Work Stoppage

Episode 7 - 1199 and the UFW

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In the years following the McCarthyite purges of the early 1950s, the pace of progress in the labor movement cooled from its heady heights of the CIO and the 1946 strike wave. But new struggles still emerged all over the country, and women workers continued to break barriers. The fight by Local 1199 to organize the majority Black and Puerto Rican women hospital workers of New York City became an epic struggle part of the broader national civil rights movement. On the other side of the country, a movement to organize agricultural workers made its mark with the intervention of organizers like Dolores Huerta. The fight for basic human rights for farm workers led to a nationwide boycott and a titanic struggle that lasted nearly 5 years.

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After several quick headlines, we start this week with the first ever successful union election of a major men's basketball team in the NCAA at Dartmouth. Then we've got a major UAW update covering the last two weeks including major developments at Mercedes in Alabama, Toyota in Missouri, and more. We also discuss the continued existence of sweatshops right here in the US, as tobacco processing workers in NYC face horrific conditions. Unions in Minneapolis came together around years of organizing for a week of action that could show a vision of rooting the resurgent labor movement deeply in our communities. QA testers at Activision formed the largest union in video games in the US this week, and animators at Nickelodeon finalized a record new contract.

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Episode 6 - Women Build the CIO

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For the first few decades of the 20th century, the AFL consistently failed to live up to its promises to fight for equal pay for equal work. But in the 1930s, an alternate labor federation, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, broke away and launched the most historic nationwide labor upsurge in US history, and a key part of their success was the organization of women. The UAW and the UE, two of our favorite unions, led the fight for women's equality in the workplace, striking for equal pay and winning it in contracts across the country. In the 1940s, World War 2 also made enormous changes for women workers, opening up countless fields that had previously been barred from them by chauvinism. While some unions were slow to accept the massive changes in the workforce during the war, this period marked the first time major unions consistently began to fight and win demands for equality on a national scale. Pushed by prominent Communist organizers, the CIO finally devoted resources to organizing women and closing the wage gap, and the gains for the labor movement as a whole were enormous.

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It's March! We begin by discussing yet another horrifying story of abuse of child labor, but also a story of how one UFCW local in Minnesota is fighting against the conditions creating it.  In a huge milestone, Starbucks has agreed to a framework to move negotiations forward towards a national contract. Fast food companies are using AI, and of course it's to make their employees lives even worse. In a rare case, a boss is being held liable for killing a worker in New York. Finally, Teamsters at Anheuser-Busch reached an agreement at the last minute before a strike.

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Episode 5 - Communist Women In the Great Depression

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The Great Depression was one of the greatest crises in capitalism's history, throwing millions out of work and pushing them to the brink of starvation. Women workers bore the brunt of this, being the first to be fired in nearly every workplace. But women workers fought back, organizing massive strikes, marches, and demonstrations against both their atrocious working conditions and the inadequate relief from the government. A new organization emerged in this period to take up the lead in the struggle for social equality: the Communist Party. 

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A lawsuit filed in Colorado this week to block the Kroger-Albertson's merger reveals anti-union collusion. Starbucks Workers United filed for union elections at 21 stores in one day. The UAW continued making major moves, doubling their organizing budget and launching an international support effort with Mexican autoworkers. IBEW faced mold so toxic whole building a new Ford battery plant they were hospitalized. One of the biggest new union wins we've seen in a long time came at Cal State this week, with 20,000 student assistants voting to join the SEIU.

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If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.

We talk about a lot of labor history on our show, and one of the organizations we've come back to again and again is the Industrial Workers of the World. We've talked about the epic struggles in the early 20th century, but where is the IWW today, a century after its peak? We're joined by IWW Organizer and Trainer Maria Cunningham for a discussion of the modern IWW. We talk recent history, some prominent campaigns the IWW has led over the last few decades, and how the organization works in the 21st century.

