Hello, everybody. It’s Thursday and time for another Labor Diary Rescue. Diaries are below the fold.
The Labor Diary Rescue is done every Monday and Thursday evening barring a bad internet connection, my insane work schedule, or Acts of God. If you have a pro-union diary and want it to be rescued, make sure you have the word “union” or “labor” in the title, have less than 100 comments, and not be on the rec list or any front page diary rescue.
Diaries are below the fold.
Bouwerie Boy got this in just after I stopped looking for union diaries on Monday. While it was mentioned in the comments it wasn’t officially put on the rescue. So here’s his diary, Action Diary: A Memorial Day Mitzvah.
It was just about two years ago when I first discovered the deplorable conditions of the grave's of these American heroes. You see, Bertha Kulla and Pauline Horowitz were shirtwaist strikers. They were two of those girls who had battled and bled, on the streets of lower Manhattan, fighting for the rights of American workers in an age of nearly unregulated and completely brutal, laissez-faire American capitalism. They were two of the girls who, in October of 1909, left their sewing machines and went on strike against their employers; ultimately sparking one of the largest and most important labor uprisings in American history. They were two of those who were beaten and abused on the picket line by Tammany police and union busting thugs. Bertha and Pauline were arrested and fined numerous times in the service of their cause. Left in debt at the strikes conclusion, both were forced to return to a workplace largely unchanged and unrepentant. It was there, on March 25, 1911, that Bertha and Pauline, along with their co-worker Jacob Bernstein and 143 others, lost their lives in the worst industrial disaster in New York City history - the Triangle shirtwaist fire.
ChangeToWin writes How Much Is A Worker's Life Worth? $7,000. Turns out seven grand was all Wal-Mart was fined for when their unsafe working conditions caused the death of a worker last year during the holiday shopping season.
Remember back in November of last year when we told you the tragic story of Jdimytai Damour, a 34-year-old temporary worker at a Long Island Walmart who was crushed to death by a mob of shoppers storming the store for Black Friday deals?
Well, OSHA has completed its investigation of the incident, and they've found that Walmart's negligence was responsible. But you won't believe how shockingly toothless America's workplace safety laws have become.
Based on the comments in ZP Heller’s latest diary, you’ll learn that there are some sacred cows amongst us. One of them being Starbucks. But as Abbey Hoffman once said, sacred cows make the best hamburgers. So onto the list you go, Starbucks' Health Care Policy Is Sickening!
Since Brave New Films launched Stop Starbucks last week, over 50,000 people watched the video, "What do Starbucks and Wal-Mart have in common?" and 15,000 signed the petition insisting CEO Howard Schultz support his workers' unionization efforts. The latest video, "Starbucks' Health Care Policy Is Sickening," takes the Wal-Mart comparison even further, considering Starbucks insures less than 42 percent of its employees in the US -- a rate lower than Wal-Mart. Watch as a former Starbucks worker explains how Starbucks routinely precludes employees from working the 20 hours a week (or 240 hours per quarter) necessary to qualify for the company's health insurance.
A study was recently done at the University of Illinois showing government workers who already had a policy of unionization similar towards what the EFCA would give towards the private sector-just sign the registration cards and the negotiations begin. Seth D gives us the details of that study in New Study: You Won’t Face Coercion if You Sign up for a Union.
The study, "Majority Authorizations and Union Organizing in the Public Sector: A Four-State Perspective," written by top labor policy scholars under the direction of Robert Bruno of the University of Illinois, looks at the experience of four states (New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Oregon) where public-sector workers have the freedom to form unions through majority sign-up. If passed, the Employee Free Choice Act would give millions of workers the option of using either majority sign-up or a National Labor Relations Board election to form a union.
The study finds that since 2003, more than 34,000 public-sector workers have successfully formed unions through majority sign-up, without either coercion from their employers or their co-workers.
Jediwashuu gives us a brief diary on the 'Pro's of Unionization.
This diary is an idea that I have been thinking about for a while. I put pro in quotes not to be dismissive, but to indicate it will be a play on words. Unions do alot of good for their members, the job market, and even those who aren't in that Union themselves!
Math4Barack writes a very long post about the need to have an economy that actually makes things as opposed to just having a financial sector (as well as calling for better trade policies) in Krugman: We can't all export our way to recovery.
We can't export our way to recovery is the takeoff point for this diary from Dr. Krugman's remarks. It is the thesis of this diary that our current path is not viable. Several concrete steps legislatively can be realized at the present time that will move America forward on the right path.
Here are 3 things that we can do which will put our country on stronger footing economically for years to come:
- Level the playing field for our workers and begin to make things here
- pass EFCA / strengthen unions
- provide universal health care
Employee Free Choice Act writes about people in Florida rallying for the passing of EFCA in Florida Fights Back!
This past week, workers from across Florida participated in events to demonstrate the importance of passing the Employee Free Choice Act. More specifically, workers in Jacksonville, Tampa and Miami gathered to protest the anti-worker corporate forces who are trying to stop the bill with deception and hundreds of millions of dollars.
What if we could amend trade policy so that the world has a basic standard of labor? That’s what seabos84 is proposing in Freedom - Working Hour Rules For Working Stiffs.
My work rules for working hours need to apply to all the globe's working people. Unless you have interest income and or dividend income you can live on, you're a worker. Managers are workers, if they are useful managers. Most senior managers, from what I've seen in the last 3 decades, are most focused with rigging the system to take a huge cut of the pie before anyone else gets a fair share of the pie they helped create.
I've got no problem with competition, however, competition without fair rules is NOT fair competition. When the people with money make the workers' rules about competition, the competition benefits those with the money. The winners of the daily foot races of productivity get false promises and the senior management pockets the surplus. For every inventor of a google or band aids who gets their deserved rewards, there are how many trumps, gates, hiltons, bushes ... who are ushered into all the right doors with all the right opportunities?
That’s it, everybody. No more diaries today. Treat the comments as an open thread