On this Labor Day

September 2, 2024September 2, 2024 / Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

Labor Day is dedicated to workers uniting, using their collective strength to demand changes in work policy to include respect, safety, health care, livable wages, shorter hours, sick time, etc. Sadly, the fierce and strategic labor organizer, Jane McAlevey, died at age 59 in July. Jane had an incredible impact on organized labor and you can read some tributes here. She published a number of books and this is what I wrote in my reading log after finishing A Collective Bargain: Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy (2020):

“This book fired me up! There’s so much we can accomplish if we stand together. I wish I had a job where I could organize a union. Biggest takeaway: even in states w all GOP elected (WV), the teachers & school workers won huge demands via strike!” No matter if you’re in the work place or not, I highly recommend reading this inspirational book because Jane makes it clear that people power is the way forward in every single challenge we face. People standing shoulder-to-shoulder as we demand better for people and planet.

I believe Jane would be thrilled by some of the powerful collective actions happening right now:

10,000 hotel workers with Unite Here (union for workers in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries. Membership is diverse, predominantly women and people of color, hailing from all corners of the planet) are on strike across the country right now! You can pledge your solidarity to the workers at Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt here.
17,000 CWA workers are on strike at AT&T Southeast. You can pledge your support here. Note: I’m a former Communication Workers of America union member!
Per Washington Square News: A group of faculty and staff at NYU will withhold administrative tasks for the fall semester starting Labor Day until senior leadership removes police from campus and pardons those facing disciplinary action for their participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, a recent pledge signed by Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine reads. This was a welcome development as universities crack down on free speech and weaponize antisemitism to include the use of “Zionism.”
Hundreds of thousands of people in Tel Aviv took to the streets last night to call out Netanyahu for undermining all efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza (including the assassination of Hamas’s lead negotiator). The government responded by spraying protestors with skunk water, a tactic the IDF has used on Palestinians for many years and that former IDF soldiers used on student protestors at Columbia University last spring. This morning, Histadrut (Israel’s largest trade union), led a general strike that “closed government and municipal offices as well as schools and many private businesses. Israel’s international airport, Ben Gurion, was reported to have shut down at 8am local time (6am BST) for two hours. The Tel Aviv labour court ordered an end to the strike on Monday, ruling that it was politically motivated and had not been called for economic reasons.” Can’t help but note the irony of the “only democracy in the Middle East” shutting down a general strike. Also want to note that we in the U.S. are highly propagandized in regards to our government’s role in propping up the far-right Netanyahu, and that Israeli media is openly reporting the facts about Netanyahu’s disregard for making a deal to release the hostages. Here, here, here, and here are pertinent headlines from Israel. We aren’t seeing anything like that in U.S. media.

Lastly, PLEASE take 2 minutes to personalize comments in support of United Farm Workers who labor in the fields to bring food to our tables. They work in all sorts of extreme weather, including in dangerously high temperatures. The comment period is now open for Federal Heat Safety Regulations and I hope you’ll join me in advocating for training, shade, cool water, and paid rest breaks for the workers. You can do that HERE.

I’ll close this Labor Day post with some wise words from Mother Jones:

“Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”
“The first thing is to raise hell,” says I. “That’s always the first thing to do when you’re faced with an injustice and you feel powerless. That’s what I do in my fight for the working class.”
“Our present civilization is one of brute force. We hope to make it a civilization of justice and love.”

