Workers at Blizzard Albany want to democratize their workplace, seeking improved work-life balance, fair compensation, and improved benefits, as well as open communication between employees and Activision Blizzard King.

Snyder’s “retirement” – a quintessential moment of jumping before you’re pushed – is a much needed, albeit incomplete, step forward toward greater accountability within the labor movement. For too long, labor leadership,often fairly criticized as “male, pale, and stale,” has been characterized by a self-replicating “good old boys” culture that fosters harassment and misconduct. Although this is far from the norm, it is all the more egregious in a movement built upon notions of justice and equity.

It would have been easy to give up when their workplace closed doors, but the former Augie’s Coffee workers loved their craft and wanted to continue serving coffee. They decided to organize the Slow Bloom Coffee Cooperative in Redlands California, a coffee cooperative run completely by the former staff of Augie’s Coffee, and are organized as SBCC Local 1011 of UE.

Strikewave caught up with Erik Lopez and Matthew Soliz, two former Augie’s Coffee baristas involved with the union drive and the founding of Slow Bloom.

ORIGINAL PIECES

Workers at Blizzard Albany want to democratize their workplace, seeking improved work-life balance, fair compensation, and improved benefits, as well as open communication between employees and Activision Blizzard King.

LA restaurant workers at Genwa BBQ have organized a new independent union and signed their first union contract—a major development that will have far-reaching effects for restaurant and immigrant organizing in the Southland.

In the aftermath of the historic Amazon Labor Union victory at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, workers in Upstate New York are fighting to create a “domino effect” of union activity all across the Empire State.

OPINION

Snyder’s “retirement” – a quintessential moment of jumping before you’re pushed – is a much needed, albeit incomplete, step forward toward greater accountability within the labor movement. For too long, labor leadership,often fairly criticized as “male, pale, and stale,” has been characterized by a self-replicating “good old boys” culture that fosters harassment and misconduct. Although this is far from the norm, it is all the more egregious in a movement built upon notions of justice and equity.

“We owe to workers – on Workers’ Memorial Day and every day – to do everything we can to secure a safe workplace for all. Ensuring workplace safety should be the bare minimum, a reflection of the dignity and respect that all workers deserve.” IBEW 351 member and New Jersey congressman Donald Norcross calls for widespread recognition of International Workers’ Memorial Day, and continuing the fight for better workplace standards.

The NLRB has been one of the few bright spots of the floundering Biden administration. General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, a former attorney for the Communications Workers of America, has moved aggressively to reshape American labor law and redefine the role of the NLRB from an ostensibly neutral agency to a protector of the right to organize. Her most recent initiatives – moving toward a ban “captive audience” meetings and a return to the Joy Silk standard – would dramatically curb the ability of employers to intimidate workers during organizing drives.

Richard Trumka did not deliver the movement he promised, and which we deserve. What he did do was make such a movement possible, clearing the way for something better than the decaying House of Labor presided over by past AFL-CIO leaders. Our House still needs rebuilding—and we need new, bold leadership to do it. The movement we build, and the leaders which lead it, will be Trumka’s legacy.

Maine Governor Janet Mills’ labor-backed veto of LD 1708—which would have consolidated two private utility corporations into a statewide consumer cooperative, Pine Tree Power—is a sober warning to those fighting for public utilities: neglect unions at your peril.

The question of trade union democracy has occupied labor scholarship and labor activism for decades. Desire for internal accountability for trade union leadership has often existed in tension with the need for highly disciplined action against capital, leading some scholars to question the limits of democracy in the labor movement.

Even as campaigns for ethical consumption have skyrocketed in the past few decades, the classic campaign—“look for the union label”—has all but disappeared. With increased consumer concern over manufacturing conditions, and with increased domestic interest in and support for unionization, the union label should return. But to bring back the union label, we have to understand what it has meant, as well as what we want it to mean.

Rejecting the status quo and reformer factions, members of California’s state workers union, SEIU Local 1000, elected an anti-political firebrand named Richard Lewis “RL” Brown last month. Brown is known to many members for Trump-esque social media diatribes, cyber-bullying, and a strange mix of populist and conservative politics. The repercussions of his election for labor and California politics could be dire, and Brown may have broken the rules to win.

There is new energy behind the question of sectoral bargaining, including recent controversy over quasi-sectoral proposals. Given this, the Editors have decided to draw from past debates on union organization and industrial organization and republish relevant key arguments with new introductions. C.M. Lewis introduces our first piece with excerpts from labor leader William Z. Foster.

How might one describe the 2020-2022 session of the Virginia General Assembly when it comes to labor policy? In a word: Frustrating.