Work Stoppage

Ep 117 – Breaking Free From the Capitalist TRAP

We start this week’s episode with a quick follow up with the Indiana grad student workers who have won major gains despite the university’s continued refusal to recognize their union. Boston teachers have used rank and file methods to win a historic new contract that will help address homelessness in the city. The NLRB has signed onto an order demanding UMWA workers cover the costs of their more than a year long strike against Warrior Met coal, but they are fighting back. The Democrats introduced a bill in Congress with bipartisan support to permanently misclassify gig workers, which would destroy existing labor law. The DOJ has sued the poultry monopolies for wage fixing, but the proposed settlement doesn’t do much to help workers’ wages or job conditions. PetSmart, the nation’s biggest pet supply store, is being sued for trapping employees with thousands of dollars in debt for “grooming academy” training. 200 DC area transit workers are on strike, and could even potentially force out the private company managing what otherwise would be a public service. Finally we check in with the Starbucks Workers United movement, where the company continues to find new, creative ways to illegally retaliate against their own workers for unionizing.

Support fund for fired Buffalo Starbucks organizer: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-sam-fired-13-year-starbucks-union-leader 

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Why Rank and File? Pt 3 PREVIEW

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 first two parts of this series, we discussed what exactly rank and file organizing is, and how it differs from top down, business unionist organizing methods, and then discussed some historical examples. In this third part of the series, we do a deep dive on two major rank and file movements from the last decade. First we look at the Chicago Teachers Union and the rise of the rank and file caucus, CORE, to leadership over the massive 2012 teachers’ strike. Then we discuss one of the most recent major union drives from the IWW, the Burgerville Workers Union. Both of these drives show the power unions can have when they actually engage and empower the workers themselves to take the reins of their organization and fight for the issues that matter most to them.  These, along with the other examples we’ve covered, make a strong case for major unions to embrace rank and file leadership of union drives if they want to rebuild the labor movement.

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Ep 116 – No Job is Worth Your Life

Alabama Starbucks Support Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/relief-fund-for-scottsboro-starbucks-partners

This week on Work Stoppage, we start with a couple big union election victories. First, Hudson Workers United finally has their union election win recognized after a year-long ordeal. Then, workers at Trader Joe’s in Hadley, MA won their election to form the first recognized union at the chain. We also check in on the national strike in Panama, where workers have won two of their key demands to relieve the cost of living crisis. In recent weeks, lawmakers in Ukraine have moved to slash worker protections in the country, using the war as justification for dismantling the country’s labor code. More news came out this week about the worker who died at a New Jersey Amazon warehouse during Prime Week, and Amazon’s union busting has increased in Albany as the ALU moves towards filing for an election there. Also in Albany, a new union at Activision was announced recently, with game testers at Blizzard Albany filing for representation with the CWA. This past week was the first UAW convention since the one member, one vote reform campaign, and we discuss several of the measures passed in the run up to this fall’s elections. Finally, as always, we close out checking in on the Starbucks Workers United campaign, which continues to win over 80% of their elections.

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UNLOCKED - CAUSE: Organizing Amazon in North Carolina

In order to let as many folks as possible hear from the CAUSE workers fighting for a union at Amazon, we've decided to unlock our full interview with them!  We hope you enjoy the interview, and if you like the show please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage.

Original Description:
We were honored this week to be joined by Lance, an organizer with Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, CAUSE.  CAUSE has been working to organize workers at Amazon’s RDU1 warehouse in Garner, North Carolina, just outside Raleigh, since the beginning of this year. We discuss the challenges and successes they’ve had building power with their coworkers, what tactics they’ve found effective, and which ones less so. We discuss how soaring inflation has blunted Amazon’s argument that they pay a good wage, and how other folks thinking about organizing their workplace can get started.  Finally, we discuss how folks can support CAUSE in their fight to organize at Amazon.

