Today's Workplace

Time 2021-01-15 23:11:03

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The labor movement’s pundits and prognosticators ring in the New Year like commentators anywhere. They make pronouncements about what “will” happen and what “should” happen to revitalize the shrinking U.S. trade union movement.The best opportunity to involve union members in 2021 will be through the large-scale collective bargaining agreements that are due to expire this year. Economic struggles remain the center of gravity for the U.S. working class and its organized members in particular. An analysis of the collective bargaining calendar points us in the direction of where those struggles are most likely to occur.This year, 450 collective bargaining agreements covering more than 200 union members apiece will expire, according to Bloomberg, which maintains the most comprehensive database of expiring agreements outside of the AFL-CIO. Of these, 160 agreements cover more than 1,000 workers.These 450 contracts, involving more thana million and a half workers, are an ideal opportunity for the labor movement to showcase our power and the advantages of collective bargaining.Agreements covering 200,000 health care workers will expire. In the public sector 161,000 municipal workers, 112,000 state workers, and 100,000 school employees have contracts expiring.Most of these workers have been on the front lines providing essential services during the pandemic. But with the economy sinking, employers will be preaching austerity and looking for concessions. There are likely to be many contentious negotiations, some leading to vigorous contract campaigns or strikes.Union leaders and rank-and-file members need to brace themselves for the coming battles. These contract campaigns—and some inevitable strikes—will offer the best opportunity for the labor movement to build class consciousness and recast our unions as vehicles to advance wages and working conditions—or at a minimum, maintain them.The single largest contract is the Postal Workers (APWU) agreement with the U.S. Postal Service that expires in September, covering 200,000 workers. Another USPS agreement with the Rural Letter Carriers, covering 131,000 workers, expires in May.The 50-state scope of these agreements, and postal workers’ newly evident status as providers of a service essential to our democracy, make their contract fights a natural for nationwide solidarity. While it’s unlikely (though not impossible) that there will be a strike, given the legal straitjacket imposed on postal unions and their scant recent history of shop floor militancy, the reform leadership at the helm of the APWU is committed to workplace contract campaigns and outreach to the public. Postal workers have plenty to be mad about—months of forced overtime, intense understaffing, jammed mail plants, attacks from a hostile new Postmaster General, and a two-tiered workforce—and they’re very visible in every community of this country.There will also be state and regional opportunities to build solidarity among workers in different unions who may be facing common problems or making similar demands. With 52 expiring agreements covering more than 200 members, California is the state with the most opportunity for geographic solidarity, closely followed by Washington (36), Pennsylvania (35), and New York (32).An even better possibility for synergies is at the metropolitan level. Cities with the most expiring agreements over 200 members are New York (16 contracts), Minneapolis-St. Paul (12), Seattle (11), and Portland (8). Of course, there are many smaller expiring agreements in these cities that could also be included in any metro solidarity initiative.There are a few other large multistate agreements that might lend themselves to a national focus:Kaiser Permanente’s agreement with a coalition of unions representing 45,000 workers expires in September.United Airlines’ agreement with the Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), covering 25,000 workers, expires in July.The school bus company First Student’s agreement with the Teamsters, covering 20,000 workers, expires in March.Throughout 2021, the TV networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) have big agreements that expire with SAG/AFTRA, CWA-NABET, and the Electrical Workers (IBEW).The struggles for new agreements will also be labor’s best opportunity to showcase the advantages of collective bargaining to not-yet-union workers. As millions of union workers get into motion to resist austerity and win Covid-19 protections, the unorganized will be watching—and evaluating the efficacy of uniting with their co-workers.In our experience, unorganized workers are generally attracted to unions that engage in contract campaigns and strikes. For example,after the 1997 Teamsters UPS strike, workers at FedEx, Overnite, and many other freight and delivery companies were inspired to try to form unions with the Teamsters.To the extent that unions make our struggles in the public interest andfor “the common good,”contract expirations offer an opportunity to build alliances with patients, parents and students, subway and bus riders, and people who depend on state and municipal services.Who can dismiss the importance and bravery of bus drivers and train operators during the pandemic? There’s never been more public support for the 67,000 transportation workers who are going to the table nationwide in 2021.Thousands of other workers who were deemed essential during Covid-19 will soon square off against their employers too: 37,000 airline workers in seven agreements (plus 2,500 pilots who fly for UPS and 4,000 who fly for FedEx), 27,600 construction workers in 16 agreements, and 48,500 grocery workers in 17 agreements.The biggest grocery agreement, with Kroger, covers 20,000 Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) members in the Greater Cincinnati area. These negotiations come after a year when consumers have gained a new appreciation for frontline supermarket workers for their pandemic shopping needs and deliveries.In recent years, union bargaining teams have brought their “constituents” (customers, patients, students) directly to the table to raise their shared concerns for the staffing and skills needed to maintain or improve services. What better way to educate our allies about collective bargaining and show management a broader united front than to bring them into bargaining with us?With more than 300 of the agreements expiring on or after June 1, union leaders and activists have ample to time to prepare. The biggest expiration months are June (140), August (43), and December (38).In recent years, teachers have been the most militant sector of the labor movement. The National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) respectively have 71 and 39 school agreements up in 2021 that cover more than 200 members each, collectively involving 77,500 K-12 educators and support personnel.Imagine the movement that might emerge from holding joint meetings of leaders and activists from these 100-plus unions to share strategies and coordinate bargaining demands. Not to mention representatives from unions covered under the many smaller expiring agreements, who could also be invited to participate.The 224,400 health care workers and 40,600 nurses with expiring contracts—who are unfortunately spread out among nine different national or international unions (AFSCME, AFT, National Nurses United, Communications Workers, National Union of Healthcare Workers, Operating