ReportWire

Tag: Strikes

  • Starbucks workers plan strikes at more than 100 US stores

    Starbucks workers plan strikes at more than 100 US stores

    [ad_1]

    Starbucks workers at more than 100 U.S. stores say they’re going on strike Thursday in what would be the largest labor action since a campaign to unionize the company’s stores began late last year.

    The walkouts are scheduled to coincide with Starbucks’ annual Red Cup Day, when the company gives free reusable cups to customers who order a holiday drink. Workers say it’s often one of the busiest days of the year. Starbucks declined to say how many red cups it plans to distribute.

    Workers say they’re seeking better pay, more consistent schedules and higher staffing levels in busy stores. Starbucks opposes the unionization effort, saying the company functions best when it works directly with employees. The Seattle coffee giant has more than 9,000 company-owned stores in the U.S.

    Stores in 25 states planned to take part in the labor action, according to Starbucks Workers United, the group organizing the effort. Some workers planned to picket all day while others planned shorter walkouts. The union said the goal is to shut the stores down during the walkouts.

    Willow Montana, a shift manager at a Starbucks store in Brighton, Massachusetts, planned to strike because Starbucks hasn’t begun bargaining with the store despite a successful union vote in April.

    “If the company won’t bargain in good faith, why should we come to work where we are understaffed, underpaid and overworked?” Montana said.

    Others, including Michelle Eisen, a union organizer at one of the first stores to organize in Buffalo, New York, said workers are angry that Starbucks promised higher pay and benefits to non-union stores. Starbucks says it is following the law and can’t give union stores pay hikes without bargaining.

    At least 257 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since late last year, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Fifty-seven stores have held votes where workers opted not to unionize.

    Starbucks and the union have begun contract talks at 53 stores, with 13 additional sessions scheduled, Starbucks Workers United said. No agreements have been reached so far.

    The process has been contentious. Earlier this week, a regional director with the NLRB filed a request for an injunction against Starbucks in federal court, saying the company violated labor law when it fired a union organizer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The regional director asked the court to direct Starbucks to reinstate the employee and stop interfering in the unionization campaign nationwide.

    It was the fourth time the NLRB has asked a federal court to intervene. In August, a federal judge ruled that Starbucks had to reinstate seven union organizers who were fired in Memphis, Tennessee. A similar case in Buffalo has yet to be decided, while a federal judge ruled against the NLRB in a case in Phoenix.

    Meanwhile, Starbucks has asked the NLRB to temporarily suspend all union elections at its U.S. stores, citing allegations from a board employee that regional officials improperly coordinated with union organizers. A decision in that case is pending.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • US and Russia clash over responsibility for missile strike

    US and Russia clash over responsibility for missile strike

    [ad_1]

    UNITED NATIONS — The U.S. and its Western allies clashed with Russia at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday over responsibility for a deadly missile strike in Poland near the Ukrainian border, an event the U.N. political chief called “a frightening reminder of the absolute need to prevent any further escalation” of the nine-month war in Ukraine.

    U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council: “This tragedy would never have happened but for Russia’s needless invasion of Ukraine and its recent missile assaults against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.” Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia countered, accusing Ukraine and Poland of trying “to provoke a direct clash between Russia and NATO.”

    The U.S. and Albania had called for a council update on the situation in Ukraine last week, and the meeting was dominated by Tuesday’s missile strike in Poland that killed two farm workers.

    Nebenzia pointed to statements by Ukraine’s president and Polish officials initially indicating Russia was responsible. NATO’s chief and Poland’s president said Wednesday there is no indication it was a deliberate attack, and was likely a Soviet-era projectile launched by Ukraine as it was fending off Russian missiles and drones that savaged its power grid and hit residential buildings.

    U.N. Undersecretary-General for political affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told the council that it was Russia’s “most intense bombardments” since its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, and the impact “can only worsen during the coming winter months.”

    She reiterated that attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international law, noted that “heavy battles” are continuing in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk and told council members “there is no end in sight to the war.” She also warned that “as long as it continues, the risks of potentially catastrophic spillover remain all too real.”

    Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. envoy, called the barrage of more than 90 missiles that rained down on Kyiv and other cities and targets devastating civilian infrastructure “a deliberate tactic” by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    “He seems to have decided that if he can’t seize Ukraine by force, he will try to freeze the country into submission,” she said.

    Poland’s U.N. Ambassador Krzysztof Szczerski told the council “those innocent people would not have been killed if there had been no Russian war against Ukraine.” And Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said: “We should be clear that this is a tragedy that indisputably stems from Russia’s illegal and unjustified invasion. And it’s inhumane assault on civilians across Ukraine.

