanami together?" She inquired. 

Shoko had seen the glances, smiles and eventual hugs you two had shared in vulnerable moments. On top of that, she was familiar with Nanami ever since high school, and knew for a fact he wasn't the smiley-huggy type of person. The tension between the two of you was palpable to anyone whenever you and him were both in the same vicinity.

"I don't know what you're talking about." You answered, slightly scared.

The ominous energy grew dire. Shoko wanted her tea and she was going to have it one way or the other.

You leaned back, defeated. "No, it's not Nanami."

"Say what now?" Shoko asked, surprised. "Who is it?"

"Can you promise me not to talk to anyone about this, please?" 

"Yeah, yeah, fine." She dismissed your concerns, shaking her hand in the air. "Now who is it? Don't tell me it's Gojo-"

"What the hell, Shoko!? Ugh, no, never." You answered, shivering, and not in a good way. A great friend, but a man child, after all. "It's Higuruma."

"Oh..." She let out, "He's kinda brooding, I can see the appeal. But... I always thought you and Nanami-"

"Me too. I was wrong, clearly." You replied, sharply, feeling a knot bubbling up your throat.

"What do you mean?" She inquired.

"Ask him." You spat out, grabbing her cup of coffee and taking a sip. You grimaced. How does this woman drink this with no sugar or sweetener whatsoever?

Shoko noticed your face twisting, taking the cup back from your hands. "Sugar is for the weak."

"Then, I'm a weakling." You retorted, getting up. "I'll try to find out if there is anything I should or not do about this regarding Human Resources, or whatever the hell you have in place here."

"I mean, if I were you, I'd just keep it to myself." She pointed out, earnestly.

"Well, I thought about it, but I'm worried that saying nothing might be detrimental to me or him, given our... Particularities."

"Hm. Maybe you're right." Shoko answered, as you made your way out of the morgue.

Nanami how tf did you let that happen?! Shoko chastised him, texting as soon as you left the morgue. 

Ieiri, I have no idea what you're referring to. Could you please be more specific?

The woman you so clearly love is dating what's-his-face black suit.

The typing icon appeared and disappeared on Shoko's screen around six times. It disappeared for a minute, and then came back, lasting a long time.

It's for the best. I hope she's happy.

On the other side of the conversation, Nanami was splayed over his sofa, staring at the ceiling, trying to not feel too sorry for himself. His efforts weren't working as well as expected, as he drowned in a mixture of jealousy and longing for you. But at least, like this, he'd surely have no other chance to slip up and hurt you like he did ever again. 

At least, he tried muttering to himself, willing this fantasy into existence.

At... Least. He covered his face with his forearm, sighing deeply, as he picked his book up to resume his reading session. The words on paper were no longer making any sense.

***

Gojo saw you approaching him in the dojo. He had his casual on, white long sleeve shirt and glasses, after training one of the first-years. 

"Hey, Satoru! How are you?" You said, walking towards the sorcerer holding a paper bag. "So, I remember you liked this particular type of kikufuku-"

"Stop right there," Gojo answered, leaned against the wall, tilting his head to the side with his frivolous smile plastered on his face. "I know bribery when I see it."

You sighed. "I mean, do you actually care that this is bribery or not?"

He chuckled, extending his hand and motioning you to proceed. "Of course I don't. Give it to me. What flavor are those?"

"Matcha."

"Oh, yeah. Very nice." Gojo said, satisfied, as he took the paper bag from your hands. "What do you want from me this time? Saving somebody else's life? Just my fantastic company? Tell me!"

You chuckled, sitting on the ground, looking up at him. "Human resources."

"... The what now?" He answered, pushing an entire kikufuku inside his mouth, looking very pleased. "Wow, I need to know where you bought these. Is it a new store?"

"That's unimportant right now." You shut down his rising antics. "If someone has a relationship with a co-worker here at Jujutsu High, do they have to report it?"

Gojo looked at you, surprised, swallowing his sweets. "Hm... Seriously?"

