Workers Struggles: The Americas

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Workers Struggles: The Americas Anonymous 2024-03-12 (Tue) 21:46:00 No.479738

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/03/12/degd-m12.html

Latin America
<Argentine strike wave continues

>In recent weeks, Argentine unions have called strikes by teachers, aeronautical workers, railway workers and others to put forward salary demands due to high inflation and economic policies promoted by President Javier Milei.

< River-boat operators and crews in Buenos Aires Province struck following a legally mandated cooling-off period. The struggle is over wages. They may be joined by river workers in Santa Fe province, which borders Buenos Aires, along the Parana River, whose cooling-off period expires on March 15. Ships that are still sailing will dock at their destination, download their cargo, with the strikers remaining on board during the duration of the work-stoppage.
< On March 7 transit workers in metropolitan Buenos Aires carried out their second strike this month. The strike is over unpaid wages and wage increases. The trade unions that represent transit workers defined the underlying wage issue as the protection of workers’ buying power.

<Women protest against gig work in Quito, Ecuador

>Thousands of women marched in Quito on March 8 (International Women’s Day). The demonstrators denounced the rise of contingent employment, due to the economic policies of current president Daniel Noboa. The demonstrators also carried signs condemning the ongoing Gaza genocide.

>The demonstrators rallied in Quito’s historic San Francisco Square. At the rally, women read manifestos denouncing Noboa’s policies, the war and conditions of increasing misery and poverty.
Uruguayan workers protest gig work

>Workers employed by the Uruguayan Ministry of Social Development mobilized on March 4 against increasing the use of temporary workers, gig workers and the use of zero-hours contracts that are at the root of increasing levels of poverty and homelessness across society—all made possible by the ministry. The number of homeless in Montevideo has increased exponentially since 2020.

>In addition, according to a recent estimate, 9 percent of individuals in Uruguay (in 2 percent of households) are not able to afford to buy enough food to support a healthy life.
United States
New York City legal service workers launch indefinite strike

<Legal service workers walked out on an indefinite strike February 26 against Mobilization for Justice

>(MFJ), a New York City agency that offers free legal services to low-income workers facing evictions, disability and immigration issues. The 110 members of Legal Services Staff Association (LSSA) Local 2320 voted by 93 percent three days earlier to reject the latest contract that came up short on wages, healthcare benefits and more flexibility for remote work.

>The bargaining unit is comprised of attorneys, paralegals, support staff, receptionists and front desk workers who believe insufficient staff, growing workloads and wages failing to keep up with inflation are causing burnout and placing them in the same economic hardship as many of the clients they serve.

>Housing attorney Nikita Salehi-Azhan told Amsterdam News, “I know that other nonprofits recently negotiated 7 percent raises, so to be offered 2 percent is, obviously, very disrespectful and not anywhere close to bringing us back to where we were pre-inflation.”

>Tara Joy, a housing intake specialist speaking of the overwhelming workload, told City Limits, “I can see that, frankly, my colleagues are drowning in just the sheer volume of intakes that they have to do.”

>A spokesperson for MFJ responded to the strike, pointing to “fiscal realities” and telling workers to “reconsider the generosity of MFJ’s offer…”
St. Louis bus drivers walk off the job in response to allegations of racial harassment

>About 100 St. Louis, Missouri, school bus drivers called in sick February 26 and 27 to protest the placing of a noose at the workstation of Amin Mitchell, a black bus mechanic. Mitchell made a Facebook post including a picture of a noose.

>Previous to the provocation, Mitchell made a complaint to the contracting company Missouri Central Bus Company’s human resources department concerning a supervisor who ordered him to only implement quick fixes to brakes on buses in order to pass inspection. Mitchell ended up in an altercation with management when he protested that the brakes needed to be replaced. When Mitchell came in to work February 22, he found a noose on the floor of his work station.

