Labor Notes https://labornotes.org/feed en https://labornotes.org/sites/default/files/logo.png How Letter Carriers Can Organize to Prevent Smoke Injury https://labornotes.org/blogs/2026/07/how-letter-carriers-can-organize-prevent-smoke-injury <p>Letter carriers and other people who work outdoors, especially in the upper Midwest and East, are experiencing hazardous levels of smoke from Canadian wildfires. Some areas have been experiencing AQI (Air Quality Index) measurements of over 300, even over 500, with local authorities advising residents to stay indoors.</p> <p>As temperatures continue to rise from climate change and vegetation dries out and catches fire from lightning, this situation will get worse.</p> Thu, 23 Jul 2026 23:05:32 +0000 Letter carriers and other people who work outdoors, especially in the upper Midwest and East, are experiencing hazardous levels of smoke from Canadian wildfires. Some areas have been experiencing AQI (Air Quality Index) measurements of over 300, even over 500, with local authorities advising residents to stay indoors.

As temperatures continue to rise from climate change and vegetation dries out and catches fire from lightning, this situation will get worse.

We are being given advice by Postal Service management and our union leadership to make individual decisions about whether we are safe delivering mail in these conditions. Wrong! We are berated with the slogan “Safety Depends on Me!” Wrong!

Management should be following local health advisories and keep carriers off the street in these conditions. But reports from carriers all over the Midwest let us know that management is instructing carriers to deliver the mail and use a mask if desired and available. Wrong!

Many carriers will follow management instructions despite concern for their own or co-workers’ safety because they fear management retaliation if they do not—especially people in the more vulnerable job categories of City Carrier Associates and Part-Time Flexible employees.

Or they assume that they will not be impacted by the smoke. (Hint: wildfire smoke inhalation can damage healthy individuals over time; see the last section of this article.)

Or they do not want to be considered weak when others are going ahead. Or they don’t want to bring back mail to have to face overburdened days to come.

THE ANSWER: COLLECTIVE ACTION

What is to be done? Collective action to protect all carriers, together, in the area. Here’s a step-by-step approach:

  1. Educate carriers on their right to refuse to work outdoors when there is serious smoke from wildfires, using stand-up meetings, flyers, bulletin boards, and breakroom meet-ups.

    The criterion for when mail delivery is unsafe is not only when there is a “risk of death or serious bodily injury.”

    We have the right to avoid any illness or injury caused by unsafe air quality, which can be predicted by Air Quality Index and is scientifically proven (see the last section of this article).

    Even the USPS directives, distributed as stand-ups in late July, state, “Those who are most at risk are… active people of all ages who exercise or work vigorously outdoors…”

  2. Demand (by circulating a petition or speaking up at a stand-up meeting) that management supply every carrier with an N95 or P100 mask. If necessary, use multiple 1767 Hazardous Condition and Article 14 Safety and Health grievances with evidence from local authorities or nearby AQI readings.

  3. Get all carriers in your station or your area on a WhatsApp chat.

  4. Assign carriers to monitor air quality index (AQI at AirNow.gov) and keep track of local authorities’ directives.

  5. Decide together (consulting AirNow.gov) how the group should respond to certain AQI levels, i.e. when to refuse to go out without N95 or P100 masks, when carriers with respiratory conditions should bring the mail back, when everyone should bring the mail back, etc.

  6. Talk through the consequences if everyone brings the mail back. Will management discipline all of us? Can we threaten to go public if they try? What if mail piles up and takes a while to get delivered?

  7. When alerted by the monitors, spread the word of AirNow.gov advice and indicate that “many carriers may want to” bring the mail back. Prepare carriers for these words that allow “plausible deniability,” i.e. you are not calling for a strike, only for carriers to be safe.

  8. When bringing the mail back, fill out form 1767 (hazardous conditions) describing the specific hazardous conditions (e.g. AQI and/or local authority directives).

    Also fill out form 1571 (undelivered mail) describing the mail curtailed. Inform management that you will not work outside but that you are available to work inside. Do not leave until your shift is over or until directed by management (fill out form 3971 for Administrative Leave).

HEALTH RISKS OVER TIME

Wildfire smoke inhalation can damage healthy individuals over time. The smoke contains a high concentration of fine particulate matter and toxic pollutants. These ultrafine particles penetrate deep into the lungs, enter the bloodstream, and trigger systemic inflammation and oxidative stress, which can lead to cumulative cardiovascular and respiratory risks, as detailed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

While healthy individuals may recover from short-term exposure, repeated or prolonged inhalation without protection can cause lasting consequences. Health risks over time include:

  • Respiratory decline: Cumulative exposure can lead to reduced lung function, small airway obstruction, and heightened vulnerability to asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
  • Cardiovascular stress: By causing inflammation and increasing blood pressure, particulate matter elevates the risk of long-term cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes.
  • Increased toxic load: Smoke often contains hazardous chemicals from burning buildings, vehicles, and synthetic materials. This significantly increases the toxicity and long-term cancer risks compared to standard urban air pollution.
  • Systemic damage: Emerging research from institutions like Stanford indicates that the toxins entering the bloodstream can also affect the nervous system and brain health.

To minimize risks, you should always check your AirNow report during smoky conditions and use properly fitted NIOSH-approved N95 or P100 masks when outdoors.

Jamie Partridge is a retired member of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 82 and former union officer.

]]> 8194 at https://labornotes.org Running for Local Union Office: Building a Campaign Team https://labornotes.org/2026/07/running-local-union-office-building-campaign-team <p>An excerpt from <a href="https://labornotes.org/store/running-local-union-office-0"><i>Running for Local Union Office: A Labor Notes Guide</i></a></p> <p>As your union election approaches, you’re going to have a lot of work to do. Texting and phone banking. Campaigning. Getting all the last-minute details right.</p> <p>Do you want to be doing all that work alone?</p> <p>You can’t run a campaign by yourself, any more than you can run a local by yourself. Strong unions involve rank-and-file members. So do strong campaigns.</p> Thu, 23 Jul 2026 16:49:21 +0000 Labor Notes An excerpt from Running for Local Union Office: A Labor Notes Guide

As your union election approaches, you’re going to have a lot of work to do. Texting and phone banking. Campaigning. Getting all the last-minute details right.

Do you want to be doing all that work alone?

You can’t run a campaign by yourself, any more than you can run a local by yourself. Strong unions involve rank-and-file members. So do strong campaigns.

When most people think about their campaign team, they think, “Who can I get to run on my slate?”

That’s obviously important. But you should go broader. The more members doing something, the better, even if most only do a little.

You have to get comfortable asking for help, says Teamsters Local 135 organizer Vance Smith. “That four-letter word can do wonders for your campaign. If you can’t ask for help, you’re not going to win.”

“If you’re trying to build a democratic, transparent, member-driven union, you cannot do that by yourself,” says Rami Bridge, former president of the Somerville Education Association in Massachusetts. “If you don’t have a group, find that group first. Find people that want to see a change and are willing to do something about it.”

BIG AND SMALL ROLES

If you’re running for office, you probably know what a big commitment the union can be: all the meetings, the early mornings, the late-night phone calls.

Most members aren’t willing to be as committed as you are. That’s OK. Many are still willing to do something.

Your job is to bring together the people who are willing to do a lot, and work with them to organize and mobilize the members who are willing to do a little.

YOUR CORE TEAM

Your core team is made up of the people who will:

  • Pass out campaign leaflets, shirts, and stickers
  • Collect email addresses and phone numbers
  • Endorse your slate and recruit other photo endorsements
  • Talk to members and organize them to build support for the campaign
  • Come to key campaign meetings and discuss strategy
  • Build campaign events
  • Text and phone bank to get out the vote

Ideally, your core team is bigger than the slate you’re running with. Without this inner circle, you’ll end up doing most of the campaign work yourself, and your campaign will suffer.

