Work Stoppage

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Episode 7 - Where Do We Go From Here? Wrapping up our series on the history of allegations of mafia involvement with the ILA, we reach the 21st century. Today, the workforce on the docks is a shadow of earlier years. Decimated by automation, the union continued to be hounded by...

UAW Strike Support FAQ: https://labornotes.org/2023/09/when-auto-workers-stand-heres-how-stand-them It's a monumental week for labor, but before we can get to the strike everyone is excited about, we've got a ton of stories to cover. First we discuss Starbucks Workers United's latest day of action. Next we discuss the successful union elections by VFX workers at Marvel and writers at MTV's Ridicul...

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Episode 6 - Things Fall Apart Following the deal to allow unrestricted automation of longshore work in exchange for higher salaries and benefits, the ILA entered a period of a long decline. As containerization ate away at the number of jobs on the docks, the union was also encir...

It's deadline time for the negotiations between the Big 3 automakers and the UAW this week, our main story breaks down where things stand, what the companies have offered, and debunks some of the common anti-worker arguments rolled out against the UAW's demands. But before all that, we follow up with Grindr, where half of the company's staff have been forced out in retaliation for organizing. At R...

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Episode 5 - Automation and Attrition Emerging from the 1950s having survived government crackdowns, receivership, and attempted raids by the AFL, the ILA was immediately confronted with a new existential threat: automation. The introduction of containerized cargo posed a greater...

Happy Labor Day to all our listeners! We kick off this week's show discussing the end of strikes at Wabtec and Leinenkugel, where workers have ratified new contracts after hard fought battles. We also have an update on the negotations between the UAW and the Big 3 automakers with less than 2 weeks until a potential strike. New Jersey Transit engineers voted unanimously to authorize a strike, but a...

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Episode 4 - 1953 Following World War 2, longshoremen in the Port of New York refused to accept the traditional company friendly deals that ILA President Joe Ryan arranged during the war. A wildcat strike movement shook the ILA, and alongside an investigation into his corruption,...

We start this week following up on several major stories, first and foremost the ratification of the hard fought new contract at UPS. We also discuss the victory of grad student workers at the University of Michigan after a nearly five month struggle. There was major news out of the NLRB this week, we break down the Cemex decision and what the new restrictions on election union busting could mean...

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Episode 3 - Operation Underworld Joe Ryan's two and a half decades of leadership of the International Longshoremen's Association could be most charitably described as "stable." His focus on labor peace at nearly any cost and his cozy relationship with the shipping companies, gan...

REI Pledge: www.ourrei.com/pledge As with any week in the labor movement, this week we've got a mixture of good news and less good news. We start on the happier end, with students at Cornell forcing Starbucks off campus after its retaliation against workers. The first massage studio in Florida has unionized, following success by the UFCW in Colorado. Workers at Jacksonville State University are fo...

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Episode 2 - Shape Up or Ship Out To start our examination of the history of the International Longshoremen's Association, we go back to the birth of labor organizing on the docks in the late 19th century. We discuss the awful labor conditions faced by workers, forced to beg, ple...

After saluting the continued organizing prowess of the workers of Hadley, MA, we start this week's show discussing the NLRB shooting down eBay's appeal of the union victory at TCGPlayer. Next we check in on strikes at Wabtec and the University of Michigan, both of which have seen management escalate attacks on workers. Google is back for a second week in a row, this time for firing most of the Goo...

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Episode 1 - Communism vs. Corruption One of the peculiarities of the US labor movement is the existence of two different unions for longshore workers, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) on the West Coast, and the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA)...

Burgerville Workers Support Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/defend-burgerville-workers-from-retaliation-fund  We start this week's episode with a couple stories about Grindr and Google weaponizing Return to the Office policies against their workers who have been working remotely. We also follow up with the TCGPlayer union, as eBay has refused to recognize their election win. Workers at Burgervill...

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. 2023 has already been a monumental year for labor, with over 300,000 workers striking in just the first 7 months. Now, in just six weeks, we could see tens of thousands of UAW autoworkers on strike at any one or all of the Big 3 US automaking companies, Ford, GM, and Stellantis....

We know everyone wants to talk about the biggest labor news this week but first: Union Pizza! Workers at Barboncino Pizzeria in Brooklyn became the first union pizza shop in NYC this week. Also we have a quick update on the ILWU Canada strike, with workers voting on a new TA after rejecting an earlier one. In a sad story, Yellow Freight's bosses have so mismanaged the company that it is shutting d...

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. We're diving back into labor history with a return to our short series on the history of general strikes in the US. On this episode, we round out the strikes of 1934 by discussing the Toledo Auto-Lite and Minneapolis general strikes. The pitched battles fought by workers across...

After a few quick headlines, we start this week's labor news checking in on updates from the massive nationwide actors and writers strike. Next we discuss how hotels are using gig apps to hire scab labor and blacklist workers. Yellow Freight nearly caused a nationwide strike by failing to pay $50 million they owe the Teamsters' pension fund. Several recreational cannabis companies in California ha...

With just a week until 350,000 Teamster workers could strike at UPS, we want to share with as many listeners as possible our great interview with several rank and file UPS workers. So we are unlocking it for everyone to hear! If you like these sort of episodes, please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage. Original Description: The biggest labor story of the year has been the ongoing negotiations...

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. For our eighth and final episode (for now) in our series on the basics of Cybernetics and how it relates to the labor movement, we finally explore the details of Stafford Beer's Viable Systems Model (VSM). John walks us through the various subsystems of Beer's model for analyzin...

This was another major week in labor as the biggest strike of the year so far kicked off with 160,000+ actors joining the writers on picket lines across the country. Also this week, a new reform caucus was announced in the ALU, calling for leadership elections. Starbucks workers launched their nationwide organizing bus tour, hitting cities across the country and shutting down stores tom demand Sta...

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. The biggest labor story of the year has been the ongoing negotiations between UPS and the Teamsters and the possibility of 350,000 workers launching the biggest strike in the US in decades. So we're thrilled this week to be joined by three rank and file UPS workers from Teamster...

We start this week's episode with congratulations to workers at Powerhouse Animation, who became the first unionized animation studio in Texas last week. Next we discuss the pausing of the LA hotel strike....and its resumption. Refresco workers finally won a contract after 3 years of fighting this week, winning big pay raises and other gains. Starbucks has lost in court AGAIN this week, losing cas...

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. We're back in the world of Cybernetics for this week's Patron episode. On Part 7 of our series, John explains the admittedly very complex concepts of Autopoiesis and Eudemony, key ideas for understanding Stafford Beer's "Viable Systems Model" which stands are the core of his tho...

It may be a long weekend, but people still gotta work, and that means more labor stories. First we do a quick run through the headlines, discussing where things stand with the WGA strike, the independent labor movement in Mexico, and the fight to defend Pride at Starbucks. Next, workers in South Korea have launched a two week long mobilization to demand the far right anti worker Yoon regime resign...