Labor Force Mike Struchen

The holiday season rings true with solidarity on today’s show. Washington Post employees walkout. A big raise for NYC delivery drivers after a long fight. One thousand Volkswagen workers in Tennessee launch a union campaign. Service workers at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, unionize. And Syracuse city ballet dancers fired for striking over unsafe working conditions last month are returning to the stage in a holiday performance of their own. 




Sign Washington Post Guild letter
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette support
Syracuse ballet dancers GoFundMe




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Michigan outlawed right-to-work earlier this year, and the Missouri Supreme Court in 2021 struck down a 2018 state law that made it harder for some public-sector unions to organize and collect dues. Now seven Wisconsin unions representing teachers and public workers filed a lawsuit challenging the state's 2011 law, Act 10, which severely restricts collective bargaining for most public employees. The law, a key achievement of former Republican Governor Scott Walker, has faced multiple legal challenges over the years. 






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Shawn Fain said it’s not just the Big 3, but the Big 5, the Big 6 and more, and the UAW is set to make it happen. As reported by Reuters, "The UAW is launching a campaign to organize the entire non-union auto sector in the U.S. The union said workers at 13 non-union automakers were announcing simultaneous campaigns across the country to join the union, including at Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Rivian, Nissan, BMW and Mercedes-Benz."

And 5 of 8 Syracuse City Ballet dancers were fired last week just before "The Nutcracker," the biggest performance of the season. The dancers characterized their actions as a strike due to unsafe working conditions-- while the Board sees it differently, of course. But their conditions were unsafe and unreasonable, to say the least.

Dancers' GoFundMe






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Macy’s workers in Washington state ended their three-day unfair labor practice, or ULP, strike and returned to work Monday. According to UFCW 3000, “Macy’s should know that we will be back on the picket line, unless Macy’s bargains fairly and stops violating labor law.”

And ride technician engineers at Legoland in Carlsbad, CA filed for a union election to join International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), District Lodge 947 in September. They await a ruling by the NLRB on accepting their bargaining unit, and permitting the election to be scheduled.













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As reported by The Guardian, "Hundreds of strikers outside Amazon’s UK Coventry warehouse were joined on Black Friday by trade unionists from Europe and the U.S. as part of a global campaign calling for better working conditions at the internet retailer."


I’m heartened that workers are standing up worldwide on an American capitalist holiday. It should tell us a hell of a lot about the state of things.




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The holiday season is approaching, and we always hear about helping the needy during this time. But four local news stories from here in Central and Northern NY piqued my interest recently, because they were all released this past week, and they’re such a stark juxtaposition with our status as the richest country in the world.

We’re talking about food insecurity at pandemic levels, helping the homeless with the most basic of needs, and finally, so much need, our local Salvation Army is short staffed. In the year of our Lord 2023.

So it might be Happy Thanksgiving, but it’s really more like Happy to Have Enough.








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