In an interview with Fox News, Murray discussed how under Biden the cost of living has gone “through the roof” and how a week after inauguration over 10,000 of his union brothers and sisters were laid off from work after Biden’s executive order stopped the Keystone pipeline. This is marking a shift in organized labor from always backing the Democrats with many of the rank and file voicing their opinion for backing likely Republican candidate Donald J. Trump. After communicating with their leadership, Steamfitters Local 638 business manager Bobby Bartels listened and reached out to each potential presidential candidate but, according to Murray, he only got a response from Trump and Robert F Kennedy. “He has not received a single email or memo from Biden or his team,” says Murray.

"I will do whatever my members want me to do,” Bartels says in an interview with Fox News. He’s said that his members are concerned with illegal immigration, solar power, electric vehicles, and overall inflation resulting in higher gasoline and food prices. Especially after putting out a presidential poll with his union, he began to understand where his members stood concerning the election. While most building trade union leaders are satisfied with dictating to their members to vote for the Democrats, Bartels is sticking his neck out when communicating and sympathizing with the desires of his membership. To these unionized workers, having a secure country is more important than whatever good Joe Biden claims to have done for organized labor during his administration. In an interview with conservative commentator Tomi Lahren, Bartels iterated, “If I don’t have a country, a free country, I’m not gonna have a union.” This could mark the beginning of a shift away from organized labor’s uncritical support of the Democratic Party.

Major union leaders Shawn Fain of the United Auto Workers only endorsed Biden as recently as January of 2024 and Sean O’Brien of the Teamsters has said they will not be issuing an endorsement until after both party conventions. At the end of the day, both the Democrats and the Republicans represent big business interests as a part of the American two-party system. Neither party can fully represent the needs of working people and simultaneously serve the interests profiting off their labor. This presidential election may cause major splits in organized labor which could lay the ground for the development of a true anti-monopoly and pro-labor party here in the United States of America. With such a platform, the will of the American working class could be united and focused into the political system to perhaps enact pressure and progressive changes not seen since the campaign of Henry A. Wallace of the Progressive Party in 1948.

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They are joining the ranks of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 3000, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 520, San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel Local 67, the Oakland Education Association, Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition – American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 6403, National Nurses United, UNITED HERE Local 23, Teamsters Local 804, Roofers Local 36, among countless others.

There are statements from organized labor in support of Israel; most notably the AFL-CIO claiming, “the labor movement condemns and stands resolute against all terrorism,” as well as AFT’s president repeating that Israel has a right to defend itself. These statements also iterate concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but neglect to mention ceasefire as an option to resolve the issue. While all the mentioned statements condemn the actions of Hamas on October 7^th, it’s the rank-and-file unions that are simultaneously condemning the over 10,000 Palestinian civilian casualties caused by Israel’s bombardment campaign, as well as acknowledging the century long colonization and occupation of Palestinian land.

Regarding Palestinian trade unions themselves, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions Gaza (PGFTU) issued a statement on October 16^th calling for the halting of arms trade to Israel as well as the following list of demands:

1. To refuse to build weapons destined for Israel.
2. To refuse to transport weapons to Israel.
3. To pass motions in their trade union to this effect.
4. To take action against complicit companies involved in implementing Israel’s brutal and illegal siege, especially if they have contracts with your institution.
5. Pressure governments to stop all military trade with Israel, and in the case of the US, funding to it.

These demands have likely inspired the dock workers both in Belgium and Barcelona to refuse to load arms shipments headed for Israel but has yet to inspire such direct action in the United States. There have been shipments delayed by protesters in Tacoma, WA and Oakland, CA in November, but the dockworkers union has yet to issue a statement concerning the demonstration or the Israel/Palestine conflict.

The momentum for collective action to end the genocide in Gaza is growing. More and more workers are realizing their power and responsibility to act on this international political issue. As class consciousness grows, the working-class needs to take matters in their own hands to stop the war machine from ethnically cleansing the Palestinian people from their native home once and for all.

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Vince Quiles is Philly born and raised. He had gone to the local schools and spent some time at the Air Force Academy Prep school. While he didn’t end up joining the Air Force, he was in the presence of generals and high ranking military officials. They taught him leadership, teamwork and the integrity to “do the right thing when nobody was looking.”

