Dan DiMaggio

‘It Feels Like We Started a Movement’: Despite Mixed Results in Frito-Lay Strike, Workers Proud They Stood Up

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Dan DiMaggio

Frito-Lay workers won one guaranteed day off per week and put an end to forced “suicide” shifts after a 20-day strike this summer at their plant in Topeka, Kansas. Many were frustrated that the union didn’t hold out longer and win more—but are proud of the role that their fight played in launching the ongoing strike wave.

Nabisco Workers Hope Strike Inspires Others: 'There's More of Us than There Are of Them'

A month-long strike by Nabisco workers beat back the snackmaker’s bid to introduce a two-tier health care plan and switch them onto 12-hour shifts. Employer contributions to workers’ 401(k) plans will be doubled.

One of the biggest issues in the strike was the company’s effort to do away with premium pay for weekend shifts and work after eight hours. The company wanted to put all workers on an Alternative Work Schedule consisting of 12-hour days, paid at straight time.

Workers Have Leverage. It's Time to Use It.

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Luis Feliz Leon
Dan DiMaggio

The capitalist vultures are wheeling low, but they’re finding slim pickings to choose from these days.

“No one wants to work!” The bosses whine about a worker shortage—though it’s one they brought about.

Eighteenth-century British economist Adam Smith noted how common it is to hear complaints about workers coming together to fight for their interests, and how rare it is to hear about all the scheming the bosses do to plunder workers’ labor.

Make Workplace Mental Health a Priority, Says Union President Who Survived San Jose Shooting

It was 6:30 a.m. and workers at a San Jose light rail maintenance yard were talking with their union president during shift change.

Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265 President John Courtney was there to discuss the state of the union, including a campaign for hazard pay and management’s push to squeeze more passengers onto buses and trains despite Covid. “You can’t run a union from your office,” Courtney says. “You have to get out there amongst the people. You have to hear what they have to say. They have to hear what I have to say.”

'We Want to See Our Families': Frito-Lay Workers Strike Over 84-Hour Weeks, Meager Raises

Frito-Lay workers in Topeka, Kansas, have been on strike since Monday over low pay and forced overtime.

Some workers have been forced to work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, for weeks on end due to short staffing. They want to see that change.

2020 in Review: Workers Struggle Under the Weight of the Pandemic

Workers will feel the ramifications of this unprecedented year long into the future.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 300,000 lives, destroyed millions of jobs, busted gaping holes in public budgets, and magnified the myriad inequalities that have come to define life in the United States.

Notwithstanding a few bright spots, the labor movement struggled to find its footing in the biggest workplace health and safety crisis of our lifetimes.

Walkouts Spread as Workers Seek Coronavirus Protections

As the coronavirus spreads, more and more workers who are still on the job are taking action to defend their health and safety and demand hazard pay. Here's a round-up. (For an earlier round-up, see “Organizing for Pandemic Time-Off,” Labor Notes, March 16, 2020.)

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