    But Russia’s Nebenzia said he wanted to remind those blaming Russia that what Moscow calls its “special military operation” wouldn’t have been needed if the Minsk agreements after the upheaval in Ukraine in 2014 that called for a degree of self-rule for the Russian-backed separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east had been fulfilled, and hadn’t led to an eight-year war.

    Addressing the West, Nebenzia also said there would be no military action “if you had not interfered and did not supply Ukraine with weapons and ammunition” and encouraged Ukraine “to strive for peace on realistic terms rather than fuel its feverish fantasies about the possibility of victory over Russia, for the sake of which the Zelenskyy regime is senselessly throwing tens of thousands of its soldiers into the meat grinder.”

    As for the missile attacks, Nebenzia said, “If you reacted to the terrorist actions of the Ukrainian special forces against Russia, we would not be forced to conduct precision strikes on infrastructure.”

    “But since you’re acting as you’re acting, while the Kyiv regime is taking credit for non-existent military prowess, we are forced to achieve the goals set for the special military operation by weakening the military potential of Ukraine,” he said.

    Britain’s Woodward strongly disagreed, telling the council, “We are in no doubt that Ukraine will prevail in the face of Russia’s aggression.”

    Pointing to the Russian withdrawal from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, she said, “The liberation of Kherson shows the strength, courage and determination of the Ukrainian people to defend their right to sovereign equality and territorial integrity guaranteed under the U.N. Charter.”

    “It is and remains a war of choice, a pure act of unprovoked aggression and the attempt to grab territory. This war must end not expand, and Russia started it, Russia must put an end to it,” Hoxha said.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • HarperCollins union begins strike, citing wages, diversity

    HarperCollins union begins strike, citing wages, diversity

    [ad_1]

    NEW YORK — Some 250 copy editors, marketing assistants and other employees at HarperCollins Publishers went on strike Thursday, with the two sides differing over wages and benefits, diversity policy and union protection. It was a rare work stoppage in book publishing, where HarperCollins is the only company among the industry’s so-called “Big Five” to have a labor union.

    “We feel really good about we’re doing and the spirit we’re doing it with,” said Carly Katz, an audio coordinator at HarperCollins and one of more than 100 striking staff members who picketed outside of the publisher’s offices in downtown Manhattan.

    “We feel like this is the kind of action we need to take to make things happen,” said Parrish Turner, an editorial assistant in the children’s division of HarperCollins.

    The HarperCollins union, Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers, struck for one day last summer and this time plans to stay out indefinitely until an agreement is reached. Employees had been working without a contract since April.

    “HarperCollins has agreed to a number of proposals that the United Auto Workers Union is seeking to include in a new contract,” a HarperCollins spokesperson said in a statement. “We are disappointed an agreement has not been reached and will continue to negotiate in good faith.”

    No new negotiations are currently scheduled.

    The strikers represent a small percentage of HarperCollins’ worldwide personnel, which totals around 4,000. The publisher is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and earlier this fall laid off a “small number” of employees, citing cost management and uncertainly about the publishing market. This week, News Corp. reported an 11 percent drop in sales for HarperCollins during the fiscal first quarter, citing the strong U.S. dollar and warehousing issues at Amazon.com as factors.

    In recent years, entry- and mid-level employees throughout publishing have been increasingly vocal on social media about their unhappiness with wages, workloads and diversity. Book publishing has long been a predominantly white, low-paying industry, and starting salaries remain below $50,000 at many companies, making it increasingly difficult for staffers to afford to live in New York City.

    Numerous authors and agents have expressed support for the union. Tara Gonzalez of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency tweeted that she would send no submissions to HarperCollins until an agreement was reached. During the walkout in July, Neil Gaiman noted that he was published by HarperCollins in the U.S. and tweeted “I hope that the terrific people working there, who get my books made and onto the shelves, succeed in their demands.”

    In a company memo sent last week and since widely circulated, Zandra Magariño, the publisher’s senior vice president for personnel, wrote that “While our goal remains to reach agreement on a fair contract with the United Auto Workers Union that is beneficial to both parties, HarperCollins has implemented plans to ensure that operations continue uninterrupted during a potential strike.”

    Union representation at HarperCollins long precedes the ownership of Murdoch, who purchased what was then Collins and Harper & Row in the 1980s. In 1974, employees at Harper & Row went on strike for 2 1-2 weeks before agreeing to a new contract.