Engineers, Service Employees, Teamsters, and UFCW)—have a similar opportunity. The need for improved coordination and information sharing in the health care industry has never been greater.We’ve just been through an election cycle where many Democratic politicians pledged to support unions and collective bargaining. Some even showed up to picket lines and union rallies. They must have remembered the powerful boost that Bernie Sanders got from assisting the Verizon strike during his 2016 run for the Democratic nomination.Our contract negotiations can assume a political character with the support of politicians. But beyond perfunctory appearances, it’s time for supposedly pro-union elected officials to weigh in by regulating the ability of corporate owners to repress labor action. Should public pension funds finance strikebreakers? Should police herd scabs? The power of the state at the local, state, and federal level can help swing the outcome of many labor disputes.The historic Senate election of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in Georgia has put the Democratic Party in control of Congress and the White House. Many union members will be hoping for passage of theProtecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. Against the backdrop of this push for labor law reform, these 450 expiring contracts could take on an even greater political character.Putting aside whether labor law reform can pass in a very divided Congress, many in labor hope “Scranton Joe” Biden will be a powerful cheerleader for unions and use his executive power to aid his allies. Top priority on our list would be a $15 minimum wage and union neutrality for employees of federal contractors.As an example, the president could use his bully pulpit to voice forceful support for the tens of thousands of essential workers with expiring contracts who have been recognized as heroes of the pandemic. And with more federal-level support, local elected officials could be urged to use state and municipal regulations to help workers gain additional bargaining leverage.In each sector of the economy, unions can strengthen their arguments by pointing to the public largesse their employers received during the pandemic, or the essential services their members provide. As is both usual and necessary, members themselves will be the very best ambassadors to make the case to the public.The best way to convey the economic significance and high drama of these collective bargaining struggles onto the political landscape is “swarming solidarity.”That means getting union activists and other friends of labor to rally in support of each other’s struggles by marching on picket lines, testifying at city council and state hearings, writing letters, and showing support on social media. It was the core tenet of Jobs with Justice’s “I’ll Be There” pledge and the AFL-CIO’s “Street Heat” in the ’80s and ’90s.For example, successful supermarket strikes have always involved other unions adopting stores and picketing to keep their members and their families from crossing the lines as hungry consumers.Imagine if all the pro-union members of the California legislature showed up at airports to support striking airline workers? Or if those legislators confronted store managers while 5,000 UFCW members picketed after their contracts expire in July at Rite-Aid stores? These kinds of creative solidarity can propel labor struggles into the public consciousness and force a “which side are you on?” moment for the American public and elected officials.Labor Notes’ subscribers and its conference participants are a great network of activists well positioned to assist unions in a broad mobilization. Other networks that could be enlisted include Jobs with Justice coalitions, central labor councils, occupational safety and health (COSH) networks, branches of the Democratic Socialists of America, Labor for Bernie supporters, and the relatively new Labor Action to Defend Democracy.Labor leaders and activists everywhere need to study the national, regional, and local bargaining schedules—and get everyone to mark their calendars with expiration dates. It’s time to reach out to local union leaders and begin making plans to expand their collective bargaining campaigns. There is ample time now, months in advance, to make plans for “swarming solidarity” and begin aggressive support for the key upcoming contract battles. Labor should not squander these important opportunities in 2021 and beyond.About the Author: Rand Wilsonis chief of staff at SEIU Local 888. He was communications coordinator for the Teamsters’ 1997 UPS strike. About the Author: Peter Olneyis retired Organizing Director at the ILWU, currently working with a national network of Amazon employees and organizers.Share this post U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue said Tuesday that a broad-based economic recovery in 2021 depends on reskilling and supporting workers. The usually conservative Chamber is embracing a radical shift on skills policy. “Our lawmakers should fund rapid training programs to connect the unemployed with jobs in new sectors,” Donohue said in a State of American Business address.Employers should take a lead in designing these programs, Donohue said, but said the benefits to workers would be clear-cut: “If we do this right and do it quickly, we will improve the living standard for millions of Americans.” Trade unions agree, but insist the federal government thinks big.“We can’t think about (it) employer by employer,”said Mary Kay Henry, international president of the Service Employees International Union. Six million fast food and care workers “are living in poverty and have irregular schedules,” leaving them without access to lifelong learning opportunities in the current system, she said.“Imagine a system where the company, the government and the workers together thought about how to unlock those four million people, and train them to do the work that’s emerging in the future,” Henry said. Singapore’s citizens don’t have to imagine it: that’s what SkillsFuture, the country’s adult education government agency, delivers.Ong Tze Ch’in, who leads the Singaporean program,told POLITICO’s Global Translations podcastthat the Singaporean government has built “a national movement about the pursuit of skills mastery and allowing every individual to achieve the maximum potential.” At the heart of Singapore’s training efforts is a credit offered to every adult in the country, of between $375 and $950, and “absentee payroll,” a system of government funding for up to 90 percent of a worker’s salary covering work-time missed attending training.Singapore also subsidizes its education providers up to 90 percent of the cost of delivering a course. The courses range from two-day workshops to months-long programs. The original intent was ensuring Singapore’s quick transition to a digital economy. To cope with the additional disruption of Covid-19, the government increased subsidies for mid-career workers and for courses focused on job skills for workers and industries hit hardest by the pandemic such as accommodation and aviation. It takes a whole-of-government mindset to implement a comprehensive system like Singapore’s, and also a new outlook on education, Ong said. School and universities aren’t considered the sum of Singapore’s system, they’re “pre-employment training,” he said. It’s a necessary distinction in Ong’s view because working lives are getting longer, and “that education alone no longer sustains you for your