unions

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cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/1957632

Pretty bad.

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ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's government employees and other union workers began a new nationwide strike Tuesday that threatened to shut down key services while people are angry about soaring inflation and growing economic pain.

Since assuming office in Africa's most populous country last year, President Bola Tinubu has enacted policies that include doing away with fuel subsidies and unifying the country’s multiple exchange rates, leading to a devaluation of the naira against the dollar.

Gasoline prices have more than doubled and inflation has shot up as a result, reaching close to 30% last month, the highest in nearly three decades, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

“We are hungry. There is nobody that doesn’t know this,” said Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigerian Labor Congress.

Others said the protest was the only way to get the government’s attention.

“Things are getting out of hand,” said Christian Omeje, a shop owner in the capital, Abuja. “Prices keep soaring, the aid the government said it would dole out has not been provided.”

This is just the latest strike action. In October, government labor unions reached a deal with the government to end strikes in return for monthly stipends and subsidies to cushion the blow of the new policies. Still, the unrest continued.

Unions say the government has failed to deliver on promises that included a monthly wage increase of approximately $20 for all workers for six months and payments of approximately $15 for three months to millions of vulnerable households.

A pledge to roll out gas-powered buses for mass transit last year also failed to materialize.

Most services appeared to continue Tuesday with a reduced workforce.

link; https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/nigerias-union-workers-strike-nationwide-011802119.html

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The UAW, in a news release on Feb. 21, said it plans to spend $40 million on organizing workers in non-union auto plants and battery facilities. They also emphasized that their target area will be the South. The impetus for the push comes from the huge wins in Detroit, when the union coordinated strikes and successfully negotiated for their demands with Ford, General Motors, and Stellanis. Wage gains, cost-of-living adjustments, and other improvements were wins for the union.

Read the full story by Eric D. Lawrence for the Detroit Free Press, published here: https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2024/02/21/uaw-spending-millions-organizing-southern-nonunion-auto-plants/72687415007/

link: https://www.laborpress.org/uaw-commits-to-pouring-millions-into-organizing-non-union-workers/

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9 British oil workers went on strike for almost a year. Now they get a collective agreement and pay rises. The LO union IE&FLT has now won a long-term strike on the Norwegian continental shelf. This happens on the evening IE&FLT was supposed to step up with sympathy strikes in several oil companies. This is not only an important victory for the nine, but for everyone who works on the Norwegian continental shelf! This was about something as fundamental as collective agreements and the right to organize.

Nine members, employed by a foreign company, demanded Norwegian wages and working conditions on the Norwegian continental shelf. After almost a year on strike, they have now won. The nine workers usually work with well stimulation on the Ekofisk field, from the vessel "Island Captain". It is this work that Industri Energi has demanded to be covered by Norwegian wage and working conditions. During the strike, three of the members were dismissed, and six ordered to work around the world.

The background for the strike was that Industri Energi believes SLB UK is engaging in social dumping on board the vessel "Island Captain", which is under contract for ConocoPhillips on the Ekofisk field. The workers here carry out work according to the oil service agreement, but both wages and working conditions are far from the level in the industry. Therefore IE&FLT demanded a collective agreement for its members, which the company refused to comply with.

While the workers have been on strike, the company has used strike breakers as replacements for the striking workforce.

read more: https://www.svenssonstiftelsen.com/post/oil-workers-prevailed-in-a-historic-strike-in-norway

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I know this is going to sound really dumb, but I want to help unionize my state, and I am aware of two heavily exploited and under-represented groups.

I am qualified to work in entry-mid level positions in both of these fields but.. I want to unionize them from the outside instead of dealing with the shit from the inside. I can’t work those places because they are pretty abusive and I have an exceptionally low tolerance for that crap at this point, plus I’m kinda very much a communist, and this whole model we have doesn’t work for me.

Instead, I want to form/expand an organization for at least one of them. The one I’m looking to focus on is lab workers, and if that works, go from there. What would I need to do for that to happen in Wisconsin? Is it even possible to form an external workers union? I know there’s some limits to public sector bargaining in Wisconsin, and while I don’t think that applies to private sector, I don’t know whether a private company with government contracts (which a lot of them have) would count as public.

Are there any resources for this sort of thing? Maybe national unions that would want to expand if there’s enough interest? I’m super serious about doing this, so I’m really soliciting information.

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