ACTIVE SUPPORTERS

Many members won’t come to a lot of meetings, but they will help out where they work. From the get-go, you want to recruit active supporters in key buildings and locations where you need votes.

Here are some of the things you can ask them to do:

  • Identify issues where they work
  • Confirm shift information and best times to campaign
  • Tell you who supports you in their shop
  • Pass out flyers
  • Wear campaign buttons and shirts
  • Identify leaders and influential people in their workplace
  • Stand with you and introduce you to members when you campaign at their job
  • Have their picture and a quote endorsing you in campaign literature
  • Help with translation, if they speak another language

“When people decided to support us, we gave them tasks: talk to your co-workers and tell them what’s going on,” said Dwayne Johnson of Teamsters Local 322 in Richmond, Virginia. “A lot more people were leafleting and talking to members than were on the slate. That shows that you’re creating a movement.”

When the ballots are out, your active supporters can help get out the vote.

“We knew that to win our first election, it was going to take 1,200 votes. That meant we had to have at least 1,200 face-to-face conversations,” said Paul Santos, president of Rhode Island Teamsters Local 251. “Do the math. There’s two ways you can do that. You can have six people have 200 conversations each, or 40 volunteers can have 30 conversations.”

WILL THEY VOTE FOR YOU?

As you campaign, you’ll meet lots of people who say they’re going to vote for you. But not all of them will.

Why? Some people are well-meaning but forget to vote. Others are voting for the other team, but don’t want to hurt your feelings.

A smile and a handshake is not enough. If you get a potential voter to support you publicly, you’re much more likely to get them to vote for you. Public support can be as simple as wearing a campaign button or shirt.

Alano De La Rosa, now the president of Teamsters Local 90 in Des Moines, Iowa, said his campaign was constantly outside the workplace gates to meet members. “When people see you three, four times at their shop, they really get to know you and respect you.

“You need that one-on-one contact to get phone numbers and commitments. If a person won’t give you their phone number, they’re probably not going to vote for you.”

TIPS TO INVOLVE MEMBERS

  • Hold regular meetings for your core group. Keep the meetings businesslike. Make room for discussion, but also make specific plans and assignments.
  • Don’t confuse meetings with activity. Meetings aren’t campaign activity. They are to plan campaign activity.
  • Make member-to-member contact the heart of your campaign. Talking one on one is the most powerful organizing tool. Petitions, social media, websites, and flyers are no substitute; they’re tools for getting people to talk.
  • Map your local. Identify the key shops and potential leaders there, then make a plan for getting them involved. If you don’t know potential leaders in key workplaces, make a plan to get to know more members there by leafleting, asking supporters for contacts, or looking around at union meetings.
  • Ask supporters to help you where they work. More people will do that than will come to your meetings.
  • Start small and specific. Requests with a definite beginning and end are less intimidating. “Can you meet me from 7:30 to 9 a.m. next Wednesday to pass out leaflets?” is much better than “We need people to help us reach out to other members.”
  • Ask people to do things they do well—especially at first. For some people this might be talking to their co-workers; for others, designing a logo or cooking for a fundraiser. As their confidence grows, so will their participation. Explain why you’re asking them. “You’re respected by the members in your building, that’s why I’m asking you to…”
  • Tell each person how their job fits in with the rest. “Our goal is to reach members in every building with this leaflet. We have members covering A, B, and C locations. Can you cover D sometime next week? I’ll check in with you next Friday to see how it went.”
  • Respect boundaries. Try to get people to take on more responsibility and get more involved—but also respect and appreciate what they’re willing to do. Not everyone will participate the same amount, or in the same way.
  • Remember to say thank you.
  • Don’t give up on people. If you think someone is a potential asset to your campaign, keep talking to them and asking them to get involved. But don’t badger or guilt-trip them. One “no” doesn’t mean “never.”

Your Slate Is Not Enough

Many union reformers’ default model is a hard-working slate that does everything. They rent a van and crisscross the local.

But if you want to win—and build a better union—you have to get a lot more members involved. Here’s why:

Incumbents can count on a ready-made network of stewards and other supporters who can turn out votes. You need to build your own network. You’ll have the best success in any worksite when respected people from that worksite are helping to campaign for you.

When you campaign, you will meet many people who want to help out. The traditional model does not put their support to good use.

Many locals are big, with numerous workplaces or units. Building support throughout the local will require more person-power than your slate alone can muster.

People who take active roles in the campaign will be primed to keep playing active roles in the union when you win.

Excerpted from Running for Local Union Office: A Labor Notes Guide available at the Labor Notes Store for $20.

]]> 8179 at https://labornotes.org En la organización sindical, el respeto es lo fundamental https://labornotes.org/respeto-fundamental <p>La solidaridad entre tus compañeras y compañeros de trabajo es tu fuente de poder contra el empleador. Un ingrediente esencial es el respeto. </p> <p>En el ámbito laboral, usualmente no vivimos el respeto, sino la coerción. Por mucho que el jefe nos llame «socios» o asegure que «somos una familia», la relación de empleo es fundamentalmente antidemocrática: el empleador decide y los trabajadores tienen que obedecer.</p> Thu, 23 Jul 2026 04:51:26 +0000 La solidaridad entre tus compañeras y compañeros de trabajo es tu fuente de poder contra el empleador. Un ingrediente esencial es el respeto.

En el ámbito laboral, usualmente no vivimos el respeto, sino la coerción. Por mucho que el jefe nos llame «socios» o asegure que «somos una familia», la relación de empleo es fundamentalmente antidemocrática: el empleador decide y los trabajadores tienen que obedecer.

La unión debe ser fundamentalmente diferente. Empezando por el elemento fundamental de la organización —la conversación individual—, tu objetivo es demostrar respeto hacia tus compañeras y compañeros de trabajo.

Los estás invitando a un proceso de construir un sindicato poderoso y democratico—donde sus valores, su experiencia, sus ideas y sus contribuciones importan. Los estás invitando a convertirse en organizadores.

LO QUE NOS UNE

Cuando hablas con tus colegas como organizador sindical, tu intención no es necesariamente formar una amistad, aunque eso puede ocurrir. Y no estás tratando solamente de construir relaciones con personas que compartan tus valores o opiniones políticas, aunque encontrarás a algunos y tal vez serán aliados.

Lo que estás tratando de hacer es formar lazos de solidaridad. Tal vez existan diferencias entre ustedes como la raza, el género, la edad o título de trabajo. Es fácil enfocarse en quien te cae bien y quien no, quien es buen trabajador o más flojo; quien es ambicioso, o demasiado competitivo.

Sin embargo, a pesar de todas estas opiniones, existe una realidad fundamental que, una vez reconocida, puede unir a los trabajadores: «Todos trabajamos para el mismo empleador, por lo que estamos vinculados entre nosotros. Si queremos cambiar algo aquí, nuestra mejor esperanza reside en trabajar juntos».

Desarrollar esta comprensión de nuestro interés común es la clave para superar las divisiones. La fuerza de los trabajadores reside en nuestro número y en nuestra unidad. Para construir poder, necesitaremos establecer relaciones con todo tipo de personas.

Sé honesto con la gente sobre por qué estás hablando con ellos, y porque tienes tanta curiosidad sobre sus experiencias y opiniones. Por ejemplo: ‹‹Siento que las cosas en el trabajo no van bien. Quiero resolver los problemas. Quiero que nuestro sindicato sea más fuerte.›› ¿Eso suena a que tienes segundas intenciones? Todo lo contrario. Estás compartiendo tus valores y demostrando tu honestidad.

Puedes demostrar respeto, aprender más sobre tus colegas, y desarrollar relaciones de solidaridad en cada momento, con todos, en tus interacciones más casuales y las más profundas.

