Union-busting companies know how to deal with walkouts, sickouts, boycotts — and even limited strikes — pretty handily under existing labor law. But how in the world do they confront a theatrical production that puts their exploitation and worker abuses center stage?

How do they contend with art?

New Yorkers are gonna find out very shortly how the bosses at REI’s flagship store in Soho deal with it because the green vests there are developing a new play in conjunction with the Working Theater aimed at an eventual Off-Broadway production — and it dramatizes the workers’ ongoing fight to secure a first contract — as it happens.

“I knew I was gonna write a play about my day job — but I thought it was gonna be a comedy about greenwashing or actors having day jobs, something a little bit lighter than what I ended up with,” Foot Wears House playwright Laura Neill tells Work-Bites. “When I was hired, I was told REI is unionized. I was like, ‘Oh, great, this is amazing; I love being part of the unionized workforce.’”

As such, Neill anticipated a good contract with solid union protections would soon follow.

“And then I realized, of course, that REI is not bargaining in good faith at all,” she says. “And so, this play came out of that.”

Neill and some of her REI co-workers performed an excerpt of Foot Wears House at a special Working Theater showcase held earlier this week in Manhattan. A full reading of the developing production is slated for Saturday, February 24, at the Hudson Park Library. The event is free and starts at 2 p.m.

REI management is on record saying it doesn’t believe “union representation is the best path to improving work situations for REI employees” and that it is instead committed to “creating an employee experience that is so compelling that the need for union is not necessary.”

Cue the violins.

read more: https://www.work-bites.com/view-all/otpaccp787zdb9wwd1ralu11lhd47d

New Trades Union Congress (TUC) analysis reveals Women’s Pay Day – the day when the average woman stops working for free compared to the average man – is today, Wednesday 21 February. In some industries and in some parts of the country where the gender pay gap is wider, women effectively work for free for even longer

Women’s Pay Day: 52 days of working for free

New TUC analysis published on 21 February reveals that the average woman effectively works for free for nearly two months of the year compared to the average man. This is because the gender pay gap for all employees currently stands at 14.3%.

This pay gap means that working women must wait 52 days – nearly two months – before they stop working for free on Women’s Pay Day today.

And the analysis also shows that at current rates of progress, it will take 20 years – until 2044 – to close the gender pay gap.

read more: https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2024/02/21/womens-pay-day/

The union of 3,500 workers said, “our Union members have collectively decided to refuse handling all types of weaponised cargoes. Loading and unloading these weapons helps provide organizations with the ability to kill innocent people.”

New Delhi: The Water Transport Workers Federation of India, representing 3,500 workers at 11 major Indian ports, has declared that it will refuse to load or unload weapons to Israel on any ships it may be asked to do so, carrying armaments and bound for Israel.

The press release issued by them, dated February 14, says they have “decided to refuse to load or unload weaponized cargoes from Israel or any other country which could handle military equipments and its allied cargo for war in Palestine.”

The union says that as “Port workers, part of labour unions would always stand against the war and killing innocent people like women and children. The recent attack of Israel on Gaza plunging thousands of Palestinians into immense suffering and loss. Women and children have been blown to pieces in the war. Parents were unable to recognise their children killed in bombings which were exploding everywhere.”

Seeing any role in enabling ship to carry armaments which may aggravate the war in Gaza and particularly in Rafah, they have said “our Union members have collectively decided to refuse handling all types of weaponised cargoes. Loading and unloading these weapons helps provide organizations with the ability to kill innocent people.” The trade union has also called “for an immediate ceasefire”.

The press release further says, “as responsible trade unions, we declare our solidarity with those who campaign for peace. We call upon the workers of the world and peace-loving people to stand with the demand of free Palestine.”

read more: https://www.lemkininstitute.com/single-post/india-s-water-transport-workers-union-says-won-t-help-ships-carrying-arms-bound-for-israel

Nearly 500 Starbucks stores have filed for union representation so far.

Starbucks workers in 21 locations across 14 states are filing to unionize on Tuesday, marking the highest number of stores petitioning to join Starbucks Workers United (SWU) on a single day in the union’s history, the group says.

The stores filing for a union Tuesday are located across the country, from Long Island, New York, to San Jose, California, with other filings coming from Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, Washington, and elsewhere in California and New York.

In a joint letter sent to CEO Laxman Narasimhan signed by representatives from each of the 21 stores, workers cited similar problems as other stores that have filed for representation, including understaffing, cuts to hours and insufficient wages and benefits.

“We have worked through violent threats from customers, unsafe weather conditions, and a global pandemic. Despite our willingness to work regardless of this disregard for our health and safety, we have been met with higher and higher expectations without being given the resources to meet them,” the workers wrote.

“Starbucks’ profit driven behavior makes doing our jobs impossible,” they continued. “We cannot keep up with constant promotions, dilapidated equipment, and unclean stores. It’s clear to us now more than ever that this one-sided relationship is no longer working.”

read more: https://truthout.org/articles/starbucks-union-unveils-largest-1-day-filing-with-21-stores-joining-effort/

New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics documents a significant jump in on the job deaths in the US.

Current workplace fatality figures, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in December 2023, show that on-the-job deaths in the United States have jumped significantly, reaching their highest level in ten years.

