Ep 125 – Prison Abolition Is Not a Metaphor

We start our episode this week checking in with friends of the show Doughnut Workers United, who have finally won their union at Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland, OR after years of organizing. It only took two days for the strike by food service workers at San Francisco Airport last week to win huge gains. We also give a brief update on where the different rail unions are in the contract ratification process. Workers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art struck this past week when management refused to agree to grant workers raises that would cover inflation.  The drive to unionize Trader Joe’s has spread to another store, this time in Brooklyn, and unfortunately the company’s union busting has followed.  As the auto industry shifts to electric vehicles, the UAW faces an uphill battle to ensure the new EV jobs are unionized. Over 13,000 incarcerated workers went on strike against the system of mass incarceration and prison slavery they face over the past week, and the state has responded with violence and attempts to starve the workers out.  Finally, as always, we check-in with the Starbucks Workers United movement and discuss the list of contract proposals that the union has released.

Doughnut Workers United Contract Support Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/dwu-strike-hardship-and-negotiation-fund

Gofundme for Fired Trader Joe’s organizer: https://www.gofundme.com/f/trader-joes-united-solidarity-fund 

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Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee