Nissan workers in Mississippi voted against joining the United Automobile Workers.
From the NY Times:
In a test of labor’s ability to expand its reach in the South, workers at a Nissan plant in Mississippi have overwhelmingly rejected a bid to unionize.
Out of roughly 3,500 employees at the Canton-based plant who voted Thursday and Friday, more than 60 percent opposed the union. It was an emphatic coda to a yearslong organizing effort underwritten by the United Automobile Workers, which has been repeatedly frustrated in its efforts to organize major auto plants in the region.
Not promising news.
Another discouraging story came to my email from Michael Fiorillo via Splinter on the management of "liberal" Slate online magazine resisting unionization efforts from its employees.
Slate has been a solidly liberal voice online for the past two decades. So when its staff decided to form a union earlier this year, they didn’t expect a drawn-out labor fight. Yet Slate management has put up stiff resistance to the effort for months, using rhetoric that anyone familiar with attempts to weaken organized labor will recognize.
The site’s management declined to voluntarily recognize a union in March, after more than 90 percent of editorial staff signed cards signaling their intent to join the Writers Guild of America-East. Higher-ups, including the site’s editor-in-chief and the company’s chairman, have since tried to dissuade them from unionizing at all, according to internal emails obtained by Splinter.
Talk about big league hypocrisy over at Slate.
On the local scene, B&H Photo warehouse workers formed a union so management responded by moving the warehouse. This is from veteran activist Tom Siracuse.
Boycott B&H Photo
More than 300 warehouse workers employed by B&H Photo voted in 2015 to form a union to protect their rights on the job. Now, in the midst of negotiations for a first contract, management is shutting down the Brooklyn warehouses and relocating 75 miles away to NJ, effectively breaking the union.
NYC-DSA has been picketing the B&H store at 34th Street and 9th Ave. twice a week — every Friday and Sunday — to support our fellow workers, and we'll keep up the fight until it's won. Join us!
For more info, visit boycottbnh.com.
What is B&H Photo Video? headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, B&H Photo Video is the largest non-chain distributor of media production equipment in the U.S.
These are not only difficult days for teachers. Union busting is a real problem in this country and I believe teachers are impacted as labor's losing ways are not waning. We are part of the big picture.
Get us a real raise, real student discipline and 8.25% reinstated and im all in...But because of what's happened, I will be the first to pull dues.
ReplyDeleteAnd you will be treated even worse.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you doing 7:25 to achieve your aims besides anonymously complaining on a blog? My guess is nothing. Maybe I am mistaken and you are organizing teachers.
ReplyDeleteI'm not 7:25 but I don't know anyone organizing teachers including the UFT. If you or anyone else know of anyone doing so please let me know, And what would we organize them to do? Perhaps celebrate teachers choice? I'd like to be involved even in burning a $250 check made out to COPE.
ReplyDeleteYeah, amazing. So now I have to organize 75,000 teachers to demand fairness. Isnt that why we have a union? Isnt that the job of the president? Is that why I pay $1400 in dues per year? So I have to organize people to be treated fairly and get a fair contract and get a TDA % that CSA still gets?
ReplyDelete2 observations please!
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think the UFT gets away with just going through the motions? Because they know there is zero accountability. Yes, we have to organize teachers. That is what this blog and caucus are trying to do. Because teachers are not organized, the DOE can get away with treating us like garbage and the UFT has next to no power without the teachers demanding fairness. Why should the UFT demand anything when they know the city will say no and we the teachers will accept that. You better believe we have to organize. All of us that is.
ReplyDeleteAfter we lose automatic dues checkoff, it will even be more important to organize. You think the Wisconsin teachers are doing better since they could leave the union? Think again.
This is for two observations: Let's say we win the union and we go in and demand two observations. Carmen Farina responds, "NO." What are you going to do then?
ReplyDeleteThats the whole point, if this is the situation at this point, where we have to go crazy to get fairness, well, the UFT deserves to be closed. Dues should be pulled. We have to do all this just to get what we should be getting anyway?
ReplyDeleteAnd when it closes we will be worse off. Stopping having a union is a classic example of cutting off your nose to spite your face.
DeleteI agree, this job has become a joke and torture. I will wait for my "lump sum bonus payments" in 17-20, and then I will quit. That is way before I am able to retire, but who cares? Cant spend my life doing this. The teachers are a huge part of the problem, many are dumb as rocks. Some dont even know who Michael Mulgrew is. I tell an ATR i spoke to Randy Asher, answer is 'WHO?" Teacher of 20 plus years asks, when are we getting another raise, do we get any bonus money soon? This isnt even about reading an entrie contract, who cant remember retro is pad in October, only October...What a bunch of idiots.
ReplyDeleteWhen a kid tells me to suck his or her dick on September 7, I need to organize 75k teachers to get a disciplinary process used thats already in writing?
