Labor Unions - Blog Posts
Let's fuckin gooooooo
MAJOR UPDATE ON THE WGA STRIKE
GAMES MADE BY PEOPLE WHO ARE PAID MORE TO WORK LESS
so. an update on the ups strike.
the union members have yet to vote on the *tentative agreement* remember the propaganda we've all been talking abt?? anything you see about this deal from capitalist press cheerleading the TA between now and the union voting on it is just that. propaganda. dont get it twisted.
can we talk about the ups strike can we PLEASE talk about the ups strike
I'm gonna eat the FUCKING. WALLS. these bitches can't SCHEDULE me a clopen, AFTER TELLING ME I CAN'T SWITCH SHIFTS WITH SOMEONE BECAUSE THEN I'D BE CLOPENING. I COULD'VE SWORN WE HAD LANGUAGE AGAINST THAT IN OUR CONTRACT, BUT NOOOO, SO I CAN'T EVEN GRIEVE IT AND INSTEAD I'M EATING THE DRYWALL.
Someone needs to fuck my eye socket with a knife, I'm so done.
(For context I work a Five AM and then they want me to come in for a Two AM, which may not seem that bad except have we considered circadian rhythm)
An incomplete list of things that employers commonly threaten that are 100% illegal in the United States
"We'll fire you if you tell others how much you're making" The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 specifically protects employees who discuss their own wages with each other (you can't reveal someone else's wages if you were given that information in the course of work, but you can always discuss your own or any that were revealed to you outside of work duties)
"If we can't fire you for [discussing wages/seeking reasonable accommodation/filing a discrimination complaint/etc], we'll just fire you for something else the next day." This is called pretextual termination, and it offers your employer almost no protection; if you are terminated shortly after taking a protected action such as wage discussion, complaints to regulatory agencies, or seeking a reasonable accommodation, you can force the burden onto your employer to prove that the termination wasn't retaliatory.
"Disparaging the company on social media is grounds for termination" Your right to discuss workplace conditions, compensation, and collective action carries over to online spaces, even public ones. If your employer says you aren't allowed to disparage the company online or discuss it at all, their social media policy is illegal. However, they can forbid releasing information that they're obligated to keep confidential such as personnel records, business plans, and customer information, so exercise care.
"If you unionize, we'll just shut this branch down and lay everyone off" Threatening to take action against a group that unionizes is illegal, full stop. If a company were to actually shut down a branch for unionizing, they would be fined very heavily by the NLRB and be opening themselves up to a class-action lawsuit by the former employees.
"We can have any rule we want, it's only illegal if we actually enforce it" Any workplace policy or rule that has a "chilling effect" on employees' willingness to exercise their rights is illegal, even if the employer never follows through on any of their threats.
"If you [protected action], we'll make sure you never work in this industry/city/etc again." Blacklisting of any kind is illegal in half the states in the US, and deliberately sabotaging someone's job search in retaliation for a protected action is illegal everywhere in the US.
"Step out of line and you can kiss your retirement fund/last paycheck goodbye." Your employer can never refuse to give you your paycheck, even if you've been fired. Nor can they keep money that you invested in a retirement savings account, and they can only claw back the money they invested in the retirement account under very specific circumstances.
"We'll deny that you ever worked here" not actually possible unless they haven't been paying their share of employment taxes or forwarding your withheld tax to the government (in which case they're guilty of far more serious crimes, and you might stand to gain something by turning them in to the IRS.) The records of your employment exist in state and federal tax data, and short of a heist that would put Oceans 11 to shame, there's nothing they can do about that.
The Palestinian friend I am raising money for is a labor activist, it's how we met. We had already been grad students in the same department for a couple years but we never talked until our school went on strike and he recruited me to help. I've seen him do some really amazing work with his activism, both for our workplace and for other causes.
Because of this, and because pretty much every union person I know is involved in Palestine activism too, I have made a few versions of the black cat/wildcat (an old labor symbol) wearing a keffiyeh for my fundraiser. Here's my new white on black one (found here):
Stickers of the wildcat designs have been a big hit in my immediate social circle since it's such a popular symbol here. Here are my older wildcat designs, which are better for stickers (found here and here):
As usual EVERYTHING I RAISE is for my best friend to support his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant who are being hurt by the genocide in Gaza, the attacks in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries.
You can find all my designs in my shop HERE. To see a design on different products click on the display product and scroll down or go here to browse by design. Here's a small sample of my other work:
Thank you to everyone who has helped out so far! We greatly appreciate all the support.
Wildcat Wearing Keffiyeh
This one was inspired directly by my Palestinian friend, he's a labor activist and he has done some incredible work in various unions (and non-union movements) over the years. He's nice enough to have put some serious time into labor organizing for free for employees of organizations he doesn't even work for just because he hates seeing people being treated unfairly. When I tell you he is the nicest person I have EVER met I really mean it. I actually met him through his labor activism.
As usual ALL PROCEEDS from these will go to this wonderful man to help him afford to bring his girlfriend over to America and to help his other loved ones around the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries. The cat is found here and here (on shirts, stickers, notebooks, etc). All designs found HERE (click on each to see more product options).
For those not familiar, this is the black cat/wildcat/sabo-tabby, an old union symbol likely designed by IWW member Ralph Chaplin. It is associated with sabotage, wildcat (unprotected) strikes and other radical labor actions.
By the way, did you know that Israeli trade unions have historically fought against the Arab workforce?