concessions

  • Machinists Strike as Caterpillar Demands Non-Union Wage Rates

    Do workers need a union to negotiate “market-based” wages? Machinists at a Caterpillar hydraulic parts factory in Joliet, Illinois, struck May 1 to tell the heavy-equipment giant they deserve better. They're hampered by the fact that Cat workers represented by the United Auto Workers accepted wages pegged to an annual employer survey back in 2004.

  • Wisconsin’s New Bad Idea
    Eleni Schirmer & Lenora Hanson
    May 21 2012 - 6:55pm

    Governor Scott Walker singled out employees of the University of Wisconsin for special treatment in his budget-cutting and union-busting. Now they're facing unilateral policies that seek a “market-based model” for pay.

  • How to Bargain Concessions (If You Must)
    Richard de Vries
    May 15 2012 - 4:10pm

    Can concessions save jobs? Almost always they cannot, and certainly not in the big picture. Concessions can’t fix a collapsed market or stop offshoring, nor the 1%’s relentless assault on the working class. But concessions may save jobs in the short term if the union bargains hard in areas not traditional to our thinking and gets specific, concrete guarantees.

  • Steelworkers at Oil Refiner Tesoro Ready for Strike
    Patrick Young
    Apr 30 2012 - 10:49am

    The oil refiner Tesoro took a $40 million loss after an explosion last year that claimed seven lives. Management is trying to recoup the money by forcing workers to pay for its mistakes, leading Steelworkers to prepare for a strike.

  • With Contracts Expired at AT&T, Communications Workers Strive for Unity

    Communications Workers at AT&T are back in bargaining just 18 months after the last group of workers settled a contract. Once again the company is proving to be difficult to deal with, spurring the union to forge unity across regions and between AT&T and Verizon workers.

  • Union, Riders Chase a Better Bus System
    Matthew Cunningham-Cook
    Apr 24 2012 - 4:25pm

    Despite the fact that 2011 saw the highest transit ridership in a half century, many regional and municipal transit authorities are facing huge budget cuts and steep service reductions. But several local coalitions are working to expand transit options.

  • Rhode Island Pension Cuts Set Chilling Precedents
    Brian Chidester
    Apr 19 2012 - 5:03pm

    If you thought retiring would help you avoid the ruination of living standards brought on by the economic crisis, Rhode Island’s pension overhaul just proved you wrong. Pension cuts are hurting every worker—current, retired, and future.

  • Autoworkers under the Gun

    The blockheads we curse daily on the factory floor are transformed by Gregg Shotwell's “large-caliber pen” into a bureaucracy “organized like a totem pole—one empty wooden head on top of another.” Such gems are found on every page of this selection of Shotwell’s Live Bait & Ammo shop floor papers.

  • Nurses Say Private Equity Firm Starving Massachusetts Hospitals
    Mark Brenner, Mischa Gaus
    Dec 20 2011 - 6:26pm

    Nurses sang sour carols today to the private equity firm they say is starving Massachusetts hospitals and pitting workers against each other. Steward hospitals, owned by Cerberus Capital, is squeezing hard.

  • After Union Bails Out Cooper Tire, Company Locks Workers Out
    Mischa Gaus
    Dec 16 2011 - 10:20am

    Steelworkers locked out at a Cooper Tire plant in Ohio are raising the alarm as scabs move in to start building tires. The union is incensed by the lockout, which comes after big concessions and a USW-backed tariff.