U.S. Labor News Roundup

June 8, 2013

Longest Strikes Yet at Walmart

Walmart store workers have launched their most ambitious effort yet to improve conditions. More than 100 walked out of dozens of stores last week, in the longest strike attempted so far. Previous strikes at Walmart have lasted one day.

The strikers, members of Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart), converged on the corporation’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, by bus, in a “Ride for Respect” that visited 30 cities and was hosted at union halls and by community groups.

The buses made stops at Walmarts, leafleting stores and picking up a few more strikers on the way.

In Bentonville, the strikers held events and protests all week. On June 6, they delivered checks for $8.81 to billionaire Walton heir Jim Walton's house, indicating the average hourly wage at Walmart. The strikers want Walmart to pay $13 an hour.

150 Arrested Protesting North Carolina's Attacks on Workers, Poor

Republicans, who control all branches of government in North Carolina, have proposed dozens of bills attacking workers’ rights, health care access, voting rights, and social programs.

Every Monday, protesters march to the legislature and hold rallies inside. Union members from the public sector, farm workers, and postal workers are uniting with anti-poverty and anti-racism campaigns.

Seventeen were arrested the first week, 24 the second week, 49 the third week. On June 3, some 2,000 people rallied and 150 were arrested.

The activists, many of whom are African-American, see their fight as aligned with the voting rights work of the civil rights movement. Lawmakers want to make it harder for poor people and students to vote.

The legislature and governor have declined federal aid to expand Medicaid health insurance for the poor, which would have covered 500,000 additional North Carolinians.

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They are ending extended unemployment benefits, cutting off 165,000 people.

They are raising taxes on 900,000 poor and working people—while, of course, cutting taxes on millionaires.

Union Organizing Marijuana Workers

The Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) has been signing up thousands of members at small nonprofits that grow and sell medical marijuana. Seven states now allow medical cannabis dispensaries.

Medical marijuana is now legal in 17 states and D.C., and the number is expected to grow. Patients and caregivers say cannabis alleviates symptoms from cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, and other diseases that cause pain.

Close to a million patients now receive medical marijuana legally under state laws, according to Americans for Safe Access, a patient group.

But according to the federal government, the 2,000 dispensaries are dealing illegal drugs, and all their patients are criminals. The government says marijuana has no legitimate medical use.

As a result, the Drug Enforcement Administration has been raiding and threatening proprietors with criminal charges, fines, and confiscation. An estimated 600 dispensaries were closed, mostly in California, between October 2011 and October 2012.

According to some reports, the UFCW lost half its cannabis industry membership as a result.

Paradoxically, the legal pressure has made owners less resistant to the union. Dispensary owners want to increase their legitimacy in the eyes of law enforcement, politicians, and the public. They think of the union as an ally, and usually allow their workers to have a union if a majority sign up.

Health and safety is first on workers’ list of concerns. One group in Maine experienced an epidemic of respiratory problems from fungus on the plants they tend.

The union’s goal is to make the jobs stable and the whole industry less vulnerable to legal attack and objections from the public. UFCW is planning an apprenticeship program for cannabis workers.