Support the workers at CAUSE by checking out their website and donating: https://amazoncause.com/

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Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Ep 115 – Waging the Class War

Lina’s back and we had so much labor news this week it was hard to squeeze it all in one episode. We start with several quick follow-ups. 400 Planned Parenthood workers in the upper Midwest won their union election in a landslide this week, as did the workers at America’s Test Kitchen. Workers at Activision walked out across the country this week in protest, and Medieval Times’ union movement has spread to a second castle. Also this week, Chipotle went full scorched earth and closed the store in Augusta, Maine who had been fighting to unionize. Amy’s Kitchen did something similar, closing a plant in San Jose where workers were unionizing even though the plant had been open for less than a year. A shocking story came out last week about the use of child labor at a Hyundai plant in Alabama. The recent upsurge in labor militancy in the UK spread to the Royal Mail this week, as 115,000 postal workers voted to authorize a potential strike. Also in Europe, Italy’s repression of militant trade unions escalated yet again this week, as several organizers from two militant unions were arrested for organizing strikes in the logistics sector. Finally, we close out checking in on the Starbucks Workers United movement, which has now unionized over 200 locations across the country!

Augusta, GA Starbucks Strike Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-partners-in-striking

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PREVIEW - CAUSE: Organizing Amazon in North Carolina

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 were honored this week to be joined by Lance, an organizer with Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, CAUSE.  CAUSE has been working to organize workers at Amazon’s RDU1 warehouse in Garner, North Carolina, just outside Raleigh, since the beginning of this year. We discuss the challenges and successes they’ve had building power with their coworkers, what tactics they’ve found effective, and which ones less so. We discuss how soaring inflation has blunted Amazon’s argument that they pay a good wage, and how other folks thinking about organizing their workplace can get started.  Finally, we discuss how folks can support CAUSE in their fight to organize at Amazon.

Support the workers at CAUSE by checking out their website and donating: https://amazoncause.com/

Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX

Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Ep 114 - Your Boss is Not Your Friend

Lina is away so it’s just John and Dan on this week’s episode of Work Stoppage. We start out with the Medieval Times workers in New Jersey who have won their union…and immediately got threats from the company to not bargain in good faith.  Next we discuss the Verizon Retail union movement expanding to stores in Portland and Flint, Michigan. We have yet another case of a “progressive” coffee chain trying to stop its workers from unionizing, this time Heine Brothers in Louisville, Kentucky.  We also discuss the state of the struggle by railway workers to be able to strike for better working conditions, as once against the government has intervened using the Railway Labor Act.  Workers at the Guttmacher Institute won their union nearly unanimously this week, but faced immediate retaliation. Guides at Yellowstone National Park have been fighting for a union in the face of vicious repression by the private contractor who employs them and uses the park as a 21st century company town.  Finally, we do our weekly update on the Starbucks Workers United movement, where repression continues to escalate, but so do the ways workers are fighting back.

Guttmacher Institute Petition: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/guttmacher-union-busting 

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UNLOCKED - Organizing Amazon in Kentucky: An Interview

By popular demand and in order that as many folks as possible are able to hear about the amazing organizing effort going on at Amazon in Kentucky, we've decided to unlock the entire interview! 

We hope you enjoy, and if you like the show, please consider supporting us at patreon.com/workstoppage

Original Description:

We were very lucky to be joined this week by Matt, a worker-organizer at Amazon’s SDF1 facility in Campbellsville, Kentucky working to organize his facility with the ALU.  Matt explains the challenges of organizing in a rural area where Amazon more or less runs like a company town. We discuss the differences in worker consciousness you encounter when working to organize at Amazon, the different tactics that they’ve used, and how they’ve worked to explain the importance of unions in fighting against exploitation. We also discuss the ways that Amazon has retaliated against Matt and other organizers for their work, including calling the local sheriff on organizers.

We encourage our listeners to donate to the SDF1 organizing committee’s solidarity fund: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/fundraising/b524f63e-8261-41dc-b593-b775eb35c3f3

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Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Ep 113 – People’s Palace Pool Party

Workers are flexing their power all over, and we start this week with a quick update on the situation in Sri Lanka, where the people have had enough and stormed the presidential palace this weekend, chasing the government from power. Next we have a check-in on the Planned Parenthood workers in Massachusetts, who have voted nearly unanimously to join the SEIU this week. Also this week, the ABK Workers Alliance is planning a major walkout to fight gender inequity at Activision. In Mexico, the independent union movement continues to spread and help empower workers, now moving to the agricultural sector. We had another major national strike in Latin America this week, this time in Panama, where like so many other places workers are demanding something be done to address the inflation and cost of living crisis. Back in the US, workers at REI in Berkeley, California have joined the union wave. The ALU has expanded its efforts to unionize Amazon to multiple other organizing drives this week, including one just outside of Albany. Finally, we close with our weekly Starbucks update as the union movement nears 200 stores.

