Thousands of labor and environmental activists gathered in downtown St. Louis today to protest corporate greed at Peabody Energy’s annual shareholders meeting, in solidarity with the United Mine Workers union. For more check out the Twitter hashtag #UMWA. (Photos from @CathySherwin and @aliemalie)
This makes me so proud of our Union Brothers and Sisters in St. Louis!
When you hear people talk about, “Union thugs,” these are them, RIGHT THERE with those bright yellow vests on! Union thugs, beware of them and their thuggery.
(via quickhits)
“Union” isn’t a dirty word. ”Unions” build this country’s middle class.
(Source: bencrowther, via mommapolitico)
Labor is not as unfriendly to immigration as it once was, and it’s seeing how improving immigration can help the movement, rather than hinder it.
In fact, a case is being made for helping permanent residents get on the path to citizenship with the help of their local, and if local unions in Texas want to turn this state blue and do the unthinkable (make this state worker friendly as well as push towards collective bargaining (I dream big, okay?)) then, they are going to have to embrace a group of workers that they have all but recently shunned.
This, by the way, is already what is beginning to happen.
Texas will go Blue. It’s no longer a big dream.
And a key immigrant aspiration is a pathway to citizenship. “The unions have switched gears completely and are now advocating for immigration reform,” Gould said. And so far, it’s worked.
“Latino workers have proved receptive to organized labor’s message, and demographic changes may also help build unions in other states, such as Nevada and even Texas,” John Logan, director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University, told HuffPost.
”Unions Gain Latino Members, Could Be Unions’Saving Grace
OSHA says that workers were locked inside Target stores overnight—and Target doesn’t deny it.
This is incredibly troubling. SEIU?
Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club:
My mom easily spends over five hundred dollars at Sam’s when she goes, at least once a month. At the Holidays, consider that double, even triple fold. Don’t even ask me for the Wal-Mart figures. She’s simply a customer you can’t honestly risk losing - at least not her kind, and she can be a bit vindictive, too - telling everyone she knows or runs across why she refuses to go somewhere.
My mom is also extremely loyal to unions, for the most part. The one store we have had the hardest time getting her to back away from in the past few years has been Wal-Mart. Sam’s Club is a very, very close second. Though, she has vowed that if Wal-Mart has a day of action, and she can participate by not shopping at your store, she will participate. She also will not cross a picket line. EVER. For any reason whatsoever. (You have been warned.)
This year, on Black Friday, instead of stopping by one of your stores, or any others? She went to the Renaissance Festival with our family and, we bought a lot of handmade goods that are actually really, really nice, in addition to being a reminder of a fun day out with all of us together. It is a trend that we are hoping to continue as a family.
When I stopped by my parent’s home this afternoon to pick up a delivery that had finally arrived, my dad informed me that instead of the yearly Holiday trip to Sam’s Club, which is to take place tomorrow afternoon, my mom and I would be on our way to Costco, instead - to “check out and compare the prices”.
My parents have been Sam’s Club members for close to, if not completely, 30 years. They are expected to move to their country home, full time, in the next few months and will have to pass two Sam’s Club stores to get to the Costco. If they’re willing to do that because Costco treats its employees much better than Sam’s or Wal-Mart, you have to ask yourself, how many other people will be willing to pass one storeals?
People don’t want to walk into a store to be greeted by people who are obviously unhappy because they can barely afford to live or are worried about finances. Stresses like these only exacerbate a person’s moodiness, and it’s tough to be cheery, when you can barely afford to shop at the discount store that pays you, let alone anywhere else. Your employees are not asking to be millionaires, but they are asking for a fairer wage, something that they do deserve.
I’m also asking that you quit asking the average American tax-payer to subsidize your work force. Food stamps and Medicaid cost money - our money, that we could spend on education, NASA, or a number of valuable services.
I know this is a marathon, not a sprint, but eventually you will have to cave or your brand will be tarnished forever. I already refuse to buy any goods in your stores. Ever. You don’t want to lose my mom, and trust me, I’ve been working on her every chance I get. So has my father.
Sincerely -
Girl who hates shopping in your (uncomfortable) stores who has a mother that spends a lot of money there
Costco:
Don’t let us down tomorrow. We appreciate your treatment of your employees, but next time please be a bit more diligent on things like this Palermo Pizza debacle.
Thanks -
Girl who is excited to shop in your store tomorrow
