Tag Archives: workers’ issues

California Public School Students Will Learn About Labor Rights Under First-of-Its-Kind Law

“A.B. 800 empowers young people with the information and tools they need to understand their rights as workers,” said Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher of the California Labor Federation.

By Julia Conley. Published 10-2-2023 by Common Dreams

While Republican-controlled state legislatures have rolled back child labor protections this year, Democratic lawmakers and rights advocates in California on Monday celebrated Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signing of a first-of-its-kind law that they say will make young people less vulnerable to workplace abuses by teaching them about labor protections.

Assemblymember Liz Ortega (D-20) told the Contra Costa News that Assembly Bill 800 is aimed at “giving kids the tools to stand up for themselves” as Republican lawmakers attack unions as well as making it easier for companies to employ children as young as 14 to work in industrial facilities.

Continue reading →

UN Report Urges End to Forced US Prison Labor—a ‘Contemporary Form of Slavery’

Leave a reply

One of the U.N. experts who compiled the report after visiting the U.S. earlier this year said its findings “point to the critical need for comprehensive reform.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 9-28-2023 by Common Dreams

*There are no minimum wage or overtime pay requirements for prison work Photo: Meer*

A report published Thursday by United Nations human rights experts condemns systemic racism in the U.S. criminal justice system and policing, while describing “appalling” prison conditions and decrying forced unpaid convict labor as a “contemporary form of slavery.”

The U.N. International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement report follows a visit to the U.S. earlier this year by a team of human rights experts. The U.N. officials collected testimonies from 133 affected people, visited five prisons and jails, and held meetings with advocacy groups and numerous government and police officials in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, and Washington, D.C.

Continue reading →

Thanks to NLRB’s Cemex Decision, ‘Union-Busting Just Got a Lot Harder’

Leave a reply

“The Cemex decision reaffirms that elections are not the only appropriate path for seeking union representation, while also ensuring that, when elections take place, they occur in a fair election environment,” said the NLRB chair.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 8-25-2023 by Common Dreams

The National Labor Relations Board on Friday announced a new framework for determining when companies must bargain with unions without an election—a policy that supporters said will make union-busting much more difficult.

Following the NLRB’s decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, when workers ask an employer to voluntarily recognize a union as their bargaining representative, the company can voluntarily do so and begin good-faith negotiations.

Continue reading →

UPS Teamsters Overwhelmingly Approve ‘Historic’ New Contract, Averting Strike

Leave a reply

“This is the template for how workers should be paid and protected nationwide, and nonunion companies like Amazon better pay attention,” said Teamsters president Sean O’Brien.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-22-2023 by Common Dreams

In Canarsie, Brooklyn, UPS Teamsters from Local 804 rallied in front of a UPS Customer Center on April 21. Photo: Peoples Dispatch

United Parcel Service workers in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Tuesday overwhelmingly ratified what the union called “the most historic collective bargaining agreement in the history of UPS,” avoiding what experts said would have been a crippling strike.

Teamsters members voted by 86.3% to approve the new tentative contract, which raises wages for full- and part-time workers, creates more full-time jobs, and secures “important workplace protections, including air conditioning.”

Continue reading →

Fetterman Bill Would Ensure Striking Workers Can Receive Federal Food Aid

Leave a reply

“I’m proud to introduce this bill that will eliminate the need for workers to choose between fighting for fair working conditions and putting food on the table for their families,” said the Pennsylvania Democrat.

By Kenny Stancil. Published 7-27-2023 by Common Dreams

Senator John Fetterman. Photo: Governor Tom Wolf/flickr/CC

As multiple work stoppages continued across the United States, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania on Thursday introduced legislation that would enable striking workers to qualify for federal food aid.

Called the Food Secure Strikers Act of 2023, Fetterman’s bill would amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to ensure that striking workers aren’t excluded from receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. In addition, the bill would preserve food stamp eligibility for public sector workers who are fired for striking and clarify that any income-eligible household is entitled to SNAP benefits even if a member of that household is on strike.

