green unionism

By Keith Brower Brown - Labor Notes, September 8, 2023

Earlier this year, on the Ford stamping line in Buffalo, sewage started pouring onto the floor. Careless managers had shut down a pump to install new equipment and caused a deluge.

The workers didn't work meekly through the dizzying stench. They shut down their line, fast. And they did it with so much unity that their manager decided not to fight back.

That collective action didn't come out of nowhere. Over the last few years, Auto Workers at Local 897 have built a fighting safety culture.

They elected new local officers who turned “militant” into a badge of honor. Members stopped the line when poorly routed forklifts dropped metal sheets near workers. They got four managers fired with safety grievances and shop floor confrontations.

“We put fear into the company,” says longtime Ford Buffalo worker Ryder Littlejohn, “Now, we walk through the floor, it’s like the Red Sea parting.”

By Luis Feliz Leon - American Prospect, September 7, 2023

Patricia Elliston, 54, was laid off two years ago after nearly a decade at the Stellantis auto assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois, when the company cut the second shift. She took a transfer to Stellantis’s Mopar Parts Distribution Center in Michigan, where she rents a house and rooms with other autoworkers in the Detroit suburb of Warren. Elliston’s husband, a non-union Machinist on disability, remained in Belvidere, caring for his elderly mother. His father retired from what was then named Chrysler in 1999, after decades working as an electrician in the skills trade department.

“We were told that moving out here would only be temporary, and we’d have the option to come back to Belvidere,” Elliston said. “But now that they’ve idled the plant, we don’t know if we can come back.”

Last year, Stellantis indefinitely shuttered its assembly plant in Belvidere, laying off more than 1,300 workers. It moved production to a plant in Toluca, in central Mexico, upending the lives of generations of families dating back to the company’s 1965 roots in Illinois.

That plant, and others in the U.S., are being used as bargaining chips in Stellantis’s negotiations with the United Auto Workers (UAW), which has approved a strike authorization if no deal is reached by September 14. Workers involved with the plant believe that the company is holding the plant’s idle status as leverage. “They’re dangling that they can reopen the Belvidere plant if we give up this or that,” Elliston said. “And nobody wants to give up anything—we’ve given up enough!”

By Teddy Ostrow and Ruby Walsh - In These Times, September 7, 2023

The hot labor summer isn’t over yet. 

In a week’s time, the United Auto Workers may launch a strike of 150,000 of its members if the Big Three automakers – Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler) – fail to meet the workers’ demands in new contracts by September 14. 

The Big Three made a quarter trillion dollars over the past decade. And with non-union electric vehicle and battery manufacturing on the rise in the United States, this may be a make or break moment for the union. So, with a more militant leadership at its helm, the UAW is demanding more than they have in a long time: serious wage increases; the elimination of tiers; the return of pensions, COLA, and retiree healthcare; and a 32-hour workweek.

For this episode, we unpack the auto workers’ demands, their stakes for the auto industry and the broader working class, and the burgeoning EV transition. We also explore how during this round of negotiations, the union is doing something it hasn’t done in a very long time. Inspired by the Teamsters, the UAW is conducting a contract campaign, with rallies, practice pickets, and all.

To discuss all this and more, we spoke with two UAW activists in Metro Detroit. Luigi Gjokaj was an assembly worker at Stellantis since 2010 and is the newly elected vice president of UAW Local 51. Jessie Kelly is a skilled moldmaker at General Motors and alternate committeeperson at UAW Local 160.

You’ll also hear from auto workers in Metro Detroit and Chicago, who attended rallies and practice pickets to drum up unity before the strike deadline.

By Ross Grooters, Gabe Christianson, and Andrew Weir - Railroad Workers United, September 6, 2023

Whereas, the US labor movement, including the railroad unions, face many obstacles in the fight to reverse the long decline of low membership; and

Whereas, autoworkers represented by the UAW are a significant workforce in the country and are battling against the “Big Three” automakers; and;

Whereas, solidarity action by other workers and unions along the supply chain can be the decisive factor in any battle between workers and employers; and

Whereas, a victory for UAW workers could embolden all workers to go on the offensive to win better contracts; and likewise, a victory for the new leadership of the UAW could embolden all union members looking to reform and democratize their own unions; and

Whereas, RWU recognizes the power that railroad workers have to assist UAW workers, as automobiles manufactured at UAW plants are loaded onto “autorack” railcars and transported by train daily throughout the U.S.; and

Whereas, the fight for electrification of the auto industry to happen through good, union jobs, has parallels to the fight for electrification of the North American railroads; and

Whereas, the fight to build links with auto workers in Mexico and Canada to fight back against the outsourcing of jobs to non-union workforces has parallels with the fight for railroad workers to get organized across North America as the railroad systems of the US, Mexico, and Canada become increasingly integrated;

Therefore, Be it Resolved that RWU offers full solidarity in support of UAW workers in their fight for strong contracts; and

Be it Further Resolved that RWU suggests that UAW workers organize picket lines at the rail entrance of any auto facilities that receive rail service, and that RWU calls on railroad workers and our unions to refuse to cross any UAW picket lines, which is a basic principle of labor movement solidarity; and

Be it Finally Resolved that RWU urges all of rail labor to likewise stand in solidarity with our UAW fellow workers.

Adopted by the RWU Steering Committee, September 6, 2023

By Union Jake and Adam Keller - Valley Labor Report, September 6, 2023

By Staff - AFGE, September 5, 2023

AFGE is urging locals to monitor temperatures in their facilities after receiving several complaints from members that their agencies have refused to provide air-conditioning or fans during the summer months where several states saw record-high temperatures. 

So far, we’ve heard from members working at the Defense Department, Veterans Affairs, Transportation Security Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency. 

“Many agencies' officials are refusing to purchase air-conditioning or fans. Locals that face this type of behavior from the agency should file a complaint with OSHA,” said AFGE Workers Compensation Specialist Joe Mansour. “We need the locals to be educated and become aware that they can file a complaint on their agencies over heat hazards.”

OSHA has recently issued a heat hazard alert as it’s working on a heat standard. The hazard alert tells employers they have to do something to address heat exposure, like giving workers time to get acclimated to the heat conditions, providing rest breaks in the shade, providing cool water, and the right protective equipment. To address heat exposure, employers should do an assessment and use engineering controls, like fans, and administrative controls, like modifying schedules to work in cooler temperatures or provide breaks in cooler environments. 

Here are the steps locals should take:

1. Take the temperature at the problem locations and take pictures of how hot it is. 
2. Document any circumstances that contribute to the heat hazard, such as lack of cool or shaded areas to rest, lack of water and other aggravating factors like working in direct sunlight or the level of work activity. If employees are experiencing any health effects, that should be documented as well. Medical assistance should be provided immediately if anyone needs it. 
3. Ask the agency to fix the problem in writing. If the agency refuses, then use the tool below to locate your OSHA office and file a complaint.
4. OSHA can respond to the complaint you file in two ways:

• They can send a letter to the agency and request a response within 30 days.
• They can do a site visit.

By Jeremy Brecher - Labor Network for Sustainability, September 5, 2023

Follow this link for a transcript of this podcast.

By Union Jake and Adam Keller - Valley Labor Report, September 5, 2023

By Union Jake and Adam Keller - Valley Labor Report, September 5, 2023

By Frank Hammer, Shawn Crawford, Steve Zeltser - Labor Video Project, September 4, 2023