Jane Slaughter

Kellogg's Strikers: We Want a Clear Path Out of Two-Tier, Set in Stone

Update: On December 16, Kellogg's and the BCTGM reached a new tentative agreement. Workers will vote on the five-year deal on Sunday, with results expected by Tuesday.

In contract talks with its 1,400 workers this summer, Kellogg's proposed to remove the union logo from its cereal boxes.

Volvo Workers Forced to Vote Again on Contract They Just Rejected

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Jane Slaughter

UPDATE, July 15: Yesterday, workers voted narrowly (1,147 to 1,130) to accept the third tentative agreement, which had been defeated by a 60-40 margin five days earlier. Workers will report back to work next week.--Eds.

Auto Workers (UAW) officials are fed up with their striking members at Volvo Trucks in Virginia and are helping the company get them back to work under a contract members have rejected—three times.

Volvo Workers in Virginia Vote Down Bad Contract by 90 Percent—Again

Auto workers at Volvo’s truck plant in southwest Virginia have just voted down a concessionary contract by 90 percent—for the second time. Now they’re back on strike.

“The International union has been down here twice for town halls,” said Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2069 member Rhonda Sisk. “Each time we say ‘take it back, it’s garbage,’ and they just say they think it’s a good contract, but they don’t say why.”

How Postal Workers Saved the Election

The story of mail ballots in 2020 is the story of a union postal workforce willing to go to extraordinary lengths to make sure that every vote got delivered.

Postal workers did this despite the deliberate holdups created by new Postmaster General Louis “Delay the Mail” DeJoy, and a workforce hit hard by COVID.

After 500 Issues, A Look at Labor Notes Then and Now

How was Labor Notes #1, from February 1979, different from Labor Notes #500, the issue we just sent to the printer? There’s the obvious:

Concessions Didn't Work Then and They Won't Now

As union members return to their jobs, employers will ask them to open their contracts and take concessions.

They probably won’t be called “concessions” this time; employers’ demands for wage cuts and work rule changes will just be “common sense.” “We’re all suffering so we should all sacrifice,” we’ll be told. To save your job, your employer needs your cooperation.

Concessions and How to Beat Them

Employers never let a crisis go to waste. The economic crisis created by the global pandemic will be used as a springboard to demand that workers work more and accept less.

To help guide us through this moment, Labor Notes is providing a free digital copy of our first book, Concessions and How to Beat Them by Jane Slaughter. An updated introduction from the author and links to a few relevant articles are included below.

In a Pandemic, Finding New and Old Ways To Fight New and Old Foes

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Author(s): 
Jane Slaughter

Workers this spring were forced to find new ways to assert their rights when faced with a deadly foe and employers indifferent to their lives.

Sometimes they resorted to the oldest trick in labor's book, the strike, especially wildcat strikes early on in the pandemic, and especially non-union workers. Sometimes they were forced to organize and protest virtually, making the most of social media. And the car caravan was reborn as an appropriately distanced tactic.

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