entire career, simply because industry cycles are changing so much faster.”The biggest winners in Singapore’s system are smaller businesses and their workers, which lack the “critical mass and the capacities” to match the training programs of multinational companies, he said.Ong, who was Singapore’s director of military intelligence before taking charge of SkillsFuture, advised American policymakers not to delay their efforts. “You don’t grow an army in a day. You grow it over years so that when you need it, you have it.”The key is re-imagining education as a broader set of services beyond school and college, say many labor experts. “Lots of skills workers have, or need, are not about getting more degrees,” said McKinsey Global Institute’s James Manyika.Ravi Kumar, President of Infosys, the Indian company that became famous for encouraging the tech outsourcing boom, told POLITICO that Infosys now runs “the largest corporate training university in the world,” in Bangalore, India.Each market has to be treated differently, according to the local skills base, Kumar said. In the U.S. he said he hires based on a student’s capacity to learn, rather than the brand name of their degree. “We’re moving from degrees to skills with our digital apprenticeship program” — which includes “a finishing school infrastructure,” of eight to 10 weeks of tailored training, at a cost of around $20,000 per student.“We’re hiring from community colleges, and putting them in the apprentice program, so they can move from operations to a data scientist, and from cyber operations to a cyber security consultant. You give them stackable credentials.” Over the next few decades, Kumar believes the changes will be so specific and frequent that individuals won’t be able to manage them on their own.P-TECHis a large-scale public-private partnership trying to take on this challenge. Started by IBM in Brooklyn a decade ago, the partnership now operates in 28 countries. Joel Duran was part of the first class to graduate from P-TECH’s six-year program in 2017, with both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree. Duran, now 23, landed a technical consultant job working for IBM’s federal government clients, an outcome he said would have been harder to achieve without the structure and safety net provided by P-TECH.“From the first day that you started out at P-TECH in ninth grade, you are paired with a mentor,” he told the Global Translations podcast, and take part in regular work placements where “you are depended upon by the business.” With a salary of $14 an hour as a teenager in these work placements, Duran said he also had income to help support his wider family, some of whom immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic when Duran was in primary school, and some who remained behind.Duran said the skills he’s learned are portable in a fast-moving labor market. Some of his graduating class “took their two-year technical degree and they went on to med school, they went on to be lawyers. I know there was one student who went and studied wildlife.” For Duran, the lasting effect has been on his approach to work. “I’ve picked up the mindset to always keep learning, to show up in a room humble and be able to say, ‘I don’t know about this, but I can get back to you’ and I’m pretty confident that I can learn it.” This blog originally appeared at Politico on January 13, 2020. Reprinted with permission.About the Author: Ryan Heath is the author of Global Translations, POLITICO’s global newsletter and podcast, and previously authored POLITICO’s U.N. Playbook, Brussels Playbook, and Davos Playbook.Share this post Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.With the pandemic hitting everyone economically, the members of the Alaska Public Employees Association/AFT elected to do what they could, paying off thousands of dollars of school meal balances.“The Juneau Education Support Staff (JESS) Local 6096 Executive Board started thinking about how to use the money in April. We all wanted to help families and students in the community, and as the pandemic continued we started realizing how everyone needed to have some kindness come into their lives—they needed good news,” said Catherine Pusich, the board’s public relations officer.The union paid off the balances for 564 students, totaling $7,446. Letters went out in the days before Christmas letting students and families know of the donation.“We have been able to see firsthand how this pandemic has affected some of our more vulnerable students, and this donation from JESS will at least take one thing off the table that they will not have to worry about,” said Elizabeth White, a union member and meal cashier at Sayèik: Gastineau Community School. “We are pleased that they saw fit to use the money to take care of the families that are close to our hearts.” This blog originally appeared at AFL-CIO on January 11, 2020. Reprinted with permission.About the Author: Kenneth Quinnellis a long-time blogger, campaign staffer and political activist whose writings have appeared on AFL-CIO, Daily Kos, Alternet, the Guardian Online, Media Matters for America, Think Progress, Campaign for America’s Future and elsewhere.Share this post The Animal Legal Defense Fund Is Busting Its Union With a Smile Posted on January 14, 2021January 14, 2021 by Hamilton Nolan TheAnimal Legal Defense Fund(ALDF) is amajor nonprofit that boasts of its more than40years of?“tireless pursuit ofjusticefor animals.” When it comes to the pursuit of justice for working humans, however, its own employees say that it is badly failing thetest.In mid-December, ALDF’s employees told the organization’s management that they intended to unionize with theNonprofit Professional Employees Union, adivision of theIFPTE. They presented signed union cards representing a?“super majority” of the54-person staff, and asked for the ALDF to voluntarily recognize their union. Such voluntary recognition has become standard in the nonprofit world?—?the NPEU says that of the35nonprofits it’s organized, only two have refused to recognize theirunions.One of those two is the ALDF. According to employees and the NPEU, the ALDF responded to the news of the union drive by hiring the anti-union law firmOgletree Deakinsand embarking on aunion-busting campaign that is now in full swing. That campaign has centered on an ongoing series of?“captive audience meetings” in which managers gather employees in small groups to try to persuade them not to unionize, atactic common among corporations intent on intimidating and misleading workers who seek toorganize.An ALDF employee who supports the union, and who asked not to be identified due to fear of retaliation at work, said that the union drive came about because of the sort of disillusionment common in the nonprofit world, where people find that what they had seen as a?“dream job” actually is nothing of the sort. After the killing of George Floyd, the staff’s dissatisfaction with what they saw as the organization’s?“lukewarm, half-ass” response?—?as well as aperception of unfair pay rates, and inequitable treatment by managers?—?led directly to the desire to unionize in order to have astronger voice in the workplace.?“The people who control most of these [animal rights] organizations are largely white, and largely wealthy,” and uninterested in scrutinizing the flaws of ALDF itself, the employee said.?