Category Archives: Unions and Organized Labor

Watchdog Files FEC Complaint Over Elon Musk Effort to Buy Voters

Musk’s latest attempt to aid Donald Trump “appears to veer smack dab into violating federal law against paying people to register and vote,” said Public Citizen.

By Julia Conley. Published 10-23-2024 by Common Dreams

Screenshot: Exotic Vietnam/YouTube

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk may be able to “throw his money around in an attempt to directly influence the outcome of this election,” as one legal expert said of his latest ploy to help Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but consumer advocacy watchdog Public Citizen on Wednesday said Musk has crossed a legal line in recent days by offering voters direct cash payments in exchange for signing a petition.

The group filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over Musk’s pledge to award a randomly selected registered voter in a swing state with $1 million each day until Election Day, if they sign a petition in favor of the First and Second Amendments.

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‘A True Hero’: Pay Equity Crusader Lilly Ledbetter Dies at 86

“Let’s honor her by continuing to challenge discrimination in all forms—and finally closing the wage gap.”

By Julia Conley. Published 10-14-2024 by Common Dreams

Lilly Ledbetter speaks during the second day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Photo: Qqqqqq/Wikimedia Commons/CC

Labor unions and women’s advocacy groups on Monday paid tribute to Lilly Ledbetter, the former Goodyear employee whose fight for equal pay made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress, after her death at the age of 86—with economic justice advocates hailing Ledbetter as “an icon.”

“Lilly Ledbetter simply wanted to be paid the same as her male Goodyear co-workers,” said the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) on social media. But to workers who have benefited from the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, added the union, “she was a true hero.”

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‘Why We Need Medicare for All’: Boeing Revokes Health Benefits for Striking Workers

“Like other wealthy countries we must guarantee healthcare to every man, woman, and child as a human right, not a job benefit. Whether you’re on strike or not, everyone is entitled to healthcare,” said Bernie Sanders.

By Edward Carver. Published 10-1-2024 by Common Dreams

Photo: @grrrrbs/X

Boeing revoked the company-sponsored healthcare benefits of about 33,000 striking workers starting Tuesday, drawing condemnation from progressives, who said it showed the need for a universal healthcare system in the United States.

The workers, who are mostly in Washington state and are represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), went on strike on September 13, and the corporation announced on its website that their healthcare benefits would expire at the end of the day on September 30.

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Meet the 7 Corporations Doing the Most to Undermine Democracy Worldwide

“Unless we’re organized and demanding responsive governments that actually meet the needs of people, it’s corporate power that’s going to set the agenda,” one organizer said.

By Olivia Rosane. Published 9-23-2024 by Common Dreams

The Amazon Spheres are three spherical conservatories that form part of the campus of Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington. Photo Buiobuione/Wikimedia Commons/CC

Big Tech, Big Oil, and private equity firms are among the leading companies that profit from controlling media and technology, accelerating the climate crisis, privatizing public goods and services, and violating human and workers’ rights, the International Trade Union Confederation revealed on Monday.

The ITUC has labeled seven major companies as “corporate underminers of democracy” that lobby against government attempts to hold them accountable and are headed by super-rich individuals who fund right-wing political movements and leaders.

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‘Hellscape’: Microsoft Deal Would Reopen Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant to Power AI

“This is another chapter in a nightmare that won’t end,” a campaigner said.

By Edward Carver. Published 9-20-2024 by Common Dreams

Three Mile Island nuclear plant site in 1979. Photo: Nuclear Regulatory Commission/flickr/CC

The corporation that owns the shuttered nuclear plant on Three Mile Island on Friday announced a deal with Microsoft to reopen the facility to provide power to the tech company for data centers using artificial intelligence.

Three Mile Island is well-known as the site of the largest nuclear disaster in U.S. history—a reactor there, Unit 2, partially melted down in 1979. However, the site’s other reactor, Unit 1, continued to operate safely until 2019, when it was closed for economic reasons.

