Upcoming Events 🗓
Join us for the eighth series of the Workplace Organizer Training Series, starting on Wednesday, August 10, and running weekly on Wednesdays through August 31! In 90-minute sessions over four weeks, we will discuss the problems that workers are facing and how you can come together with your co-workers to address them. Learn some fundamental skills to help defend yourself and your co-workers from unjust working conditions! Register today.
Last week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the gross domestic product shrank for the second consecutive quarter. It’s another sign that what many people fear is coming true: We’re either headed for a recession, or we’re already in one.
Whenever the economy goes bad, the story is always the same. Capitalists weather the storm, and sometimes even profit from it, while working people suffer. And when the downturn finally does end, workers never see their share of the wealth that a good economy provides. This was certainly the case after the 2008 recession which, for most people, never really ended.
But workers always have power, even in hard times. The labor market remains tight, meaning workers will continue to have significant leverage in bargaining for wages and jobs for at least a while longer. Union activity is still on the rise, securing some historic new victories. Workers everywhere, newly emboldened by strikes and successful union campaigns, are mobilizing and growing stronger every day. Even when the worst comes, with solidarity, we can meet the moment.
World of Work 🌍
IN: Teamsters Local 89 voted unanimously to end their 12-week strike and accept a new contract offer, having won wage increases, an overhauled insurance plan, and more vacation time, among other demands.
MA: Trader Joe’s workers in Hadley voted to form an independent union, becoming the first union store at the company. Workers at a Trader Joe’s in Minneapolis will vote on unionizing in mid-August.
MA: In Boston’s Brookline neighborhood, Starbucks workers continue an indefinite strike in protest of unfair labor practices, now in its 15th day. Workers also went on strike in Philadelphia; Ithaca, N.Y.; Buffalo, N.Y., Minneapolis; and Kansas City, Miss. Starbucks Workers United Boston is rallying today at the regional National Labor Relations Board office.
TN: Workers at the MQY1 Amazon warehouse outside Nashville, Tenn., the largest in the country, announced an organizing drive in coordination with the Amazon Labor Union.
Week in Labor History 📚
August 4, 1997: Over 185,000 Teamsters begin striking at UPS. Tensions had been building for years, particularly around UPS’s practice of replacing full-time jobs with low-wage, part-time ones. Workers remained on strike for 15 days and effectively shut down UPS operations, costing the company over $600 million. The strike, the largest of the decade and still one of the biggest in US history, was a success for the union, resulting in a new contract with better pay, benefits, and job security.
Solidarity,
Team EWOC