DEMUESTRA CURIOSIDAD

Una de las cualidades más importantes que puedes cultivar como activista sindical es la curiosidad: de verdad querer saber algo sobre la persona con quien estás hablando.

Para eso, tendrás que escuchar más de lo que hablas. Muchos organizadores sugieren que debes hablar el 80% del tiempo y hablar el 20%. Sin embargo, la curiosidad va más allá.

De verdad escucha—no solo busques la oportunidad para hablar sobre el sindicato. Entrégate a hacer el tipo de preguntas que plantearías si estuvieras en una fiesta conociendo por primera vez a alguien que realmente te agrada. Todo lo que esa persona comenta son temas en los que tú también has estado pensando; sigues haciendo preguntas porque lo que dice te resulta fascinante.

No tienes que fingir. Las personas motivadas por hacer que su sindicato sea más democrático suelen interesarse por sus compañeras y compañeros de trabajo, incluso por aquellos que no son de su agrado. No todos te caerán bien, pero aun así puedes intentar encontrar algo que te vincule con ellos. Deja que ese interés genuino por cada uno de tus colegas surja de forma natural a partir de tu compromiso de construir un sindicato más fuerte.

PREGUNTAS Y RESPUESTAS

Empiece por hacer preguntas y sobre las cuales su colega pueda hablar con seguridad. Esto no significa necesariamente pedirles que enumeren sus problemas en el trabajo; de hecho, es posible que esa no sea una pregunta que puedan responder fácilmente. Muchas personas no dedican tiempo a pensar en los problemas porque creen que no se puede hacer nada para cambiar la situación; se sienten impotentes.

Así que, al principio de la relación, después de haber conocido un poco a la persona —dónde vive, cuál es su situación familiar, qué es importante para ella fuera del trabajo—, es bueno dejar que te hable de su trabajo. Podrías hacer preguntas como:

-¿Que haces aquí?
-¿Cuánto tiempo has trabajado aquí?
-¿Cómo terminaste trabajando aquí?
-¿Qué opinas de este lugar?
-¿Qué te gusta de este trabajo?
-¿Te ha tocado conocer a las personas con quien trabajas?
-¿Qué opinas del jefe?
-¿Qué te molesta de trabajar aquí?
-¿Piensas en buscar otro trabajo?
-¿Tus trabajos anteriores, han sido mejores o peores?
-¿Has tratado de hacer algo para mejorar las cosas?
-¿Cuál fue el resultado?
-¿A quién admiras en el trabajo?
-¿En quién confías?
-¿En quién no confías?

Nada de esto es charla trivial. Todo ello te ayudará a formar una idea de quién es esa persona en el contexto de este lugar de trabajo. Estás construyendo una imagen de lo que podría hacer falta para invitar a esta persona a participar en un proceso colectivo; ese es tu objetivo. ¡A menudo, lo mínimo que se requiere es que sientan que hay alguien en el sindicato que les ha mostrado respeto!

BUSCA VALORES SINDICALES

El respeto tiene que ver con la naturaleza de la interacción; no se trata de seguir un guión. Empieza con la convicción de que cada compañero de trabajo posee dignidad, es capaz de pensar y planificar, y puede colaborar con los demás para resolver sus problemas.

Sin esta convicción, tenderemos a esperar que otra persona —ya sea el jefe, Recursos Humanos o algún político carismático— resuelva nuestros problemas. Pero eso no funcionará, porque, en realidad, esas personas se ocupan de sus propios problemas, no de los nuestros.

Una forma de mostrar respeto a tus compañeras y compañeros de trabajo es simplemente interesarte por cómo se encuentran y, sobre todo, por lo que están haciendo. Puede parecer que un compañero es apático, que no se entera de nada o que se ha resignado a malas condiciones; pero, en realidad, casi todo el mundo habrá intentado hacer algo para protegerse, mejorar la situación o ayudar a los demás en el trabajo.

Busca ese ingrediente especial —que estará presente en casi todas las personas que conozcas— que demuestre que comparten algún valor sindical, como la compasión, la cooperación o el pensamiento independiente. Cuando percibas aunque sea una mínima señal de ello, ¡pregunta más al respecto!

Por ejemplo:

‹‹Me di cuenta que te viste irritado cuando el jefe describía el proceso nuevo. ¿En qué estabas pensando?››
‹‹Me ayudaste mucho cuando tuve ese problema. ¿Como lo pudiste resolver?››
‹‹Vi que le recordaste a nuestra compañera nueva que no tenía por qué trabajar horas extra, aunque el jefe la estaba presionando. ¿Qué tal salió?››
‹‹¿Cómo has podido evitar los grupos en el trabajo? Parece que te llevas bien con todos.››

Y mantén la honestidad. No busques agradar ni adular; simplemente sigue tu curiosidad y reacciona a lo que surja en la conversación.

Este tipo de conversación puede ser una forma excelente para entender los valores y motivaciones de tus colegas en el trabajo, así como las cosas que realmente les importan. Es ahí donde puedes encontrar puntos en común. Comienza con la idea que tus colegas tienen dignidad y merecen tener voz sobre sus propias vidas, y comenzarás a ver el camino para construir poder colectivo.

]]> 8193 at https://labornotes.org Como superar la apatía en tu lucha sindical https://labornotes.org/blogs/2026/07/superando-apatia <p>¿Alguna vez has sentido que eres la única persona a la que le importa el sindicato? ¿Que ninguno de tus compañeros mueve un dedo para ayudar? ¿Que el lugar de trabajo está estancado en la «apatía»?</p> <p>Es una queja habitual. En los talleres de Labor Notes, a menudo pedimos a los afiliados sindicales que elaboren una lista de las razones por las que la gente no se involucra en su sindicato. Entre las respuestas típicas se incluyen:</p> Thu, 23 Jul 2026 01:41:36 +0000 ¿Alguna vez has sentido que eres la única persona a la que le importa el sindicato? ¿Que ninguno de tus compañeros mueve un dedo para ayudar? ¿Que el lugar de trabajo está estancado en la «apatía»?

Es una queja habitual. En los talleres de Labor Notes, a menudo pedimos a los afiliados sindicales que elaboren una lista de las razones por las que la gente no se involucra en su sindicato. Entre las respuestas típicas se incluyen:

-Falta de tiempo
-Falta de conocimiento
-El sindicato no es abierto; no hay manera para participar
-Conflitos entre grupos o individuales
-Mis compañeros sienten que nada podrá cambiar
-Todos sienten apatía
-Están buscando soluciones individuales
-Temor

¿Te suena familiar?

Tal vez sientas que a tus compañeros no les importa nada. Pero si insistes un poco, verás que eso nunca es verdad.

A todo el mundo le importa algo en el trabajo. Prácticamente a todos les importa su salario, por ejemplo. Nadie es indiferente a si su turno resulta miserable o agradable. Es imposible que no les importe.

¿Será que para la mayoría de tus compañeros de trabajo todo va genial en el trabajo? Tal vez estén completamente seguros de sus trabajos, amen a sus supervisores, ganen excelente dinero con fantásticos beneficios, no se preocupen por reducciones de personal o despidos, no enfrenten riesgos de salud en el trabajo y tengan confianza en su jubilación. Si es así, ¡abandona la lucha sindical y busca otro pasatiempo!

Lo más probable es que la gente siente miedo, o se sienta impotente y sin rumbo.

Dicen que todo está bien porque no creen que las cosas puedan cambiar. La organización sindical es el antídoto.

Por eso, al analizar por qué más personas no han dado el paso de enfrentarse al jefe, es importante examinar detenidamente la situación y descubrir cuáles son las verdaderas razones. Hay que diagnosticar el problema antes de poder recetar el remedio. No es apatía, pero ¿qué es entonces?

¿CUÁL ES EL VERDADERO PROBLEMA?

Aquí hay algunas maneras de entender qué se parece a la apatía y cómo responder a ella.

