Merch Alert! Want to start a conversation on the street, on the subway, or in your local coffee shop? You can now rep EWOC wherever you go. We’re selling our very limited supply of “Emergency Workplace Organizing” hats and t-shirts. Purchase yours today! An organized workplace is a one size fits all situation!
We need your help. The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) supports workers organizing to win dignity and respect for themselves and their co-workers. We launched in March 2020 to support workers organizing for COVID protections. It’s been an incredible year and a half of organizing. But we need funds to continue this work in 2022. We’re aiming to raise $20,000 before the end of the year, so that we can keep supporting workers in their organizing.
Upcoming Events 🗓
We’ve had a big year! Join us for our end-of-year general meeting, December 15th at 8:00PM EST, as we discuss our organizing in 2021 and what’s coming up in 2022. We will also be having breakout discussions. This will be a great opportunity to learn about what we’ve accomplished, and to meet other EWOC volunteers. Register here today
It’s been a big month for labor. November saw over 22,000 union members go on strike, with even more threatening to strike. Strikes and strike authorizations happened everywhere, from miners, to hospital workers, to educators. The reasons were varied, but the same struggle carried through each of them. Workers are tired of risking their health and safety for long hours and low pay, all while the rich get richer.
The strikes have paid off. 10,000 UAW workers at John Deere won a 10% raise, and successfully killed a proposed tier of pensionless new hires after striking for five weeks. Workers at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo continued to strike even when their healthcare was cut off, to win higher wages and safe staffing ratios. Taxi workers in New York won a hard-fought battle for debt relief after a two week hunger strike, and years of organizing. The list goes on. Workers everywhere are standing up, fighting back, and winning.
The struggle is far from over. There’s still work left to be done, and battles left to fight. But because of the power of labor action, and the strength of solidarity, thousands of people have a lot to be thankful for this year.
World of Work 🌍
USA: Kellogg’s workers remain on strike, after two months of failed negotiations and a recent announcement from management that they would be replaced with scabs. To help put pressure on the boss, workers have called for a boycott of Kellogg’s products. These workers need support and solidarity to win their fight. Find out the best ways to support them.
USA: Employees of the New York Times’ product review site Wirecutter went on strike over Thanksgiving weekend, the site’s most profitable shopping period of the year. After nearly two years of bargaining for their first contract, the Wirecutter Union is demanding higher base salaries and guaranteed annual wage increases. They called on the public to support the strike by avoiding shopping on Wirecutter. Follow their progress and support them.
NY: A union representing 3,000 Columbia graduate student workers is on strike for the second time this year, in a bid to speed up contract negotiations. Student workers say they are paid anywhere from $5,500 to $18,000 below a living wage for New York City, and some are relying on food stamps just to make ends meet. They are demanding higher wages, better health coverage, and provisions that would allow third-party arbitration in cases of sexual harassment and discrimination. You can support them here.
CT: Caregivers at Sunrise Inc. facilities are entering their seventh week of striking. These frontline workers, who are majority Black, Latina, and working-class white women, are fighting for living wages, affordable health insurance, and a pension, and they haven’t had a pay increase in 15 years.
MA: Nurses at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester have been striking for safe staffing ratios and working conditions since March. The strike is currently at an impasse, with management refusing to return to the bargaining table, and facing potential fines from the state. This has been a long drawn out battle, and these nurses will need our support to win.
AL: United Mine Workers of America workers have been on strike for nearly eight months against unfair labor practices by Warrior Met coal and their financial backers at BlackRock. They’ve been picketing in both Alabama and outside BlackRock’s headquarters in New York. BlackRock has profited handsomely from Warrior Met, while workers paid the price. You can support the miners in their fight for fair pay by donating to the strike fund.
Solidarity,
Team EWOC