    While few publishers have unions, organizing efforts have grown sharply at independent bookstores around the country, with employees citing the pandemic as making them more sensitive to working conditions. Moe’s Books in Berkeley, California and McNally Jackson stores in New York City are among the sellers whose staffers have formed or joined unions.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Paris Metro workers strike for wage hike, disrupt commutes

    Paris Metro workers strike for wage hike, disrupt commutes

    [ad_1]

    PARIS — Striking subway workers shut down half of the Paris Metro lines Thursday, a nationwide day of walkouts and protests by French train drivers, teachers and other public-sector workers demanding the government and employers increase salaries to keep up with inflation.

    Expecting major disruptions on their morning commutes, many Parisians biked or walked to work. Others took buses that were provided as an alternative way to reach offices and workplaces, or reverted to their pandemic lockdown routines and worked from home.

    Protest rallies were planned in Paris and other French cities later Thursday, amid deepening worker discontent around Europe.

    The strikes in France build on multiple union actions in recent months by French workers demanding higher wages to keep up with the rising cost of living. Last month, a strike by oil refinery workers caused nationwide fuel shortages that disrupted lives and businesses. The French government intervened to force them back to work.

    Europe has faced a series of protests and strikes in recent months over soaring inflation. Nurses, pilots, postal workers. railway staff and others have walked off the job, seeking wages that keep pace with inflation as Russia’s war in Ukraine has driven up energy and food prices.

    Labor unions also have organized street protests to pressure governments to do more to ease rising bills even as European leaders have passed energy relief packages.

    Nationwide general strikes over cost of living increases caused by inflation and higher energy costs linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine snarled traffic through much of Belgium and shut down public services in Greece on Wednesday.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Rail union approves deal offering hope of avoiding strike

    Rail union approves deal offering hope of avoiding strike

    [ad_1]

    OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Another one of the 12 railroad unions narrowly approved its deal with the major freight railroads Saturday, offering some hope that the contract dispute might be resolved without a strike even though two other unions rejected their agreements last month.

    Now that 52% of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers members who voted approved their deal, seven railroad unions have ratified contracts that include 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses, but all 12 have to approve contracts to prevent a strike.

    Concerns remain about the possibility of an economically devastating strike because the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division and Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen unions voted down their contracts, and many workers say these deals just don’t address their quality-of life concerns. No strike is imminent because those unions agreed to return to the bargaining table to try to work out a new deal, but those talks have been deadlocked over the unions’ demands for paid sick time and there is a Nov. 19 deadline.

    The railroads have rejected union demands for paid sick time because they say the deals they’ve been offering include higher wages that are intended to compensate workers for the lack of sick time and their other quality of life concerns. The railroads want any deal to closely follow the recommendations made this summer by a special panel of arbitrators that President Joe Biden appointed.

    The railroads have also maintained that the unions have agreed over the years to forego paid sick leave in favor of better wages and strong short-term disability benefits.

    The group that negotiates on behalf of Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, BNSF, Kansas City Southern, CSX and other railroads said the deal the Machinists approved includes “the largest wage package in nearly five decades” and implements the recommendations the Presidential Emergency Board made.

    The deal the Machinists approved this weekend was the second one they voted on after rejecting their first agreement. This one includes all the raises and an additional paid leave day that was in the original deal, but it also included several additional benefits including a cap on health insurance expenses, an agreement that the railroads will study how much overtime employees are being forced to work and a promise that each railroad will negotiate individually over expense reimbursement.

    The railroads also promised the Machinists that they won’t force workers to share hotel rooms when they’re on the road for work.

    “Our union recognizes that the agreement wasn’t accepted overwhelmingly, so our team will continue conversing with our members at our rail yards across the nation,” the Machinists union’s District 19 unit said in a statement. “This agreement is the first step in addressing some of the issues in our industry. Our fight was able to shine a light on the work-life balance issues as well as the lack of proper paid sick leave.”

    Three other unions are scheduled to vote later this month, including the largest ones that represent engineers and conductors.

    The workers represented by the Machinists union generally have more regular schedules than the engineers and conductors who say the railroads’ strict attendance policies keep them on call 24/7. And the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers unions won’t even release the results of their votes until after the current Nov. 19 deadline in the BMWED talks.

    Because of the fears about a possible strike, business groups have urged Biden and Congress to be ready to intervene if both sides can’t reach an agreement. Biden played an active role in securing these original deals back in September, and Congress has the power to block a strike and impose terms on the workers if there is a walkout.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Rail union approves deal offering hope of avoiding strike

    Rail union approves deal offering hope of avoiding strike

    [ad_1]

    OMAHA, Neb. — Another one of the 12 railroad unions narrowly approved its deal with the major freight railroads Saturday, offering some hope that the contract dispute might be resolved without a strike even though two other unions rejected their agreements last month.