Continue reading →

Union Warns GOP Proposal Would ‘Devastate’ the Social Security Administration

Leave a reply

“More cuts to SSA will result in a rapid increase of wait times, force SSA offices to close in many communities, and reduce service hours to the public.”

By Jake Johnson Published 7-20-2023 by Common Dreams

social security office in Worcester Massachusetts. Photo: LEONARDO DASILVA/Wikimedia Commons/CC

A union representing more than 750,000 federal employees warned Wednesday that the House GOP’s proposed cuts to the Social Security Administration for the coming fiscal year would deeply harm the already strained and understaffed agency, potentially forcing it to close offices and slash service hours.

Such impacts would “devastate the agency’s ability to serve the American public,” Julie Tippens, legislative director of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), wrote in a letter to the top members of the House Appropriations Committee.

Continue reading →

US Bill to Protect Reporters From Exploitative State Spying Heads to House Floor

Leave a reply

“Journalists must be able to freely report on government actions without fear the government will compel them to reveal their sources,” said one campaigner.

By Julia Conley. Published 7-19-2023 by Common Dreams

Privacy and First Amendment advocates on Wednesday urged the U.S. House to pass legislation that would protect the United States’ bedrock freedoms and a core tenet of journalism: the right of reporters to guard the identities of their sources.

The House Judiciary Committee advanced the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying (PRESS) Act with bipartisan support, despite claims in recent months by Republican lawmakers such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that the legislation would “immunize journalists and leakers alike from scrutiny and consequences for their actions.”

Continue reading →

‘Disgraceful’: GOP Advances Bill That Could Remove 220,000 Teachers From Classrooms

Leave a reply

“If left to their own devices, Republicans would gleefully take public education to the graveyard,” said Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro.

By Jake Johnson. Published 7-15-2023 by Common Dreams

Day 2, UTLA Strike, Teachers rally in Little Tokyo. Photo credit: Mike Chickey

House Democrats warned that hundreds of thousands of teachers could lose their jobs if legislation advanced Friday by a Republican-controlled appropriations subcommittee becomes law.

The panel’s draft Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill for the coming fiscal year calls for nearly $64 billion in total cuts, a proposal that Democrats said “decimates support for children in K-12 elementary schools and early childhood education” and “abandons college students and low-income workers trying to improve their lives through higher education or job training.”

Continue reading →

‘Get Back to the Negotiating Table,’ Says Teamsters as UPS Trains Scabs for Strike

Leave a reply

“UPS is making clear it doesn’t view its workforce as a priority,” the union said. “UPS should stop wasting time and money on training strikebreakers.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 7-14-2023 by Common Dreams

Sean O’Brien, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters general president, joined United Parcel Service workers for a practice picketing in Brooklyn, New York on July 14, 2023. (Photo: Teamsters/Twitter)

After negotiations between the United Parcel Service and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters broke down last week, UPS on Friday announced “business continuity training” to prepare for a potential strike by 340,000 union members next month.

“We remain focused on reaching an agreement with the Teamsters that is a win for UPS employees, our customers, our union, and our company,” the shipping giant said. “While we have made great progress and are close to reaching an agreement, we have a responsibility as an essential service provider to take steps to help ensure we can deliver our customers’ packages if the Teamsters choose to strike.”

Continue reading →

Nationwide UPS Strike ‘Imminent,’ Teamsters Warn After Rejecting ‘Appalling’ Contract Offer

Leave a reply

“UPS executives couldn’t make it one more day without insulting and ignoring union leaders and rank-and-filers as negotiations resumed on Wednesday.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 6-28-2023 by Common Dreams

Members of Teamsters Local 174 at the UPS hubs in Seattle, Shoreline, and Redmond, Washington marched with “Just Practicing” signs on June 27, 2023. (Photo: Teamsters/Twitter)

“The largest single-employer strike in American history now appears inevitable.”

So said Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien late Wednesday after leaders of the union representing shipping giant UPS quit negotiating with company representatives after giving them a Friday deadline to “act responsibly and exchange a stronger economic proposal for more than 340,000 full- and part-time workers.”

Continue reading →

Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Tag Archives: workers’ issues