Tag: Strike

Nabisco Strike and Boycott

Steven James has been working as a machine operator making Oreos, Chips Ahoy! and other Nabisco snacks at a plant in Richmond, Va. for 20 years.

On Aug. 16, James joined about 1,000 of his fellow union members in five states and walked off the job to protest what they say are “unfair” demands for concessions in contract negotiations with Nabisco’s parent company Mondelez International (MDLZ). James, who isn’t working another job, said he plans to stay out of the plant until a fair contract is signed.

“We’re not asking for a lot,” James told Yahoo Finance Live. “We just want a fair contract.”

As America’s appetite for snack foods has grown during the pandemic, James said he and his colleagues on the frontlines have been working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week.

“It was just constant. Never had time to spend with the kids. Never had time to spend with the family,” he said.

Yahoo

In support of the strikers, here’s a bag of cookies I didn’t buy when I was at King Soopers earlier today:

Nabisco Strike – Update

Nabisco workers on the picket lines in five U.S. states say their first strike in 52 years is about keeping what they already had as employees producing Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers and other snacks for the global food conglomerate.

Roughly 1,050 Nabisco workers are staying off the job in Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Oregon and Virginia, according to their union, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International, or BCTGM. The labor dispute began nearly three weeks ago with workers at the Nabisco bakery in Portland calling a strike. The strike has since spread, with workers in Chicago joining the labor action on Thursday and workers in Norcross, Georgia, following suit on Monday.

“We’re fighting for a fair contract, no concessions,” Yvette Hale, who has worked at Nabisco’s Chicago bakery nearly 22 years, told CBS MoneyWatch. “Everyone is angry, as you never know if you’re going to work eight hours, 12 hours or 16 hours.”

Nabisco strike, the first in 52 years, expands to five states
CBS NEWS
Kate Gibson

Frito Lay Strike – Worker Talks About Conditions

After 37 years, I still get forced to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Seven years ago, my wife passed away and I spent a lot of time in grief counseling, and I told the company, I don’t want to work 12 hours a day seven days a week. I ended up getting FMLA [Family Medical Leave Act unpaid leave], but they’re still having me do it sometimes. You come in at 7 a.m. and not only do you work eight hours, but when you get off at 3 p.m., they suicide (force you to work a double shift) you and have you come back at 3am. There’s 850 employees and it’s true for half or three quarters of them.

This job wears you down, it tires you, and makes you mentally exhausted. It plays with your mind. Some of these guys who work 12 hours a day everyday are destroying their marriages. They’re destroying their families. My wife passed away and I don’t have a wife to go home to to say, ‘Hey babe I’m only working eight hours tomorrow,” but a lot of these guys come in with the understanding that they’ll be here for eight hours but then they got to call their wives and kids and say, “Guess what? It’s not eight hours. It’s 12 hours and then I have to go back to work at 3am.”

Frito-Lay has been told they need to fix this but unfortunately, when they bring in new people, they force the same schedule on them and they quit. Frito-Lay has waited so long to replace workers, and now Frito Lay has a horrible reputation in town so a lot of people won’t work here.

I’m a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week

We would rather nobody buy any Frito-Lay products, Fritos, Doritos, Tostitos, Funyuns, Cheetos, all those, while we’re on strike. We make all of those in Topeka, Kansas. We also would rather nobody buys PepsiCo products while we’re on the line. PepsiCo is the owner of Frito-Lay.


Just Say No
#BoycottFritoLay

Kansas Frito-Lay Strike. Working Conditions, Pay, and Intolerable Hours at Issue


Kansas Frito-Lay workers join growing strike wave of US workers against intolerable work conditions and being forced to work 7 days a week along with working 12 hour suicide shifts from PublicFreakout

Anxious-Ad1868
I did not know about this. Thank you for the post. Frito Lay ban is now in effect for our household and I’ll talk about it with others, when I can.

CantStopPoppin
You are most welcome, when I find things like this I do my best to get it out there. Companies control the media and silence the voices of the masses. Here at least and for now at least I can shed light onto issues like this that would otherwise get no traction.

sully2813
Btw frito lay is part of pepsico so avoid pepsi, Tropicana, quaker oats, Gatorade and more.