ReplyDeleteNo. Just get Steve Bannon.
ReplyDeleteJames: The DOE and the CSA both wanted 2 observations for teachers as it will make the jobs of administrators easier. The rumor is that the UFT wanted the 4 observations because they think that teachers would have a better shot at getting better ratings. This is 100% crap thinking. NYS law says that only 2 observations are required. One of which is a formal, announced observation and one informal observation done by an outside evaluator. The stress level of these unannounced observations is overwhelming at my school. Ever single teacher would prefer less observations. The fact is the UFT dropped the ball big time on this. You ask what I am willing to do if the UFT asks Farina for 2 observations and she says "no"? What will I do? I don't think I would have to do anything because as I mentioned the DOE and CSA wanted 2 observations from the start. Lastly, the new observation deal hashed out by the UFT/DOE was done right before Christmas break this past year. Since then, not a single UFT rep has stopped by my school to even try to sell us on how good of a deal we got. I have written numerous emails and letters to UFT honchos about getting 2 observations and no reply of course was provided.
ReplyDeleteWhen we had the resolution to push for two observations that Unity turned down in January, Mulgrew said for the record the UFT asked for two observations in negotiations and were turned down by DOE. That is what is on the record. Read some of the history.
ReplyDeleteThe UFT wasn't formed until after the evening high school teachers went on strike in 1959 demanding better pay. They won by being militant. The rest of the teachers noticed and they too became militant and then teacher pay and working conditions improved greatly in the early years of the UFT. Now we sit around and wait for someone else to do it. I am sorry to say an email to Mulgrew won't do it. A thousand emails might start the ball rolling. It will never happen by wishing. Organizing is the answer.
Same with discipline. Nobody is going to get a real discipline code enforced until we demand it collectively. The UFT doesn't respond to us because they don't have to. There is no accountability if they don't listen to us because they can easily get reelected.The Supreme Court might change that but I think they are figuring out ways around whatever decision comes out.
I ask you again to look at Wisonsin where the unions have been disbanded by Scott Walker and see if teachers are better off there. They are not. We need a better union but it has to be a union for things to improve.
The UFT had to spin it that four was a victory but they stopped after Mulgrew admitted we wanted two observations. We just had no leverage to get two. Why not? Because we are not willing en masse to fight for what we want. Simple as that. I blame the leadership more for not rallying us. Others blame the members for not demanding the leadership fight for us. I'd like to test the theory by organizing for issues the membership think are crucial.
ReplyDeleteProfessors in Ohio University that were terminated sued the university for age discrimination. Age discrimination is going around in USA. Many become administrators to do the discriminating and harassing because they don't want to be the target themselves. It's pathetic.
ReplyDeleteThe answer is to organize as a union.
Then where did the rumors come from the the DOE and CSA wanted 2 observations? It is beyond disturbing to know that the majority of school districts across the state are getting 2 or at the most 3 observations. I don't trust Mulgrew saying the UFT pushed for 2. This should have been a no brainer as observations are what make or break a teachers career in many cases. Is there any way for MORE to propose a new resolution to get 2 observations? I voted MORE and got many teachers at my school to vote the MORE ticket. Please, keep the fire on the feet of the UFT on this. Tell us what else we can do in this matter.
ReplyDeleteI will ask again: When UFT said we want 2 observations and Farina says no, how do you intend to get us 2 observations? At least I have an answer that we would have to be organized and militant. How would you get us 2?
DeleteParents should discourage their children from entering the teaching profession because of the fate that awaits them: harassment and age discrimination. Your fate is in the hands of administrators that are not up to par. They lead by intimidation and fear.
ReplyDeleteJames, I don't know how to get us 2 observations. I have done everything that I believe I can do to spread the word on this by contacting people at UFT who have the ability to reach and talk to the DOE and it got me nothing. I voted MORE believing that once they got a "seat at the table" that they would be able to push harder for things like 2 observations. Maybe it is high time for unhappy teachers to start rallying in front of 52 Broadway to demand that our union look out for our best interests. One thing is for sure, I do not intend to quit paying dues once Janus goes through. A shitty union is better than no union. I will also continue to get the teachers at my school to vote non Unity caucus. As one of the most senior teachers at my school, the staff asks me questions all the time and they do in fact tend to vote for MORE in the past 2 elections. As for being militant. I do not know what you mean by that. Striking, work slowdowns, etc, are all illegal for NYC workers due to Taylor law. I got a roof over my head to keep up and food on the table to provide. As mentioned above, picketing the UFT is possible but even then, they probably wont even listen. Worse, is that I bet that the DOE secret rat squad (OSI, SCI) would be at the picket lines taking names and photos of teachers to prepare for future investigations as trouble makers. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get ya!
