Labor Notes

Putting the movement back in the labor movement since 1979.

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"Every single time that you get frustrated or you run into a wall, someone from Labor Notes is going to be there to pick you up," Nora Meek, a founding member of the IATSE CREW reform caucus, says in our new video.

Help us build a fighting labor movement! https://t.co/qdR1LQD7wo

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

“At the end of negotiations, these guys come up and say, ‘I’ve got a new respect for the union. I didn’t know this stuff was going on behind the scenes. I can see who’s trying to hold me down now—it’s not the union, it’s the company,’” Mikesell said. 2/2

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

Open bargaining has helped win over some skeptical members even in right-to-work Indiana, says Jesse Mikesell of Teamsters Local 135. 1/2
https://t.co/nryTS9UNHx

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

Read more from veteran organizer Ellen David Friedman in her new book Keep Going: A Guide to Organizing When It’s Hard. 3/3

Get your copy here! https://t.co/t3nswEr3WT

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

When you talk to your co-workers as an organizer, your goal is not to become friends, though that may happen. What you are doing is attempting to build relationships of solidarity. 1/3
https://t.co/EiZUXaJILQ

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

You and your co-workers might be different in lots of ways, but despite this there is a bottom-line that can bring workers together: “We all work for the same employer, so we are bound to one another. If we want to change anything here, our best hope is in working together.” 2/3

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

The organizing effort has produced immediate gains. Workers successfully pushed back against health care cuts, established a training reimbursement program, improved travel conditions, and secured the long overdue distribution of an Officer Handbook. 2/2

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

Despite prolonged delay tactics from management, deck officers at Alaska Tanker Company (ATC) and Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) have continued building momentum and functioning as a union. 1/2
https://t.co/ZdNZ1sUp12

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

But he said it was going to take patient work to shift the culture. “These people have had whips cracked on them for years,” Thornton said. “Now that people have the contract, they’ve been fighting back." 2/2

@TRAILSANDWAYS reports.

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

At a bus manufacturing plant in Alabama, longtime worker Stevie Joe Thornton said a manager tried to force workers into overtime daily, despite clear limits in the contract. Thornton walked out during the forced overtime, and persuaded others to join. 1/2
https://t.co/y30hcysRaX

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

Open bargaining has helped turn up the pressure on employers, says Jesse Mikesell of Teamsters Local 135: “It delivers a more serious message to the company—that members are involved, and that these members are ready to take you guys on if they need to.”
https://t.co/nryTS9UNHx

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

"The sustained energy enabled the bargaining team to stand up to pressure from the management team who insisted, falsely, that they had no money. After 10 months of stonewalling, the college came up with an additional $6 million," DuBarry writes. 2/2

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

"Our strike succeeded because organizers had planned ahead for a long strike that would include a series of escalating actions to increase the pressure on management," writes Michelle DuBarry of the PCC Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals. 1/2
https://t.co/amGgs0yKFw

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

“Meanwhile, on the inside, others are holding fast in a strike of protest and resistance—a struggle to which we offer hope, and which we support from the outside!”

Luis Feliz Leon reports. 2/2

https://t.co/jYdpjZV284

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

“At this very moment, Delaney represents a dark and desolate world for those who sought to attain the American Dream,” said Gloria Guerrero of New Labor in Spanish to Labor Notes. Guerrero organizes alongside domestic workers whose husbands have been detained in ICE prisons. 1/2

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On the latest episode of The Labor Notes Podcast, Antonio and Sarah Slichter of the Movement of Rank-and-File Educators talk about what organizers can do when the work starts to feel heavy. 2/2

Tune in here: https://t.co/ia6mj5hCli

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

Organizing burnout is real. But so is the antidote: co-workers who remind us we’re not carrying the fight alone.

“When we have people in our corner who believe in the work we're doing, it helps us keep going,” says Antonio Rosario, an organizer with Teamsters Local 804. 1/2

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

“Things are not improving despite the energy sector making record profits,” said Alex Gilmore, a third mate at ATC. “We’re committed to the safety of these ships, the environment, our customers, and each other, and we need a contract to ensure our concerns are addressed.” 2/2

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

Unlike many workers on union ships, officers at Alaska Tanker Company (ATC) and Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) face the risk of toxic benzene exposure, high-risk tank cleaning operations, and grueling cargo turnarounds. 1/2
https://t.co/ZdNZ1sUp12

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

...and order your copy here! https://t.co/t3nswEr3WT

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

“In the workplace we typically don’t experience respect—we experience coercion. No matter how much the boss may call us 'partners' or claim 'we’re a family here,' the employment relationship is fundamentally undemocratic: The employer makes decisions, and workers must comply.”

[Labor Notes @labornotes]

Read an excerpt from the new Labor Notes book, "Keep Going: A Guide to Organizing When It's Hard," by Ellen David Friedman: https://t.co/EiZUXaJILQ