The bad times are coming, the hard times are here. But they won’t last forever. If you are a fan of a charity, or a cultural institution, or a news outlet that supports itself via donations, now is a good time to give them some money. Now is an even better time to give money to homeless people, and food kitchens, and friends who have no income, and mutual aid organizations.
If you are not in a union, now is a good time to talk to your union about how it can help not just its own members, but everyone.
[If you need help finding a union organizer to talk to, email me: Hamilton@InTheseTimes.com.]
This Week in Working
Sara Nelson: Our Airline Relief Bill Is a Template for Rescuing Workers Instead of Bailing Out Execs
By Hamilton Nolan
“Nelson, the head of the Association of Flight Attendants and possible future leader of the AFL-CIO, says the aviation industry’s plan to keep all workers on the payroll could be a model for saving all American workers during this crisis.”
What Workers Have Already Won in the Face of Coronavirus
By Mindy Isser
From workplace organizing to eviction moratoriums, it’s time to start planning how to keep the gains that have already been made during this crisis.
The Coronavirus Outbreak Shows the Disgrace of Not Guaranteeing Paid Sick Leave
By Elise Gould
Nothing shows the cruelty and stupidity of America’s lack of paid sick leave like a pandemic.
Call Center Workers Fear For Their Health as They Work in “One Big Germ Pool”
By Hamilton Nolan
Workers at a Consumer Cellular call center in Arizona say that working in a huge building with hundreds of people makes them terrified of catching coronavirus—but they are still expected to work, and have no safety net. We’ll see more of this.
You and Your Boss Have the Same Interests Right Now. That Is a Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunity.
By Hamilton Nolan
The near-complete stoppage of the US economy means that for the first time in living memory, employees and their employers have the same interest: a national economic rescue package that saves everyone. Organized labor can come out of this crisis stronger than ever, if they start planning now.
The Narrow, Ineffective and Wholly Inadequate U.S. Debate about Paid Sick Leave
By Sarah Lazare and Adam Johnson
A review of media coverage of paid sick leave in light of the coronavirus crisis reveals a gaping hole in understanding how big the problem is.
The Culinary Union Faces Its Biggest Test as Coronavirus Shuts Down Vegas
By Hamilton Nolan
Las Vegas is closed. The union that runs Las Vegas is facing its toughest period in history.
The Working People Podcast
(Unlocked) BONUS EPISODE - Candace Wolf: We talk to activist and oral historian Candace Wolf about her self-published book of interviews with workers all over the world, Shifting the Universe, and about working people's birthright to tell their stories. Listen here.
The Big Issue: After The Crisis Abates
Most unions and other labor groups are swamped right now. Their offices are closed and their staff is working at home. They are just trying to hold things together as things fall apart. They very likely have thousands of members losing work right now and they are trying to do what they can for them, today and this week and this month. This kind of crisis atmosphere may not feel conducive to long-term thinking. That’s reasonable. Everyone is trying to survive the moment. I only want to say two things to unions right now, and I will keep it brief.
1) Prepare to organize. The majority of the American workforce is, right this minute, living through an extremely harsh experience with no safety net. People will want a safety net when this is all over. They will want a union. They may not know too much about what unions do—it is our job to tell them. They may not know how to organize a union—it is our job to tell them. But the sentiment is there. Unions need to be ready. When the fires that are burning now are put out and it is safe to emerge, it’s time to organize. Everywhere.
2) Prepare to strike. We are living with the consequences of the systemic inequality that our economic system has perpetuated for decades. The system that we have now is going to result in a lot of people dying from coronavirus, with no good healthcare or sick leave, because they could not afford not to die. Unions are the ones that change that. Unions are the ones that give working people power. Unions have to use the power we have to achieve systemic change after this. This is a demonstration of how high the stakes are. We need more strikes. Strikes work. More strikes make America better in the long run.
When this is done, it will be time to organize, and it will be time to strike. Don’t let it feel like a surprise.
