In a state without a wage floor of its own, allowing employers to default to the federal wage floor of $7.25 per hour, ADOC collects 40 percent of the inmates’ gross paycheck. ADOC also deducts fees from the inmates’ paychecks to pay for transporting inmates between the prisons where they live and the “free world” jobs where they work, as well as washing their uniforms.

ADOC calls the whole scheme “convict leasing.” But given inmates’ inability to quit when they want to without repercussions behind bars, the system is closer to involuntary servitude — i.e., slavery.

Workers had sought a 40 percent wage rise, the restoration of a defined-benefit pension plan axed in 2014, and a stronger guarantee that future production would not be moved out of the Seattle region.

linky to cwa

Tens of thousands of disabled people in the United States are paid less than the federal minimum wage — with some workers making as little as 25 cents per hour.

These workers, most of whom have intellectual and developmental disabilities, are part of an arcane government program that is supposed to prepare them for higher-paying jobs in the community. But a Washington Post investigation has found that many disabled workers are paid low wages for years under a tangled bureaucracy that lacks accountability and oversight.

Jaime Muniz, 33, who has autism, was recently paid about $1.22 for every hour he spent at Pathways to Independence in Kearny, N.J., the facility where he has been working for 11 years. His tasks include sorting wire clothing hangers and unloading heavy boxes.

“I try to do better, and I’m not moving on,” Muniz said. “I don’t really know why.”

About 40,000 disabled people like Muniz work under the program, which was enacted in 1938 to provide jobs for injured veterans. Today, nearly 800 facilities in 37 states participate in what has become known as “14(c)” — a reference to Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which allows employers to apply for a certificate and legally pay disabled workers less than the $7.25 federal minimum wage.

At Pathways, where Muniz works, no workers have transitioned out of the program since 2020, said Alvin Cox, the executive director of the facility.

“Community integrated employment is not for everyone, but everyone should have the opportunity to try and experience the dignity of work,” Cox said. “These individuals need support and guidance to do the work that they’re doing.”

A 2023 report from the Government Accountability Office surveyed wage data from 2019 to 2021 and found that workers were typically making about $3.50 per hour, compared with a federal minimum wage of $7.25. About 12 percent made hourly wages of less than a dollar.

deeply cursed

The US government didn’t like that Jagan was a Marxist — it thought he would be another Fidel Castro, and it wanted to stop him at any cost. Usually folks in the left-labor movement think of general strikes as a positive thing, but in this case, a general strike secretly funded by the CIA, with US unions distributing the funds, undermined a left-wing government.

Similarly, in early-’70s Chile, Salvador Allende was in power. He was a Marxist, democratically elected, and believed in creating socialism through democracy — so he was seen as especially dangerous to anti-communists in the United States and in Latin America, because they relied on the trope that all communists were authoritarian dictators. The [Richard] Nixon administration wanted to create economic chaos in Chile, and part of that was achieved through a series of big strikes in industries including copper mining and trucking. These strikes also received funding, support, and training from the AFL-CIO, with many of the resources originating with the CIA. Those strikes were used as a pretext for the Chilean military under Augusto Pinochet to stage a coup in 1973 and overthrow Allende.

would be nice to read citations on this (of links between afl and striking chileans)

anyway la jacobina duality strikes again

John Maclean, born on this day in 1879, was a Scottish schoolteacher and revolutionary Marxist, sometimes referred to as "Scotland's Lenin". His Marxist evening-classes produced many of the activists who became instrumental in the Clyde revolts during and after WWI. MacLean was appointed both an Honorary President of the first Congress of Soviets and Soviet Consul to Scotland in recognition of his consistent socialist position on the imperialist war and his tireless work in support of the Bolshevik revolution.

Maclean's revolutionary politics were well-known, and in 1915, he was arrested under the Defence of the Realm Act and fired from his job as a primary school teacher. As a consequence, he became a full-time Marxist lecturer and organizer, educating other Glaswegian workers in Marxist theory.

Maclean supported Irish independence on an anti-imperialist basis, describing the Irish War of Independence as "The Irish fight for freedom" and even condoning the assassination of a magistrate, Alan Bell. He saw the war in Ireland as strengthening the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, arguing that "Irish Sinn Féiners, who make no profession of socialism or communism...are doing more to help Russia and the revolution than all we professed Marxian Bolsheviks in Britain".

MacLean was at odds with much of the British left and dismissive of the newly-formed Communist Party of Great Britain. He had already turned his back on economism and the syndicalism favoured by the Clyde Workers’ Committee, had recognised the nature of British imperialism and come to the conclusion that revolution could only come about through the destruction of the British Empire.

Maclean was also noted for his outspoken opposition to World War I, and, in 1918, he was arrested for sedition. During the trial, Maclean gave the now legendary "speech from the dock", expounding on his position. He was sentenced to five years' penal servitude, but was released after the November armistice.

In captivity, Maclean had been on hunger strike, and prolonged force-feeding had permanently affected his health. He collapsed during a speech and died of pneumonia, aged forty-four.