"What?"

"Why would I know the answer to that question? Do I look like I have a secret sorcerer affair or something?"

"... Huh? This isn't about you, Satoru. What the hell." You retorted, incredulous. "I just need to know if there is any paperwork involved."

He simply shrugged, munching away. "Beats me. No idea."

This was useless.

You got up, in frustration, and that was when Gojo actually processed the words you just had said. "Wait, what do you mean 'you need to know' anything about that? Are you-"

"Bye, pretty boy!" You said, leaving the dojo completely empty-handed. What a waste of money on those kikufuku. Gojo seemed happy to receive them, at least.

***

"Ijichi, you're my last hope!" You jumped him, almost yelling, and the man nearly passed out when you left the bushes looking like a maniac. He thought Master Tengen's shields could have been compromised, and he was being lunged at by a curse.

You were walking around the campus relentlessly, like a predator in the middle of a hunt, trying to catch Ijichi before he left, considering most of his days were spent at home office, from what you had gathered.

"Y-yes, Ms.? H-how can I help you?" He asked, shaking briefly like a frail twig, before recomposing himself and adjusting his tie.

"How do I report a romantic relationship to whatever you guys have for human resources? Or I don't have to?" You asked, holding his shoulders, looking intently at the man, while taken by some kind of desperation.

He was, indeed, your last hope, before you had to speak directly to Yaga in order to inquire him about it.

Ijichi blankly stared at you, buffering your question before he could muster up an answer. "We don't really deal with those kinds of things administratively. So you don't have to report anything, I g-guess." Are she and Nanami-san...? He began pondering, mentally.

Ijichi never got to finish his thought, though.

You sighed, relieved, and pulled him into your arms, hugging the assistant tightly, almost jumping like a schoolgirl. "You're my hero, thank you!" 

His face faintly blushed at the sudden appreciation received from a sorcerer, with no back-handed innuendo. "Y-You're... Welcome."

You let him go, smiled, and started frolicking your way out of the campus, glad there was nothing to report to any kind of higher authority other than your own anxiety due to this whole situation. 

[theculturedmarxist]

Conor here: The following post goes into the ins and outs of the case ahead of the April 23 beginning of the case, the outcome of which seems to be a foregone conclusion and will be a major blow to labor.>New York Times labor reporter Noam Scheiber noted back in January when the Supremes agreed to hear the case that the very fact that they did so meant they would likely rule so that it’s harder to unionize. The reasoning behind that belief isn’t just the conservative majority on the court but also that the courtdeclined to hear a similar case in 2014 (back before the current conservative majority).

By Michael Z. Green, professor of law and the director of the Workplace Law Program at Texas A&M University. Originally published at The Conversation.

What factors must a court consider when the National Labor Relations Board requests an order requiring an employer to rehire terminated workers before the completion of unfair labor practice proceedings?

That’s the central question that the Supreme Court will consider on April 23, 2024, during oral arguments in the Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney case. The global coffee shop chain is challenging the NLRB, the federal agency responsible for enforcing U.S. workers’ rights to organize, saying that the agency used the more labor-friendly of two available standards when it asked a federal court to order the company to reinstate workers at a Memphis, Tennessee, store who lost their jobs in 2022 amid a nationwide unionizing campaign.

The Conversation U.S. asked Texas A&M law professor Michael Z. Green to explain what’s behind this case and how the court’s eventual decision, expected by the end of June, could affect the right to organize unions in the United States.

What Is This Case About?

Seven baristas who were attempting to organize a union at a Starbucks shop in Memphis, Tennessee, were fired in February 2022. Starbucks justified their dismissal by asserting that the employees, sometimes called the “Memphis 7,” had broken company rules by reopening their store after closing time and inviting people who weren’t employees, including a television crew, to go inside.

In June of that year, the shop became one of more than 400 Starbucks locations since 2021 that have voted in favor of joining Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.