>“That’s a message that says, ‘If you don’t stop doing what you’re doing, something bad is going to happen right away,’” Mitchell told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

>The St. Louis chapter of the NAACP looked into the matter and branch president Adolphus Pruitt, stated, “Missouri Central Bus Company shop is one that is … racially charged and is dysfunctional.” One bus mechanic testified to bad brake systems, faulty parts and occasions where buses have caught fire. In addition, there has been racial harassment, as well as dirty and sexist jokes polluting the work environment.
REI workers in Minnesota, Chicago and New York strike over loss of merit pay

>Workers at the outdoor recreational equipment retailer, REI, walked off the job March 1 on a two-day strike in Maple Grove, Minnesota. Members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 663 are protesting the company’s decision to rescind the payment of merit raises and summit payout for 2024. According to Local 663, some nine stores have axed merit raises. Besides the Maple Grove store, workers are also striking in Chicago and New York.

>The UFCW attempted to resolve the issue but REI declined to discuss it, leading to the walkout. REI’s only response was that they are “committed to continuing to bargain in good faith…”

>The Maple Grove REI store was among the first to unionize in May of last year.
Canada

<Unifor ignores strike mandate with last-minute agreement to block strike by Ontario Northland support workers

>Following the near-unanimous strike vote on Thursday by some 350 support workers at northern Ontario’s transportation service, Unifor Local 103 announced that it has reached a tentative agreement with the province’s crown corporation, averting a strike planned for Tuesday.

>Although the details of the contract will not be released until it is presented to members for ratification — which the union said could happen as early as Tuesday—Unifor Local 103 President Jeremy Rodgers announced that the tentative agreement “shows the true value of our members” and its bargaining committee will be “unanimously recommending” acceptance of the tentative agreement.

>On March 6, the support workers, which include clerks, bus mechanics and retail, onboard dining and warehousing staff at Ontario Northland, voted 96.3 percent in favour of strike action. At issue are benefits, wages and overall working conditions. Ontario Northland is owned by the Ontario government, responsible for providing transportation services for passengers and goods in Northern Ontario.

>Discussions between the union and Ontario Northland have been underway since the contract expired last summer. Following the rejection of the province’s latest proposal by the union’s bargaining committee in December, the union agreed to the appointment of a federal conciliator and a provincial mediator to manage the negotiations, which have no doubt set terms favourable to the province.

>In response to the strike vote last week, Unifor national president Lana Payne stated, “It’s disheartening to see the disparity between the treatment of our hardworking members and the executive level’s payout.” Indeed, according to the 2022 Sunshine List, Ontario Northland president and interim president Corina Moore and Chad Evans raked in hefty salaries of almost $400,000 and over $260,000 respectively. Conversely, the average salary of a clerk hovers around $45,000 according to jobs website Glassdoor.
Civic workers vote down City of Edmonton’s insulting “best and final offer”

>Some 5,000 civic workers in Edmonton have overwhelmingly rejected the city’s latest proposed contract terms, placing them in a strike position as early as this week. After last Friday’s vote tally, nearly 88 percent of eligible workers in Civic Service Union (CSU) 52 returned ballots marked with a “no” to the municipal employer’s “best and final offer.” (Workers at the Edmonton Public Library represented by the same union did not participate in the proposal vote.)

>The latest ballot was imposed by the Alberta Labour Relations Board, which last month approved the city’s application that required its contract proposal to be voted on directly by workers, bypassing the union’s role in the bargaining process.

>CSU 52 city workers haven’t had a raise in six years and have been without a contract since 2020. CSU 52 President Lanny Chudyk admitted that the union had put forth a wage proposal far below the cost of living and inflation. Still, the city has been unwilling to meet even these modest demands, offering an insulting 7.25 percent wage increase over five years, with raises set at 0, 1, 2, 2, and 2.25 percent each year to 2025.

>In February, workers categorically rejected this paltry offering and the overwhelming majority voted to strike. A rally was staged outside Edmonton City Hall with workers chanting, “no zeros!”

>Despite the city’s claim that its pathetic wage increase is “compelling” in light of its “current financial realities,” the mayor and city council gave themselves a 2.4 percent raise in 2023, after a two-year freeze, making it the second highest paid council in the country.