“A nadie le importa nada.”
A todo el mundo le importa algo, pero ese "algo" puede no ser lo que tú esperas. Elige a algunas personas del trabajo a las que te gustaría conocer mejor. Procura hablar con ellas y averigua qué les importa.

Tal vez la política de pruebas de detección de drogas que tanto te molesta no encabece su lista de preocupaciones porque hay otra cosa que les inquieta más: un supervisor déspota, una carga de trabajo agobiante, un riesgo para la seguridad, un dolor de muelas sin cobertura dental, unos turnos que apenas les permiten ver a sus hijos, verse obligados a defender una política absurda ante los clientes... La única forma de averiguarlo es escuchando.

Muéstrales respeto y comprensión. Cuando perciben eso de tu parte, es más probable que respeten las cosas que a ti te importan.

”Nada cambiará.”

O tal vez a tus compañeros de trabajo les moleste tanto como a ti la política de pruebas de detección de drogas, pero el asunto parezca demasiado grande para abordarlo. El jefe ha logrado transmitir la idea de que la decisión es definitiva, y luchar contra lo inevitable parece una pérdida de tiempo frustrante.

Es totalmente comprensible que la gente se sienta así, sobre todo si en su lugar de trabajo siempre ha reinado una sensación de impotencia y desorganización. La gente está acostumbrada a seguir la corriente para evitar problemas. Si tus compañeros nunca han sentido la fuerza de la unión ni han visto cómo una acción colectiva lograba cambiar aunque fuera algo pequeño, ¿por qué iban a creer que pueden cambiar algo importante?

Como activista sindical, tu misión consiste en inspirar a tus compañeras y compañeros de trabajo con un plan creíble para lograr la victoria. Sin embargo, esto no significa que debas ser un gran orador. Los hechos valen más que las palabras; sobre todo, tendrás que demostrarles—más que decírselo— que el cambio es posible: es decir, probarlo mediante la acción.

Por lo general, esto implica comenzar con acciones pequeñas: objetivos alcanzables con el grupo actual, dando pequeños pasos fuera de la zona de confort (y avanzando un poco más cada vez). Cuando esto funciona, se suma más gente... y, a medida que participan, su confianza aumenta.

Eso suele significar empezar con pequeñas acciones y problemas al principio: cosas que puedes lograr con las personas con las que ya cuentas, dando solo un pequeño paso fuera de su zona de confort (cada vez más lejos). Cuando la fórmula funciona, se suma más gente... y, a medida que participan, su confianza aumenta.

La desesperanza puede convertirse en un hábito arraigado. Es más fácil romper un hábito con el apoyo de un grupo. Reunir a las personas puede ayudar a los individuos a superar su desánimo.

”Nadie está dispuesto a hacer nada.”

¿Les has pedido personalmente que hagan algo concreto? La mayoría de nosotros no somos organizadores natos. Muchos no tomarán la iniciativa por sí mismos, pero responderán si alguien de su confianza se lo pide directamente.

Piensa en algunas peticiones muy pequeñas y concretas, y acércate personalmente a una compañera o un compañero. Al principio, esto puede ser tan sencillo como pedirles que respondan a una encuesta, ir a almorzar con otros compañeros para hablar de un problema o firmar una carta conjunta.

Respeta las limitaciones de tiempo que tengan y muestra mucho agradecimiento por cualquier cosa que estén dispuestos a hacer. Esta actitud de respeto hará que se sientan cómodos colaborando más en el futuro.

”Nadie va a las reuniones sindicales.”

Piense en cómo se notifica a las personas sobre las reuniones. Un correo electrónico o un aviso en el tablón de anuncios no son métodos adecuados; las invitaciones personales y cara a cara son, sin duda, la mejor opción. Divida el trabajo en su lugar de trabajo y busque a otras personas que le ayuden a invitar a los demás individualmente.

Considere también los aspectos prácticos que podrían hacer que las reuniones sean más accesibles: el horario, la ubicación, el cuidado de los niños y el idioma.

Además, cuando la gente asista a las reuniones, es fundamental que estas sean agradables y productivas; de lo contrario, ¡es probable que no vuelvan! Hoy en día, las personas tienen agendas muy apretadas, y usted demostrará respeto por su participación si planifica la reunión con antelación. Prepare una agenda clara, establezca una duración prevista y ofrezca un motivo convincente para asistir, como abordar un tema de gran actualidad o importancia.

Y lo más importante: sea paciente y no se rinda. La organización es una maratón, no una carrera.

]]> 8192 at https://labornotes.org Rochester Nurses Stood with Their Nonunion Co-Workers—and Stopped Millions in Health Care Cuts https://labornotes.org/2026/07/rochester-nurses-stood-their-nonunion-co-workers%E2%80%94and-stopped-millions-health-care-cuts <p>What should union workers do when their nonunion co-workers come under attack?</p> <p>When our health care system in Rochester, New York, announced deep cuts to employee health benefits last November, “we started hearing from people right away,” said critical care nurse Carmen Camelio, president of the Rochester Union of Nurses &amp; Allied Professionals. “And not just members.</p> Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:58:58 +0000 Will McMahon What should union workers do when their nonunion co-workers come under attack?

When our health care system in Rochester, New York, announced deep cuts to employee health benefits last November, “we started hearing from people right away,” said critical care nurse Carmen Camelio, president of the Rochester Union of Nurses & Allied Professionals. “And not just members.

“We knew we had to do something, and we had to bring people in fast,” he said. In the span of days, union and nonunion workers came together to build a campaign that crossed job titles and worksites, forced the boss to backpedal, and inspired a wave of new organizing.

ALWAYS BEEN THE GOAL

Rochester Regional Health was a largely nonunion system until, in 2022, nurses at its flagship hospital formed RUNAP as an independent union (with help from the Northeast Nurses Association), facing down a $1.3 million anti-union campaign.

Following a strike in 2023, we won a first contract with significant raises and financial penalties for short-staffing, leading the hospital to swell from 838 staff nurses to over 1,100 today.

“The goal has always been to help everyone organize,” said Camelio, “whether with us, or with other unions we can work together with. We think the hospital should be run by health care workers, not corporate suits.”

In our first contract campaign, we engaged nonunion workers in a safety petition we circulated in the wake of an active shooter threat. Later, Camelio and another union officer were suspended under threat of termination for union activity. Union and nonunion workers alike wore buttons and stickers with the union leaders’ faces and circulated a strike petition, until they were returned with full pay.

When the nurses walked out during the contract campaign, multiple departments organized sympathy strikes. A group of surgical technologists who walked out alongside the operating room nurses then sparked an effort to organize hundreds of technical workers. That was ongoing when the insurance cuts hit.

SUDDEN INSURANCE CUTS

Hospital worker health insurance plans were already bad, with high costs and poor coverage. But in November, management announced that a low-premium plan was eliminated, and the underlying coverage, co-pays, and deductibles in the other plans would get worse. Employees were sorted into five income-based “bands,” with sharp cliffs of premium increases.

Administrators blamed recent federal spending cuts. Those issues are certainly real, but the explanation fell flat coming from a profitable system that was handing out million-dollar raises to executives and constantly engaging in real estate deals. Just a month prior, CEO Chip Davis had been sent to a weeklong “retreat” on Richard Branson’s private island.

The unionized nurses had won contractual caps on costs and rules about how and when plans could change, so they were exempt from the higher premium bands. The difference was substantial.

“There were radiology techs and respiratory therapists who would be paying hundreds more a month than RNs,” said Jady Surrounding, an interventional radiology technologist who got involved in the technical workers’ organizing drive.

However, the boss forced other changes that violated our contract. We filed a grievance, but the arbitration wasn’t scheduled until this June (and a decision has not yet been released). It was clear that arbitration couldn’t be our primary way of pushing back.

