Last spring, after a tough campaign that saw one worker fired for taking an
emergency bathroom break, Los Angeles-based truck drivers at Toll Group
won an election and got union representation. Fantastic, right? Except that the company, which is heavily unionized in its home country of Australia, is refusing to bargain a decent contract with the workers.
The workers are responding with practice pickets, Josh Eidelson reports.
Michels said the demonstrations have become almost weekly events. Workers hold Teamsters picket signs that say “Just Practicing” while chanting,“Hey Toll! We’re just practicing! Now give us what we’re asking!”
What makes these events a practice, said Michels, is that the workers are “doing this on their own time.” In other words, they’re not on strike--for now. [...]
Fred Potter, the Teamsters Port Division Director, said the practice pickets and client leaflets have led to “some progress” at the bargaining table.
Sadly, this kind of foot-dragging is very common from companies where workers have recently unionized. In 2009, Cornell labor scholar
Kate Bronfenbrenner found that:
Fifty-two percent of workers who form a union are still without a contract a year after they win an election, I found, and 37 percent remain without a contract two years after the election.
It's been six months for the drivers at Toll Group, and they're basically being forced to mount another organizing drive even though they won their union representation election.
A fair day's wage
- Jared Bernstein on why unemployment doesn't just hurt the unemployed:
... high unemployment has negative spillovers for most of those still at work. In a labor market like ours, with low unionization rates, bargaining clout for many in the workforce is very much a function of the unemployment rate. Excess labor supply over labor demand typically puts downward pressure on both nominal and real wages.
- The title of this article, "Why Walmart won't fire striking workers," may be a little misleading, since Walmart may well do just that. But it's a valuable look at your rights under the National Labor Relations Act, i.e. the law that Walmart should follow but doesn't always.
State and local legislation
- CACR 13, a ballot measure amending the state constitution to ban an income tax, ever, would put New Hampshire in a financial straitjacket. The state's refusal to have an income tax already leaves New Hampshire with truly fucked up finances.
- If you have friends in Washington state, tell them to vote no on charter schools. Again. Because billionaires shouldn't be able to just keep throwing money at a proposal voters have repeatedly rejected.
Miscellaneous
- Romney Off the Rails is a look at the effect Mitt Romney would have on rail service and jobs, courtesy of transportation unions.
- If you're not following @dklabor and @lauraclawson, please do, for more of what you get here at Daily Kos Labor and more. And check out @blogwood for probably the most comprehensive labor twitter feed out there.