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Ocasio-Cortez, Smith Push Bill to Create Social Housing Authority

“Because we believe that housing is a human right, like food or healthcare, we believe that more Americans deserve the option of social housing.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 9-18-2024 by Common Dreams

Screenshot: YouTube

“It’s becoming nearly impossible for working-class people to buy and keep a roof over their heads. Congress must respond with a plan that matches the scale of this crisis.”

That’s according to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), who on Wednesday introduced the Homes Act in a New York Times opinion piece and an event with supporters of the proposal on Capitol Hill.

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Thousands of Autoworkers Protest in Brussels Amid Likely Audi Layoffs

“Their anger is very legitimate, very understandable, especially since Audi is not very clear on its plans,” a local employment minister said.

By Edward Carver. Published 9-16-2024 by Common Dreams

Thousands of workers demonstrated in the streets of Brussels on September 16, 2024. Photo: FGTB/X

Thousands of autoworkers protested in Brussels on Monday following recent news that Audi, a subsidiary of the German automaker Volkswagen, would phase out production at its plant there, which is expected to mean layoffs for its roughly 3,000 employees by the end of 2025.

The phase-out announcement led to a labor dispute that’s shuttered the plant for the last two weeks, with some employees forming an encampment protest outside. The plant is expected to resume operations on Tuesday even though the core issues underlying the labor dispute, which some unions have characterized as a lockout by management, haven’t been resolved.

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After Weekend Walkouts, Hotel Worker Strikes Grow on Labor Day

“We refuse to accept wages that can’t support our families. It’s insulting. And it ends now.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 9-2-2024 by Common Dreams

Workers from over two dozen hotels across the United States are on strike as of September 2, 2024, which is Labor Day. Photo: UNITE HERE! Local 30/X

After approximately 10,000 hotel workers across the United States walked off the job over the weekend ahead of Labor Day, the strikes not only continued but grew on Monday, with employees of the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor taking to the streets.

In Maryland’s biggest city, workers with UNITE HERE Local 7 carried signs that said, “Respect our work,” “One job should be enough,” and “Make them pay.”

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‘Tragic Outcome’ for Gig Workers as California Supreme Court Hands Win to Uber, DoorDash

“Today’s ruling only strengthens our demand for the right to join together in a union so that we can begin improving the gig economy for workers and our customers,” the case plaintiff said.

By Brett Wilkins Published 7-25-2024 by Common Dreams

Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and other members and allies of the California Gig Workers Union rally outside the California Supreme Court in San Francisco on May 24, 2024. (Photo: SEIU 1021/X)

Labor advocates on Thursday decried a ruling by the California Supreme Court upholding a lower court’s affirmation of a state ballot measure allowing app-based ride and delivery companies to classify their drivers as independent contractors, limiting their worker rights.

The court’s seven justices ruled unanimously in Castellanos v. State of California that Proposition 22, which was approved by 58% of California voters in 2020, complies with the state constitution. Prop 22—which was overturned in 2021 by an Alameda County Superior Court judge in 2021—was upheld in March 2023 by the state’s 1st District Court of Appeals.

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Teamsters President Urged to Cancel Republican Convention Speech

One Teamsters official warned the union leader’s scheduled appearance “only normalizes and makes the most anti-union party and president I’ve seen in my lifetime seem palatable.”

By Jake Johnson. Published 7-12-2024 by Common Dreams

Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien testified at a hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) in 2023. Photo: Teamsters

Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien is facing mounting internal pressure to cancel his planned speech to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next week, with the union’s vice president at large accusing the labor leader of kowtowing to a viciously anti-worker party and a GOP presidential hopeful whose first four years in the White House were marked by open attacks on the labor movement.

John Palmer, the Teamsters’ vice president at large, wrote in an op-ed in New Politics earlier this week that O’Brien’s scheduled appearance at Donald Trump’s invitation “only normalizes and makes the most anti-union party and president I’ve seen in my lifetime seem palatable.”

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