While a complaint over the mass dismissal was pending with the NLRB, Kathleen McKinney, the NLRB director for the region that includes Memphis, sought an injunction in a federal district court to force Starbucks to give the Memphis 7 their jobs back while the case proceeded. The company must “cease its unlawful conduct immediately so that all Starbucks workers can fully and freely exercise their labor rights,” she said.

By August 2022, a judge had ordered Starbucks to do that, and in September the baristas were back on staff.

Although the seven baristas got their jobs back and the union vote prevailed, the company has appealed the case all the way to the Supreme Court because it believes the court should not have ordered the company to reinstate the workers while NLRB proceedings were still pending.

But the NLRB argues, and the lower courts agreed, that the terminations chilled further union activities at the store even after the election.

Nevertheless, Starbucks argues that firing the seven workers had no effect because employees at that coffeehouse still voted in favor of unionization.

What’s Being Challenged?

The justices will have to decide which approach federal courts should use when they consider requests for injunctions like this one.

Currently, five appeals courts, including the one where this case arose, base their decision on a two-part test.

First, the courts determine whether there is “reasonable cause” to believe an unfair labor practice has occurred. Second, they determine whether granting an injunction would be “just and proper.”

Four other appeals courts use a four-part test.

First, the courts ask whether the unfair labor practice case is likely to succeed on the merits in establishing that labor violations occurred. Second, they look to see if the workers the NLRB is attempting to protect will face irreparable harm without an injunction. Third, after showing likelihood of success and irreparable harm, they ask whether those factors outweigh any hardships the employer is likely to face due to compliance with the court’s order. Fourth, they ask whether issuing the injunction serves the public interest.

Two other appeals courts use a hybrid test that appears to have components of both of the tests. They ask whether issuing an injunction would be “just and proper” by considering the elements of the four-part test.

In its Supreme Court brief, Starbucks argues that having to give workers their jobs back in these circumstances can cause “irreparable injury” and that it’s an “extraordinary remedy.”

The NLRB, in its Supreme Court brief, says that the injunction was proper in this case because Starbucks terminated 80% of the union organizing committee at the Memphis store and the evidence showed the chilling effect this action had on the “lone remaining union activist.” According to the NLRB, this chilling effect “harmed the union campaign in ways that a subsequent Board ruling could not repair.”

A labor reporter discussing Starbucks’ unfair labor practice cases, including the one involving the Memphis 7, determined that NLRB administrative law judges had found labor violations in 48 out of 49 cases.

What’s the Potential Impact of the Court’s Eventual Ruling on This Case?

While the case may sound like it’s only about seven people employed at a single coffee shop, the scope is wider than that.

Although the NLRB issues hundreds of unfair labor practice complaints against employers every year, it usually doesn’t turn to the courts to force the rehiring of employees. It only sought these types of injunctions 17 times in 2023, for example.

And seven of those efforts involved Starbucks. Despite the small number of overall injunctions, the large number of unfair labor practice complaints – and the eventual 48 out of 49 findings of violations – might support the rare use of injunctions in this case.

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Starbucks, the overall impact seems unclear.

For one thing, the court will have picked one test over another without any proof that one is more likely to result in an injunction or not. In addition, the underlying unfair labor practice case has been resolved, since the workers have gotten their jobs back and their workplace has joined a union.

What’s more, Starbucks has agreed to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the union – which has continued to make inroads at the company’s coffee shops.

Because the NLRB rarely seeks injunctions, the fact that this issue has obtained enough importance for consideration by the Supreme Court seems odd considering its valuable time and the limited number of cases it can consider each year. But let’s see what the court’s majority decides.

[dragoneyes618]

A subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce heard emotional testimony last week from University of Californian college professors (and two others) about how Jew-hatred has affected their careers since the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

The Committee heard from four witnesses: Mark Rienzi is the President and CEO of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C. Brian Keating is the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University at UC San Diego. Melissa Emrey-Arras is the Director of the GAO’s Education, Workforce and Income Security Team in Washington, D.C. Professor Dafna Golden is a Geography professor at Mt. San Antonino College in Walnut, California.

