AROUND THE UAW
Whatever Happened to ‘Eight Hours for What You Will’?
Study after study has shown that longer work hours lead to shorter lives and higher risk of heart disease. Longer hours also lead to narrower lives—with less time for family, play, and what you will. Over decades of fighting, unions won the eight-hour day. And over...
Union Membership Is Still Declining
Unions raise wages and benefits and increase job security. So, the fact that unionization rates are still in decline, despite some recent bright spots in worker militancy, is very bad news. Read the article here.
Harvard’s Graduate Student Union Files Complaint Over Spring Covid Policies
Harvard’s graduate student union presented University leaders with a list of grievances about the school's updated spring Covid-19 protocols last week, calling for free high-quality masks and expanded testing. In a letter to administrators last Wednesday, Harvard...
Jonah Furman: The week in US unions, January 15-22, 2022
Workers who make the Corvette for GM in Bowling Green, KY are also on the strike path, but nothing immediate, as they’re under the national GM agreement in addition to their local negotiations. Read the article here.
UAW, AFL-CIO push GM, Mexican government to safeguard workers ahead of union vote
The UAW and AFL-CIO are calling on General Motors and the Mexico government to ensure upcoming union elections at a plant producing the profitable Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra are fair and free of intimidation. The UAW is asking specifically that labor...
‘We’re not just numbers,’ say Michiganders fired over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate
The federal vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees created riffs in the workplace before it could even be implemented. On Thursday, Jan. 13 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the mandate for businesses but kept the healthcare mandate in place.While...
GM and local UAW at odds over contract at plant that makes the Corvette
The 1,300 hourly workers at the plant, located about an hour north of Nashville, have been without a local union contract for two years.But they recently rejected the plant management's latest offer because of outstanding demands that local union leaders say...
Rest in Power Mike Parker, 1940-2022
Mike Parker, the author of four Labor Notes books and a close supporter and key strategist throughout our 43-year history, died January 15 of pancreatic cancer. He will be hugely missed—remembered as a brilliant thinker, a humble and dedicated movement-builder, and a...
Mike Parker: A Labor Educator with Impact
Parker's book-- Inside the Circle -- acknowledged that employer invitations to “participate” were often quite well received, initially, because they appealed to “workers’ best instincts—to do a good job, to be part of a group, to make a contribution.” Historically, he...
Columbia University Has Lost Its Way
The recently concluded negotiations between Columbia University and its graduate students/workers, ending a months-long strike by PhD students, serves as an object lesson in how the modern, private university no longer embodies the higher calling touted by Bollinger....