College Ave Starbucks Solidarity Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/sbworkerunited-ithaca-relief-fund 

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Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

PREVIEW - Organizing Amazon in Kentucky: An Interview

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 were very lucky to be joined this week by Matt, a worker-organizer at Amazon’s SDF1 facility in Campbellsville, Kentucky working to organize his facility with the ALU.  Matt explains the challenges of organizing in a rural area where Amazon more or less runs like a company town. We discuss the differences in worker consciousness you encounter when working to organize at Amazon, the different tactics that they’ve used, and how they’ve worked to explain the importance of unions in fighting against exploitation. We also discuss the ways that Amazon has retaliated against Matt and other organizers for their work, including calling the local sheriff on organizers. Finally, we talk a bit about how people can get involved if they're interested in helping organize Amazon, whether it's by becoming a salt, or donating to one of the groups already organizing on the ground.

We encourage our listeners to donate to the SDF1 organizing committee’s solidarity fund: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/fundraising/b524f63e-8261-41dc-b593-b775eb35c3f3

Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX

Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Ep 112 – Squire Solidarity

We start this week with some rapid fire follow-ups with workers organizing at Apple, Trader Joe’s and Amazon. Then we discuss the end (for now) of the national strike in Ecuador, what was won, and where it goes from here. Next we check in on the Case New Holland strike, which is going international as UK Case workers have also gone on strike.  Also this week, knights, squires, and falcon-handlers are organizing into a guild at Medieval Times to fight for safer, fairer work conditions.  Airlines took massive bailouts early in the pandemic, then slashed staff and lobbied against covid protections, and now the whole air travel system in this country is messed up.  Workers installing solar fields are doing incredibly important work towards a renewable energy future in the US, but face some of the most atrocious work conditions in the country due to the temporary, contract nature of the work. Finally, as usual, we check in on the Starbucks Workers United campaign, where the company’s illegal retaliation continues, but the union has grown to over 5000 workers strong.

Chicago Starbucks Strike Fund: https://t.co/h7XVJQD7FF 

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Ep 111 – All Aboard The Strike Train

We start this week’s episode with a discussion of how unions can play a major role in fighting for workers’ right to reproductive healthcare in the wake of the Supreme Court gutting abortion rights. Then we start the episode proper with a follow-up with the Indiana University grad workers, where despite winning overwhelming support from faculty, the administration is digging in and refusing to recognize the union. Then we have some on the ground labor reporting from Dan, who discusses a local strike of Teamsters at DHL in Pawtucket, RI, where workers are fighting for healthcare and a living wage. Next, over 4000 workers in one of the largest platinum mines in the world in South Africa have gone on strike to protest horrible wages paid to contract workers.  Also this week, workers in Maine filed for the first union in the country at a Chipotle and are fighting against understaffing and overwork leading to unsanitary conditions. Train drivers in New Jersey delivered a master class in a well-timed industrial action when they staged a sickout the Friday evening of Juneteenth weekend in protest of not receiving holiday pay. The big story this week is obviously the massive rail strike in England, where 40,000 workers shut down the rails for three days to protest the government’s plan to slash thousands of jobs, destroy pensions, and enforce a pay cut during record inflation. Finally, as usual, we close with our update on the Starbucks Workers United movement as it continues to rack up wins.

No Contract, No Coffee Pledge to Support Starbucks Workers: https://crm.broadstripes.com/ctf/SJID0H

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Shop Floor Discussion 5 PREVIEW – Microsoft Union Neutrality Agreement

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 June 2, Microsoft announced that it planned to shift its position on how it relates to unions, rather than pursuing scorched earth union busting campaigns like Amazon and Starbucks, it would embrace “neutrality”.  While it’s possible this is just cover to try and smooth the approval of Microsoft’s $70B acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it presents some big questions for unionists.  We know our interests are directly opposed to the bosses, and they will never tolerate militant unions that fight for what the workers deserve, so how should we approach this sort of “neutrality”? We decided this was a topic a bit too long winded to squeeze into the middle of a regular episode, and so this Shop Floor Discussion is dedicated to trying to hammer out how unions should react to these sorts of “olive branches” from companies. 

