#Workers' Rights

[cobragardens]

Everyone is so short on sleep all the time that the resultant accidents and diseases cost billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives each year in the U.S. alone.

Even among those who don't havr to take antidepressants or speed to keep going and keep up (ot both), most people rely on caffeine to stay awake, and a huge fraction of people need nicotine as well.

Lack of sleep is proven to impair immunity significantly, making people more prone to disease (in the age antibiotic-resistant bacteria and of covid, which scientists liken to airborne HIV).

Overwork destroys lives. It is dehumanizing and it is literally killing us.

ok i'm not pretending mental illness will suddenly disappear if we switched modes of production but i just can't stop thinking about how utterly absurd it is that very many people have to flood their brain with amphetamines and serotonin just to maintain this level of work.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Canadian commercial actors say American actors are crossing the border and the picket line in the middle of a major US entertainment industry strike and filling the jobs of Canadian actors who have been locked out for over a year.

Thousands of unionized commercial actors in Canada have been locked out since April 2022 while The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) has been negotiating with commercial agencies to try and get a fair deal.

Now, as a result of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA actors and WGA writers strikes that have shut down TV and film productions in the United States, some Hollywood actors have travelled north of the border in search of non-union commercial work in Canada.

“Over the last year there’s been a lot of American commercials shooting up in Canada doing everything non union because they can walk around it,” one ACTRA member who requested to be anonymous told PressProgress. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[charlesoberonn]

[tieflingkisser]

CD Projekt Red devs unionise after its third round of layoffs in three months

The union is part of the wider nationwide union, OZZ IP, and welcomes members from across the Polish gamedev industry to join its "support network" and "get a platform to exchange experiences and know-how with your peers". It does not cover CDPR staff working in Vancouver, though, or those not on a Polish contract.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Paul Blest at More Perfect Union:

Thousands of workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee have voted to join the United Auto Workers, defying an all-out union-busting effort from the state’s political leaders and marking a key victory for the United Auto Workers in their renewed effort to organize the South and non-union plants.

Unofficial results tallied Friday showed that after three days of voting, more than two-thirds of workers voted to join the UAW. The win in Chattanooga is the first successful attempt to organize a non-union automaker in decades and comes after multiple failed attempts to organize the plant, including in 2014 and 2019. More than 4,300 workers were eligible to vote this week.  “I can't explain it. It's not like the first times,” Renee Berry, who has worked at the Chattanooga plant for 14 years and through two prior facility-wide votes, told us in the lead-up to the election. “The first few times was hell…now it's like we can roll our shoulders back, because we got it.”  Volkswagen is the world’s largest auto company by revenue, and until today, every one of its plants around the globe has been unionized except for one.

"This is going to be in history books down the road. This is huge—forever huge,” Robert Soderstrom, a worker at the plant, told More Perfect Union. “People recognize for the first time in a long time, on a mass scale, that there's got to be some changes. And some of the power and stuff that's gone to the corporate world needs to come back to us little guys.” The victory in Tennessee continues a winning streak for the UAW, which negotiated record contracts at the Detroit Three of Ford, GM, and Stellantis last year following a lengthy “stand-up” strike. After passing the contracts, UAW President Shawn Fain announced a $40 million effort to organize non-union U.S. plants, largely based in right-to-work states like Tennessee and owned by auto companies based in Europe, Japan, and South Korea, as well as EV manufacturers like Tesla and Rivian. 

Since launching that new effort, more than 10,000 autoworkers around the country have signed union cards, according to the UAW. Earlier this month, workers at a Mercedes plant in Vance, Alabama became the second group to file for an election, which will be held from May 13 to 17. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and the state Chamber of Commerce have forcefully opposed the unionization effort, claiming it would hurt Alabama autoworkers—who, even before the pandemic, were making less than they did in 2002 when adjusted for inflation. The same dynamic has played out in Tennessee. Gov. Bill Lee, who denounced the last unsuccessful union campaign in 2019, said it would be a “mistake” for workers at the Chattanooga plant to unionize and boasted about the state’s “right-to-work” law. 

🚨🚨 BREAKING:🚨🚨 Workers at the Volkswagen (VW) plant in Chattanooga have voted yes to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) after 2 failed attempts in 2014 and 2019. #UAW #VWChattanooga #1u

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Leftist legislator seeks to reduce Brazil's working week to 4 days

A Brazilian lawmaker is proposing a bill to reduce the number of days in the working week, attracting support from other leftist forces and generating debate in the country that could directly impact companies' operations.

Erika Hilton, a lawmaker from the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), drafted the text to reduce the working week to four days from the current five or five and a half for those who work Saturdays, with a maximum of 44 hours.