To check out the IWW, go to iww.org or redcard.iww.org

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After a quick discussion of Amazon joining the corporate lawsuit aimed at destroying the NLRB, we turn to the continuing efforts by workers around the world to fight to end the genocide in Palestine. Next we discuss the latest round of protests by thousands of farmers in India fighting for their livelihoods. Farm owners in this country in NY have sued to stop a law granting labor rights to farm workers. 100,000 flight attendants picketed airports around the country to demand a fair contract. Teamsters in Texas shut down Molson Coors for the western half of the US after the company offered raises of just $1 an hour after record profits. Workers at "Employee Owned" WinCo Foods in Utah organized with the Teamsters this past week to make that label a reality, not just a slogan.

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Episode 4 - Revolutionaries Press The Issue

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On the eve of WW1, a radical new force shook the US labor movement with its vision of all the workers under one big union, running society instead of the exploiters. The IWW also had a much more advanced vision of women's equality than prior national labor associations. Women workers in the IWW made major gains and reached heights heretofore unheard of in a nationwide labor federation. But World War 1 would shake up both the industrial workforce, with millions of women changing jobs, but also the political scenery, with the first Red Scare cracking down on any organization deemed radical, even for just promoting women's equality. Through this period, women workers entered occupations and organizations previously barred from them, but as we've seen on prior episodes, they would at times face opposition from the very people who stood the most to gain from their solidarity.

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We start this week's episode with a quick rundown of new anti union repression at Starbucks and Amazon. This week workers calling for a ceasefire have reached the top of the US labor movement, with the AFL-CIO itself finally getting on board. The UAW continues its massive and ambitious nationwide union drive, hitting a critical milestone at VW in Chattanooga of a majority of workers signed up. Legal assaults on the labor rights of public workers in Florida are having major effects, with dozens of unions decertified in just the first few weeks of the year. Teachers in Chicago struck two charters schools this week fighting against mismanagement and refusal to provide special education resources. Finally, we got closer this week to seeing the first unionized team in the NCAA.

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Episode 3 - Garment Worker Rebellion

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On the third episode of our series, we zoom in to a few years at the beginning of the 20th century. From 1909-1913, tens of thousands of women workers in the garment industry in the industrial cities of the northern US organized and went on strike in record numbers. The conditions these workers labored in were truly shocking, and quite literally deadly. These were life and death struggles in an industry where factory owners locked the doors to keep women from leaving and charged them for the use of a stool. The titanic struggles waged by these women workers would grow women's participation in the labor movement to record highs, even without the help of the top leaders of the AFL.

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We're back to our original schedule and have a packed episode. First we follow up with the struggle against libertarian fascism in Argentina and an update on how Return to the Office policies are bullshit.  We also discuss the recent revelation of a major wage theft ring in the pacific northwest and the refusal of the government to do anything to stop the criminals. Our now weekly UAW update discusses recent organizing victories in Michigan and Alabama, and a new drive at Hyundai in Montgomery. Workers in Finland have launched a mass movement to stop attacks on workers rights, striking in the hundreds of thousands. Finally, we close with the victory of the Newton teachers, who won a great contract after a two week struggle against not just their bosses, but the press.

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Episode 2 - National Labor Organizations, But For Who?

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For the second part of our series on the history of women workers in the US labor movement, we discuss the earliest attempts to form national labor organizations. Coming out of the Civil War, women were fighting against exploitation in the workplace, but were excluded from most of the trade union movement which focused exclusively on men. But with the formation of national organizations like the National Labor Union, the Knights of Labor, and finally the American Federation of Labor, these broad based organizations were forced to put forward some semblance of a united working class political platform. In each case, the leadership expressed support for equal pay for equal work, and in each case prior to the 20th century, the commitment to that claim would come up short. But in spite of the chauvinist opposition from the top, women workers organized in greater numbers than ever before.

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Workers in academia have wasted no time so far this year in launching ever larger struggles, including this week when 30,000 faculty at the California State system went on strike this week for fair pay. Contingent faculty at NYU have also been organizing to fight low wages, recently securing an election neutrality agreement. The largest union yet to call for a ceasefire joined the chorus this week, with the SEIU signing its 2 million members on the call for peace. The UAW's organizing drive at Mercedes Benz in Alabama continues to grow, we discuss some of the tactics workers have used. Unfortunately also this week, the UAW officially endorsed Joe Biden. Massive crowds rocked Buenos Aires this week as workers staged a one day general strike to protest the new government's attacks on labor rights. Finally, we discuss the release of the annual BLS report which gives a snapshot into how the labor movement is doing, and discuss what it means for tactics and strategy going forward.

