Entries by Paul Becker

MARCH BITS AND PIECES

UNION HITS SPEEDUP ON POULTRY PRODUCTION LINES Adding another item to the attack on workers the Trump administration is dishing out, the US Department .of Agriculture on March 18 issued waivers to rules that limit line speeds in pork and poultry production plants across the country. The faster line speedups cuts down the time workers […]

LABOR PROFESSOR ON FIGHTING BACK AGAINST TRUMPISM

FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) online interview with  Eric Blanc, assistant professor of labor studies at Rutgers University, author of Red State Revolt: The Teacher Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics;  We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing Is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big . This piece has been lightly edited for space and clarity. Eric Blanc: It’s […]

FEBRUARY BITS AND PIECES

WORDS OF CAUTION OVER TRUMP LABOR SECRETARY PICK PROVE TRUE When Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR)  was first chosen by Donald Trump to be Secretary of Labor, some saw it as an act friendly to unions and a possible glimmer of hope. But many labor leaders, including AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and National Education Association President […]

TEAMSTERS VOTE TO OK COSTCO STRIKE

Costco workers, represented by the Teamsters union voted Jan. 19 to authorize a strike beginning Feb 1 if they do not have a contract by then. The union represents over 18,000 Costco workers around the country. Eighty-five percent of the union membership at Costco stores nationwide voted for the strike, according to the union. “Our […]

PROTECTING IMMIGRANT FELLOW WORKERS FROM TRUMP ATTACKS

Labor Notes, an organization dedicated to the growth of the labor movement is holding a special on line workshop Jan. 6 to discuss what unions can do to protect immigrant fellow workers and union members from the threatened attacks by the incoming Trump administration. The Labor Notes call to action, as posted on their website, […]

DECEMBER BITS & PIECES

PITTSBURGH NEWSPAPER WORKERS BEGIN THIRD YEAR ON STRIKE Communication Workers of America strikers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette began their third year of picketing the newspaper this past October. It is one of the longest strikes in America today. Members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh-CWA walked out two years ago after the paper  unilaterally cut […]

WISCONSIN JUDGE NIXES LAW THAT LIMITED UNION RIGHTS

In a significant judicial victory, a judge in Wisconsin state court threw out a 2011 state law that had deprived public workers of the right to collective bargaining. The law, pushed through the legislature by the anti-labor governor at the time, Scott Walker, was enacted after Republicans won control the executive and legislative branches of […]

UNION LEADERS URGE CAUTION IN JUDGING TRUMP PICK FOR LABOR SECRETARY

President-elect Donald Trump’s designated appointment of Congresswoman Lori Michelle Chavez-DeRemer as Secretary of Labor in his incoming administration has been hailed in some quarters as an act friendly to labor. Others, however, were saying, “not so fast.” Her labor-friendly bona fides come from the fact that she was only one of three Republicans in the […]

UNIONS FACE BIG ATTACKS FROM INCOMING TRUMP PRESIDENCY

by Paul Becker Labor leaders around the country are bracing for the onslaught against unions that they see coming in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential elections. Speaking of the election results, Lee Saunders, president  of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said, “This is going to impact the […]