>According to the city, the average CSU 52 civic worker’s salary is $86,000. However, the union explains that this figure is misleading because many employees’ wage classifications are paid at a much lower rate, including those of fitness instructors and 911 dispatchers—some of the city’s lowest-paid employees. According to the union, some of its members earn so little that they have turned to food banks for aid.

<Striking Kamloops HBC workers press on after four months on picket line

>A strike by workers at North America’s oldest retailer has entered its fifth month with no end in sight. Negotiations between USW Local 1-417 and the Hudson Bay Company (HBC) at the Kamloops, British Columbia location stalled in January and neither side has returned to the table to discuss new terms.

>The union has been in negotiations with HBC since July 2023, but the company has point-blank refused to move on its concessions demands, which among other things, include a paltry 1 percent wage increase for each contract year, a drop in real wages when inflation is considered. Forty-year veteran worker, Angie Bains, told CBC News that HBC’s initial offer was even more pathetic—a wage increase of just 17 cents an hour, which she likened to a “slap in the face.”

>According to the most recent contract, which expired last May, many of the retail positions pay little more than the province’s legal minimum hourly wage, which is currently set at $17.40. The conservative figure for a livable wage in Kamloops in 2023 was $20.91 an hour.

>The Kamloops department store has been closed since the strike began on December 10, with workers concerned that waning sales in the retail environment more generally might prompt its permanent closure. Last year, HBC slashed 2 percent of its workforce, roughly 500 employees, mainly located in Canada, in a bid to “streamline operations.” Meanwhile, it holds a commercial real estate portfolio valued at close to $7 billion (USD).

<Largest healthcare strike in over a decade underway in Manitoba

>The largest health care strike in Manitoba in over a decade is underway. Last Wednesday, 160 healthcare support workers at supportive housing provider Ten Ten Sinclair in Winnipeg officially walked off the job, demanding wage increases that keep pace with the cost of living.

>A statement released by Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) of Manitoba stated that workers at the municipally funded independent living facility have seen their wages increase by only 1.75% since 2016, while the cost of living has increased by 25 percent. According to the Canada Job Bank, the median wage for the position of care aide in the Winnipeg area is just $19.25 an hour.

Anonymous 2024-03-12 (Tue) 21:50:58 No.479739

>>479738
TYBNA

Anonymous 2024-03-12 (Tue) 22:59:50 No.479742

>>479738
>wages increase by only 1.75% since 2016, while the cost of living has increased by 25 percent.
Maybe wages need to be expressed not as absolute numbers but rather as a function of the cost of living.

Anonymous 2024-03-13 (Wed) 04:14:17 No.479746

>>479742
Part of the problem (well, most of it in my view) is that the massive rises in cost of living are largely avoidable; a massive amount of it is just land speculation driving prices up across the board because literally everyone and every industry uses land & buildings & natural resources. It's difficult to fix wages to cost of living in an economy where rentseeking is broadly out of control and getting worse; not that they've made an honest attempt to fix them, it doesn't help that they've lagged behind, but having land just be treated as the default "safe" way to invest capital long-term results in a massive national decay which is incredibly expensive.

Eugene 2024-03-13 (Wed) 06:02:25 No.479747

>>479746
Why do you think they want to allow anyone to live? There is no "natural" cause for this. It's pure rent extraction because they want to price working class people out of the city. Out of society. Out of existence.

Every time this is naturalized and excused as something other than what it is, the enclosure continues and people are nullified before they could even begin to act in their own defense. Paralysis of resistance is inherent to the entire German ideology.

Eugene 2024-03-13 (Wed) 06:08:34 No.479748

Also funny that strikes of service workers that work with poor people are being elevated - strikes to punish the poor basically, not that legal services for poor people exist in this cursed world and it's all a joke. But, it's telling that they're cutting away the last pretenses that the institutions have anything to do with "helping" anyone. We really are on our own, lined up. That was always the plan.

