Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh,where I am coming back from a very restful Sukkot and Jewish High Holidays. It was quite the spiritual journey this year as I focus on the fight ahead for justice.
Help Cover Uptick in Strikes
Currently, we are starting to see the beginning stages of an uptick in strikes across the United States. With the NLRB denying union elections, we could see a large uptick in strikes.
However, tracking strikes is a labor-intensive work and we need your help to do it.
Union Strike as Government Shutdown Blocks NLRB Vote
As a result of the government shutdown, the National Labor Relations Board has canceled union elections across the country; giving an assist to union busters, who often try to delay union elections in order to turn people against unions.
At the GHC health clinic in Wisconsin, workers attempting to unionize with SEIU say that their vote was blocked by the government shutdown.
In Shelbyville, Indiana, Horseshoe casino workers say they too have been denied the right to vote to join the Teamsters due to the shutdown. Casino workers proposed that they have a neutral third party conduct the union election, but casino management chose to reject it. Then workers decided to go on strike.
“Casino management has ignored the proposal while escalating an aggressive union-busting campaign,” the Teamsters said in a statement.
For more, check out the Daily Journal.
Spanish General Strike Over Palestine
Last week, over 2 million workers in Italy went out on a general strike in solidarity with Palestine. Despite the ceasefire, Spanish trade union leaders are calling for Netanyahu to be tried in international courts and for Spain to cut off all relations with Israel until the occupation is over. From Catalan News:
David Caño, spokesperson for the IAC trade union, assured that people "are not naive" and that the signing of a ceasefire has not reduced the mobilization of the strike. "People are aware of the need to end the conflict in Palestine, not just because of the genocide, but to find a political solution," he said.
"The general strike continues," he explained, to "follow up" on the ceasefire, to demand that "genocide cannot go unpunished," and to call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be put on trial in international courts.
He demanded that Spain break off "commercial, cultural, and economic" relations with Israel.
For more, check out Catalan News.
31,000 Kaiser Permanente Workers Strike on West Coast
Throughout the West Coast, more than 31,000 Kaiser workers, largely registered nurses, are currently on strike, demanding better pay and staffing.
“Kaiser can choose how they spend their money,” nurse Clarissa Charlier said in a statement. “If we don’t have a market-competitive contract, we’re going to continue to hemorrhage nurses.”
For more, check out Oregon Public Broadcasting
Volkswagen Releases Final Offer to Pressure UAW
Finally, as the UAW attempts to build support for a potential strike at its plant in Chattanooga, Volkswagen is kicking its public relations gear into high speed. The company is claiming that the UAW is refusing to release the company’s “last, best and final” offer to employees.
The UAW is claiming that they won’t release the offer until clerical and technical areas in the offer are corrected.
"Until all that stuff is settled out, how do we bring it back to our workers when the company itself says it's full of clerical errors, and it must be approved by their board before they can make sure it's right?" UAW Local 42 said in a statement.
For more, check out the Chattanooga Times-Free Press.
News & Headlines Elsewhere
- UAW celebrates Stellantis pledge to create 5,000 new jobs.
- Mauser to close striking Chicago facility, affecting 168 employees.
- Is a Broadway strike Imminent? What you need to know.
- With no pay raises in sight, NC teachers group votes to join national union.
- Garment factory fire kills 16 workers in Bangladesh.
- National strike by Belgium's big unions hits public transport, airports, and ships.
- Greece sees 2nd general strike this month as unions protest new labor law.
Alright folks, that’s all for today. Keep sending comments, complaints, and cooking recipes to melk@paydayreport.com
