Greetings from the Burgh, where a sudden cloud of fog has once again created unhealthy dangerous air conditions for asthmatics like me, but Payday’s pushing along covering the strike wave.
$525 Raised for IATSE Travel Fund
Good news. Our fundraiser to cover the IATSE strike has been going strong. So far, we have raised $525 toward our $2,000 stockpile.
Click here to help us cover a strike of approximately 60,000 IATSE workers.
If you can, join our 625 recurring donors today.
1,400 Kellogg Workers Begin Nationwide Strike
After strikes at Nabisco and Frito-Lay this year, 1,400 Kellogg workers are now striking at four locations in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Nebraska.
The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) union says after being labeled as “essential workers” during the pandemic, workers were outraged by the company’s demands and decided to strike despite the threats against them.
“Kellogg’s response to these loyal, hardworking employees has been to demand these workers give up quality health care, retirement benefits, and holiday and vacation pay,” BCTGM said in a statement put out by the union. “The company continues to threaten to send additional jobs to Mexico if workers do not accept outrageous proposals that take away protections that workers have had for decades.”
For more, check out the statement by BCTGM.
FBI Raids Office of NYC Police Union and Home of Its Leaders
In Manhattan today, the FBI raided the offices of the Sergeants Benevolent Association. The home of the controversial police union’s leader, Ed Mullins, was also raided in Port Washington, Long Island.
It’s unclear why their headquarters was raided, but Mullins has been a controversial force in the city. From NBC:
The union leader’s acerbic Twitter posts have included calling a city councilman a “first class whore,” calling a former health commissioner a “b—-,” and in response to the officer-involved shooting death of Michael Brown and subsequent protests, he said, “Ferguson, Missouri was a lie and a nation of police have been under attack ever since.”
The SBA’s bylaws require Mullins to continue working as an NYPD sergeant, but records show he is not currently assigned a specific post. And while he was paid $133,195 by the city in 2020, his full-time job was running the SBA, which pays him an additional salary.
Mullins was paid $88,757 by the union in 2019, according to the SBA’s most recent paperwork, which listed him as a trustee.
Annapolis School Bus Drivers Strike
In Annapolis, Maryland, school bus drivers went on strike, saying they were underpaid despite working through the pandemic.
“We need to be appreciated,” bus driver Joyce Ndow told WJZ. “We need to be understood. We’re professionals. We need to be treated and paid like professionals.”
Teamster Shop Steward Dies of COVID
Last year, Savannah bus drivers went on a “sickout” strike to protest unsafe working conditions during COVID.
Now they’re memorializing one of the strike leaders, Monica “Fluff” Washington, a Savannah bus driver and Teamsters shop steward, who died of COVID in late September.
Washington’s death comes after workers warned the local press about the lack of proper COVID protocols on the school buses.
“She was a great warrior in the battle for justice. When it came to issues concerning school bus drivers and monitors, Monica always led the fight,” said SCCPSS co-worker and friend Hilda Cohen in a statement put out by her union. “From all her friends and co-workers at SCCPSS and Teamsters Local 728, she will surely be missed.”
For more, check out the Teamsters webpage.
Strikes & News Happening Elsewhere
- More than 400 workers at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center in Oregon set to strike.
- In Erie, PA, workers making cement mixing equipment have gone on strike.
- In Huntington, West Virginia, scabs are being brought in to bust a strike at Special Metals company.
- In suburban Pittsburgh, support staff at Penn Trafford have threatened to strike to receive “wages they need and deserve.”
- In Detroit, McDonald’s workers strike for $15 and a union.
- National Nurses United (NNU) responds to the Federal Trade Commission’s Lina Khan call for public comment on contract terms that bind workers, saying it’s time for a change.
- Yosemite National Park restores old Chinese laundry building into an educational space to tell the story of Chinese immigrants who built the roads into the park and worked in the hotels.
- Finally, citizens in Lee County, Florida, which is named after the confederate slave owner Gen. Robert E. Lee, seek to rename their county after actor Bruce Lee instead.
That’s all for today folks, but please donate to Our IATSE Strike Travel Fund or sign up as one of our 625 recurring donors today.
Please keep sending tips, stories, ideas, questions, and comments to [email protected].
Love & Solidarity,
Melk
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