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Gaswork, the Fight for CJ's Law

By Josh Fox; Introduction by Alex Lotorto - Vimeo, October 6, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

This is a tremendous film by Josh Fox about worker safety issues in the oil and gas industry and CJ's Law, part of a concept of worker organizing that I've been talking about for years.

There was a retired steelworker who once told me in 2010 that the only way he foresaw worker organizing in the shalefields would be to run an issue-campaign for a Workers' Bill of Rights that enrolls workers and environmentalists into the same general membership union. In addition to safety, it would strengthen pay theft penalties, provide outplacement or re-training for workers who are laid off during downturns, paid time off, sick leave, personal days, etc.

That union, if it grew to scale, could then leverage themselves against various drilling and supply contractors, and eventually against industry associations like the union trades have done with the pipeline industry association project labor agreements (PLAs). It would take a chunk of change to hire the staff to support a campaign like that and open offices in the shalefields, which is the most difficult piece of the puzzle.

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