CHATS LIT UP

Within hours of the announcement of the cuts, union chats were lighting up, and nonunion workers started reaching out. Some had previously been in touch; others found our website or social media for the first time. We soon encountered groups of nonunion employees who had begun organizing their own resistance, with meetings, actions, or going to the press. The kettle was roiling.

We faced a choice: Focus on the cuts affecting union members and tell other people to join the union if they wanted help, or immediately organize the broadest response for the largest group. We chose the latter.

First we put out a link for an emergency Zoom meeting, online and via flyers in the hospital, to discuss the cuts and make a plan. With only a couple of days’ notice, over 450 people joined; some people crowded into breakrooms to join the meeting together.

Next, we distributed thousands of stickers across the system (“Health Care Workers Deserve Good Health Care” and “Chip: Don’t Cut Our Care”); nonunion workers and family members helped print and distribute them. We made a petition and collected 2,300 signatures; a delegation of union and nonunion workers marched on the boss to deliver it.

When a union rep was suspended for handing out stickers to nonunion workers, there was once more a unified response—this time, winning a return to work within 24 hours.



When a union rep was suspended for handing out stickers to nonunion workers, her co-workers created a petition, the threat of an informational picket, and a new sticker with her face on it, among other immediate actions, and won her return to work within 24 hours. Photo: RUNAP.

The boss had to scramble to keep up. Within days, the CEO announced a pause on enrollment. Later, they came back with reductions in premiums adding up to millions of dollars. However, the other changes remained. It was a partial victory—enough to show the power of collective action, but proving the need for stronger organization.

‘HOW DO WE FORM A UNION?’

Many workers saw that need from the start. Already on the mass Zoom call, while we worked through an agenda about the insurance and how to push back, the chat was exploding with people asking, “How do we form a union?”

The bosses had shown who they were. We were showing who we were. “I had people coming up to me saying thank you for the union fighting for them too,” said Stacey Judson, a unit rep in the emergency department. “We just wanted fairness for everyone. We’re all needed to run the hospital.”

Organizing committees formed in several potential bargaining units; existing efforts were energized. Some of the new committees stalled once the moment passed, but others kept growing. Beyond the insurance was concern about what might be next: pension or wage cuts, layoffs, rumors of a sale to another system. No one knew what was coming, but they knew they needed a voice.

“We had people in departments we had been trying to reach for a year, who had been on the fence or not interested, start coming around,” said Surrounding.

Campaigns started going public in the new year. The employer responded by bringing in anti-union consultants, dishing out illegal retaliation, and ditching its local law firm for the infamous and expensive Littler Mendelson. But administrators had lost all credibility.

In February, a group of eight midwives voted unanimously to organize. In April, 300 technical workers won their election with 73 percent of the vote. In June, 126 phlebotomists across 31 labs won with 86 percent yes. And in July, 45 physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners at 11 urgent care sites voted yes by 80 percent. RUNAP had grown to a union of nearly 1,600 workers across 47 facilities.

More workers may yet organize, with RUNAP or other unions. In the meantime, the nurse contract expires in April 2027, and all five bargaining units are preparing for a unified contract campaign that will again reach beyond formal union lines to engage all workers in the system.

Will McMahon is the lead organizer of the Rochester Union of Nurses & Allied Professionals.

]]> 8190 at https://labornotes.org Viewpoint: What Amazon Workers Can Learn from the Successes (and Failures) of the Fight for 15 https://labornotes.org/blogs/2026/07/viewpoint-what-amazon-workers-can-learn-successes-and-failures-fight-15 <p>If the labor movement is to maintain and raise standards, then we must organize Amazon—one of the largest employers and most powerful corporations in the U.S. today.</p> Wed, 15 Jul 2026 22:13:06 +0000 If the labor movement is to maintain and raise standards, then we must organize Amazon—one of the largest employers and most powerful corporations in the U.S. today.

Already thousands of Amazon workers have engaged in organizing campaigns in dozens of delivery stations, fulfillment centers, and air hubs. Although Amazon has responded by raising its starting wage to around $21, so far workers have won only one big unionization election, at a Staten Island warehouse, and as yet, no union contracts.

Some of these campaigns began as independent union drives; today they’re supported mainly by the Teamsters. But now that Amazon’s aggressive expansion into groceries, health care, entertainment, and Internet web services are threatening labor standards in those sectors, the UFCW, SEIU, and other unions are considering making a serious commitment of resources to support a broader Amazon campaign.

The prospect of a better-resourced and more comprehensive campaign is an exciting development. While the efforts so far have made some inroads, winning against Amazon will require unions to spend tens of millions of dollars and sustain a multi-year campaign.

We believe there is much to be learned from the successes and shortcomings of another ambitious union campaign: SEIU’s Fight for 15.

Amazon organizers can learn from the Fight for 15’s success at building pressure through a broad public campaign—and from its failure to really build an organization of, by, and for workers. At Amazon, we need to succeed at both.

WHAT WAS IT?

For a decade, SEIU waged a national campaign that raised wages for millions of low-wage workers, dramatically improved many states’ minimum wage laws, and led to innovative sectoral bargaining (with mixed results) in California and New York City.

SEIU locals in New York City began organizing fast food workers in 2012, and grabbed national attention with a one-day strike by 200 workers demanding “$15 [an hour] and a union.” This was more than double the federal and state minimum wage, $7.25.



CNN used a burger graphic to show the cities where fast food workers struck on August 29, 2013.

The bold demand and strike inspired a national Fight for 15, backed by SEIU and allied unions. It spread to 58 cities in 2013 and more than 500 cities by 2015, and gradually broadened its focus to include home care, airport, and retail workers.

Over the course of the campaign, thousands of low-waged workers, mostly women and mostly people of color, risked their livelihoods and went on strike. As at Amazon, these were usually non-majority strikes. Still, in April 2015 alone, organizers claimed, 60,000 workers took part in demonstrations across the U.S.

The objective wasn’t to organize store by store—there were 200,000 fast food outlets in the U.S., mostly owned by franchisees—but to raise the federal minimum wage to $15, improve working conditions, and build public and regulatory pressure on the major fast food employers that could eventually be leveraged to demand union recognition and collective bargaining.

WAS IT A SUCCESS?

The campaign won $70 billion in raises for 24 million workers across the country, plus other improvements like paid sick days. Seventeen states raised their minimum wages to at least $15.

SEIU pushed for joint-employer rules to force the big fast food companies, rather than just their franchisees, to bargain with workers and answer for violating their rights. And it won the utilization of a previously untapped regulatory body, the New York State Wage Board.

The movement helped link minimum wage demands with the civil rights issues of the Black Lives Matter movement, the call for immigration reform, and the insistence on equal pay for women, especially women of color. It trained a national spotlight on income inequality and inspired new worker-led organizing at Starbucks and Amazon.

Often overlooked is the campaign’s impact on union members. Hundreds of thousands of them were also making less than $15. SEIU’s campaign raised members’ expectations and put tremendous pressure on its local affiliates (and many other unions) to get their contracts above this floor. For instance, at SEIU Local 888 in Massachusetts, where one of the authors was on staff, several thousand members were below $15, and the Fight for 15 inspired many of them to demand more.

However, critics (including us) have pointed out that the campaign did not result in new members or a self-sustaining organization of fast food workers. While the slogan was “$15 and a union,” the union part often seemed secondary. The campaign focused almost entirely on directly pressuring employers and winning better legislation.

Our late friend Jane McAlevey argued that the campaign was too focused on mobilizing and advocacy, rather than deep organizing. It relied on finding a few worker representatives in each area to speak to the media and in front of legislators, instead of trying to organize majorities.

LESSONS FOR AMAZON

Amazon is a different type of target, more susceptible to disruptive worker action than the fast food industry. We have argued for a metro strategy, where unions work together in big cities like New York and Los Angeles, where there are sympathetic elected officials and huge markets to disrupt.