    Now that 52% of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers members who voted approved their deal, seven railroad unions have ratified contracts that include 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses, but all 12 have to approve contracts to prevent a strike.

    Concerns remain about the possibility of an economically devastating strike because the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division and Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen unions voted down their contracts, and many workers say these deals just don’t address their quality-of life concerns. No strike is imminent because those unions agreed to return to the bargaining table to try to work out a new deal, but those talks have been deadlocked over the unions’ demands for paid sick time and there is a Nov. 19 deadline.

    The railroads have rejected union demands for paid sick time because they say the deals they’ve been offering include higher wages that are intended to compensate workers for the lack of sick time and their other quality of life concerns. The railroads want any deal to closely follow the recommendations made this summer by a special panel of arbitrators that President Joe Biden appointed.

    The railroads have also maintained that the unions have agreed over the years to forego paid sick leave in favor of better wages and strong short-term disability benefits.

    The group that negotiates on behalf of Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, BNSF, Kansas City Southern, CSX and other railroads said the deal the Machinists approved includes “the largest wage package in nearly five decades” and implements the recommendations the Presidential Emergency Board made.

    The deal the Machinists approved this weekend was the second one they voted on after rejecting their first agreement. This one includes all the raises and an additional paid leave day that was in the original deal, but it also included several additional benefits including a cap on health insurance expenses, an agreement that the railroads will study how much overtime employees are being forced to work and a promise that each railroad will negotiate individually over expense reimbursement.

    The railroads also promised the Machinists that they won’t force workers to share hotel rooms when they’re on the road for work.

    “Our union recognizes that the agreement wasn’t accepted overwhelmingly, so our team will continue conversing with our members at our rail yards across the nation,” the Machinists union’s District 19 unit said in a statement. “This agreement is the first step in addressing some of the issues in our industry. Our fight was able to shine a light on the work-life balance issues as well as the lack of proper paid sick leave.”

    Three other unions are scheduled to vote later this month, including the largest ones that represent engineers and conductors.

    The workers represented by the Machinists union generally have more regular schedules than the engineers and conductors who say the railroads’ strict attendance policies keep them on call 24/7. And the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers unions won’t even release the results of their votes until after the current Nov. 19 deadline in the BMWED talks.

    Because of the fears about a possible strike, business groups have urged Biden and Congress to be ready to intervene if both sides can’t reach an agreement. Biden played an active role in securing these original deals back in September, and Congress has the power to block a strike and impose terms on the workers if there is a walkout.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Railroads reject sick time demands, raising chance of strike

    Railroads reject sick time demands, raising chance of strike

    [ad_1]

    OMAHA, Neb. — The major freight railroads appear unwilling to give track maintenance workers much more than they received in the initial contract they rejected last week, increasing the chances of a strike.

    The railroads took the unusual step of issuing a statement late Wednesday rejecting the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division union’s latest request to add paid sick time on top of the 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses they received in the first five-year deal.

    Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz said Thursday that he thinks the main reason the BMWED rejected its initial contract last week was that the details of improved expense reimbursement in the deal were still being negotiated at UP while workers were voting. So it wasn’t clear exactly what those workers would receive for their travel expenses when they go on the road to repair tracks.

    Six of the 12 railroad unions that represent 115,000 workers nationwide have approved their tentative agreements with the railroads so far, but all of them have to ratify their contracts to avoid a strike. The unions have agreed to put any strike on hold until at least mid-November while the BMWED negotiates a new deal and the other unions vote on their proposed contracts, so there’s no immediate threat the the trains most businesses rely on to deliver their raw materials and finished products will stop moving. A railroad strike could devastate the economy.

    “Ultimately, I remain confident that we’re going to get our temporary agreements ratified and be able to avoid a strike. That’s still a possibility but I don’t think it’s a probability,” Fritz told investors after his railroad released its earnings report.

    The group that negotiations on behalf of the major railroads, including UP, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CSX and Kansas City Southern, said the new contracts should closely follow the recommendations of the special board of arbitrators that President Joe Biden appointed this summer. The railroads said that board rejected union demands for paid sick time.

    “Now is not the time to introduce new demands that rekindle the prospect of a railroad strike,” the railroads said.

