Friday afternoon, 40,000 AT&T workers in 36 states launched a three-day strike as part of their fight for a fair contract. David Bacon offered some background leading up to the strike:
AT&T has proposed to cut sick time and force long-time workers to pay hundreds of dollars more for basic healthcare, according to CWA. At a huge April rally in Silicon Valley, CWA District 9 vice president Tom Runnion fumed, "The CEO of AT&T just got a raise and now makes over $12,000 an hour. And he doesn't want to give us a raise. He wants to sabotage our healthcare then wants us to pay more for it. Enough is enough!" [...]
The relocation of jobs to call centers in Mexico, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic and other countries is one of the main issues in negotiations. A recent CWA report charges that in the Dominican Republic, for instance, where it uses subcontractors, wages are $2.13-$2.77/hour. Workers have been trying to organize a union there and accuse management of firing union leaders and making threats, accusations and intimidating workers. Several members of Congress sent a letter to President Donald Trump this year demanding that he help protect and bring call center jobs back to the United States.
You can follow the strike on Twitter @UnityatMobility and you can find a picket line near you.
● Interviews for resistance: On the commodification of education.
● Workplace injuries are more common when firms face earnings pressure:
The numbers are telling. Controlling for other factors, injury/illness rates are 5%–15% higher in periods where a firm meets or just beats analyst forecasts. The injury/illness rates for such firms are also significantly higher than those for firms that miss or comfortably beat analyst forecasts.
● School choice leads to segregation. And if you don’t believe that, follow Jennifer Berkshire to Betsy DeVos’s hometown.
● Republicans will turn the NLRB into a force for union-busting. We can turn it back.
● Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh. Limitless will and money to destroy public education as a public good.
● Labor Notes is running an important series on how we're surviving right to work.
● Trump administration rejects ban on harmful insecticide, dozens of workers get sick.
● How noncompete clauses keep workers locked in:
Employment lawyers know this, but workers are often astonished to learn that they’ve signed away their right to leave for a competitor. Timothy Gonzalez, an hourly laborer who shoveled dirt for a fast-food-level wage, was sued after leaving one environmental drilling company for another. Phillip Barone, a midlevel salesman and Air Force veteran, was let go from his job after his old company sent a cease-and-desist letter saying he had signed a noncompete.
● New York City's "Freelance isn't free" act went into effect Monday:
To recap, the law mandates that freelancers be paid in full for work worth $800 or more, either by a date set forward in writing or within 30 days of completing an assigned task. The Freelance Isn't Free Act also aims to protect freelancers from employer retaliation, and can increase monetary consequences for employers who refuse to pay.
● Missouri lawmakers just took raises away from minimum wage workers.
●