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Ep 110 – AppleCORE Wins at the Apple Store

Filled with renewed energy from watching some of the amazing panels and speeches at this weekend’s Labor Notes conference, it’s another episode of Work Stoppage.  We start with several follow-ups, first in South Korea, where truckers won their strike and secured an agreement to extend minimum wage protections. Also this week, XPO Logistics truckers at the Port of Los Angeles finally won their NLRB hearing and have been reclassified employees rather than independent contractors and will now have a union election. The Massachusetts Supreme Court struck down a proposed Prop 22 clone this week, in a good move for gig workers in the state. In big news this week, we finally have our first unionized Apple store, as the workers of Towson, Maryland won their election by a 2:1 margin to organize with the Machinists.  Retaliation against ALU organizers continued this week with yet another being fired, the same week as the hearing to determine whether the JFK8 election will be upheld got underway in Arizona. 1450 researchers at the University of Washington voted overwhelmingly to unionize with the UAW after the University refused voluntary recognition last December.  For our big story this week, a massive national strike has been underway in Ecuador as Indigenous groups are leading huge swaths of the working class in protest of the right wing government. Finally, as usually, we close out with a look at the many Starbucks wins this week, even as the company continues its failing scorched earth campaign of union busting. 

ALU Hearing Zoom Link: https://www.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJIsdeCqrTouHO9YNidbEDeTe2Ea38X-NqU 
Passcode: 968885

No Contract, No Coffee Pledge to Support Starbucks Workers: https://crm.broadstripes.com/ctf/SJID0H

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Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Ep 109 – Without Workers, Nothing Moves

It’s shaping up to be a hot labor summer out there, we’ve got union busting, we’ve got strikes, we’ve got unions working together on this week’s episode of Work Stoppage.  First we check in on the union drive at Trader Joe’s in Massachusetts, where the company has started its union busting campaign by violating the Button Clause of the NLRA.  Next, we got exciting news this week as Workers United and CWA announced they will be working together on their efforts to unionize Apple Retail stores, starting in NYC.  Truck drivers in South Korea have been on strike for the last week and have paralyzed commerce across the country as they seek fair minimum wages for all truckers.  In LA, workers at the Genwa Korean BBQ chain signed their first contract after a five year organizing drive.  Intelligentsia Coffee workers are joining the union coffee ranks in Chicago, as they have filed for union representation with the IBEW.  Dollar General workers have been fighting back against the atrocious conditions at their stores with protests, walkouts, and mass resignations.  Finally, we check in with the non-stop momentum of the Starbucks Workers United campaign, now pushing 150 unionized stores.

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Overtime Episode 17 PREVIEW - AFL-CIA Pt 2 - El Golpe

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

As we discussed in our first episode of this series, there’s a long, sordid history of collaboration between the upper leadership of the AFL-CIO and the US National Security State, specifically the CIA.  Over several decades during the Cold War, through the American Institution for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), the CIA used US labor to infiltrate, subvert, and destroy independent labor movements in numerous countries around the world. We continue the discussion of that history in this episode, largely drawn from the new book El Golpe: US Labor, The CIA, and The Coup at Ford in Mexico by Rob McKenzie.  The collusion between the AFL-CIO and the CIA continued all the way up through the 90s, and in this episode we cover how that relationship led to the involvement of the CIA in violently crushing a nascent rank and file labor movement at Ford in Mexico in 1990.  The history of this collaboration is dark, but understanding it is vital to building a revived, transparent, worker-led labor movement in this country that will learn from the class collaborationist mistakes of the past.