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Episode 1 - Women Workers in the Industrial Revolution

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We've covered a ton of different eras and stories of the US labor movement on our show, but unfortunately much of it has been heavily focused on solely male workers, leaving out the historic role women have played in shaping the trade union movement in this country. So in an attempt to help rectify that, we're embarking on the longest series we've ever done to discuss just a few of the incredible stories of struggle, solidarity, and success by women organizers through the 200 year history of the US labor movement. In the first episode, we start from the very beginning, the first ever factory strike in US history, led by the women of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and work our way up the Civil War. Few organizations formed in these first few decades lasted very long, but these early struggles still teach us a lot about the dual struggle waged by women workers against oppression not only by their bosses as workers, but by society as a whole through patriarchy. While victories were few in these early years, there are still a lot of parallels we can draw with our organizing fights today.

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Adda Coffee Relief Fund: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-abruptly-fired-adda-workers-demand-for-severance-pay/

We start this week's episode checking in on some recent victories by the UAW. Next we discuss a judge smacking down Trader Joe's ridiculous copyright lawsuit against Trader Joe's United. Also this week, Adda Coffee in Pittsburgh shut its doors rather than allow a union, while the Supreme Court takes up a call by Starbucks to gut the NLRB. Once again we have another horrible story of child workers being killed, while a new report reveals the systemic nature of child labor violations in fast food. Macy's workers in Washington are on strike against bosses who seem to have decided to pretend like the union doesn't exist. Finally, Ben and Jerry's workers and student workers at Washington State University both won big new contracts.

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If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.

On the second part of our discussion of Confessions of a Union Buster, we sit down once again with our friend Pat to talk about the incredible number of ways that union busting tactics have remained the same for nearly 50 years. Wild stunts, illegal surveillance, and above all a crushing climate of fear characterize the campaigns described in Marty Leavitt's memoir of his time destroying workers lives, much like the campaigns we see from modern union busters.  But by identifying the core features of these tactics, we can adapt our own to fight back against them.

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We start this week with a few quick congratulations to workers at Wells Fargo, DHL, and elsewhere before diving into a discussion of news this week that SAG-AFTRA has negotiated an agreement with an AI voice model company for video games. Then we discuss the ways AI is being used to surveil and even fire workers in many different industries. Next we have two stories on the horrific conditions of modern slavery face by agricultural workers supplying Starbucks and Kroger. Then we check in with the progress of the UAW's organizing drives at VW, Tesla, and Mercedes Benz. Finally, we shout out the workers at High Country News and the Guttmacher Institute for their recent wins. 

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Friend of the show and head of our discord reading group Pat joins us this week to discuss one of their recent books, Confessions of a Union Buster by Martin J. Levitt and Terry Conrow. This book chronicles the life and tactics of one of the lowest, most disgraceful occupations out there, the union buster. Seeing the inner workings of those agents of the ruling class who make it their life's mission to hold down the working class gives us a window into how their campaigns operate today. Even though the campaigns described in the book are from decades ago, many of the same exact tactics are still in use at places like Starbucks and Amazon.

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For our first episode of 2024, we've got tons new labor stories to cover. After some quick follow ups, we discuss a recent piece in Forbes about how our capitalist system is forcing elders to work longer and longer. Next we've got a bunch of UAW stories, starting with the fight for a fair contract by workers at Allison Transmission in Indianapolis. Also this week, UAW workers on Long Island fight back after solar company EmPower fired nearly half their staff in retaliation for unionizing. Then, we discuss last month's successful strike by 500 post docs at Mt Sinai Hospital in NYC. Also this week, 75,000 junior doctors strike in the UK, Elon declares war on the NLRB, and CostCo workers in Norfolk, VA score a critical organizing victory. 

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