"I have taken up unconstitutional action at this time because of the abnormal circumstances and because precedent has been given by the British government. I am a socialist, and have been fighting and will fight for an absolute reconstruction of society for the benefit of all. I am proud of my conduct. I have squared my conduct with my intellect, and if everyone had done so this war would not have taken place...

...I appeal exclusively to [the working class] because they and they only can bring about the time when the whole world will be in one brotherhood, on a sound economic foundation. That, and that alone, can be the means of bringing about a re-organisation of society. That can only be obtained when the people of the world get the world, and retain the world." -

--John MacLean, from the "Dock Speech"

• John Maclean - revolutionary fighter of the working class

• John Maclean Archive

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The core organizing group is deciding who to organize with, and the main consideration is UFCW.

Good or no? Any other unions we should consider?

We're an independent retail store

All managers are bastards. Fuckers are causing injuries with malicious management tactics.

The most famous female labor activist of the nineteenth century, Mary Harris Jones—aka “Mother Jones”—was a self-proclaimed “hell-raiser” in the cause of economic justice. She was so strident that a US attorney once labeled her “the most dangerous woman in America.”

Born circa August 1, 1837 in County Cork, Ireland, Jones immigrated to Toronto, Canada, with her family at age five—prior to the potato famine with its waves of Irish immigrants.

She first worked as a teacher in a Michigan Catholic school, then as a seamstress in Chicago. She moved to Memphis for another teaching job, and in 1861 married George Jones, a member of the Iron Molders Union. They had four children in six years. In 1867, tragedy struck when her entire family died in a yellow fever epidemic; she dressed in black for the rest of her life.

Returning to Chicago, Jones resumed sewing but lost everything she owned in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. She found solace at Knights of Labor meetings, and in 1877, took up the cause of working people. Jones focused on the rising number of working poor during industrialization, especially as wages shrunk, hours increased, and workers had no insurance for unemployment, healthcare or old age.

Jones first displayed her oratorical and organizing abilities in Pittsburgh during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. She took part in and led hundreds of strikes, including those that led to the Haymarket riot in Chicago in 1886. She paused briefly to publish The New Right in 1899 and a two-volume Letter of Love and Labor in 1900 and 1901. A beloved leader, the workers she organized nicknamed her “Mother Jones.”

Beginning in 1900, Jones focused on miners, organizing in the coal fields of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. For a few years, she was employed by the United Mine Workers, but left when the national leadership disavowed a wildcat strike in Colorado. After a decade in the West, Jones returned to West Virginia, where, after a violent strike in 1912-1913, she was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. Public appeals on her behalf convinced the governor to commute her twenty-year sentence. Afterward she returned to Colorado and made a national crusade out of the tragic events during the Ludlow Massacre, even lobbying President Woodrow Wilson. Later, she participated in several industrial strikes on the East Coast between 1915 and 1919 and continued to organize miners well into her nineties.

Despite her radicalism, Jones did not support women’s suffrage, arguing that “you don’t need a vote to raise hell.” She pointed out that the women of Colorado had the vote and failed to use it to prevent the appalling conditions that led to labor violence. She also considered suffragists unwitting dupes of class warfare. Jones argued that suffragists were naïve women who unwittingly acted as duplicitous agents of class warfare.

Although Jones organized working class women, she held them in auxiliaries, maintaining that—except when the union called—a woman’s place was in the home. A reflection of her Catholic heritage, she believed that men should be paid well enough so that women could devote themselves to motherhood.

In 1925, she published her Autobiography of Mother Jones. She is buried in the Union Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive, Illinois.

"I'm not a humanitarian, I'm a hell-raiser."

Mother Jones

• The Autobiography of Mother Jones

• Who Was Mother Jones? The Labor Icon Remains an Inspiration to Activists

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Abstract: Researchers have argued that wealthy nations rely on a large net appropriation of labour and resources from the rest of the world through unequal exchange in international trade and global commodity chains. Here we assess this empirically by measuring flows of embodied labour in the world economy from 1995–2021, accounting for skill levels, sectors and wages. We find that, in 2021, the economies of the global North net-appropriated 826 billion hours of embodied labour from the global South, across all skill levels and sectors. The wage value of this net-appropriated labour was equivalent to €16.9 trillion in Northern prices, accounting for skill level. This appropriation roughly doubles the labour that is available for Northern consumption but drains the South of productive capacity that could be used instead for local human needs and development. Unequal exchange is understood to be driven in part by systematic wage inequalities. We find Southern wages are 87–95% lower than Northern wages for work of equal skill. While Southern workers contribute 90% of the labour that powers the world economy, they receive only 21% of global income.

SAG-AFTRA has called for a strike of all its members working in video games, with the union demanding that its next contract not allow "companies to abuse AI to the detriment of our members."

The strike mirrors similar actions taken by SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) last year, which, while also broader in scope than just AI, were similarly focused on concerns about AI-generated work product and the use of member work to train AI.

During the strike, the more than 160,000 members of the union will not provide talent to games produced by Disney, Electronic Arts, Blizzard Activision, Take-Two, WB Games, and others. Not every game is affected. Some productions may have interim agreements with union workers, and others, like continually updated games that launched before the current negotiations starting September 2023, may be exempt.