Amazon organizing is also starting in a different place than fast food organizing. There are dozens of serious, well-rooted organizing committees in its facilities across the country, and many have already taken collective action.

Nevertheless, the Fight for 15 gave a glimpse of what is possible when a union devotes significant resources and staff to a broad campaign.

For instance, labor needs to up its capacity to research Amazon’s chokepoints and vulnerabilities. It needs a coordinating hub that uses collaborative methods to distribute relevant data and reports to networks of university research and labor centers. It also needs a comprehensive digital capacity that spotlights worker actions and inspires broad support with sophisticated advertising and social media.

SEIU spent between $70 million and $180 million on the Fight for 15. The only other recent organizing campaign that came close to this scale was UFCW’s Our Walmart, which became a public relations irritant to the company, but never posed a strategic challenge to Walmart’s power or business model.



The size and scope of the Fight for 15 was impressive. It had:

  • A strong field team, with 50 national organizers working in 30 states, supplemented by staff from the locals, with regular national and regional meetings
  • Heavy engagement from leaders of SEIU local unions and state councils
  • Significant staff research capacity
  • A sophisticated approach to communications, using Twitter and a rapid-response website, and swamping reporters with strike news
  • A multi-year budget commitment
  • Deliberate engagement with community groups and elected officials as key allies

SEIU invited community coalitions to play meaningful roles—and in an unusual move for a national union, it did not brand the campaign with its signature purple. To fight Amazon, we will need a broad coalition of unions and other progressive forces at the national level, with metro labor tables to coordinate the campaign.

NEAR-TERM GOALS

The ultimate goal of collective bargaining remains far off for workers at Amazon Logistics, Whole Foods, and Amazon Web Services. The only collective bargaining that Amazon does in the U.S. is with the unions in Hollywood because of its purchase of MGM, an already unionized firm.

Labor needs to keep organizing at Amazon, figuring out how to disrupt its operations, and working toward winning unionization elections. A lesson we can draw from the Fight for 15 is the value of finding more ways to pressure the company at the same time—like local ordinances, state regulation, legislation, and boycotts.

It’s a fatal (and common) mistake to substitute these tactics for worker organizing. But it’s also a mistake to dismiss them as distractions. We need to hit this company from every angle.

An ordinance already under consideration in New York City would require Amazon to abandon the outsourced “Delivery Service Providers” model within the city and employ drivers directly. States could pass regulations targeting Amazon’s poor treatment of pregnant workers, or penalize it for its high level of reported injuries and workers comp.

Boycotts could target Amazon’s most vulnerable consumer sector: Whole Foods. Jobs with Justice could host Workers’ Rights Board hearings that “subpoena” CEO Andy Jassy and other executives to testify regarding Amazon’s corporate misconduct.

Within their own ranks, unions impacted by Amazon’s assault on labor standards must commit significant resources to educating members on the strategic importance of taking on Amazon.

And much like the Fight for 15 encouraged underpaid union members to demand $15, Amazon organizing can spotlight issues that union members may also be dealing with, like tech-driven speedup, and build momentum to raise standards in union workplaces that are actually behind Amazon in some way.

ON THE INSIDE

The Fight for 15 showed the impact of a broad, well-coordinated public campaign on the fast food companies. A similar effort is needed at Amazon—but it must be accompanied by building powerful workplace committees and identifying strategic pressure points.

During the recent national strike by Starbucks Workers United, union supporters blockaded a Starbucks warehouse in York, Pennsylvania. (Hopefully, their campaign will undertake organizing those strategic warehouse workers.) Similar experimentation is needed in the Amazon production system to determine where its greatest vulnerabilities are, and where organizing is advanced enough to effectively stop the flow of goods.

We will need an “outside in” strategy that engages the ethnic and religious connections of this diverse workforce. The best example so far is the Somali-based Awood Center in Shakopee, Minnesota, where community leaders have helped to legitimize the internal organization of Amazon workers.

Labor could establish Amazon Aid Centers in the metro areas where Amazon operates multiple facilities, as a point of entry for aggrieved Amazon workers and ethnic-based community organizations that want to assist the effort. The Missouri Workers Center is already trying something like this.

Supporting “salts” (workers who take a job with the intention of organizing) and pro-union cadre is another essential component of building workplace committees and carrying out shop floor actions. UNITE HERE and other unions have developed models for recruiting, training, and sustaining salts that should be replicated. A national salting program could include robust college campus recruitment, establishing affordable housing for salts, plus other indirect subsidies.

Worker protections under the Trump National Labor Relations Board are minimal. The situation may necessitate trying new tactics that use the law of the jungle to workers’ advantage—not illegal tactics, but venturing beyond the tactics that are legally protected, since those protections have become so minimal anyway. Could Amazon union supporters find ways around the legal restrictions on secondary picketing and sympathy strikes?

The present reality of our relative labor weakness and social media strength makes what some organizers call an “air war” compelling. It’s always the path of least resistance to quickly scale up a campaign. But if it’s not accompanied by significant resources for genuine worker organizing and leadership development, all the money in the world won’t produce enduring worker power.

Peter Olney is retired organizing director of the Longshore Workers (ILWU) and a co-editor of the book Labor Power and Strategy. Rand Wilson has worked as a union organizer and labor communicator for more than 40 years, and is currently an organizer for CHIPS Communities United.

]]> 8188 at https://labornotes.org ‘Give Me a Chance to Survive’: Workers, Employers Dread Deportations’ Effect on Health Care https://labornotes.org/blogs/2026/07/give-me-chance-survive-workers-employers-dread-deportations-effect-health-care <p>“They killed my cousin,” said the Brooklyn man, a Haitian immigrant in his forties, explaining why he came to the United States four years ago. He asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.</p> <p>The situation in Haiti—a catastrophic earthquake in 2010, followed by the collapse of the government and the domination of much of the country by murderous gangs—enabled him to get Temporary Protected Status here. That meant he could stay and work legally, as a housekeeper in a nursing home, and support his family—his wife, who is pregnant, and their two children.</p> Wed, 15 Jul 2026 18:42:24 +0000 “They killed my cousin,” said the Brooklyn man, a Haitian immigrant in his forties, explaining why he came to the United States four years ago. He asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.

The situation in Haiti—a catastrophic earthquake in 2010, followed by the collapse of the government and the domination of much of the country by murderous gangs—enabled him to get Temporary Protected Status here. That meant he could stay and work legally, as a housekeeper in a nursing home, and support his family—his wife, who is pregnant, and their two children.

The Supreme Court’s June 25 decision overturning lower-court rulings that the Department of Homeland Security had improperly revoked TPS for Haiti has put all that in danger.

“I have to pay rent. I have to buy food. Losing your job means you’re nothing in this country,” he told Work-Bites. “And if you go back home, you’re going to get killed.”

The Brooklyn nursing-home worker is one of some 50,000 health care workers in the U.S. who have TPS, 1199SEIU Executive Vice President Andy Cassagnol told a press conference at the union’s Manhattan headquarters July 10. The mass revocation of their protected status, the health care union says, “could cause chaos in an industry already plagued with worker shortages.”

“Without immigrants, you will not have nurses,” said Nancy Hagans, president of the New York State Nurses Association, who is also a Haitian immigrant. “You will not have licensed practical nurses. You will not have certified nursing assistants. You will not have homecare workers.”

She called the Trump administration’s war on immigrants “a racially motivated attack” with “no thought given to the lives they built here and the contributions they make.”

Employers expressed similar sentiments. “We are talking about the person who has bathed the same 88-year-old woman for six years,” said former Long Island state senator Kevin Thomas, now head of the New York State Association of Health Care Providers, a trade group for homecare agencies. He called revoking TPS “as cruel as it is reckless.” And the price, he added, will be paid by the “grandma in the Bronx who now has no one to help her get out of bed.”