Vince remembers the times at Home Depot when the workers there weren’t so heavily exploited. In the 1990s an associate could be found at every aisle of the store with a very generous wage of $25/hour. Adjusting for inflation, that wage would come out to at least $40/hour today. As of December 2022, the starting wage is approximately $10.15/hour. With Vince’s location having beat their profit goal $3,000,000 last year which should mean $12,000 more in pay for each employee, the company is most certainly a profitable location, and yet none of the workers are benefitting from the increased profits.

Vince’s sight of tough men being pushed to their limits by this company is what led him to decide to start organizing. Especially after the birth of his son and seeing behind the proverbial curtain as a supervisor, Vince was unwilling to be complicit in taking advantage of his coworker’s hard work. The 60 hour work week expected of him would also deprive him of a quality life as a father. “Don’t quit, organize” was his mantra and he began talking to his coworkers in June of 2022.

The time from first signature to going public was six weeks starting in August and ending in September. Filing with a minority of 106 signers in September set an uphill battle to reach a majority support before the election time.

The wait time for the election was little more than one month. The Home Depot company, unlike other corporations, wanted to get this election over with as quickly as possible instead of drawing it out with the hopes of demotivating the organizers. A large section of their customer base are union people and having a long election with any sort of anti-union perception from their customers would be highly volatile for the company, so they took the short route and got it over in November. Not only did the company deploy typical union busting tactics such as surveillance, interrogation and flooding the store with managers, but Vince found himself in a common position of being a lone organizer without a strong committee. “Vince has got this,” was the mentality of many pro-union workers with little motivation to contribute to the effort, while the opposition had hired a force from Ogletree Deakins in order to carry out the anti-union campaign. This resulted in many co-workers being prepped to reject conversations about unionizing before Vince even had the chance to make the connection. Vince is still determined. He continues to help other locations across the country start their campaigns and open people’s eyes to the process. As he says, “Home Depot is on notice.” LUEL will continue to monitor the situation and cove

The post Loss in Philly Marks New Beginnings for Organizing at Home Depot first appeared on Trabajo De Hoy.

While most unions aspire to be worker driven, the Workers United campaign owes its success to the rank & file who are the ones taking the risks necessary to build the movement. Workers United staff are devoted and determined to support the campaign in whatever ways they can, but most of the organizing work continues to be done by Starbucks employees. Many are new to the concepts of unions and organizing a workplace but also have deeper connections to the service industry and their coworkers. At the same time, many are experienced in organizing or community building though other organizations and lend their skills to the movement. This is part of what has provided so much of the movement’s widespread appeal. There are unanimous election results coming from tight-knit crews in various parts of the country. As well, community support from the customer base at many locations has proved to be a significant boost for the organizing baristas and the movement. Thousands of customers who grab their daily coffee are working class or even enthusiastic union members.

Rather than a simple shop to shop strategy, city-wide and national organizing has proven extraordinarily successful. Some cites have 20+ corporate locations centralized within a small area. The work of organizing can be shared among a community of stores more effectively. The different plans and strategies that have worked up to this point are being coordinated and standardized. With trained teams taking on the task of organizing major sectors of the market, there are big plans for this coming summer and fall. Starbucks baristas across the country are meeting and coordinating toward a common goal against the bosses on an unprecedented scale.

Buffalo, NY, and the organizers who won the initial campaign victories remained the de facto HQ early on, but the rapid growth on a national scale propelled the movement to coordinate more broadly across the country through email, zoom meetings and recently a single national Discord. This is the groundwork for a union that seeks to defend the rights of Starbucks workers for generations to come. After some delay, a strike fund has been established by Workers United to the tune of $1,000,000. After rampant union-busting and organizer terminations such as the firing of the Memphis 7 in February, the movement has woken from any notions that unions and contracts can be won simply through spectacle and negotiations. More than twenty-five strikes have occurred and are spreading. Entire new sections of the US economy are realizing they hold the collective power to build a new era of unions and a class-conscious generation.

The post “Starbucks Workers United Campaign Secures Major Wins” first appeared on Trabajo De Hoy.