Big US strikes

Submitted by R Totale on September 17, 2019

Meant to be a few really big strikes possibly about to kick off at the moment:
Kaiser Permanente (health) strike, supposedly the biggest single strike since 1997
National GM strike
Oregon grocery workers apparently set to strike
Anyone got any analysis, first-hand shopfloor reports, or similar?

R Totale

5 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by R Totale on September 25, 2019

Interview with a striking UAW member on this long podcast here.
From Shane Burley:

What's happening in Oregon right now is being called the beginning of a General Strike, a strike happening simultaneously across a range of industries. This speaks to the national strike wave happening the past 2 years.
Almost 5k workers at Oregon's 7 state universities will strike on Monday, the first day of the term. Years of wage adjustments below inflation and rising costs in Oregon have set them behind, and they just can't take the cuts anymore.
https://seiu503.org/member_news/time-to-get-ready-to-strike/
The workers at Fred Meyer (Kroger) and Safeway are now preparing for a strike. UFCW Local 555 has called for a boycott of Fred Meyer and has been staging flashmobs across the state. Strike is on the horizon.
https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-washington-fred-meyer-boycott-grocery-worker-union/
Kaiser Coalition is about to go on strike, 80,000 strong across the West Coast. In Oregon, @seiu49 is preparing for a strike at more than 70 Kaiser locations across the state. They authorized the strike at 98% and are set to strike in October.
https://tdn.com/news/local/seiu-represented-kaiser-employees-set-to-strike-in-october/article_fba29be5-064d-560d-b47d-3175c860d091.html [need a proxy to look at this one if you're in the EU]
The Burgerville Workers Union has been negotiating with Burgerville for well over a year, and the company will still not budge to a living wage. This means the Portland IWW-led union will move to strike shortly as the boycott continues.
https://thinkprogress.org/burgerville-oregon-fast-food-labor-union-0253164c533a/
Tens of thousands came out for the youth-led climate strike in one of the largest shows of a strike action in the state, mirroring the massive show that teachers had recently. This is a huge move to mixing labor and environmental struggles.
https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2019/09/20/we-want-change-tens-of-thousands-of-portland-teens-call-for-action-in-global-climate-strike/
Things are heating up between the Oregon Nurse's Association and Good Samaritan Hospital, covering issues like staffing ratios. They are also battling with Columbia Memorial in Astoria. A statewide healthcare labor battle ahead.
https://www.dailyastorian.com/news/local/downtown-march-backs-nurses-at-columbia-memorial/article_e4d02a30-dd81-11e9-b6c7-1f0450792f85.html [as above, no looking at this one for EU people]
415 hospital workers at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center were about to strike with SEIU 49, but the threat of the strike was enough to push management to settle the contract with under represented workers, including CNAs
https://nwlaborpress.org/2019/09/as-hospital-strike-neared-mckenzie-willamette-settled/
The AFSCME negotiations with OHSU also nearly averted a strike (which probably had something to do with a scandal involving management). A strike was on the horizon, and this set the tone for winning a fair contract. https://nwlaborpress.org/2019/09/workers-at-ohsu-ratify-new-deal-after-managers-outed-for-trolling/

If someone could write that up into an actual article, might be worthwhile?