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Dafna Golden, testified that it would be unbearable to continue to do her job due to the antisemitism that she has experienced.

“Like so many of my Jewish colleagues at colleges across the country, the general antisemitic, hostile environment turned to focus on me directly because I am a Jew,” Golden told the subcommittee. “Because I won’t hide or reject my connection as a Jew to the Jewish state and the Jewish people.”

Due to the “toxic atmosphere and severe impact on my mental health and my professional standing, and the refusal of my employer to protect me in my workplace, I have decided to transition out of academia as soon as possible,” the professor testified.

The hearing is the latest round of the committee’s investigation into Jew-hatred on college campuses and in K-12 education since Oct. 7.

Students and faculty have launched a flurry of formal discrimination complaints and lawsuits alleging that school administrations fostered a hostile environment against Jews, amid the proliferation of anti-Israel and antisemitic protests on campuses.

Brian Keating, who is also Jewish, described what that environment was like for younger professors and students on his campus.

“Faculty members call their colleagues ‘colonizers,’” Keating testified. “During a tour of a lab and workspace environment where Israelis and Jews are working and pursuing their studies, they are confronted by calls for elimination of the one Jewish homeland.”

One of the most shocking parts of the hearing was when Keating reported that John Hildebrand, an oceanographer at UC San Diego who serves as that university’s chair for the University of California Academic Senate, who met with Students for Justice in Palestine, but refused on five separate occasions to meet with any Jewish students, citing various excuses, like lack of time, even as some of these students were feeling physically threatened. He also refused to meet with any Jewish professors outside of very limited circumstances.

Keating also described the role that the United Auto Workers labor union has played in organizing strikes and anti-Israel protests.

Despite its name, the union now represents more than 100,000 academic workers across the country, including 48,000 faculty and student employees in UAW local 4811 representing the University of California system.

“They are effectively forced to be members of the United Auto Workers union as part of their contract and their collective bargaining agreement,” Keating said, of his graduate student teaching assistants.

“They organize rolling strikes, they call them ‘day of action’ or ‘complicity tours,’ where they would organize shutdowns of campus or attempt to shut down campus,” he said.

UAW 4811’s website is almost entirely devoted to anti-Israel protest-related grievances.

“UAW members have chosen to participate in the nonviolent Palestine Solidarity Encampments to call attention to UC’s financial ties to Israel’s war effort and urge UC to divest from companies and industries currently profiting off of the suffering in Gaza,” the site said.

An Orange County superior court judge ruled in early June that UAW 4811’s strike violated its collective bargaining agreement with the University of California and issued a restraining order against it.

Additionally, Keating related testimony compiled from Jewish UCSD students. One graduate said, “I don’t know how much longer I can do this. I can’t work at UCSD, I can barely live here – and I have learned, brutally and painfully, where my life ranks for the people I’m surrounded by every day.”

Another, a professor of anthropology, said: “In October, anthropology professors canceled classes in solidarity with Hamas and used departmental listservs to urge others to follow suit. A Jewish professor was publicly called a hypocrite for not attending a meeting on Passover. The Director of Undergraduate Studies presented a letter demanding faculty take a public stand against the Chancellor and Israel, which she had coerced students into signing. Professors have also pushed for BDS, the Chancellor’s resignation, and actions against Israel while suppressing opposing viewpoints. They aim to sever research and teaching partnerships with Israeli scholars despite these scholars protesting against their government.”

Keating reported that despite multiple official complaints to the Office of Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination and appeals to the DEI Officer, no actions have been taken. The university has also ignored requests for an advisory committee on antisemitism and testimony given to lawyers investigating an open Title VI case.