“This is ahuge problem for us. We’re alegal organization, so justice is paramount among our concerns… They think of us as being expendable because we have such covetedjobs.”The ALDF did not respond to arequest for comment from itsmanagement.The organizing drive gathered steam through the summer, working in tandem with the NPEU, which has led anexplosion of organizing among nonprofitsover the past two years. The employee says that it became clear that management knew about the drive by late October, so the unit made sure to present alarge majority of signed union cards in December to make it?“unambiguous that this is what people want.” Nevertheless, just before Christmas, management called ameeting and told everyone they would not be recognizing theunion.Employees are upset that ALDF chose to hire Ogletree Deakins, thesameanti-union firm that the ACLU of Kansas hired last year to fight its own employee organizing drive?—?particularly because the firm works with clients in industrial agriculture, which employees see as being antithetical to ALDF’s mission. Though firms like Ogletree Deakins typically work to ensure that the employer’s anti-union campaign is as scary as possible while still following the letter of the law, they are not immune from comedy; ALDF employees found out about the firm’s involvement when amanager accidentally CC’d staffers on an email with an Ogletree attorney discussing details of an anti-unionmeeting.“Anything short of recognizing your staff union in this political environment is union busting,” says Kayla Blado, the president of NPEU.?“Management there doesn’t want to cede power to workers. They are using pretty infamous union busting tactics, the same things you see at big companies.” Blado says that the ALDF is not only forcing its employees to file for an NLRB election in order to certify their union?—?a process which will likely take months?—?it is also trying to challenge the size of the union, arguing to the NLRB that the number of eligible employees should be cut by afull two-thirds, which Blado calls?“insulting.”Employees at ALDF shared withIn These Timesnotes that they took during three separate captive audience meetings with different managers. They paint apicture of anonprofit using astandard anti-union playbook that would not be out of place at Walmart or an Amazon warehouse: amix of encouraging comments about how management values employees’ opinions and that aunion is not necessary to communicate with them directly, along with fearmongering statements painting the union as apredatory outside entity that is only out for dues money. Managers alternate between insisting that they want employees to speak up and change the organization from within, disparaging the NPEU, and warning that forcing the ALDF into bargaining with the union does not mean that employees will actually make any gains. One meeting even features the highest form of the anti-union meeting genre?—?the assurances that the people delivering the anti-union message are, in fact, strong believers inunions.At one point, amanager describes the ALDF’s outside attorney as?“a really liberal blue guy,” adding,?“He’s amanagement-side attorney, no doubt about it, but he’s just not aunion-buster.” At another point, ALDF executive directorStephen Wells, who is leading the group’s decision to fight against the union, is described as?“a really pro-unionguy.”“It’s not like he’s an anti-union person,” the speaker says of Wells.?“He’s really liberal, he’s reallyprogressive.”Depending on how long it takes to settle legal arguments at the NLRB and schedule afinal vote, workers could be in for another two months or more of these sorts of meetings. Still, the ALDF employee says that the union-busting has not changed any minds, and is confident that the union will win.?“It’s making people madder and more dedicated,” the employee says.?“This is an act of love for thisorganization.” This blog originally appeared at In These Times on January 13, 2020. Reprinted with permission.About the Author: Hamilton Nolan is alabor reporter forIn These Times. He has spent the past decade writing about labor and politics for Gawker, Splinter, The Guardian, and elsewhere.Share this post In America, Business Profits Come First Over the Pandemic Posted on January 13, 2021January 13, 2021 by Sonali Kolhatkar Los Angeles, California, is now considered one of the worst COVID-19 hotspots in the nation. LA mayorEric Garcettiassessed grimly that there is one new infection every six seconds and a death every 10 minutes from the virus. Hospitals are turning away ambulances, and health facilities in LA County are quite literallyrunning out of oxygen. But last spring, as the pandemic was first declared, the city was an early adopter ofmandated mask wearingand benefitted fromCaliforniaenacting the first statewide shelter-in-place order that helped curb the worst spread of the virus. So, what happened?There is apossibilitythat the deadly surge in cases may be a result of a new, more transmissible strain of the virus circulating in the area. But more likely the spread is the result of the message that authorities are sending of a premature return to normalcy. As social media platforms are filled with angry Angelenos blaming and shaming one another for brazenly vacationing and flouting social distancing guidelines, in truth, the burst of infections is the price that officials are willing to pay for ensuring that corporate profits are protected.California’slatest shelter-in-place orderis quite different from its first one. Whereas in March 2020 the state ordered allnon-essential businessesto remain closed, in early December, at the peak of the holiday shopping season, all retail stores were allowed to remain open, even as outdoor parks were closed. So outraged were Californians by the obvious double standards that state officials caved andreopened parks—instead of shutting down retail stores.Predictably, infections at malls soared as shoppers, eager to salvage Christmas,rubbed elbowswith one another in their rush to fulfill holiday wishes. After all, authorities had okayed such actions, so they must be safe, right? Rather than enact strict rules to prevent such congregating, some Californians rightfully terrified of the disease simply blamed the shoppers. Even LA County health services director Dr. Christina Ghaly told the Los Angeles Times, “If you’re still out there shopping for your loved ones for this holiday season… then you are missing the gravity of the situation that is affecting hospitals across LA County. Though they may seem benign, these actions are extremely high-risk.” LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said to Angelenos, “stay home,” but has refused to consider shutting down non-essential businesses.In other words, officials kept retail stores open but then chastised residents for shopping. There are two ways to interpret the muddled messaging. If authorities are allowing all businesses to remain open, surely it must be safe to frequent them. Or, authorities are being driven by financial stakes, not public health, so surely it is not possible to trust them.Hollywood is another exercise in contradictions. While new films and TV shows were not considered essential last year, production has now resumed. Why? Simply put, “there is too much money at stake,” in the words of one TV producer. State and local authorities have the power to stop production in the interest of public health, but rather than exercise that power, theyasked companies to volunteerto halt their projects. Now that the virus has spread so far and has caused so much suffering and death, even Hollywood has decidedmaybe it is not a good ideato continue