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Ep 108 – Synthesizer Solidarity

Another jam packed episode of Work Stoppage this week, as we start with a check in on workers at Amy’s Kitchen, where a second plant has started a union drive. We also follow up on the Case New Holland strike where 2000 UAW workers remain on strike as the company refuses to bring a fair offer to the table.  Amazon has continued their campaign of harassment of organizers, and new documents released this week show the details behind how they discipline workers. There’s also a new independent union drive at Amazon, this one in North Carolina, that deserves all our support. Also this week, Seattle passed a first of its kind minimum wage law for gig workers to prevent companies from evading labor regulations.  We may be on the verge of the biggest national rail strike in England in nearly a century, with 40,000 workers voting to authorize a strike in the coming weeks. Workers at Moog in North Carolina are unionizing with the IBEW due to the company paying poverty wages while workers assemble synthesizers that cost more than they make in a month.  Finally, we catch up on the Starbucks Workers United movement, which has just set up a $1 million strike fund to help workers fight the company’s vicious union busting campaign.

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Ep 107 - 100 Unionized Starbucks!

Unfortunately, we’ve got a few setbacks to start the episode this week. First, we follow up with the USW workers at Chevron’s refinery in Richmond, CA, where workers have narrowly approved a new contract that doesn’t meet the main goals their two month long strike set out for. Next, we talk about workers at the unionizing Apple store in Atlanta being forced to withdraw their election petition due to union busting. Also this week, workers at Great Lakes Coffee in Detroit have been on strike for recognition of their union for three months, and rather than recognize it and reopen a profitable location, the owners decided to close the store. Workers with Amazonians United held a walkout this past week in Chicago to demand the reinstatement of a recently fired Black worker who had faced racial discrimination on the job. 600 Planned Parenthood workers in six states have filed to unionize with the SEIU, and hopefully we don’t see a repeat of the organizations 2017-18 union busting. Workers at America’s Test Kitchen in Boston are unionizing because for many, they spend all day making recipes they could never afford to eat. Finally, we close out with our Starbucks Workers United update, as many workers struck or walked out over Memorial Day weekend, and the movement crossed the 100 union store threshold.

Leesburg Strike Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/leesburgbaristas

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Overtime Episode 16 PREVIEW - Why Rank and File? - Pt 2

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 first episode of the series, we talked about the reasons why rank and file unionism, running your union in a democratic fashion, is so important to rebuilding the labor movement.  On our second episode, we dig into a few historical examples of rank and file organizing which demonstrate the power of these organizing methods.  First, we start out by discussing the history of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers, the UE.  The UE was started back in the 30s as a democratic union, and despite facing fierce attacks from business unionists and the US state, they have stayed true to their organizing methods for over 80 years.  Then, we discuss the history of the One Member, One Vote campaign, which was the result of decades of struggle for more democracy within the UAW.  Finally, we discuss a couple other real world examples of how rank and file methods can build real power on the jobsite and sum up with how these methods can be the foundation for a revival of the US labor movement as a base for a class conscious movement.  In the final part of the series, we will discuss a few more major examples of rank and file organizing from the Chicago Teachers Union and the Industrial Workers of the World.

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Ep 106 – The Law Won’t Save Us, Solidarity Will

Labor never stops, and neither does labor news.  We start this week’s show with a couple quick follow ups on the status of the Hudson Workers United and Target Workers Unite campaigns.  Then, in great news, we discuss this week’s victorious union election at Raven Software, where testers have formed the first recognized union in a major video game studio. We also cover the union busting campaign at Apple retail stores where workers are organizing with the CWA.  Workers at a Refresco bottling plant in New Jersey have had to win TWO union elections to get their union with the UE recognized due to a insane legal technicality, but now hope their determination will inspire others.  30,000 workers in South Africa’s gold mines have been on strike for three months as the company refuses to budge on a raise of $63 a year.  As the war in Ukraine continues, companies and politicians in the country have used it as an opportunity to strip workers of many of their labor rights, while putting no controls on capitalists reaping superprofits from the increased exploitation.  Finally, we wrap up with our weekly update on the many actions and union elections in the Starbucks Workers United movement.

If you like the show, please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage.  We couldn’t do the show without your support, and patrons get access to evergreen Overtime episodes and periodic Shop Floor Discussion episodes on current issues too long to cover in our regular episodes.

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