Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh, where we are three days away from our bi-monthly payroll.
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A Day Without Immigrants Protest Nationwide
Today, scores of immigrants skipped work and protested a lack of immigration reform as part of the nationwide “A Day Without Immigrants” action.
In Philadelphia’s Love Park in Center City, nearly 50 immigrants rallied and demanded reform.
“Most of us in the immigrant-rights movement here in Pennsylvania feel like the Biden administration has failed us,” Andy Kang, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “We haven’t seen the White House commit to a different vision of immigration, one that isn’t based on locking people up.”
For more, check out The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Rural Louisiana Bus Drivers Strike
In the St. Tammany Parish school district in rural Louisiana, at least 60 school bus drivers took Friday off as part of a “sickout” strike.
Bus drivers complained of being paid poverty wages and struggling to get necessary parts for their buses.
“We are working at a failing business,” one bus driver told WWLTV. “Not because the product, the children, are being picked up or delivered as required, but the income cannot cover the cost.”
Tucson Restaurant Workers Strike
Last year, workers at Prep and Pastry in Tucson, Arizona, launched the first restaurant workers union. Now, those same workers are on strike today to protest poor working conditions at the marquee Tucson establishment.
“When we all get together we can make a change,” Prep & Pastry cook Syncer Wilson told KVOA. “We can make the company pay attention to us, they can’t just get away with sweeping discrimination and racism under the rug.”
Louis Vuitton Workers Strike in France
Finally, hundreds of Louis Vuitton workers in France staged a walkout last week at the luxury goods manufacturer.
The walkout comes after the company demanded workers reduce working hours from 35 to 33 hours while increasing workers’ wages. However, workers fear that the new purposed hour and shift-start changes would negatively affect the schedules of many working parents.
“The proposal to compute working hours on an annualised basis isn’t convenient for us,” Mireille Bordet, a CFDT representative in Asnières, said in a statement. “It will simply go to the detriment of our private life. Switching from 35 to go 33 hours [per week] won’t generate additional working time reductions [known in France as RTT] and will force us to work late in the evenings.”
For more, check out Fashion Network.
Strikes & News Happening Elsewhere
- Both Minneapolis & St. Paul teachers’ unions could vote to strike this week.
- REI launches an anti-union “podcast” where the Chief Diversity and Social Impact Officer denounces unions at length.
- Chuck D, Kurtis Blow, SAG-AFTRA, works to form Hip-Hop Alliance to better conditions for performers and others in the industry.
- In Toronto, Canada, a PetSmart store has become the first PetSmart store in North America to unionize successfully.
- TikTok videos shine new light on Amazon’s poor working conditions.
- Finally, Dr. Sigal Barsade, whose pioneering research showed how workers expressing emotions at work helped productivity, died at the age of 56.
Alright folks, that’s all for today. Donate today to help me cover COVID costs as I get back on my feet from a two-month bout with long COVID. Or, please, if you can, sign up as one of our 667 recurring donors today. Thank you to everyone who has donated already.
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Love & Solidarity,
Melk
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