Labor News This Week
If there are any readily apparent heroes (besides health care workers) working through danger during this crisis in order to help the common good, it is grocery store workers. Were all the grocery store workers to panic and stop working--a not totally irrational response now!--the coronavirus crisis would instantly become a starvation crisis as well. The UFCW, the main union of grocery workers, now finds itself with members who have an incredible amount of latent leverage. What will grocery workers get for their heroism in this crisis? There have been some patchy gains already: Minnesota and Vermont classified grocery workers as emergency workers, entitling them to child care and other benefits; some locals are negotiating enhanced benefits, particularly relating to paid sick leave; some grocery chains are granting pay increases; the national union is supporting broad calls for greater sick leave and unemployment benefits. But there are no real across-the-board rewards--or appropriate protections--for grocery workers as a result of their service. Grocery chains have been making unusually high profits as Americans stock up because of their fears, but big chains like Kroger have offered workers a paltry $25 gift card as their benefit. There is no justice if grocery workers do not all come out of this with better pay and better health care and better benefits. The time to demand those is while the crisis is still ongoing, rather than after it has passed--when companies will be only too happy to give every employee a certificate that says “Thank you!” and then tell them to get back to work, or get out. Get your reward now!
There are many stories right now about workers in specific stores or companies or industries either being laid off, or forced to work and put themselves at risk, or rising up against working now. A few: Target workers are scared. Cell phone store workers are scared. University librarians are scared. Delivery workers are scared. GameStop is putting workers at risk. Uber has been forcing drivers to work so much they sleep in their cars. Starbucks workers beg the company to close its stores. Unionized workers at Voice Media Group have been hit with a unilateral 25% pay cut. Amazon warehouse workers in Queens shut down their own warehouse after a worker tested positive for coronavirus.
Layoffs are everywhere, and will increase by the day and by the week for the foreseeable future. Unite Here, which has many hotel and casino workers, says that up to 90% of its members could be laid off soon. The most shocking thing about that statistic is that they won’t be the only union to see such impact. Which is not even to mention the 90% of workers who don’t have a union. We need an enormous, historic economic salvation package from the federal government. Or else we’re going back to the land, and starting some real live urban anarchy (the positive kind).
The NLRB has suspended all union elections indefinitely. Another good reason to never go to the NLRB, which under Republican administrations exists to oppress working people.
Last night, the graduate student workers of Columbia University voted 96% “Yes” (1833-77) to authorize a strike.
The West Virginia AFL-CIO did not endorse the candidate for governor whose entire campaign is based on organizing a progressive grassroots movement; instead it endorsed the same person that Joe Manchin endorsed. Interesting.
If you’re looking for another labor newsletter to subscribe to, try the Strikewave newsletter. You cannot have too much FREE news right now.
By Hamilton Nolan
“Nelson, the head of the Association of Flight Attendants and possible future leader of the AFL-CIO, says the aviation industry’s plan to keep all workers on the payroll could be a model for saving all American workers during this crisis.”
What Workers Have Already Won in the Face of Coronavirus
By Mindy Isser
From workplace organizing to eviction moratoriums, it’s time to start planning how to keep the gains that have already been made during this crisis.
The Coronavirus Outbreak Shows the Disgrace of Not Guaranteeing Paid Sick Leave
By Elise Gould
Nothing shows the cruelty and stupidity of America’s lack of paid sick leave like a pandemic.
Call Center Workers Fear For Their Health as They Work in “One Big Germ Pool”
By Hamilton Nolan
Workers at a Consumer Cellular call center in Arizona say that working in a huge building with hundreds of people makes them terrified of catching coronavirus—but they are still expected to work, and have no safety net. We’ll see more of this.
You and Your Boss Have the Same Interests Right Now. That Is a Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunity.
By Hamilton Nolan
The near-complete stoppage of the US economy means that for the first time in living memory, employees and their employers have the same interest: a national economic rescue package that saves everyone. Organized labor can come out of this crisis stronger than ever, if they start planning now.
The Narrow, Ineffective and Wholly Inadequate U.S. Debate about Paid Sick Leave
By Sarah Lazare and Adam Johnson
A review of media coverage of paid sick leave in light of the coronavirus crisis reveals a gaping hole in understanding how big the problem is.
The Culinary Union Faces Its Biggest Test as Coronavirus Shuts Down Vegas
By Hamilton Nolan
Las Vegas is closed. The union that runs Las Vegas is facing its toughest period in history.
The Working People Podcast
(Unlocked) BONUS EPISODE - Candace Wolf: We talk to activist and oral historian Candace Wolf about her self-published book of interviews with workers all over the world, Shifting the Universe, and about working people's birthright to tell their stories. Listen here.