filming. But is it too late?American society is ruled by the right of businesses to make money above all else. And while for a few months in 2020 it seemed as though we prioritized public health and well-being by shutting down large swaths of the country and passing the modestCARES Act, that did not last. Lost in the horrifying surge of cases and mounting death toll is the stark fact that authorities have chosen to sacrifice human life at the altar of corporate profits. By their logic, if anyone is to blame, it is the individual American who has brought the disease upon themselves by simply making the wrong choices. It is the American way.TakeJohn Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, an elite grocery chain favored by wealthy and health-conscious Americans. According to Mackey, there is no need for health care services. “The best solution is to change the way people eat, the way they live, the lifestyle, and diet,” he said in a recent interview. He added, “There’s no reason why people shouldn’t be healthy and have a longer health span. A bunch of drugs is not going to solve the problem.” Tell that to the seemingly healthy people among us who contract dangerous diseases like cancer and need the kind of chemotherapy drugs that do precisely that—help “solve the problem” of cancer.Mackey’s logic is consistent with that of the new pro-business “shelter-in-place” orders in California, which effectively send the message that if you catch COVID-19, it is your fault, not the fault of the indoor mall that was allowed to remain open.Businesses do need to continue operating if they want to make money. But large corporations have amassed so much wealth through theRepublican Party’s tax giveawaysthat surely those in non-essential industries can survive for a year or two while remaining closed and dip into their assets without threatening their bottom line.The situation is of course far different for small businesses that operate on razor-thin margins and are easily plunged into bankruptcy with just a few months of forced closures. But surely the world’s richest government can pay such businesses to remain closed so that they can reopen safely once the danger is over.European nations have paid workersto stay at home—an obvious solution to curbing the virus.AnNBC Newsarticle compared the U.S. response to other nations, making the point that “unlike Western Europe and Canada, the U.S. is asking citizens to face the COVID-19 pandemic without any additional financial cushion from the government.” One epidemiologist told the outlet, “I know multiple industries have been lobbying governors to stay open because closing means a huge loss of income to business owners and employees, even if it would be the best thing to do from a public health perspective.”Indeed, California has allowed businesses to remain open in part because of a dangerous decline in tax revenues and a lack of federal government funding to states to make up for pandemic-related losses. Again, authorities have chosen the sink-or-swim approach to business and public health. Why pay people to stay at home and remain safe when those individuals can simply risk their lives in the service of profit? After all, it is the same logic that has driven the relentless shredding of thepre-pandemic safety net programsfor economically struggling Americans.There is much hand wringing, blaming and shaming the individual, and general confusion over why COVID-19 is continuing to claim so many lives. But to understand the real reason for the ever-increasing death toll, look no further than the American way of leaving citizens to fend for themselves in the service of capitalism. This blog originally appeared at Independent Media Institute on January 8, 2020. Reprinted with permission.About the Author: Sonali Kolhatkar is the founder, host and executive producer of“Rising Up With Sonali,”a television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations.Share this post Economy Loses 140,000 Jobs in December; Unemployment Remains at 6.7% Posted on January 13, 2021January 13, 2021 by Kenneth Quinnell The U.S. economy lost 140,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate remained at 6.7%,according to figures released Fridaymorningby the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The losses reflect an increase in cases related to the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to respond to the pandemic.AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler (IBEW) pointed out the important takeaway from the new numbers: Beyond the headline: BLACK AND LATINA women accounted for all net job losses. Women of color have faced an infuriatingly disproportionate economic fallout from COVID-19. #1u https://t.co/20KBgBkR4v— Liz Shuler (@lizshuler) January 9, 2021In response to the December job numbers, AFL-CIO Chief Economist William Spriggs tweeted: The @BLS_gov reported that 15.8 million persons reported they lost work during the previous four weeks because COVID affected their employer, an increase of 1 million over November. @AFLCIO #JobsDay— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) January 8, 2021While temporary layoffs increased in December, the number reporting working less than full-time, but wanting full-time work fell by 471,000 according to the @BLS_gov @AFLCIO #JobsDay— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) January 8, 2021In a reversal, in December the number of unemployed reporting being on temporary layoff increased by 277,000 while those reporting permanent layoff status decreased by 348,000 according to @BLS_gov @AFLCIO #JobsDay— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) January 8, 2021After a string of months of recovery, @BLS_gov reports leisure and hospitality industries reported job losses in December: 327,000 decline for food service and drinking establishments. This is a big set back for those workers. @AFLCIO #JobsDay— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) January 8, 2021The year-over-year change in hourly wages reported by the @BLS_gov for December reflects a change in composition of the workforce, with a much bigger drop in the low wage sectors leading the change. Look at how nominal wages in manufacturing are flat. @AFLCIO #JobsDay pic.twitter.com/Jh1QI1bNpT— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) January 8, 2021The unemployment rate for adult Black women fell from 9.0 to 8.4%, because of a drop in labor force participation (the share employed fell from 55.0 to 54.5%); for adult Black men unemployment fell from 11.2 to 10.4% from job gains. @rolandsmartin— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) January 8, 2021The share of the unemployed who are long-term unemployed (more than 27 weeks) continues to grow. This means a rising share of workers are finding it hard to escape. This will make getting the number to fall harder. And the need to extend unemployment benefit duration essential. pic.twitter.com/xdXozquqBH— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) January 8, 2021President @JoeBiden will be greeted with a labor market that is again deteriorating, having given back its momentum, and now at a level around 2014. It'll have to be rescued again. @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/ClD6VUwHII— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) January 8, 2021The flat employment-to-population ratio over October-November and now December is making the recovery look like a square root sign. Clearly the delay from Mitch McConnell in passing @SpeakerPelosi May economic relief stagnated the labor market. Looking forward to @SenSchumer pic.twitter.com/KUsxLWXW0s— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) January 8, 2021Mitch McConnell held up needed relief because he refused to address this dramatic loss of public sector jobs. A silver lining to the December jobs report is we now have Senate Majority leader @SenSchumer and in 12 days President @JoeBiden pic.twitter.com/bLN3WSVCju— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) January 8, 2021Last month’s biggest job losses were in leisure and hospitality (-498,000), private education (-63,000), government (-45,000) and other services (-22,000). Gains were seen in professional and business services (161,000), retail trade (121,000), construction (51,000), transportation and warehousing (47,000), health care (39,000), manufacturing (38,000) and wholesale trade (25,000). Employment in other major industries, including mining, information and financial activities, showed little change in December.In December, the unemployment rates increased for teenagers (16%) and Hispanics (9.3%). The jobless rates for Black Americans (9.9%), adult men (6.4%), adult women (6.3%), White Americans (6%) and Asian Americans (5.9%) showed little change.The number of long-term unemployed workers (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) rose slightly in December and accounted for 37.1% of the total unemployed. This blog originally appeared atAFL-CIO on January 11, 2021. Reprinted with permission.About the Author: Kenneth Quinnellis a long-time blogger, campaign staffer and political activist whose writings have appeared on AFL-CIO, Daily Kos, Alternet, the Guardian Online, Media Matters for America, Think Progress, Campaign for America’s Future and elsewhere.For months, Penny Burroughs kept a close eye on working conditions at PCI Pharma Services and worried about her colleagues contracting COVID-19.Burroughs and other representatives of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 286 collaborated with the pharmaceutical packaging company on intensive safety plans—including on-site medical care and a shuttle service—to protect workers.And because these cooperative, proactive measures helped to keep the virus out of the Philadelphia plant, PCI had hundreds of healthy, energized workers ready to leap into action when pharmaceutical manufacturers sought assistancepackaging and distributingCOVID-19 vaccines.While the pandemic drove home the need to reinvigorate the nation’s manufacturing base, it also underscored employers’ obligation to keep Americans safe on the job.Since the first shipment of vaccines arrived at PCI’s facility in November 2020—escorted by U.S. marshals—its workers have already helped to distribute “hundreds of thousands” of life-saving doses.Even as they do their part to battle the pandemic, Burroughs and her colleagues also continue labeling, assembling, packaging and shipping their regular customers’ orders for items like blood pressure medications, auto-injectors, over-the-counter pain relievers and other products that consumers still need every day.Union members always performed their jobs with the utmost diligence, realizing that the medications they provide to hospitals, doctors’ offices and pharmacies helped to keep fellow Americans—maybe even their own friends and family members—well.But the exceptional dedication and loyalty they demonstrated during the pandemic highlighted just how much the company relies on them.Helping to distribute COVID-19 vaccines—a process that involves labeling the vials before packaging them for shipment—created new levels of pride and enthusiasm at the plant.“It’s an exciting job, a very important job,” said Burroughs, a shop steward and packer who’s worked at PCI for 35 years and considers her coworkers a second family. “It’s something that’s going to be in the history books.”Many companies across the country refused to takebasic safety precautionsto prevent the spread of the virus, recklessly exposing workers and their families to infection and allowingmass infectionsto disrupt production.But PCI and Local 286 recognized early on the importance of protecting workers from the virus and preparing for a possible role in distributing vaccines.Instead of their monthly labor-management meetings, company and union representatives began holding twice-weekly conference calls that allowed them to voice concerns, share ideas, roll out safety initiatives and evaluate the results.Burroughs and her colleagues already wore gloves, gowns and other personal protective equipment (PPE) to prevent contamination of the medications they packaged and shipped. But when the pandemic struck, the company went even further, issuing face shields and installing plexiglass dividers to separate workers accustomed to laboring almost shoulder to shoulder on the production floor.In addition, because the company and union shared a concern about union members contracting the virus during commutes on crowded buses and subway cars, PCI began reimbursing them for Lyft and Uber trips. It also set up a shuttle service that picked workers up at the city’s major bus stops, dropped them at the plant before their shifts and provided return rides afterward.PCI not only checked workers’ temperatures before each shift but brought in a mobile health care unit to provide immediate help with health concerns of all kinds. And the plant, which operates around-the-clock, cut each shift by a half-hour to prevent one group of workers from having unnecessary contact with another at entrances, break rooms and other locations.“This was unprecedented, in my experience,” Local 286 President and Business Manager Carlo Simone Jr. said of the comprehensive safety plans.“They really stepped up. But I think they’re reaping the benefits of doing so in a variety of ways. It benefits them as much as us, no doubt,” Simone said, noting that the safety measures enabled PCI to maintain the robust workforce essential to maintaining regular production while also taking on the emergency vaccine packaging work.PCI, he observed, also had the foresight to make $25 million infacility upgradesin recent years that provided the capacity crucial to handling the vaccine orders.The plant and Local 286—a union that traces its roots in paper and packaging to the 1930s—collaborated so effectively on COVID-19 safety because of a productive relationship they built over many years.Simone takes pride in the rapport he’s built between his local and corporate managers and pursues similar arrangements with other companies employing members of his amalgamated local.“It is the M.O. of this local union to attempt to establish good working relationships with the management of the companies we do business with,” he said. “It has paid dividends, and PCI is the perfect example of that.”