Turn a Disciplinary Meeting into an Organizing Opportunity
Union members have Weingarten rights, stemming from a Supreme Court ruling in 1975, to ask for a steward at any meeting they believe could lead to discipline. Stewards can do a lot to support members in these meetings, and also organize against patterns of unfair discipline.
Labor Notes Organizer Kari Thompson, who leads some of our Stewards’ Workshops, joins the pod.
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20:06
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20:06
Air Canada Flight Attendants Didn't Let the Government Ground Their Strike
Air Canada flight attendants, who in August had voted 99.7% to strike, were hit with a back to work order within a day after they walked out last month.
But 10,000 of them defied the order and held the line, highlighting their campaign to get paid for all their uncompensated work when the cabin doors are open.
Plus: the Labor Notes Troublemakers School is coming to Toronto in October, and will spotlight the rank-and-file militancy of our union siblings up North! Sign up here to join workers in Toronto on Saturday, Oct. 18!
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9:27
Under Trump's Anti-Worker Landscape, Employers are Testing the Limits of What They Can Get Away With
Workers at Mauser Packaging Solutions in Chicago, who handle dangerous chemicals with what they’ve said is insufficient safety equipment, have been on strike since June 9.
These workers, members of Teamsters Local 705, have been on an unfair labor practice strike after Mauser also illegally surveilled union members who were speaking with their business agent during a break, according to the union.
Labor Notes Organizer Luis Feliz Leon joins pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann.
Stories we talk about in this episode:
1. ‘Toxic’ Laundry, Melting Aprons: Mauser Strike Hits Two Months
2. Dispatch from the Employer Offensive: Mauser Teamsters Strike Back
3. “Want to Defend Immigrant Workers in Your Contract? Here Are Some Suggestions.”
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18:54
Labor Notes Beach Reads: How Starbucks Workers Took On a Behemoth and How To Find What Your Boss is Hiding From You
In their book, Get on the Job and Organize, former Starbucks worker and organizer Jaz Brisack tells the story of the seemingly improbable success of organizing baristas scattered in small stores across the country.
A good companion to Brisack’s account is What the Boss Doesn't Want Us to Know: Discovering Power and Winning Campaigns, by Tom Juravich, Olivia Geho, and Andrew Gorry, a book-length adaptation of research techniques outlined on the website strategiccorporateresearch.org.
If you want to learn who finances your employers, who its key decision makers are, where your employer makes most of its profit, you’d want to start here.
Labor Notes editor Jenny Brown joins pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann.
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21:04
Stewards' Corner: Acting Like A Union When Meeting With Management
Meeting with management is never fun. And worse, those meetings can become another place the bosses try to push workers around.
But we can take control back in the meetings by showing up united and acting like a union.
Labor Notes Organizer Joe DeManuelle Hall joins pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann as they discuss how we can make labor-management committees and other meetings with management work to our advantage.
For more in-depth advice, don't miss this guide by the late labor educator Charley Richardson.
The Labor Notes Podcast is a new show from the folks who put on the Labor Notes conference every two years.
We’ll talk each week about the strikes, contract campaigns, shop floor actions, reform caucus organizing, and union elections that our staff and rank-and-file workers in the labor movement’s troublemaking wing write about and work on all year round.
New episodes on Fridays.
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