I just go on expecting the worst. I said when COVID started the key choice will be when the workers will be told to sacrifice the losers and glorify it, and that this "choice" would be made for them. Only way this could end. The good news is that most of the people are not so enthusiastic and make their displeasure clear with all of this. It's too late for the losers. We were selected to die a long time ago, and if we live, it will only be the most perilous existence. This will be much worse when Nazification mandates such civic participation. It always does that.

I will tell everyone while I can - do not believe decency ever appeals to those who glorify indecency in all of its forms. That's the worst thing you can do. Showing the utmost contempt for such glorification of indecency, calling them the fags they are, puts them on edge. They threaten and insist that you must uphold decencies while they mandate more and more indecency. It is simple enough to show them the true hatred, instead of the slimy snark and faggotry of their failed race.

Anonymous 2024-03-13 (Wed) 12:38:23 No.479754

>>479746
>a massive amount of it is just land speculation driving prices up across the board because literally everyone and every industry uses land & buildings & natural resources.
You are right that land is a natural monopoly, especially for real-estate in cities and agricultural land. Large hedge-funds have been able to abuse that in many regards.

However nothing is/can stop people from building floating houses and grow cities or towns into the ocean. It might take a while until all the engineering aspects are worked out and the most effective technological pathways are found. That famous city in Italy with building on stilts that was just an early attempt.

Storm-proof stable(non-sway) floating foundations are already done and cost efficient.

Sewage is currently stored in tanks, and then periodically pumped off by a sewage-barge. That could use some improvements. Sewage could be decontaminated, purified, dehydrated, then mixed with cheap sand to create soil for floating agriculture barges. People would get payed for their sh…bodily-contributions while also foiling the ploys of agro-land speculators, one dump at a time.

Electrical supply is wave-power, solar and wind. There is grid-power based on underwater cables derived from houseboat-supplies, but it's too expensive to scale up. However, 70% energy efficient, focused microwave power links exist. It's good enough for supplemental grid-energy used in conjunction with renewables. Nicola Tesla dreamed about creating wireless energy towers, and now something vaguely similar might actually become viable. And it's very cheap, a microwave link rectenna is basically just a wire mesh. Installing that is cheaper than a satellite dish.

The micro-wave-link Power-Towers could have small modular nuclear reactors, they would dump their waste-heat into the surrounding ocean water, by passive radiators. The floating buildings could use heat-pumps to collect that heat to make hot-water supply and building heat, from the same ocean water. Basically remote-heat without any pipes.

People would move around on city-barges instead of city-buses/trams. It's slow but very energy efficient, cheap, quiet and pleasant to look at or ride in.

Drinking water could come from photo-evaporation desalination and water purification machines, which would act as a powerful political incentive to do something about ocean pollution. Because clean ocean water means less water filter-replacement costs. If you cultivate filter plants like various types of algae, you get cleaner water and potentially a precursor material for hydrocarbon chemistry products like paper, plastic, many industrial and domestic chemicals, medicine, up to grease to fix the squeaky door-hinge.

Recycling could get a big boost because dumping trash in the ocean will be frowned upon. Because unlike landfills where it's out of sight out of mind. Everybody can buy a cheap underwater drone with a camera and see the trash lying on the ocean floor beneath the floating buildings.

If this indeed plays out towards pushing clean ocean water, it will also enable fish-farming.

This scheme represents a complex pattern that takes a while to come about, but when it does it will replicate everywhere, and 10% to 20% of the earths population will live on the "floats".

Try as they might it will not be possible to replicate the enclosure of the commons on the water. It will not end land speculation, but the insane levels of metropolitan real estate speculation will be dampened.

Anonymous 2024-03-13 (Wed) 20:44:18 No.479761

>>479754
>small modular nuclear reactors
A scam if there ever was one. Nuclear power should be big and industrial to maximize efficiency. Not small and numerous to maximize risk.

Anonymous 2024-03-13 (Wed) 21:15:22 No.479762

>>479761
You're not wrong, a 300 megawatt SMR is about 5% less efficient than a 10 gigawatt whopper. But SMRs are already developed, so we might as well use em. And they do have very small exclusion zones, which makes them particularly easy to slot into a city design. The risks on both design strategies is very low.

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