Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh, where Payday is beginning to wind down for the holiday season.
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Labour Backs Using Army to Bust UK Strikes
As a massive strike wave in healthcare, rail, and public services hits the UK this holiday season, the Labour Party has backed plans by the Tory government to use Army troops to bust strikes.
“Well, we’ve been left with no choice, so we do support that,” Labour MP Stephen Kinnock said on Sky News this week. “Britain is broken. We’ve got backlogs in passport services, seven million waiting lists on the NHS, our court system is completely failing. There are huge issues around transport and people not being able to get the trains they want to get, regardless of what’s happening with the strike, because of the failed system that we have.”
For more, check out the National.
AFL-CIO Goes to War With Facebook
This week, the AFL-CIO joined with Harrington Investments to call for an audit by Meta (Facebook’s parent company) of Facebook’s oversight and content moderation policy. In the last year, the company’s share lost nearly half their value as questions remain about their commitment to policing fake news and protecting people on their platforms.
“The bottom line is: The platform has hurt kids, has fueled lies, and it’s put our democracy at risk, and Zuckerberg doesn’t want to do anything about it,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten told POLITICO. “I would have thought … losing all that value would have forced Meta to do something different, but it hasn’t.”
Congress Approves $25 Million Budget Increase for NLRB
Since 2014, the NLRB has not received a single budget increase, meaning that its budget has gone down in real terms.
In recent years, staff has reduced at the NLRB from 1,733 employees in 2010 to 1,207 in 2022, making it more difficult for the agency to handle cases related to workers’ rights.
Today, the Senate reached a deal, which would raise NLRB funding by $25 million a year.
Racine Strike Enters 8th Month as Christmas Approaches
Finally, for more than 8 months, 700 workers have been on strike at Case New Holland in Racine, Wisconsin. Workers there say that they are paid on average $ 4 an hour less than workers elsewhere and have been asked to pay more for their healthcare.
As the Christmas season approaches, many workers say that they are struggling.
“It eats away at your savings, and mentally wears away at you,” Joe Barranco told Wisconsin Public Radio. “It’s frustrating, but, at the same time, I don’t want to start over because I put in 15 years there. My father retired from there. I just like unions, so I don’t want to go somewhere else.”
For more, check out Wisconsin Public Radio.
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Love & Solidarity,
Melk
