Teachers have public support for COVID-19 safety strikes, this week in the war on workers

Teachers in some areas have said they might go on strike rather than going back to in-person teaching if they felt it would be unsafe—and a majority of Americans would support them, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll found. A third of people said they would strongly support teachers, and another 22% said they would somewhat support teachers.

Just 21% of people said schools should completely reopen in person, with another 26% saying schools should partially reopen in person, and 38% saying schools should be closed or online-only. A 47% plurality said that the risks of reopening schools are greater than the consequences of keeping them closed, and 45% said teachers should not be required to teach in person. Regardless of what teachers or the public think, schools have already reopened in many places and teachers are dying.

● The National Labor Relations Board found merit in a complaint that Kickstarter illegally fired a union organizer. Kickstarter’s successful union representation election was a big moment in the effort to organize tech workers.

● Stores ended hazard pay for their workers. They're still spending hundreds of millions buying back their stock.

● This fabulous Washington Post story by Greg Jaffe provides a look at, among many other things, how low pay and unlivable housing are intertwined.

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Want to know what a worker's life is worth in America?

More than 1,000 workers at Smithfield's Sioux Falls SD plant contracted coronavirus.

Four of those workers died.

OSHA just issued a fine against that plant.

For $13,494. pic.twitter.com/QHeNaZ3PqF

— Dave Jamieson (@jamieson) September 10, 2020

● Staff at the Scholars Strategy Network won their union representation vote, despite the organization having hired a union-busting law firm.

● For hotels, cleaning is key. But cleaners say their jobs are under assault.

● Time for unions to give the Democratic Party an ultimatum, Hamilton Nolan writes.

● Trump labor board upends special status of union stewards.

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BREAKING: Inmate firefighters will have records expunged, allowing them to become firefighters once they are released from prison. CA Gov @GavinNewsom just signed it into law. https://t.co/jyi7OamT2Y

— Joe Vazquez (@joenewsman) September 11, 2020