Upcoming Events 📅
From July 17 to 25, labor and allied organizations will be holding a national Week of Action to demand that the Senate pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, long overdue labor-law reform that would make it easier for workers to join unions and bargain with their employers for fair wages and working conditions. Find an event near you.
We’re celebrating 16 months of helping workers organize! 662 total campaigns, 2747 workers contacted, 1184 total volunteers, 245 graduated trainees, and 120 eligible mentees.
Since last year, we’ve been able to help hundreds of workers fight and win demands in their workplaces. This week we held our second EWOC general meeting, where we discussed our plans for the rest of 2021 and beyond. Some things are certain: we’re going to keep supporting workplace campaigns, building durable worker organizations, and growing rank-and-file militancy. In the spirit of “Big Bill” Haywood, “if the workers are organized, all they have to do is put their hands in their pockets and they have got the capitalist class whipped.”
If the last 16 months and the decades of labor organizing that came before have taught us anything, it’s that we can’t do anything alone. We need your help! Consider joining a volunteer team with EWOC — we’ve got a little something for everyone.
Some teams actively seeking help are our Text Team, which keeps workers, trainees and volunteers aware of what’s going on with EWOC; our Digital Team, which runs EWOC’s social media accounts; and our Media Team, which produces the EWOC blog and helps organizing workers get news coverage. If you are interested in joining a team or getting more involved, please fill out this form.
We are also looking for volunteers for our fundraising and internal organizing teams. The Fundraising Team works to raise the money EWOC needs to continue our mission, and the Internal Organizing Team trains and connects worker leaders to build a stronger network of workers and organizers. We have special forms to join these teams, so if you would like to help with fundraising, please apply here, and if you would like to help with internal organizing, apply here.
If you have something else on your mind, our inbox is always open. Email us! Thank you to all those who have joined us in fighting for worker’s rights and building solidarity.
World of Work 🌍
The three biggest strikes in the country all came to an end this week:
VA: The UAW strike at a Volvo plant in Dublin has ended, after five weeks, three rejected contracts, and several twists and turns. The story of this 2900 worker strike has been long and complicated, with workers at odds with management, and sometimes with union leadership. The full content of the agreement, and whether or not it includes some key issues, is also still unclear. But for now at least, the strike is over and workers are back on the job.
IL: 2,000 Cook County workers with SEIU Local 73 are going back to work, after reaching a tentative agreement on a contract. The strike began last month and lasted 18 days, the longest in Local 73’s history. Dian Palmer, the union’s president, has hailed the agreement as a victory for the workers, however several issues on the negotiating table, including a higher wage floor for the lowest paid workers and raises for the most senior workers, are still unresolved.
PA: United steelworkers at nine Allegheny Technology Inc. facilities have reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract. If approved, the deal would end the strike that has been going on since March 30. Under the agreement, employees would get $7,000 in the form of a $4,000 signing bonus paid within 30 days of the contract’s ratification, and two lump-sum payments of $1,500 on Feb. 1 in 2024 and 2025. You can read a summary of the proposal here.
From Our Blog 🗣
Grocery and food service workers across the country continue to face poor working conditions, but many of them are organizing and fighting back. Check out some of their recent wins here.