In her written testimony, Golden noted that the campus (her workplace) became increasingly hostile after she confronted a colleague about showing an antisemitic video – “The Occupation of the American Mind,” narrated by the notorious antisemite Roger Waters – in his classroom just weeks after Oct. 7. The film’s central thesis is that “leaders of major Jewish organizations” have conspired to use their power to control and thus “occupy” the minds of innocent Americans so that they would support Israel. Golden wrote, “The movie is basically a screen version of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and serves no academic function.”

After her complaint, the movie was not screened campus-wide, but the professor continued to show this film in his classes on U.S. History, Mexican American History and Native American History.

In retaliation, the professor began a campaign of harassment against Golden, calling her a “violent Zionist” and a “former soldier in the IDF” (she was never in the IDF) in an email sent to his entire class. He told students “to stand up” to her. A Jewish student in one of the professor’s classes documented these actions, including a disturbing incident where the professor mimicked a Nazi salute in class.

Then “individuals associated with a notorious antisemitic organization on campus, Shut It Down 4 Palestine, vandalized the bulletin board outside my office by removing my Israeli flag and pro-Israel articles, and replacing them with anti-Israel propaganda, including a flyer with demands to ‘Renounce the Pro-Zionist,’ ‘Remove the Pro-Zionist library display,’ and ‘Declare support for Palestine,’” Golden wrote.

Additionally, Golden testified that she had installed “a perfectly normal, non-ideological, academic display at the school library on Israel’s changing borders from prior to the establishment of the state until the present time” which featured books such as Coexistence & Reconciliation in Israel and both the Israeli and Palestinian flags. But due to student complaints and “division in the community,” the library removed the display.

Golden’s RateMyProfessors.com profile was also bombarded with fake negative reviews. “Students making public comments at the open meeting of the Mt. SAC Board of Trustees demanded that I be fired and declared a boycott of my classes.”

Golden’s spring semester on-campus class was canceled due to low enrollment, limiting her teaching to online only. “My lack of on-campus presence has deteriorated crucial collaborative relationships, essential for the multi-disciplinary program I manage. My colleagues’ reactions during virtual meetings and their reluctance to engage with me professionally underscore the prevalent hostility. My attempts to engage with key faculty and administration, including the head of the Ethnic Studies department, the President of the Faculty Academic Senate and the President of Mt. SAC, have been ignored, leaving the pervasive anti-Semitism on campus unaddressed.”

A few days before the hearing, three Jewish students at the University of California, Los Angeles – two law students and an undergraduate – asked a federal court on Monday to force UCLA to protect their safety when they return to the public school’s campus on Aug. 15.

“UCLA allowed a group of extremist students and outside agitators to set up an encampment where they stopped Jewish students from accessing classes, the library and other critical parts of campus,” stated the Becket Fund, which is representing the students.

The public school “allowed and reinforced these zones, breaking the law and hurting its Jewish students,” Becket added, noting the students are “asking a federal court to prevent UCLA from ever allowing such exclusion of Jewish students again.”

“No student should have to fear for their safety or pass a religious test to walk freely at a public university,” said Mark Rienzi, president of Becket, who is representing the students along with the firm Clement & Murphy.

“UCLA’s behavior on this issue has been shameful, and the students need a court order to allow them to return to campus safely this fall,” Rienzi said.

The law students are Yitzchok Frankel – a father of four, who “faced antisemitic harassment simply for wearing a kippah and was forced to abandon his regular routes through campus because of the Jew Exclusion Zone” – and Eden Shemuelian, who had to walk around the encampment and hear its antisemitic chants, “severely” compromising her studies for final exams, per Becket.

An undergraduate history major, Joshua Ghayoum “was repeatedly blocked from accessing the library and other public spaces.” He also heard chants of “death to Jews” from the encampment, Becket said.

“It’s appalling that an elite American university would actively support and encourage masked mobs of antisemites,” Rienzi stated. “UCLA’s Jewish community needs to know that they’ll be safe on campus before the start of the fall semester.”

