AMAZON
Amazon Workers Call for Strike on Prime Day in Germany
Vice
By Gabriel Geiger
June 21, 2021
Germany’s second largest trade union, Verdi, called Sunday for Amazon warehouse workers across the country to go on strike as the retail giant launches its annual Prime Day. In a statement emailed to Motherboard, the union announced a strike at Amazon warehouses in the German cities of Werne, Leipzig, Rheinberg, Bad Hersfeld, Koblenz, and Grabenin beginning on Monday evening and ending on Wednesday.
IN THE STATES
Most Americans Can Be Fired for No Reason at Any Time, But a New Law in New York Could Change That
Bloomberg
By Josh Eidelson
June 21, 2021
This is how the U.S. works under at-will employment, a legal standard that allows companies to fire people for almost any reason—and sometimes for no reason at all. Unlike in other wealthy countries, where bosses generally have to provide just cause for termination, at-will positions account for most U.S. jobs. This probably includes your job, dear reader. Most white-collar and professional workers aren’t any more legally protected from their bosses’ whims than Walker was. Google software engineers, Wells Fargo & Co. bankers, and Mayo Clinic surgeons work at will. So do humble Bloomberg reporters. The only Americans with a higher standard of protection tend to be limited to the C-suite, the public sector, he nation’s dwindling unionized workplaces, and—because of a complex, decades-old compromise— Montana.
Pandemic Unemployment Benefits End in Wyoming
K2 Radio
June 21, 2021
On June 19, Wyoming officially ended federal unemployment benefits the state had been giving out from the CARES Act, and the Continued Assistance to Unemployed Workers Act of 2020. When governor Mark Gordon announced the decision in May, he said it would be done as a way to get people back to work, as he felt people were not seeking jobs because of the money given to them by the government. Tammy Johnson, the Executive Secretary of the Wyoming AFL-CIO, said the extra benefits, an extra $300 a month and expanding eligibility to gig workers, helped employees in Wyoming, especially considering how much money it takes to live in state, based on a study by the legislature. "To live sustainably in Wyoming, a single parent with two kids needs to make $22 an hour, to pay rent, pay for a car, pay for insurance, pay for food, and pay for childcare. Nothing to save and nothing to plan for the future, and that's to keep them off federal subsidies...I'm at a loss for why the governor would do this to the good people of Wyoming, who need to be able to feed their kids."
Alaska’s working families need fairness and opportunity. We need the PRO Act. (Opinion)
Anchorage Daily News
By Joelle Hall
June 20, 2021
The answer, I believe, is uniquely American. It’s unionism. Every single member of every single labor union in Alaska and all across America has a voice on pay, benefits, working conditions and much more. The workers and the boss work out their differences and agree to a contract that benefits both. Or at least that’s the way it’s supposed to work, and will work when the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO, Act becomes law. Right now, some bad employers stall, harass and fire workers who try to form unions, and never end up agreeing to anything at the bargaining table. This is not what the authors of the original labor law, the National Labor Relations Act, intended to happen, and it’s definitely not what working people deserve. That’s why it’s time for a revival of workers’ rights.
N.J. unions would gain power under new plan pushed by top lawmaker
NJ.com
By Samantha Marcus
June 21, 2021
New Jersey’s state Senate on Monday will consider a controversial proposal to strengthen union rights and overhaul public-sector collective bargaining statewide. While the unions argue the new plan would level the playing field at long last, groups like the New Jersey League of Municipalities and the New Jersey Association of Counties say the legislation would further tip scales that already favor public worker unions. “This is about respecting the rights of workers and protecting the ability of unions to represent them,” state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, who introduced the bill, said in a statement.
JOINING TOGETHER
Smithfield workers agree to new contract
Meat + Poultry
By Joel Crews
June 21, 2021
“With this new contract, meatpacking workers are sending a powerful message that it is time for every company in the industry to step up and recognize the incredible sacrifices made and danger faced by these front-line workers who helped millions of Americans put food on the table during this health crisis,” said B.J. Motley, president of UFCW Local 304A. “Today’s new contract for Smithfield meatpacking workers in Sioux Falls provides the strong pay and benefits that these brave men and women have earned on the front lines of this pandemic. In the past year, these South Dakota essential workers put their own health at risk every day to keep our food supply secure.”
Worthington librarians could be first in Columbus area to unionize
The Columbus Dispatch
By Dean Narciso
June 21, 2021
Those are some of the reasons that staff at the Worthington Libraries want to unionize — an effort that, if successful, would make it the first library system in Franklin County to do so. In a letter sent Friday to the board, a group calling itself WPL United said it "wants to build a stronger library for our patrons & a more equitable workplace" and is "demanding voluntary recognition of our union." Tara Shiman, a youth services librarian at the Old Worthington Library branch, said on the group's Twitter feed: "I am organizing because I believe that it is only when staff comes together collectively can real positive change take place. We have the right to have our voices heard, and have a real say in policy, pay, healthcare and overall working conditions."