The Big Issue: After The Crisis Abates
Most unions and other labor groups are swamped right now. Their offices are closed and their staff is working at home. They are just trying to hold things together as things fall apart. They very likely have thousands of members losing work right now and they are trying to do what they can for them, today and this week and this month. This kind of crisis atmosphere may not feel conducive to long-term thinking. That’s reasonable. Everyone is trying to survive the moment. I only want to say two things to unions right now, and I will keep it brief.
1) Prepare to organize. The majority of the American workforce is, right this minute, living through an extremely harsh experience with no safety net. People will want a safety net when this is all over. They will want a union. They may not know too much about what unions do—it is our job to tell them. They may not know how to organize a union—it is our job to tell them. But the sentiment is there. Unions need to be ready. When the fires that are burning now are put out and it is safe to emerge, it’s time to organize. Everywhere.
2) Prepare to strike. We are living with the consequences of the systemic inequality that our economic system has perpetuated for decades. The system that we have now is going to result in a lot of people dying from coronavirus, with no good healthcare or sick leave, because they could not afford not to die. Unions are the ones that change that. Unions are the ones that give working people power. Unions have to use the power we have to achieve systemic change after this. This is a demonstration of how high the stakes are. We need more strikes. Strikes work. More strikes make America better in the long run.
When this is done, it will be time to organize, and it will be time to strike. Don’t let it feel like a surprise.
Labor News This Week
If there are any readily apparent heroes (besides health care workers) working through danger during this crisis in order to help the common good, it is grocery store workers. Were all the grocery store workers to panic and stop working--a not totally irrational response now!--the coronavirus crisis would instantly become a starvation crisis as well. The UFCW, the main union of grocery workers, now finds itself with members who have an incredible amount of latent leverage. What will grocery workers get for their heroism in this crisis? There have been some patchy gains already: Minnesota and Vermont classified grocery workers as emergency workers, entitling them to child care and other benefits; some locals are negotiating enhanced benefits, particularly relating to paid sick leave; some grocery chains are granting pay increases; the national union is supporting broad calls for greater sick leave and unemployment benefits. But there are no real across-the-board rewards--or appropriate protections--for grocery workers as a result of their service. Grocery chains have been making unusually high profits as Americans stock up because of their fears, but big chains like Kroger have offered workers a paltry $25 gift card as their benefit. There is no justice if grocery workers do not all come out of this with better pay and better health care and better benefits. The time to demand those is while the crisis is still ongoing, rather than after it has passed--when companies will be only too happy to give every employee a certificate that says “Thank you!” and then tell them to get back to work, or get out. Get your reward now!
There are many stories right now about workers in specific stores or companies or industries either being laid off, or forced to work and put themselves at risk, or rising up against working now. A few: Target workers are scared. Cell phone store workers are scared. University librarians are scared. Delivery workers are scared. GameStop is putting workers at risk. Uber has been forcing drivers to work so much they sleep in their cars. Starbucks workers beg the company to close its stores. Unionized workers at Voice Media Group have been hit with a unilateral 25% pay cut. Amazon warehouse workers in Queens shut down their own warehouse after a worker tested positive for coronavirus.
Layoffs are everywhere, and will increase by the day and by the week for the foreseeable future. Unite Here, which has many hotel and casino workers, says that up to 90% of its members could be laid off soon. The most shocking thing about that statistic is that they won’t be the only union to see such impact. Which is not even to mention the 90% of workers who don’t have a union. We need an enormous, historic economic salvation package from the federal government. Or else we’re going back to the land, and starting some real live urban anarchy (the positive kind).
The NLRB has suspended all union elections indefinitely. Another good reason to never go to the NLRB, which under Republican administrations exists to oppress working people.
Last night, the graduate student workers of Columbia University voted 96% “Yes” (1833-77) to authorize a strike.
The West Virginia AFL-CIO did not endorse the candidate for governor whose entire campaign is based on organizing a progressive grassroots movement; instead it endorsed the same person that Joe Manchin endorsed. Interesting.
If you’re looking for another labor newsletter to subscribe to, try the Strikewave newsletter. You cannot have too much FREE news right now.
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