A New Phase of Union Organising in the US
In the article “ Workers are the Engines of the Economy ” Class Struggle , Dec-2021 , we have discussed “ Unionisation efforts in Companies like Amazon and Starbucks ”. How “ Amazon used intimation , police , law and even courts . Starbuck even sent senior executives like COO .... to vilify and hamper Unionisation efforts ”. Just 6 months before , it is almost impossible for the working class to secure a vote on whether to have union in their campus or not . We wrote “ Amazon has been succeeding in preventing unionisation efforts , though workers ‘ failed ’, they are moving forward ”.
Yes they moved forward , a decisive step forward .
The failure at Besemer warehouse , Alabama , didn ’ t deter them . Employees at Amazon ’ s massive warehouse JFK8 at Staten Island , New York , operating without support from national labor organizations , took on one of the most powerful companies in the world . They formed an independent worker-led union the Amazon Labor Union ( ALU ), and won the unionization drive at the Amazon ’ s JFK8 warehouse on 1 st April . ALU leaders include both former employees like Christian Smalls , who was fired from the JFK8 warehouse in 2020 after organizing a walkout against poor covid safety measures , and a small crew of worker leaders inside the warehouse .
Amazon spent $ 4.3 million ( Rs . 30 crores ) on union-busting efforts at its warehouses .
Amazon ’ s union busters constantly walked around the warehouse intimidating and instilling fear . They organised compulsory anti-union worker ‘ education ’ sessions and lied that Union organisers are outsiders . But Union organisers attended these uninvited sessions and boldly contradicted them . Even though Union organizers were kicked out of the sessions , workers came to know that the union organisers are their co-
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workers and not third party outsiders as lied by the union busters . They felt that though union organisers are young they are very serious to the cause and are bold enough to fight the Goliath . Also they understood that there are certain rights and certain laws that protect them — and that they shouldn ’ t be scared of Amazon .
American law prevents discussions during the working hours but allows workers to stay in the warehouse after their working hours . So the unionisers utilized lunch breaks and tea breaks to talk to as many workers as possible . They stayed after their shift hours to talk to other shift workers . In fact they were in the building 7 days a week and 24 hours a day , even on off days . Those who are at home approached the workers through mobiles in the off time . They distributed Union T-shirts and more and more workers took them after seeing others in the Tee ’ s . This type of grassroots organising has disappeared from the US landscape long before . All that the American labor movement preserved is a model that prioritized the skilled white male workers above all others and a Union organising similar to NGOs , i . e , professionals operating from outside , with tie-ups to the Democratic party .
Starbucks Workers United – an organization affiliated with Service Employees International Union – won unionization vote in 26 of its outlets and is now spreading to over 170 stores nationwide . Starbucks has 9000 shops .
With the successes at Amazon and Starbuck two of the Apple retail stores , one in Atlanta and one in New York filed petitions to Unionize .
The win on Staten Island comes at a perilous moment when union membership among private sector employees is just 7 % in US . Even though unionisation in US is low such a low figure is also due to major shift of the economy from manufacturing to service-sectors like those at Starbucks and Amazon . At a time when it is loudly propagated that organising in the service sector is almost impossible , these wins appear as a new phase in Union Organising . �
The Comprador Ruling Classes Mortgaging our Country to Imperialists
( From Assembly Speech by T . N in 1969 , March Budget Session )
“ What is our economic situation ? To tell the truth , the economy of our state is not in the hands of the government , it had slipped away . Perhaps it is fondly hoped that it is in the hands of the Central government . But then the economic plight of the Centre itself needs to be considered . It is surprising , but it is characteristic of the entire country today . If in any country , the government runs into deficit , there are only two ways of tiding over the deficit . One way is to cover up the budgetary deficit with loans raised within the country . Once in a while , under special circumstances , we can attempt to cover up the deficit with foreign loans . But what is the policy adopted by our government ? Since the last five or six years , the Central government had been relying more on foreign loans than on domestic loans to cover the deficit . Is this government called a national government ? Or shall we call it a foreign government ? This is my genuine doubt .”
Class Struggle