The Washington Post says the biggest remaining issue involves on-camera performers, including motion capture performers. Crabtree-Ireland told the Post that while AI training protections were extended to voice performers, motion and stunt work was left out.

After facing the flak on the job reservation bill, the Karnataka government is now planning to increase the working hours of IT employees to 14 hours a day from the current 10, triggering opposition from IT sector unions. The proposal to amend the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act to facilitate 14-hour working day was presented in a meeting called by the labour department with various stakeholders in the industry. The representatives of the Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) have already met with labour minister Santosh Lad and raised their concerns over the move.

The proposed new bill ‘Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Bill 2024’ attempts to normalise a 14-hour work day. The existing act only allows a maximum of 10 hours work per day including overtime, which has been completely lifted in the current amendment.

IT sector unions have come out in public in protest against the move, calling it 'inhuman’, that will have implications on 2 million workers in the state. "It will facilitate the IT/ITES companies to extend the daily hours of work indefinitely. This amendment will allow the companies to go for a two shift system instead of the currently existing three shift system and one-third of the workforce will be thrown out from their employment. During the meeting, KITU pointed out the studies on the health impact of extended working hours among the IT employees," said Suhas Adiga, general secretary of KITU.

According to a KCCI report, 45 per cent of employees in the IT sector are facing mental health issues such as depression and 55 per cent facing physical health impacts. Increasing working hours will further aggravate this situation. A WHO-ILO study says increased working hours will lead to an estimated 35 per cent higher risk of death by stroke and 17 per cent higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, the union said.

absolute surplus value go god damn the 21st century sucks

https://xcancel.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1816116306459922848

https://xcancel.com/jacksonpCTU/status/1816135168866054255

https://xcancel.com/AFTunion/status/1816137016578617829

Bethesda Game Studios workers have voted to join the Communications Workers of America, forming the first wall-to-wall union at a Microsoft video game studio.

The workers, consisting of 241 developers, artists, engineers, programmers and designers have either signed a union authorization card or indicated that they wanted union representation via an online portal. Microsoft has recognized the union.

Bethesda Game Studios produces popular games including Elder Scrolls, Fallout and Starfield.

“We are so excited to announce our union at Bethesda Game Studio and join the movement sweeping across the video game industry. It is clear that every worker can benefit from bringing democracy into the workplace and securing a protected voice on the job. We’re thrilled to get down to brass tacks and win a fair contract, proving that our unity is a source of real power to positively shape our working conditions, our lives, and the company as a whole,” said Mandi Parker, senior system designer and member of CWA, in a statement.

The Bethesda Game Studios employees join a surge of workers who have recently formed unions in the video game industry, which had previously been seen as hostile to worker organizing. These works will be members of CWA Locals 2108 in Maryland and 6215 in Texas and join other CWA members at Sega of America, Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax, Tender Claws and more.

“We continue to support our employees’ right to choose how they are represented in the workplace, and we will engage in good faith negotiations with the CWA as we work towards a collective bargaining agreement,” said a spokesperson for Microsoft, in a statement.

“In a groundbreaking achievement, the dedicated professionals at Bethesda Game Studios have demonstrated that, no matter your job title, you too can benefit from having a union,” said Johnny Brown, president of CWA Local 2108, in a statement. “Through securing a protected voice on the job, workers are taking a step forward to negotiating better working conditions, helping to raise standards across the industry. We are incredibly proud to welcome these workers into our union and are confident that together, we will secure a brighter future for all workers in the video game industry.”

“The labor movement in the South is strong and growing. As the video game and tech industries continue to expand in Texas, it is critical that workers have a protected voice on the job to ensure they receive their fair share. We welcome Austin and Dallas based workers at Bethesda Game Studios to CWA and are looking forward to meeting Microsoft at the bargaining table to secure a fair union contract,” said Ron Swaggerty, president of CWA Local 6215, in a statement.

Workers at Bethesda Game Studios in Montreal filed for union recognition with the Quebec Labor Relations Board in late June. When the process is complete, they will be represented by CWA Canada.

The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) is a network of worker-organizers and their staff working to build the voice and power necessary to ensure the future of the tech, game, and digital industries in the United States and Canada. CODE-CWA is a project of the Communications Workers of America which represents hundreds of thousands of workers throughout tech, media, telecom, and other industries.

Similarly, the job openings rate and the hiring rate have grown apart, as is shown in Figure 2. Both moved closely together from 2001 to early 2020, but then the job openings rate almost doubled, whereas the hiring rate held fairly steady.

Again, it is clear that the sharply elevated vacancy ratios during 2021-2023 do not correspond to a considerably tighter U.S. labor market as measured by a more strongly negative employment gap.

However, recent survey evidence suggests that many firms now advertise positions with no intention of any imminent hiring. Such information allows them to track the replacement cost of their current workforce in real-time and remind current employees that they could be dispensed with.

linky

unions can now do gladio-style operations, confirmed.