“What we basically say to these companies—PCI being one of them—is that we have common goals. We have common interests. It’s not ‘us versus them,’” Simone said.But these good faith efforts accomplish little unless companies also grasp the need for collaboration and strive to be good partners.Burroughs said some of her coworkers proudly tell friends and loved ones about the role they play in defeating the coronavirus.She believes the collaboration that’s kept workers safe and enabled them to distribute COVID-19 vaccines will make the company even stronger, and more competitive, in the future.This blog originally appeared at Independent Media Institute on January 12, 2020. Reprinted with permission.About the Author: Tom Conway is the international president of theUnited Steelworkers Union (USW).Share this post Bay Area Transit Unions Join Forces to Win Safety Protections and Beat Back Layoffs Posted on January 12, 2021January 12, 2021 by Richard Marcantonio Transit workers have been hit hard by the pandemic. Last year at least 100 from the Amalgamated Transit Union and 131 from the Transport Workers lost their lives to Covid-19.Before Covid, transit unions in the Bay Area—six ATU locals, and one local each of TWU and the Teamsters—often faced their individual struggles in isolation. But during the pandemic, these locals united across the region and came together with riders to demand protections for all.That unity forced reluctant politicians to make Covid safety a priority. It also set the stage for the unions and riders to team up again to stave off layoffs. And there are more fights ahead.Transit workers in Detroit, Birmingham, and Richmond, California, were among the first to fight for basic protections for themselves and their riders against coronavirus hazards.In March, a one-day strike by Detroit transit workers at ATU Local 26 won protective gear for drivers, fareless rear-door boarding, and upgraded cleaning of buses.Yet in April, half of surveyed ATU locals still reported that basic protective gear was not provided at all, while 80 percent said service cuts had led to unsafe overcrowding.In September, half of U.S. transit agencies surveyed had cut service levels by 25 percent or more, responding to reduced state and local revenues. Two rounds of federal emergency funding for transit, in March and December, fell $18 billion short of filling the gap. Many systems are facing major new service cuts and layoffs in 2021.While ridership is down, transit remains more important than ever: nationally, it is estimated that 2.8 million transit riders are essential workers.“On a normal day, essential workers account for 38 percent of transit commuters in New York City, 33 percent in Seattle, and 36 percent in Miami,” says the Transit Center, a pro-transit nonprofit. Many other riders are low-income people who depend on transit to get to essential destinations, like hospitals and grocery stores.More than two dozen public transit agencies serve the Bay Area. They include MUNI in San Francisco, Bay Area Rapid Transit, AC Transit in Oakland, Valley Transportation Authority in San Jose, and Golden Gate Transit, which links San Francisco with counties to the north.As a public service, transit depends on government funding. Yet federal support for operations—keeping the buses and trains running—waseliminated in 1998. Since then, federal funding has been restricted to capital projects, like buying buses or building light rail.This austerity led many transit systems to cut service and raise fares. With each new round of cuts, union jobs were eliminated and vacancies left unfilled. A “death spiral” set in: cuts and fare hikes drove riders away; fewer riders meant less revenue.With the onset of the pandemic, transit ridership plummeted, most dramatically on commuter systems that carry white-collar workers to downtown offices. But local service became more important than ever. Today over a third of transit riders are essential workers.In March, the CARES Act earmarked $25 billion for emergency transit funding. Departing from past federal policy, this funding was eligible for operating expenses to keep workers on the payroll.A new regional coalition called Voices for Public Transportation had been taking shape in 2019, bringing togetherunions and ridersto push for more transit funding. When the pandemic hit, this coalition turned its attention to the urgent organizing for safety measures, and participation continued to grow.In the Bay Area, the distribution of $1.3 billion in CARES Act funds among the region’s 25 transit agencies was up to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Transit unions and riders asked MTC to dedicate a portion of those funds to a COVID-19 Response Fund, to pay for such things as deep-cleaning of buses and protective gear for workers and riders.In April, MTC refused. Claiming that ensuring worker and rider safety wasn’t its job, it instead created a Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force. With only two seats on the 32-member task force, labor had reason to doubt that its concerns would be taken seriously.But after an ATU petition demanding strong protections for transit workers and riders got 1,000 signatures, MTC reversed course. In May, Commissioner Jim Spering was forced to commit that the Blue Ribbon Task Force he chaired would make its “first order of business” a plan to protect transit workers and riders from Covid-19.But whose plan? Rather than consult with frontline workers and riders, MTC met secretly with the general managers of the various transit agencies to develop a “Healthy Transit Plan.”When MTC unveiled itsplanin August, workers and riders were angered that not one of those demands was met. Worse yet, MTC’s plan permitted social distancing of only three feet, threatening unsafe crowding.At MTC’s August board meeting, the Voices for Public Transportation coalition turned out to express its anger. The coalition counts among its members three labor councils, along with ATU and TWU locals and transit rider unions.Jovanka Beckles, a Teamster who wasrunning for a seaton the AC Transit board (she later won), captured the mood. She told the board: “The general managers may feel like they have a deal, but there is no deal until frontline transit workers and riders have our concerns addressed.”ATU International Vice President Jim Lindsay drove the point home: “Under our contracts, we have the right to shut the service down because of safety. Guaranteed that will happen.”The workers and riders won the day. MTC voted that state guidance recommending six-foot distancing would trump the “Healthy Transit Plan,” and agreed to require each transit agency to adopt its own implementation plan.Within weeks, two of the largest systems, VTA and AC Transit, began providingfree masks and sanitizer for riderson all their buses.The joint struggle galvanized the solidarity of transit labor in the Bay Area. Roger Marenco, president of TWU Local 250A, which represents 2,500 workers at San Francisco’s MUNI, invited ATU and Teamster leaders to form a “BlueCollarTask Force”—labor’s response to MTC’s “Blue Ribbon” group.The Blue Collar Task Force turned its attention to the threat of layoffs. The CARES Act funding was running low, with no new stimulus on the horizon.The first domino was Golden Gate Transit. In September, ATU Local 1575 and the Inlandboatmen’s Union, representing 575 bus and ferry workers, received WARN Act notices that 220 of them could face layoff before Thanksgiving.Rebuffing solutions the unions suggested, General Manager Dennis Mulligan proposed saving $26.7 million by eliminating 146 filled positions—140 of them union jobs—effective December 5. Management would contribute just $440,000 through a 10 percent compensation cut.Workers and their supporters from across California turned out in force to oppose the layoffs.Bus operator JorDann Crawford, a mother of three, was ready when her local president approached her in the break room to encourage her to speak at a board meeting. “If I’m going to lose my job,” she said later, “I’m going to go down fighting.”Crawford joined ATU Local 1575’s internal organizing committee and started talking to co-workers. She asked some for