Wash State Legislative Staffers Strike – Iowa Machinists Strike, Inspired by John Deere – Colorado Springs Teachers Walk Out

Machinists strike in Davenport, Iowa (Quad City Times)

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360 Iowa Machinists Strike in Iowa

In Davenport, Iowa, 360 aerospace workers, members of the Machinists Union, went on strike today at Eaton, an aerospace parts supplier. 

After the company proposed that workers cut their pension plans as well as their health care plans, Machinists union members voted to strike with 98% of voters in favor. 

The strike in Davenport comes after workers at a nearby John Deere factory went on a strike that received national attention. 

“When you take a look at all the PR behind the John Deere strike, the Kellogg’s strike, KONE strike, I think that that plays an awful lot and it has kinda changed the mindset of the normal worker. They’re tired, they’re fed up with not getting a fair share,” John Herrig, directing business representative for Machinists District 6, told WQAD. 

For more, check out WQAD. 


Washington State Legislative Staffers Strike
In Washington state, over 50 legislative staffers went out on a sickout strike on Thursday as the legislation granting them the right to collectively bargain stalled in the State Senate. 

“For many decades, the State Legislature has diligently expanded the right to collectively bargain to many in our public workforce,” State Representative Marcus Riccelli told MyNorthwest. “These staff deserve the same rights.” 

For more, check out MyNorthwest.

Colorado Springs Teachers Hold Sickout Strike 

In the conservative bastion of Colorado Springs, hundreds of teachers went on a sickout strike today. 

The strike is to protest the school district removing teachers’ planning periods with the teaching of another class. Meanwhile, the school struggles to find staff. 

Teachers say they are fed up and have had enough. 

“We are already experiencing an exodus of veteran, highly-skilled teachers due to poor pay and benefits,” their union said in a statement.  “We are already unable to fill math and science positions with a qualified candidate, and the district is eliminating one of its last compelling benefits – increased plan time.”

For more, check out KRDO.

News & Strikes Happening Elsewhere  

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About the Author

Mike Elk
Mike Elk is an Emmy-nominated labor reporter and alumni of the Guardian. In addition to filing nearly 2,000 stories from 46 states, Elk traveled with Lula from Sáo Bernando do Campos all the way to the Oval Office in the White House. Credited by the Washington Post for being the first reporter to track the strike wave systematically, Elk started Payday Report using his NLRB settlement from being illegally fired for union organizing in 2015. He lives in his hometown of Pittsburgh and works frequently in Rio de Janeiro, where he attended college at PUC-Rio. He speaks both Portuguese and Pittsburghese fluently. His email is [email protected]

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