This year’s Labor Day seemed to mark the end of a truly historic summer of labor activity in what the New York Times calls, A Summer of Strikes. At EWOC, we believe it’s just the beginning!  

A new ruling by the NLRB could be a gamechanger for union organizing efforts across the country. Common Dreams reports that leading up to a union election vote at Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC, the company had engaged in more than 20 unlawful union-busting actions. The NLRB ruled that if a company engages in illegal manipulation of a union election, the union can automatically be recognized by the NLRB. This framework brings us closer to the Joy Silk doctrine which gave unions legitimacy through majority “card-check” (that’s when a union presents union authorization cards signed by a majority of employees). Although critics are viewing this as a half-measure, it’s certainly a step in the right direction. HuffPost has a great breakdown. 

Additionally, the Department of Labor is pushing forward a new rule in its regulatory agenda that would protect the 40 hour work week for salaried employees who make less than $55,000 a year. We’ve also seen increasing support of unions and union influence from the American public surpassing the levels of support from the 1970s.

Tech Workers Campaign

EWOC is working on building and supporting organizing efforts of tech workers. If you want support or information on organizing your workplace, fill out our Tech Workers Intake Form.

Labor Notes 2023 Tech Organizing Conference | October 7, 2023

This year’s Labor Notes Tech Organizing Conference will be held on October 7, 2023 in New York City near Washington Square Park. Exact location will be disclosed to confirmed attendees. Meet other union organizers from across the tech industry and attend or propose your own workshop, talk, or open discussion sessions.

New From Our Blog 💻

We recently had the opportunity to read Ethan Marcotte’s new book, You Deserve a Tech Union, and to talk to him about it. Ethan is a web designer, writer, consultant, and all around thoughtful human being. You may know him as the man who coined the term Responsive Web Design in 2010. He also penned a recent Op-Ed about AI and its effects on labor including the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. 

The stories in Ethan’s book capture tech workers struggling for employment that’s meaningful, secure, and dignified, resonating with the experiences of workers in many other industries. He incorporates present-day data and unionizing efforts with plain faced language that explains how to get started with organizing your workplace. He also shares awe-inspiring stories from the historical past that remind us of what new technologies looked like a hundred years ago, what it meant for workers then, and what unions have been able to accomplish in the past 150 years. Tech workers face unique challenges and union-busting efforts, so this is a must read for anyone contemplating what strategies will secure their wins in this era of repressive, behemoth corporate power.

You Deserve a Tech Union is a valuable and galvanizing read for anyone who is union curious or even union skeptical (not just tech workers). Let’s face it, with the creep of technology and our reliance on it, with globalization and the shrinking of our world, we’ve all become “tech workers,” and we all absolutely deserve a union!

Read our interview with Ethan here: Tech Workers Deserve a Union.

You can find out more about Ethan or connect with him at EthanMarcotte.com. He will be attending this year’s Tech Organizing Conference in NYC. Get your own copy of Ethan’s book using discount code: EWOC15, for a 15% discount at abookapart.com/products/you-deserve-a-tech-union.

• United Auto Workers’ current contract with the Big 3 Automakers – Ford, GM, & Stellantis – is set to expire at midnight on September 14, 2023. After decades of concessions, workers have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if their demands aren’t met before then: 98% at Ford, 96% at GM, and 95% at Stellantis. UAW President Shawn Fain explains what’s at stake for American workers.

  Here’s how to support them.

• SAG-AFTRA seeks a 2nd strike authorization from members as their contract with major video game companies, including Activision and Electronic Arts, is set to expire on Sept 26. 

• VFX Technicians at Marvel & Disney are ramping up their unionizing efforts by creating a local chapter of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employers (IATSE). We hope to see more to come.  

• After a seven-month contract campaign and a seven-day strike, Oakland Education Association won substantial raises and broad benefits, including “common good” demands. 

• American Airlines flight attendants vote strike authorization 99.47% ‘yes’ vote to authorize a strike, 26,000+ Members are ready to strike. 

• 4,800 research fellows at the National Institutes of Health will vote on whether to unionize with the UAW, potentially joining tens of thousands of recently unionized post-doctoral workers across the country.

• REI workers in SoHo NYC walked off the job during the middle of NYC’s Labor Day Parade in protest of REI’s retaliatory actions against union members. They’re demanding REI restore their wages and bargain in good faith.

Organizing Tip of the Month 📧

When to Go Public / by Bob Lawson

In a union drive, the committee can take the campaign public when the following criteria are met:

1. The committee has reached a super majority of workers. 

2. The committee has charted the workplace and relationships.

3. There is a clear message and understanding of the key issues. 

4. It has conducted soft assessments of the workforce.

5. The OC – Organizing Committee believes it has enough support (65–70%) to withstand a strong anti-union campaign. 

Generally, the campaign goes public by collecting signatures on authorization cards or a petition for a union election — or if the signatures have been gathered secretly, marching on the boss to demand union recognition.

It is a mistake to go public too early with only a partial OC; in those cases, the committee may seem more like a clique than a real leadership group. It takes time, honest assessments, and accountability to make sure the committee is composed of members who are respected by, and representative of, all their peers.

After going public, the committee will need to keep in close contact with everyone to answer questions, counter the misinformation, help overcome fear and intimidation from the boss’s anti-union campaign, and try to neutralize or win over the anti-union workers. The campaign message and actions should be geared toward the weak union supporters and the undecideds — not the strong anti-union workers or the strong union supporters.

SEPTEMBER 1
1894 – Congress declares Labor Day a national holiday.

SEPTEMBER 9
1973 – United Auto Workers President Leonard Woodcock is named in President Richard Nixon’s “Enemy’s List,” a White House compilation of Americans Nixon regarded as major political opponents. Another dozen union presidents were added later. The existence of the list was revealed during Senate Watergate Committee hearings.

Solidarity,

Team EWOC

EWOC is a collaboration between the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). We depend on small-dollar donations to provide frontline workers with the support they need to fight for what they deserve. Click here to make a contribution that will help fund our work.