[iww-gnv]

Amazon was accused of violating federal law multiple times to obstruct unionization efforts at a warehouse near Albany, New York, last year, according to a new complaint filed by a regional director at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), first reported by Bloomberg. The complaint, filed yesterday (Aug. 21), reportedly accuses the retail giant of illegally firing an organizer prior to a union ballot last year, calling the police on employees, barring discussion of unions at the workplace, and seeking to limit employee interaction at the warehouse before and after hours to thwart organizing.

[Read the rest]

[momdusa]

So I was digging into Strawberry Shortcake lore, and though the Strawberry Universe was later created/expanded upon by Muriel Fahrion and AG, I found the original "Strawberry Girl" art by Barbi Sargent (a freelance artist with American Greetings) (Exhibit #3 above) from 1978. It reminded me of Holly Hobby (pic #1 - created in the 60s but was a popular toy line in the 1970s and 80s) and also the Sarah Kay girls (top center), Sarah Kay being an Australian illustrator known for drawing happy little girls in polka dots and pinafores. Very demure. Very cutsey u_u

Got me wondering about WHY these little Prairie Girls were so prevalent in our toys, greeting cards, and clothing in the early 80s. I had a Holly Hobby doll & lunchbox and iirc my mom made a Holly Hobby Halloween costume for me (still looking for pics). My sister and I were gifted lots of little Strawberry Shortcake items (but that was probably due more to the ANIMATION SELLS TOYS form of marketing in the 80s). We had many a ruffled blouse and tiered skirts and lots of calico. One would guess that it came from the very popular Little House on the Prairie series, about a pioneer family, starring the very wholesome Michael Landon and child actor/activist Melissa Gilbert and based on the writings of authentic Prairie Girl Laura Ingalls Wilder. (Sanitized and Romanticized for TV of course).

And it made me wonder- Was this longing to return to "simpler days" a result of, oh I don't know, the rapidly changing world? The conservative push against the Womens Movement? Was this precursor to our current Cottage Core just people wishing we could go back to a time when Men were cowboys MEN and Women kNeW tHeIr PlAcE (and weren't fighting for the right to contraceptives, safe ab**tions, and the right to have their own goddamn credit card?) Were these little Holly Hobbies and Strawberry Shortcakes just... meant to encourage the Trad Wife life??

In this essay I will...

But Wait!

JOKE RUINED !!

!!!!! THEY WERE !!!!

"While the prairie look has its roots in the hippie fascination with all things Victorian and “natural,” I can’t help but think it grew in popularity partly as a response to this labor shift. Looking back at how it was sold, the prairie revival, ironically, appears to be both a conservative fantasy of “traditional” gender roles and a mild resistance to late-capitalism. Advertisements and editorials depict a “frontier” or country life where chores are hobbies and you spend most of your time sitting on wooden fences watching the sunset over a field of daisies."

"And for adult women, when you’re living in a culture that demands your labor but isn’t prepared to offer fair pay or equal opportunities (the Equal Rights Amendment died in Congress in 1982) the daydream of dropping out of a stagnant 9 to 5 job to churn butter and watch sunsets sounds pretty good."

"The prairie fashion revival, then, followed a larger trend of nostalgically romanticizing America’s rural and frontier past. But there was more to prairie’s appeal than whitewashing and nostalgia. In the early 1980s, women were entering the workplace in record numbers. A 1986 Atlantic article about how women earned less because they just didn’t want to work as much reported that “from 1890 to 1985 the participation in the work force [sic] of women between the ages of twenty-five and forty-four soared from 15 to 71 percent.” The increased visibility of working women in “traditionally male positions” was both a cause for celebration (1980’s second highest grossing film was the feminist comedy masterpiece 9 to 5) and anxiety (in 1982 that spot went to Tootsie, a movie about an annoying straight white guy who can’t get a job until he disguises himself as a “feisty feminist” woman). "

(some excerpts from the Dismantle Article "What the 1980s Prairie Revival can tell us about Cottage Core" by Sara Tatyana Bernstein)

Anyway, ok, maybe they weren't meant to brainwash us into that lifestyle but still ... >_>