ReplyDeleteGreat comment 9:33. I'm willing to have this discussion.
ReplyDeleteStriking cost you your job in the late 1950's and early 1960's but the teachers still did it because they had enough of being treated like crap. They didn't get fired even though the law said they should. Two days pay for every day on strike are harsh penalties under the current Taylor law. The union would lose dues checkoff also so a strike will never happen under Unity caucus leadership.
The alternative of not being prepared to at least threaten a strike means we have no leverage and are engaging in collective begging. It's why we are not getting two observations. What leverage do we have on the city? If they say no, what is your answer? Other districts have Boards of Education that are elected by the locals. They can influence them. We have mayoral control. Yonkers teachers are paid much better than we are in NYC. You think it is a coincidence that they went on strike in 1999 in violation of the Taylor law? They took the Taylor law penalties. Other militant actions that have been suggested include threatening to pull all of labor's pension funds out of city bonds if we don't get decent contracts and encouraging others to do the same.
The only other option under current law is to just not agree to anything until the city comes around. The Triborough Amendment keeps the old contract in place until we have a new one. The UFT to their credit did just that by not agreeing to a contract from 2009-2014 with Bloomberg that would end seniority but then we let de Blasio right off the hook after Bloomberg left office. In retrospect, we should have held out forever in 2005 also and set up a huge election fight in 2009.
Randi Weingarten told us in 2005 that Bloomberg polled the membership and knew full well we were not willing to strike so holding out and educating the teachers was our only hope to save our rights. At an Action Committee meeting, I urged Weingarten to change the tone of the NY Teacher to make it a real militant paper while we didn't have a contract. The UFT didn't listen because they probably feared that it might work and teachers would actually want to fight which would threaten their union perks.
Let's jump ahead. What if we had told de Blasio to go jump in a lake in 2014 when he offered 10% over 7 years and wanted healthcare givebacks? What was our leverage to get a good contract? I guess we could have kept up the fight and given him and Farina nasty publicity on the schools like we did with Bloomberg but in the end the schools keep running and we keep going to work. The city knows this and can hold out too. Bloomberg's attitude was, you want raises, give us givebacks. We gave in back in 2005. de Blasio wanted healthcare givebacks and got them.
New leadership in the union won't change much of this balance of power which is now skewed way over toward management. What we could do is educate people that it is in their own interest to come together collectively to really fight for each other. The reality is only a believable threat of labor militancy might move the needle in our direction. Those teachers in 1959 (the evening high school teachers) and the early sixties (the UFT) had families to support. They were willing to take their chances. They succeeded. We could too.
In the end I agree there is no easy answer here.
How about a form of a work slowdown that is not illegal? For example, teachers would not come into school until the exact minute they have to and would leave exactly the minute the school day is over? How about teachers refusing to do anything that is not in the contract? How about teachers refusing to write letters of recomendation for high school seniors? How about refusing to coach sports teams or sponsor student clubs? How about not taking students on field trips? These are all items that teachers could THREATEN to implement unless the DOE agrees to make some fair changes to our contract. This is not a true work slowdown in the legal sense but would cause a lot chaos for NYC schools. Parents would be very pissed and the media would have a shit fit. In other words, a job action like this could possibly work. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteHow about calling the police every time student tells you to sick their dick, this is sexual harrassment. How about when threats are made?
ReplyDeleteFirst, staff should NOT be working extra hours with no per session. We are not free labor.
ReplyDeleteWe need to keep tabs of our days with meticulous recording of our time being spent on different tasks completed and go to our chapter leaders to inform them that extra time is needed for x,y,z if x,y,z needs to get done.
Administrators get paid for their work (trust me they want every money owed to them and they are in the position to make it happen). They think about their pensions.
If you are asking a majority of NYC teachers to take any type of work action, "Fugeddaboutit!"
ReplyDeleteThese are not the same people from the 70s who understood the need for activism.
Many don't even bother attending union meetings, or don't care to follow what's happening. A majority have lunch with friends and talk about their own life or other people. By the time they realize the shoe has dropped, it will be too late.
This is why MORE needs to put out great YouTube Videos and make their blog and FB page POP!!!! Nothing boring, or too controversial, just speaking to someone like you would be one-on-one. A great video can be shared over and over until it goes viral.
Help us make that video then
ReplyDeleteMs. James is putting out misleading information. If a teacher is working in the school system five years without taking a day off that induvidual would have 50 days in their CAR bank. I am not sure how many Ms. James worked in the system before having children. If it is about five years then she used most of her CAR days working with children and getting sick for almost 50 days? Let's be honest here. There are UFT members who are agggressive about taking time off, planning trips and being off the Friday before a break, not coming to work on time, and trying to work the system like the the kids. I am not paying for someone else's good time.
ReplyDelete