Jessica Pizzutello, CEO of The ARC Rockland, which provides services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Rockland County, said the agency has already lost “20 talented, trusted employees” this year because of the immigration crackdown, and she expects to lose another 19 if the revocation of TPS for Haitians goes into effect. Federal leaders, she continued, should “recognize the unintended consequences.”

Sabine French said that her 91-year-old mother is “terrified” that the aide who takes care of her, a Haitian immigrant in her sixties, will be forced to leave. She said having the aide as “another set of legs and eyes” has enabled her mother to continue living in her Cambria Heights home.

Congress must act, she added.

“I get up early in the morning. I take two buses to get to work. I make sure the residents have fresh linen. Everything to be clean. I give my heart,” the nursing home housekeeper told the reporters and supporters. “I want to stay in New York where I can be safe. I cannot go to Haiti. It is not safe.”

In announcing her plans to revoke TPS for Haitians last November, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the country was safe for immigrants to return to, even though the State Department warns that it is too dangerous for Americans to visit. Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the decision, said that was not a problem: If the Secretary of Homeland Security decided to revoke TPS for a country after flipping a coin, he argued, that would be legal, and the courts would have no jurisdiction to interfere.

Justice Alito also insisted that the government’s revocation of TPS was not racially motivated—that Donald Trump’s statements that Haitians were eating people’s cats and “poisoning the blood” of the country were “racially neutral.”

“Pray for the person who has TPS,” the nursing home housekeeper told Work-Bites. “We help this country. We pay taxes. Give me a chance to survive.”

Steven Wishnia is a longtime labor reporter for publications including LaborPress, the Village Voice, Work-Bites, Hell Gate NYC, Salon, and the Indypendent. This story is reprinted from Work-Bites.

]]> 8186 at https://labornotes.org World Cup Leverage: California Stadium Workers Win the Right to Strike Over ICE https://labornotes.org/2026/07/world-cup-leverage-california-stadium-workers-win-right-strike-over-ice <p>In a World Cup-fueled union win, concessions workers at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles have won the right to walk off the job, should ICE pose a threat to their safety.</p> <p>The stadium’s 2,000 cooks, bartenders, dishwashers, servers, and attendants had a major piece of leverage this summer: eight scheduled World Cup matches. Their victory came days after a 96 percent vote to authorize a strike.</p> <p>Their next contract will expire at the end of April 2028, weeks before the Los Angeles Summer Olympics.</p> Tue, 14 Jul 2026 18:56:49 +0000 Paul Prescod, Natascha Elena Uhlmann In a World Cup-fueled union win, concessions workers at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles have won the right to walk off the job, should ICE pose a threat to their safety.

The stadium’s 2,000 cooks, bartenders, dishwashers, servers, and attendants had a major piece of leverage this summer: eight scheduled World Cup matches. Their victory came days after a 96 percent vote to authorize a strike.

Their next contract will expire at the end of April 2028, weeks before the Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

“Workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 11 have created an important tool to keep themselves and their communities safe,” said Cassandra Gomez, a senior staff attorney at the National Employment Law Project.

She called the win “particularly significant” because in Los Angeles, with the Supreme Court’s recent approval, ICE has been sending out “roving patrols” who operate by racial profiling instead of setting out to track down particular people.

Two fatal shootings by ICE agents over the past week have stoked terror and outrage across the country. In Houston, agents shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican father of three, on his way to work at a construction site July 7. And in Maine, agents fatally shot Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old from Colombia, on July 13 in front of his wife and his three-year-old daughter. “She was still in her Bluey pajamas,” a neighbor said.

Members at the L.A. stadium also won significant wage increases: bartenders and servers will see a 30 percent increase in automatic tips, and non-tipped workers will return to work with a $9-per-hour raise.

A GAME CHANGER

Meanwhile in downtown Philadelphia, another World Cup host city, 200 workers at the Sheraton and Warwick hotels won contracts in June that will raise wages to $30 an hour by 2028.

UNITE HERE Local 274 also won pension increases, and a decrease in daily quotas for room attendants.

At the Sheraton, workers went on strike for nine days; at the Warwick, they got as far as voting to authorize a strike. Adding pressure on the hotels to settle were two more big tourist events: the country’s 250th anniversary celebration and the Major League Baseball all-star game.

The Sheraton strike drew support from other unions and elected officials. IATSE members refused to cross the picket line to set up for events inside. AFSCME District Council 33, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and the Association of the Flight Attendants brought food to rallies.

Local 274 campaigned for new standard-raising contracts at eight downtown hotels this year; seven of these have now settled contracts, which are aligned to expire in 2028.

“$30 an hour will be a game-changer for me,” said Shafeek Anderson, who has worked seven years at the Sheraton. “It would mean I could actually start saving for the future.”

6 A.M. WALKOUT

In Seattle, hotel workers at the Hilton Embassy Suites have been on strike since June 18.

“Some people left their job in the middle of their shift at 6 in the morning and joined us,” said Hayden Eyerly, a front desk agent. “It was electric, and it’s been electric ever since.”

They’re demanding higher wages, improvements to their health plan, and the right to call out without discipline if immigration agents are in the building.

Allowing workers to stay home if ICE were on the premises would “just show a little bit of humanity, if Hilton was to do that,” Eyerly said. “We’re just trying to preemptively prepare for anything that could happen here in Seattle like we’ve seen in other parts of the country.”

During the strike, Seattle has hosted five World Cup games at Lumen Field stadium, which sits just across from the hotel. “We’ve had fans get on the picket line and start doing chants,” Eyerly said. “We’ve had some bring drums.”

Teamsters who pick up garbage at the hotel have refused to cross the picket line. Mayor Katie Wilson relocated an event that had been previously scheduled at the hotel.

The World Cup games at the Seattle stadium have now concluded, but members are holding the line. “Every day it’s frustrating, but it only makes us more resolved to see this through,” Jus Adsuara, a public areas attendant at the hotel, told KING 5 News.

“The people out here fighting alongside me continue to inspire me daily,” Eyerly said. “Even when I’m having a hard time chanting because my vocal chords are shredded, I’m finding the energy to continue because of them.”

CREATURES OF THE SEA ON STRIKE

A few miles away, workers also struck at the James Beard award-nominated oyster restaurant The Walrus and the Carpenter.

Their independent union, United Creatures of the Sea, formed last year after the restaurant switched from tips to a service charge—a big pay cut. “I think I stayed up all night reading up about the format for authorization cards,” said former server Ford Nickel, now the union’s secretary treasurer.

After months of negotiations, workers voted unanimously to walk out on an unfair labor practice strike. “No one had participated in a strike before, and no one really had an idea of what this is supposed to look like,” Nickel said. “I was like, ‘I don’t know if people are gonna do chants, maybe they’re gonna think it’s hokey.’ Nope! Everyone was on board.”

A spirit of solidarity buoyed the strikers. They visited the hotel picket lines; the hotel strikers visited theirs. Other restaurant workers brought food and water.

Nickel estimated that 80 percent of would-be customers chose not to patronize the restaurant after seeing the picket. “There were people that we’ve seen for the past four to six years,” he said. “They were like, ‘Oh, you did it! Ok, we’ll see you when you open again, when you have a contract.”

After eight days on strike, the United Creatures of the Sea returned to work with a reduced service fee of 6 percent, and a return to the tipping model.

]]> 8185 at https://labornotes.org Power Workers Independence Day Strike Wins Pensions in Pennsylvania https://labornotes.org/blogs/2026/07/power-workers-independence-day-strike-wins-pensions-pennsylvania <p>Workers at PECO, the electric company for the Philadelphia region and Pennsylvania’s largest electric and natural gas utility, went on strike just after midnight on Saturday, July 4, winning a tentative agreement for the 1,500 workers just before midnight on Monday, July 6. </p> <p>They restored defined-benefit pensions for the 600 newer hires who had been relegated to 401(k)s, and won full medical coverage in retirement.</p> Thu, 09 Jul 2026 19:16:42 +0000 Workers at PECO, the electric company for the Philadelphia region and Pennsylvania’s largest electric and natural gas utility, went on strike just after midnight on Saturday, July 4, winning a tentative agreement for the 1,500 workers just before midnight on Monday, July 6.