    Officials at the BMWED union didn’t immediately respond to the railroads Thursday. Concerns about quality of life and the ability for workers — particularly the engineers and conductors who drive the trains — to take time off without being penalized have weighed heavily on the negotiations.

    But the railroads say workers do have significant short-term disability benefits that kick in after four or seven days and last up to 52 weeks that the unions have negotiated for over the years. The railroads said the unions have repeatedly agreed that short-term absences would be unpaid in favor of higher wages and more generous benefits for long-term illnesses.

    If both sides can’t agree on contracts, Congress could step in to block a strike and impose terms on the workers.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Pilots at Germany’s Eurowings start 3-day strike

    Pilots at Germany’s Eurowings start 3-day strike

    [ad_1]

    Pilots at Eurowings, the German airline Lufthansa’s budget subsidiary, have started their second strike this month in a dispute over working conditions

    BERLIN — Pilots at Eurowings, German airline Lufthansa’s budget subsidiary, have started their second strike this month in a dispute over working conditions.

    The Vereinigung Cockpit union called pilots out on a three-day strike starting Monday morning.

    Despite the walkout, Eurowings said it expected more than 230 of Monday’s planned 400 services to go ahead as usual. Flights operated by Austrian subsidiary Eurowings Europe and by Eurowings Discover, which flies from Frankfurt and Munich, weren’t affected.

    At Duesseldorf airport, however, 102 of the day’s scheduled 171 Eurowings flights were canceled, German news agency dpa reported.

    Pilots are asking for the maximum number of flying hours to be reduced. They previously staged a one-day strike on Oct. 6. Eurowings described the latest strike as disproportionate and irresponsible.

    Strikes at parent company Lufthansa were called off last month after the airline and union reached a pay deal to address the effects of inflation.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • In France, fuel crisis frays nerves and workers’ resilience

    In France, fuel crisis frays nerves and workers’ resilience

    [ad_1]

    VERSAILLES, France — Even close to midnight on a school night, the tipoff was too important to ignore: A nearby gas station had just been resupplied.

    So Aicha Far scooped up her 6-year-old and set off into the night. The home carer needed to refuel her car so she could continue looking after the vulnerable people on the outskirts of Paris who rely on her to keep them fed, clean and safe. The prospect of a full tank was worth dragging the kid out of bed for.

    “I wrapped him in a blanket and put him in the back,” Far recalled on Saturday, as she gently coaxed an older woman she looks after to drink her breakfast hot chocolate.

    Chronic fuel shortages in France sparked by strikes and panic buying are fraying nerves and testing both the resilience and ingenuity of millions of French workers who depend on their vehicles to do their jobs.

    More than a quarter of gas stations nationwide were still without one type of fuel or more on Saturday, the French energy minister said. In the Paris region, the number was above a third.

    Motorists have sometimes lined up for hours to refuel — not always successfully — and tempers have flared.

    In the town of Versailles, southwest of Paris, 41-year-old nurse Aurelie Martin is trying to eke out the precious fuel left in her tank — and bracing for the next time she’ll have to visit the pumps.

    She is up well before dawn to give jabs, change dressings and dispense other essential medical care to dozens of patients each morning.

    Rather than doing little hops in her Mini from one patient to the next, she’s increasingly scurrying on foot between them when she can, racking up 10 kilometers (six miles) of walking each morning to save fuel.

    “I’m doing the bare minimum by car,” she said as she made her rounds on Saturday. “I had hoped up to now that the situation would improve, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be getting better.”

    The strikes have hit French refineries and fuel depots. Strikers have demanded higher wages from what they feel should be their share of windfall profits generated by high oil and gas prices amid the global energy crisis aggravated by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

    After runs on toilet paper, pasta and other essentials at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, fuel and where to find it are the latest obsessions in France. The government has urged motorists not to panic-buy. Some gas stations have banned jerrycans.

    When Martin bumped into other nurses also making their early morning rounds on Saturday, gasoline was the first thing they talked about.

    One nurse who’d run out of fuel told Martin that one of her patients was offering to lend her his car. On messaging groups, nurses share tips about gas stations that have been resupplied or that have priority pumps for them and other essential workers.

    Martin said some of her fellow nurses have been yelled at by other motorists for trying to cut to the front of lines.

    With 30 to 40 patients to home-visit per day, Martin knows she’ll need to refuel early next week.

    “My day off is on Tuesday and I think the full tank that I had will last until then,” she said. “So on Tuesday, I’ll see if I need to spend the day lining up and that is what I will do if a gas station hasn’t been set aside for us.”

    “Truth be told,” she added, “I have been pushing back the inevitable moment.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link