Thank you for reading this far. Happy Labor Day!
Solidarity! ✊🏽

Climate Movement Monday/Labor Day: solidarity with UAW

September 4, 2023 / Tracy Abell / 8 Comments

Happy Labor Day on this Movement Monday! While the climate crisis continues to intensify, there is much to celebrate as workers organize and strike for better pay and working conditions. Here’s a great round-up on recent and upcoming union activity from Joshua P. Hill. Today I want to focus on the United Auto Workers (UAW) which is a great example of what a “just transition” should look like as we transition off fossil fuels to renewable energy. It’s important to remember the intersection between climate justice and worker justice. Today I’m asking you to make one quick phone call in solidarity with the auto workers (scroll down for details)

This is a complex issue and I’m nowhere near an expert on what’s happening, but it boils down this: Electric Vehicles (EV) are changing the UAW landscape and the workers need protections as the Big 3 automakers (Ford, Stellantis, General Motors) pivot to EV production. The following is an excerpt from An Open Letter to Big 3 Auto CEOs: The Climate Movement Stands with UAW!

Within the next few years — the span of this next contract — lies humanity’s last chance to navigate a transition away from fossil fuels, including away from combustion engines. With that shift comes an opportunity for workers in the United States to benefit from a revival of new manufacturing, including electric vehicles (EVs) and collective transportation like buses and trains, as a part of the renewable energy revolution. This transition must center workers and communities, especially those who have powered our economy through the fossil fuel era, and be a vehicle for economic and racial justice. We are putting you on notice: Corporate greed and shareholder profits must never again be put before safe, good-paying union jobs, clean air and water, and a liveable future.

I’d already decided today’s post would be an informational piece about the 150,000 UAW workers poised to strike and then was thrilled to receive an action alert from Climate Mobilization Project this morning. PLEASE take one minute to leave a message for the billionaire-CEOs of the Big 3 auto companies in support of the autoworkers. Here are the specifics:

When you call 318-300-1249, you’ll hear a brief intro about the contract negotiations from UAW. At the beep, just leave your message. That’s it!

Some points that you can bring up include:

The EV transition cannot be a “race to the bottom” that further exploits workers.
Workers deserve to benefit from the revival of new EV manufacturing. They deserve good union jobs with fair wages, job security, and dignified working conditions.
In recent months, workers and their communities have experienced unprecedented extreme heat, smoke pollution, flooding, and other disasters.
The leaders of auto companies have historically made decisions that exacerbated both of these crises over the past few decades — driving further inequality and increasing pollution.
Auto manufacturers can either do right by the workers who have sacrificed to keep companies profitable, or can face a united labor, environmental, and climate movement that is ready to fight side by side with UAW workers to win their demands.

The info you’ll hear before leaving your messages includes the fact that the Big 3 made a combined $21 billion in profits in just the first six months of this year . . . so a simple “Share the wealth” message is very appropriate!

Bonus: Here’s a short video clip of Shawn Fain, UAW President, on the gap between workers and billionaires. Gotta love it!

Thank you in advance for reading and taking action! These are scary times, but also exhilarating as we witness workers standing together for the collective good. Solidarity! ✊🏽

Workers unite!

September 6, 2021 / Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

After hours and hours of staring at my computer monitor as I organized information in preparation of handing off a major project, I was feeling like this sunflower looks. Then my phone rang.

July 3, 2021

It was Wildebeest calling as he walked home from his restaurant shift. He told me about a co-worker getting ripped off by a higher-up and how awesome it felt when another co-worker stood up to management on behalf of the slighted co-worker. Unfortunately (and predictably), nothing was done.

So, in the true spirit of Labor Day, I put a bug in Wildebeest’s ear about getting his co-workers to stand together. I said if they all refused to take shifts with this certain higher-up until the situation was rectified, management would be forced to take action. Wildebeest liked that idea.

Will he follow through? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I planted an idea and the thought of those workers someday (soon, I hope) using their collective power to force change perks me up immensely.

Solidarity with all workers around the globe!

Workers Unite

September 5, 2020 / Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

Thinking about all the workers out there struggling to pay rent, buy food, keep their lives going. Thinking about one of my sons who is struggling to find a job in this economy and who may very well be moving back home in the near future. He’s grateful he has a place to land if it comes to that, but it shouldn’t come to that. Not for him and not for other young people facing a bleak future. They should be able to live their lives on their own terms.