The proposal has been gaining momentum in recent days as left-wing parties prepare an offensive to try to shift public sentiment toward their agenda, including more pro-worker labor laws.

Continue reading.

[iww-gnv]

HARRISBURG, Pa. - When those rare 3-day weekends pop up on the work schedule, it's an office-wide celebration! Well, what if that was every week? A new bill to create a four-day work week is about to be introduced in the Pennsylvania legislature. It would require businesses with more than 500 employees to reduce their work week from 40 to 32 hours a week. However, less work hours will not mean less pay! A Good Day Philadelphia poll showed most people support the 4-day work week, and Rep. G. Roni Green plans to introduce the legislation soon. The Philadelphia lawmaker says the 40-hour work week was put into place 85 years ago, and no longer fits the needs of today's society.

[the-uncanny-dag]

Every person working in creative fields deserves to be compensated fairly for their work. Yes, even the ones whose creations you think are bad. This is not up to discussion

[beautiful-basque-country]

"Luxury brands won't establish in Bilbao because they can't open on Sundays".

This multifaceted citizen of Bilbao highlights that the Biscayan capital is a model for good-dressing, but she believes the limitation of the opening hours puts the city away from the industry.

So it looks like luxury brands sell the most on Sundays. They live on what they manage to sell this day. Okay.

One of the best things of Bilbo is that: retail workers have their fucking Sunday off because, surprising as it may be, they're humans too who need rest.

Fuck luxury brands.

[newyorkthegoldenage]

On December 27, 1928, Governor-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt named Frances Perkins the new Commissioner of Labor, the first woman to hold the job. An advocate for workers' rights, she helped put New York in the forefront of progressive reform by expanding factory investigations, capping the workweek for women at 48 hours, championing a minimum wage and unemployment insurance, and working to end child labor. In 1933, President Roosevelt appointed her Secretary of Labor, a post she held for 12 years. She was the first woman ever to hold a Cabinet position.

Photo: Associated Press

[allthegeopolitics]

A Black man has filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against a hotel in Detroit, Mich., alleging the hotel only offered him a job interview after he changed the name on his resume, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by CNN.

Dwight Jackson filed the lawsuit against the Shinola Hotel on July 3, alleging he was denied a job when he applied as “Dwight Jackson,” but later offered an interview when he changed his name to “John Jebrowski.”

The lawsuit alleges Jackson was denied a job in “violation of Michigan Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act.” [...]

“Shortly after Jackson underwent the interview process, he was informed that he was no longer a viable candidate for the position,” the lawsuit states. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @vague-humanoid

[uwmspeccoll]

May Day 2024

Today is May 1st, on which we celebrate May Day or International Workers' Day. An international holiday, May Day in the U.S. is celebrated on May 1st to mark the beginning of the general strike in support of the 8 hour workday of 1886 that culminated in the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago on May 4th. Four protestors were murdered after an unknown party threw a bomb at police—an act which ultimately resulted in the hanging of four men who were never proven to have been involved with the bombing (some of whom were not even at Haymarket Square).

This pamphlet, May Day: 1947 was written by novelist and writer Howard Fast (1914-2003). Fast was a member of the Communist Party in the 1940s and in 1950 was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He refused to rat out the others who had donated to fund a home for orphans of the Spanish Civil War and was sentenced to jail. While in jail, he began writing the novel Spartacus, which was published in 1951 and turned into the well-known Stanley Kubrick movie Spartacus.

The illustrations shown here are by American painter, printmaker, illustrator, and adventurer Rockwell Kent (1882-1971). Though not a communist himself, Kent had progressive political views and was a member of various unions throughout his life, to the extent that his passport was suspended in the 1950s during the Second Red Scare. His travel rights were only restored after a 1958 Supreme Court Case on the matter in which they found the suspension of his passport a violation of his civil rights.

May Day is an important time to recognize the fight it took to get us the labor rights we have today. It didn't happen overnight or by the benevolence of the bosses—it happened on the backs of workers and through the strength we possess when we band together.

Workers of the world, unite!

-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Earlier this year in Halifax, a former sex worker won a precedent-setting case. Brogan, the plaintiff, took a client to small claims court for not paying her and she won! It’s the first time a court has ruled on the enforceability of contracts between sex workers and their clients. It affirms what we’ve been saying all along: sex work is work!

In January of last year, Bradley Samuelson contacted Brogan on LeoList, an online advertising platform for sex workers. She told him her rate of $300 per hour plus transportation, he agreed and paid for her Uber to his apartment. She spent seven hours with her client, but after much wrangling, only got paid for an hour’s worth of work.