permission to tell their stories, including one who was ill with Covid. Others she encouraged to speak up for themselves. Bus operator Luis Luciana told the board in November that bus riders with low to moderate incomes, mostly people of color, were being “underrepresented, neglected, and shut out of this decision process, even though it greatly impacts them.”It rankled workers that management would be taking just a 10 percent cut while 25 percent of the blue-collar workers would lose their jobs and health care. In a board meeting, ATU Local 265 President John Courtney mocked “poor Mr. Mulligan,” who was “willing to sacrifice 10 percent of his $416,000 salary. Can you imagine how he’s going to struggle?”Instead of the layoffs, TWU’s Marenco offered two solutions that management had rejected: “Number one, use the more than $216 million in reserves. Number two, make cuts from the top.”In the end the board approved the layoffs, but delayed them till January 4. That delay bought crucial time: on December 21, Congress approved $14 billion in new transit funding. Two days later, the board rescinded the layoffs.ATU 1575 President Shane Weinstein credited this victory to the rank-and-file organizing committee that had “worked tirelessly” and the members who made calls to elected officials, board directors, and the press. Crawford said the experience has interested her in running for her local’s executive board.The fight against layoffs also targeted MTC. In November, the Voices coalition demanded that the regional funding agency make hundreds of millions of dollars available for payroll by delaying inessential capital projects—for example, Golden Gate’s plan to spend $6 million to repave an employee parking lot. The coalitionletter, signed by six labor councils, a building trades council, 15 unions, and many other Voices coalition groups, attracted press coverage.Among the non-transit unions expressing support was Local 5 of the Food and Commercial Workers. The president wrote that grocery workers, who were risking Covid infection every day so that people could get food and medications, depended on public transit to get to work.MTC commissioners are mostly members of city councils and county boards of supervisors. Many depend on labor support to get reelected. Almost immediately, MTC proposed to make $450 million in federal capital funds available for operations. Less than a week later, MTC’s board unanimously approved that proposal.TWU’s Marenco and ATU’s Courtney see important struggles ahead. Their goal for the Blue Collar Task Force this year is to engage more members as organizers. They’re now planning a Bay Area-wide virtual town hall to help organize transit workers into a fighting force. As Courtney says, “we need a movement.”About the Author: Richard Marcantonio is managing attorney at Public Advocates Inc., a nonprofit civil rights and economic justice advocacy organization. He is a co-founder of the Voices for Public Transportation Coalition and a participant in the Blue Collar Task Force.Share this post With Democrats in Full Control, It’s Time to Pass the PRO Act Posted on January 12, 2021January 12, 2021 by Maximillian Alvarez In this special episode, we talk with three representatives of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades — Jim Williams (General Vice President), Kellie Morgan (Political Director Community Organizer, District Council77), and Salvador Herrera (Director of Organizing, District Council88) — about labor’s fight to pass the PRO Act. We break down what the PRO Act is, why passing it would institute amonumental shift in worker power, and how it would impact the daily realities of workers andorganizers. This blog originally appeared at In These Times on January 11, 2020. Reprinted with permission.About the Author: Maximillian Alvarez is awriter and editor based in Baltimore and the host of Working People,?“a podcast by, for, and about the working class today.” His work has been featured in venues like In These Times, The Nation, The Baffler, Current Affairs, and The NewRepublic.Share this post Biden picks Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for labor secretary Posted on January 11, 2021January 11, 2021 by Laura Clawson President-elect Joe Biden isnominating Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for labor secretary. Walsh’s history with labor goes back to his early 20s, when he joined Laborers’ Union Local 223 in Boston, a union to which his father had long belonged, and one later headed by his uncle and then by Marty himself, who went on to be the head of Boston’sBuilding and Construction Trades Council before becoming mayor in 2013.Walsh was seen as a union favorite, withsupport from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka as well as the American Federation of Teachers and theAmerican Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. What he is not is an addition to the diversity of Biden’s Cabinet, as another top contender,California Labor and Workforce Development Agency Secretary Julie Su, would have been. (Su is also a rock star who would have done an amazing job.)But Harold Meyersonrecently made the casethat Walsh is also not the your-grandfather’s-union throwback he might appear on the surface to be, coming from the very white, very very male, and comparatively conservative building trades unions.Walsh’s “own work in that movement,” Meyerson wrote,“has been to push the trades into the 21st century. As mayor, Walshprodded the city councilto approve his proposal requiring construction companies working on public projects or private projects exceeding 50,000 square feet to have 51 percent of their workers’ hours go to city residents, 40 percent to minorities, and 12 percent to women. He has also pushed the building trades into supporting a host of progressive causes.”There is something to be said for a labor secretarywho is of the white working class but has progressive priorities.”He’s been at the forefront when it comes to promoting people of color, making sure people of color have a fair shake,” AFSCME’s Lee Saunders told Meyerson. The AFT’s Randi Weingarten also spoke highly of Walsh’s ability to get stuff done, another important qualification.Will Marty Walsh be the most aggressive and effective labor secretary Biden could have chosen? Eh, probably not. But don’t write him off as just anotherIrish-American building trades guy. This blog originally appeared at Daily Kos on January 7, 2020. Reprinted with permission.About the Author: Laura Clawsonhas been a contributing editor since December 2006. Clawson has been full-time staff since 2011, and is currently assistant managing editor at the Daily Kos.Share this post The Workplace Fairness Attorney Directory features lawyers from across the United States who primarily represent workers in employment cases. Please note that Workplace Fairness does not operate a lawyer referral service and does not provide legal advice, and that Workplace Fairness is not responsible for any advice that you receive from anyone, attorney or non-attorney, you may contact from this site. Workplace Fairness is a non-profit organization working to preserve and promote employee rights. This site provides comprehensive information about job rights and employment issues nationally and in all 50 states. It is for workers, employers, advocates, policymakers, journalists, and anyone else who wants to understand, protect, and strengthen workers’ rights. More about Workplace Fairness

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