The results, obtained as part of the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), analyzed information collected over the course of 2022 — and documented a notable 5.7 percent increase in workplace deaths in the U.S. during the relevant 2021-2022 census period.

The toll represented a 10-year high for fatal work injuries. Nearly 6,000 U.S. workers died on the job — and, another BLS survey found, a startling total of 2.8 million were injured or sickened.

Worker safety in the U.S., while comparing favorably to industrializing postcolonial states, is not commensurate with the nation’s wealth, nor with the standards of other developed capitalist countries. The grim results of 2022 are the consequences of collapsing regulatory oversight and the degradation of worker power in the U.S. — two hallmarks of the neoliberal era and its consolidated corporate dominance.

read more: https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/1-us-worker-dies-on-the-job-every-96-minutes-latest-data-shows/

Costco bosses basked in praise for making union-friendly statements but have yet to commit to bargain in good faith.

Last December, a group of 238 Costco workers in Norfolk, Virginia, voted to unionize and join Teamsters Local 822. The local declared the vote “the union’s first organizing victory at the wholesale retailer in two decades.” The voices of the pro-union workers who won this contested election — the vote was 111-92 — were quickly overshadowed, however, by a letter from Costco’s leadership that garnered much attention beyond the shop floor.

Outgoing Chief Executive Officer Craig Jelinek and incoming CEO President Ron Vachris stated in a letter addressed to all Costco employees, that “we’re disappointed by the result” of the union election. But, they added, “We’re not disappointed in our employees; we’re disappointed in ourselves as managers and leaders.” In their view, the employees voted for a union because management failed to satisfy its “core value of ‘taking care of our employees.’”

For an HR letter, it went viral. Much praise was lavished onto Jelinek and Vachris for their “graceful” and “classy” response. CNN described the letter as “surprising” and in “stark contrast” to “other companies, such as Starbucks, [which] have pushed back hard against union organizing.” Others praised Costco’s “emotional intelligence” and ability to look “inward.”

During the early 1990s, Costco competed with Price Club, another retailer that already had unionized workers. When Costco merged with Price Club in 1993, many of the union warehouses (mostly located in California) remained union. In the early to mid-2000s, the Teamsters expanded the number of union warehouses with some successful campaigns in New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Virginia. But it was always a challenge.

read more: https://truthout.org/articles/costco-says-its-not-anti-union-unionized-workers-are-putting-that-to-the-test/

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/1856408

Check it out.

Fans of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade may have noticed one glaring omission in its cast of charismatic balloons and floats: Scabby the Rat, who for some reason, has never been invited.

But what employer wouldn’t want a reminder from Scabby—“an imposing 12-foot inflatable rat, replete with red eyes, fangs, and claws,” as the National Labor Relations Board puts it—to stay on its best behavior?

Macy’s workers in northwest Washington rectified this last year by prominently featuring Scabby when they launched a strike and boycott campaign against the retailer over low wages and safety issues. Scabby was also the star of their own mock Thanksgiving Parade.

Members of Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 3000 had been working under an expired contract since last March.

“What many shoppers may not realize is that a lot of us store workers can barely afford to cover our health care premiums, on top of housing, food, gas and other basic needs on the low wages we are paid,” said Nicole Hardin, a 17-year Macy’s employee who works at the cosmetics counter and who served on the local’s negotiating team.

Hardin was one of over 400 Local 3000 members who went on a three-day unfair labor practice (ULP) strike in November. They walked out of Macy’s stores at three area malls on Black Friday, the infamously busy shopping day.

read more: https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/strikes-and-a-boycott-win-a-better-deal-from-macys/

Grocery and retail workers helped win critical tenant protections for the 100,000 renters in the city of Tacoma.

Grocery and retail workers helped win the strongest tenant protections in Washington state last November for the 100,000 renters in the city of Tacoma.

First we had to beat the mayor’s and city council’s attempt to bring a competing watered-down ballot measure. And then we had to overcome a vicious and deceptive landlord opposition that smashed all previous political spending records in Tacoma.

“We’ve created incredible goodwill in the community just as we gear up for a tough contract fight,” said Michael Whalen, who helped initiate the campaign as a dairy clerk and shop steward at Fred Meyer.

“Members were inspired to take on this fight not only because we have co-workers sleeping in cars; not only because rent hikes keep eating away at bargaining table gains,” said Whalen, a member of Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 367’s executive board and now on union staff. “Solidarity goes both ways, and we’re going to need all of Tacoma to stand with us as we get strike-ready.”

read more: https://truthout.org/articles/ufcw-local-leads-campaign-to-win-strongest-tenant-protections-in-washington/

Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV), a French video game workers union, organised a strike of nearly 700 Ubisoft employees across Paris, Montpellier, Annecy, Lyon, and Bordeaux participated in a national strike. The workers aren't satisfied with their inadequate pay that doesn't take inflation into account, and they are taking action.

Hey I have had to remove my first post for being off topic. I really appreciate everyone who contributes here to this community. There's a ton of content and that's great! But I want to make sure we stay on topic, and focus on Unions, unionization efforts etc. I don't want the community to slowly turn into another generic "leftist/labor politics" community.

All posts must be about Unions in some direct way. It is not enough to merely say the subject of the link or post is in the same interests as those of Unions or labor politics. Everything is connected to everything at some level, so that just doesn't fly at some point.