List of Frito-Lay Brands:
Lay’s
Fritos
Doritos
Ruffles
Cheetos
Sun Chips
Tostitos
Rold Gold
Funyuns
Walkers
Kurkure

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frito-Lay

Hunts Point Market Strike

Hundreds of workers at The Bronx’s Hunts Point Produce Market are still on strike after negotiations broke down over a $1 an hour raise.

But for many workers, who earn between $18 and $21 an hour on average, they’re seeking more than a pay hike.

“Just say ‘Thank you.’ Don’t say we should be lucky to have a job,” said Hiram Montalvo, a “box man” who unloads trucks. “Say thank you that we’re actually coming to work and risking our lives so that they can take care of their families as well.”

The workers, who are members of Teamsters Local 202, voted to go on strike on midnight Sunday after talks over an hourly raise disintegrated last week. Management offered a 32-cents-an-hour boost.

‘We’re Not Asking For Very Much’: Hunts Point Market Workers Strike For a $1 Raise — and Respect
The first strike in 35 years at the Bronx-based food hub has hundreds of workers on the picket line — buoyed by political candidates and besieged by the NYPD.
CLAUDIA IRIZARRY APONTE

http://www.thecity.nyc

General Strike in India

In late November, what may have been the single largest protest in human history took place in India, as tens of thousands of farmers marched to the capital to protest proposed new legislation and upward of 250 million people around the subcontinent participated in a 24-hour general strike in solidarity. This massive people’s movement has gained attention worldwide and, moreover, forced the government to come meet the protesters where they are instead of just cracking down and brutalizing them, a first in the six years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule.

NITISH PAHWA,
India Just Had the Biggest Protest in World History
Slate

Strike For Black Lives

From Boston to San Francisco, essential workers in cities around the U.S. walked off their jobs and took to the streets Monday to demand racial and economic justice as part of a nationwide “Strike for Black Lives.”

The planned day of strikes and protests was organized by 60 different labor unions and racial and social justice organizations, from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to the Movement for Black Lives to the U.S. Youth Climate Strike Coalition.
…
In Chicago, fast food workers marched to a local McDonald’s where multiple workers had tested positive for the virus. Fast food workers in Florida walked off the job. In Durham, N.C., crowds observed a moment of silence before breaking into chants calling for $15 an hour. They also painted “Strike For Black Lives” in block letters on the street.

In Detroit, workers at five nursing homes participated in a walkout to protest low wages and poor working conditions, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. And in San Francisco, 1,500 janitors walked off the job.

NPR

An Instacart worker on why she’s striking.

What do you want Instacart customers to know right now?

They need to understand where their groceries are actually coming from: the same stores that they would shop at. They’re being delivered in people’s personal cars. Shoppers are not paid an hourly wage. We’re paid a flat rate. Tips are very important. We’re considered independent contractors, but many states have already found that to be a misclassification. And I’d like customers to know that we’re doing the best we can. We’re trying to keep us safe, and we’re trying to keep them safe. We’re trying to save our families. We shouldn’t have to rely on tips in order to make it worth it. We should be paid fairly with tips on top of that, but we’re not, and that’s the reality.

Aaron Mak interviewing Heidi Carrico
https://slate.com/technology/2020/03/an-instacart-worker-on-why-shes-striking.html

Seattle Nurses Strike

Susan Walker, a nurse in the day surgery department, joined dozens of others picketing outside the Ballard hospital. She said this was her first strike in 41 years as a nurse, but chronic short-staffing means she has to work on her day off every two or three weeks.

“We have to come in on our days off constantly to take care of patients,” Walker said. “It’s very disruptive to your life, but you feel sorry for your coworkers so you bite the bullet and come in.”

The labor action called by SEIU Local 1199NW, which represents 7,800 workers at Swedish, is one of the largest hospital strikes in the U.S. in recent years, and it comes amid both a national shortage of nurses and a trend of hospital consolidation.

Gene Johnson, Associated Press abcnews

Nurses strike in Seattle this week for safe staffing. from r/nursing

Denver Teacher Strike Imminent


Denver is so expensive that teachers have to get creative to make ends meet

For 14 months, teachers in Denver have been negotiating with Denver Public Schools for more pay. On Saturday, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association said talks had broken off and they’ll walk on Monday.

Yes, it’s about money, many have told CNN. But it’s also about the uncertainty of living paycheck to paycheck. It’s about the necessity of taking on a second or third job. It’s about the untenability of carrying on this way much longer.

Christina Zdanowicz,  CNN