They restored defined-benefit pensions for the 600 newer hires who had been relegated to 401(k)s, and won full medical coverage in retirement.

They had leverage: Philadelphia celebrates the July Fourth holiday massively, with a giant concert in Center City, and this year was even bigger with the country celebrating its 250th birthday and the city hosting some World Cup games.

The strike also occurred during a heat wave, when temperatures climbed to 100 degrees. Then violent storms knocked out power. More than 57,000 customers were without power on the night of July 4, the company said.

Other Electrical Workers (IBEW) locals (and one United Association local) at utilities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Georgia refused to cross the picket line to do repairs, the union said.

Bargaining began in January, but the contract expired on March 31, and this was the first time Local 614 members had worked without a contract. While going on strike is never easy, “I think for the most part the members were ready,” Vassallo said. “They were fed up.” The strike was the first since the union was established in 2004.

The ratification vote will be in the next two weeks.

SOARING PRICES AND PROFITS

PECO, formerly the Philadelphia Electric Company, was bought by Exelon in 2000. Workers started organizing after the purchase, losing their first union election in 2003 by 43 votes, but winning the same unit in 2004.

Joe Vassallo, a power line worker by trade and a part-time business agent for the union, started at the company 20 years ago and voted on the union’s first collective bargaining agreement.

“We went union because the big corporation came in and things changed drastically, and they voted the union in relatively quickly,” he said. “The older guys know the difference from before it was Exelon, and now everyone is seeing what happens when we have these major corporations and have to literally fight for everything.”

PECO delivers electricity to more than 1.5 million people, and natural gas to half a million. In 2025, after raising rates, PECO’s profits rose almost 50 percent in one year, to $814 million. Electricity users were forced to pay 10 percent more, and gas users faced a steeper increase of 12.5 percent.

Members of Local 614 who live in the Philadelphia metro region had to deal with the same rate hikes as other customers, while seeing no increase in their paychecks.

“The rate hike affects my family,” said Vassallo. He said the last negotiation was during Covid, and because of the uncertainty, “we got a little bit behind with regards to inflation,” in the contract. “You feel the pressure of having to pay your electric bill—we have to work a lot of hours overtime to make ends meet.”

PECO has asked state regulators for another rate hike in 2027 to cover grid upgrades driven by growing demand, including from data centers, and to make infrastructure improvements to prepare for more extreme weather.

PENSIONS FOR ALL

The new tentative agreement is a five-year contract that includes significant wage increases for members: 4 percent annually for the first four years and 4.5 percent in the fifth year for workers out in the field, and 3 percent annual raises for call center workers. The union had sought equal raises across the board.

They also won upgrade pay for members who complete tasks outside of their job description, a requirement that call center workers get 24-hour notice of mandatory overtime, and full medical coverage during retirement.

But the big sticking point in negotiations—and the impetus for the strike—was retirement benefits. Workers hired before 2021 had been grandfathered into pension benefits, albeit different plans, but the roughly 600 workers hired after 2021 only had access to 401(k)s. In the new agreement, all members are covered by a defined-benefit pension, including those hired in the future.

STRIKERS SERENADED

It helped that the rest of the labor movement showed up for them. “The amount of support was absolutely insane… from all the different unions in the area, and from customers and residents,” Vassallo said. Even the Musicians' Union, Local 77, showed up on the picket line, serenading the strikers from under a tent in the rain.

“As PECO consumers, every working person in Philadelphia bears the burden of skyrocketing energy prices while PECO/Exelon’s profits continue to grow,” said Jana Korn, chief of staff at the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO. “We are clear that all of our fights are interconnected.”

“Labor sticks with labor,” Teamsters Local 107 business agent Shawn Dougherty told public radio station WHYY.

The union also alleged that three strikers were physically assaulted on the picket line—one pushed down by a security guard, one struck by a PECO truck, and one struck by a third-party vehicle.

Nonetheless, Vassallo told Labor Notes that the successful strike will make the union more confident in negotiations for future contracts. And besides the massive contractual gains, they also helped build a stronger Philadelphia labor movement.

“We want to continue to forge those relationships with other unions, and we want our people to get out to their fights,” Vassallo said. “We’re planning on pushing that moving forward. We used to feel like we were on an island. We don't feel that way anymore.”

Mindy Isser works in the labor movement and lives in Philadelphia.

]]> 8181 at https://labornotes.org Artists: Apply for an Anne Feeney Hellraiser Grant https://labornotes.org/blogs/2026/07/artists-apply-anne-feeney-hellraiser-grant <p>Applications are open once again for the Anne Feeney Hellraiser Memorial Fund, this year offering five grants of up to $1,000 for emerging artists of any discipline who create art in support of social movements for justice.</p> <p><a href="https://actionnetwork.org/forms/apply-for-a-2026-grant-from-the-anne-feeney-hellraiser-fund">Applications open today</a> and are due by August 24. Winners will be announced on Labor Day, September 7. Past applicants are encouraged to reapply.</p> Mon, 06 Jul 2026 21:48:05 +0000 Alexandra Bradbury Applications are open once again for the Anne Feeney Hellraiser Memorial Fund, this year offering five grants of up to $1,000 for emerging artists of any discipline who create art in support of social movements for justice.

Applications open today and are due by August 24. Winners will be announced on Labor Day, September 7. Past applicants are encouraged to reapply.

Friends and family of the legendary folk musician and “hellraiser” Anne Feeney, who wrote "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?" and sang on countless picket lines, came together to create the fund as a way of carrying on her life’s work.

The fund is offering five grants this year, up from three last year, because “fascism is rising in the United States, and movements for justice and liberation are in the fight of our lives,” the organizers say. “The need for music and art that bolsters activism and organizing has never been more urgent.”

The grants can support recording projects, tours, and the creation of original music, theater, murals, and other art that “comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable,” they say. “Winners will also receive the right to put ‘hellraiser’ on their business card, just as Anne Feeney did throughout her career.”

Last year, 70 people applied. The winners were Crys Matthews, to produce vinyl copies of her 2025 release “Reclamation”; Taina Asili, to support the Fever Pitch Pilgrimage, a 150-mile walk from Albany to New York City bringing climate justice performance to communities along the way; and Carter Hogan, to finish “GODSEYE,” an album weaving together 14th-century peasant uprisings, 20th-century labor movements, and today’s fight against fascism.

Other past grant recipients include Neffy, who subsequently won NPR’s Tiny Desk contest, and labor rapper Mickey O’Brien.

The fund honors Feeney's lifelong commitment to mentoring and supporting fellow artists. She was known for lifting up working-class, queer and trans, and BIPOC voices.

“I was a 19-year-old punk kid with no following when Anne took me under her wing, took me on tour with her, and jump-started what has now become a lifelong career for me as both a musician and activist,” said Anne's longtime friend and touring partner, Evan Greer. “She taught me everything I know not just about touring and making a living as a working musician, but about the true meaning of solidarity.”

The fund is managed by Greer, Anne's daughter Amy Sue Berlin, and the Labor Heritage Foundation. They’re also seeking donations to support the fund and make sure it has the resources to meet the moment.

When Greer recently opened for Billy Bragg she played "Hellraiser," a song she wrote for Feeney.

"I know if Anne were here today, she wouldn't just be singing her own songs,” Greer said. “She'd be building an army of young passionate artists honing their craft and using their work to support movements for justice and liberation. That's the spirit we hope to carry forward with these small grants in Anne's honor."

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