Unpacking the win

What’s really interesting about this decision is that the adjudicator gives not one, but two reasons why Brogan won her claim – the first being that a contract was established, the second being unjust enrichment. There is also a third reason that she deserved to win, but it wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the ruling: the interconnectedness of payment and consent. I’ll be unpacking all three factors today. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[bitchesgetriches]

Antiwork Is the New American Dream

[justinssportscorner]

Andrea Hsu at NPR:

Hours before their final game of the season, the Dartmouth men's basketball team has voted to join a union, becoming the first unionized college sports team in the U.S. and opening many thorny questions about the future of college sports. Led by Dartmouth forward Cade Haskins and guard Romeo Myrthil, the 15 players announced their intent to unionize last September, arguing that the business of college sports is different that it was a few years ago. Tuesday's vote was 13 to 2 in favor of joining SEIU Local 560. "Today is a big day for our team. We stuck together all season and won this election," wrote Haskins and Myrthil in a statement. "Let's work together to create a less exploitative business model for college sports." The election was held over the objections of the Trustees of Dartmouth College, which last week filed a motion asking the National Labor Relations Board to halt the election pending further review. The NLRB denied that request. On Tuesday, Dartmouth asked the NLRB to overturn the decision by the agency's regional director to hold the election in the first place, setting the stage for a protracted legal fight.

Are college athletes employees?

At the heart of this election was the issue of whether college athletes should be considered employees and therefore have to the right under federal labor law to form unions and collectively bargain over pay and benefits. In the student newspaper, Haskins and Myrthil said they believe they should be compensated the same as other student employees. Being paid for the time they spend on the sport "would alleviate the need for second jobs and enhance our experience as part of the Dartmouth community," they wrote. A union would also allow them to negotiate better health care benefits, to cover out-of-pocket costs incurred as a result of injuries sustained while playing for the school, the players argued.

In a ruling last month, NLRB regional director Laura Sacks concluded that an employer-employee relationship does exist between the Dartmouth basketball players and the college. She found that the players perform work that benefits their school through things like alumni donations and publicity, that the players are compensated for that work in nonmonetary ways, and that Dartmouth exercises a lot of control over that work. Her ruling paved the way for Tuesday's election.

Dartmouth College's men's basketball team is the first college basketball team to be unionized, as they voted to join SEIU Local 560.

See Also:

Daily Kos: Dartmouth men's basketball team makes history by becoming first US college sports team to unionize

[justinspoliticalcorner]

John Knefel at MMFA:

The Heritage Foundation — lead organizer of Project 2025, a sprawling effort to provide policy and staffing for a second Trump administration — recently promoted an apprenticeship program that opens up workers to increased exploitation. Heritage also criticized President Joe Biden for ensuring that most federal infrastructure contracting projects are covered by collective bargaining agreements.

In an article headlined, “Harris, Walz Policy Records Undermine Pro-Worker Rhetoric,” Heritage argues for a return to Trump-era apprenticeship policies that left new workers vulnerable by creating a two-tier workforce, and it disparages unions as detrimental to the working class. The result is standard-fare for the conservative think tank, which regularly attacks unions and promotes anti-worker policies like so-called right-to-work laws, which starve unions of funds by denying them the ability to collect fees from all the workers they represent.  As head of Project 2025, Heritage has waged an all-out campaign against unions and the entire working class. The effort’s policybook — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise — calls for the dismantling of New Deal-era wins for organized labor by carving out state-level exceptions to the National Labor Relations Act. It would also eviscerate overtime regulations and open the door to increased child labor exploitation.

The new article furthers Heritage’s broadside against organized labor, even while masquerading as being pro-worker. Heritage criticizes what it characterizes as “the Biden-Harris Administration’s multi-front assault against apprenticeship programs,” specifically the administration’s cancellation of “new Industry Recognized Apprenticeship Programs,” or IRAPS, “that were training people in high-demand areas like nursing and technology, which now face significant workforce shortages.” In fact, IRAPs were a Trump-era policy that created a new class of apprenticeship programs that were controlled and overseen by employers — rather than the Department of Labor — and loosened standards meant to protect workers. As the progressive think tank The Roosevelt Institute wrote in response to the Trump-era rule, IRAPs are “likely to lead to a proliferation of programs that are lower-quality,” and could allow employers to exploit “loopholes in minimum wage laws.”

[...] This new salvo from Heritage is just the latest example of right-wing media pretending to endorse a pro-worker agenda, only to advance policies that benefit employers at the expense of labor.

The Heritage Foundation= enemies of workers’ rights.