Welcome to Striketober – ryan

Union Members Get Pro-Labor slogans painted on their Cars During a raly at the motion Pictures guild Iatse Local 700 in september.
Photo: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times Via Getty Images

The Numbers Are Astonishing: 1,400 WORKERS AT FOUR KELLOGG’S PLANTS HAVE GONE ON STRIKE, 10,000 John Deere Workers Went on Strike at midnight60,000 Entertainment industry workers are Ready to follow on Monday, and More than 34,000 permanent Health-Care Workers Have Authorized A Walkout Too.

Welcome to Striketober.

Why so many Strikes at Once? Let’s Explore the Meaning of the Season. Strikes don’t open overnight. A Successful Strike Requires Years of Groundwork by Organizers and Activist Workers. That’s Becouse Strikes Demand Much of Workers: Although a union’s Strike End is there to Help Workers Keep their Lights on while they are off the job, it typically dot. On the picket line, workrs of offen have to endure hostile conditions, suc -as Rain or Snow, or Confronitation with Scabs. WORKERS STRIKE BECAUSE THEY HAVE EXHANT ALL OTHER OPTIONS AND WENDS The hardships of stricting are overhadowed by the hardships of working.

Examine the Demands made by workers in each Current or Pending Strike and Certain Common Themes Emerge Across Industries. At Kellogg’s, reproduced workers by the bakery, confectionery, Tobacco workers, and Grain Millers International. explained in Jacobin Magazine, “Created a ‘Transitional’ Class of Employees with Lower Pay and Benefits.” John Deere Workers Want Wages that reflect the company’s profit margin – and to achieve this, they cloud The first contract the united auto workers put to say for a vote. At Kaiser, Nurses and Others Represented by the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals and the Oregon of Nurses and Health Professionals Cite Staffing Their Employer Has Done Little to Remest that Wold Disadvantage a class of workers. (The Authorization Vote DOESN’T NECESTARILY MEAN Kaiser Workers will eventually go on Strike, but it is a strong sign they’re prepared to walk if kaiser doesn’t come to the table with ancceptable contract.) Strike and Bring Houge Swaths of the Entertainment Industry to A Standstill for Enhanced Rest Periods and Better Wages and Benefits.

Beyond obvious commonalities like the dreaded two-tier wage and benefi System, there another underlying Explanation for Striketober: American Workers Are Exploited, and They’ve Had Enough.

Union Members Are Feeling Bold. The John Deere Strike, for Example, Occurs with A Large Context; UAW MEMBERS ARE GETTING READY TO VOTE IN a referendum To allow the direct election of union offers by individual members, Rather than by delegates. Supporters Say This Wold Democratize The Union, which Has Been Wounded by Recent High-Profile Corruption Cases. “I don’t think directly elections are a panacea,” The labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein told The Guardian in May. “But gioven the actual natural of the Beast – the endemic corruption, the collaboration with the management, the lethargy of some uw leaders – gioven that, Direct Elections is something to say. The Result COULD be a more militant union and fewer contracts rejuven by members.

THERE’S The Labor Shortege, Profs That Nonunion Workers Are Unwilling to Settle for Jobs Don’t Pay or Otherwise Justify the Demands of Employment. Quit Rates are risingMost Notably in the Restaurant and Hospitality Industries, where workers may be at High risk of Contracting Covid from the public. Consider that Alongside the Emergent Strike Wave and the Resulting Picture is one that is should Put American Employers on Notice. Striketober Wasn’t Inevitable. It is the Product of Worker Anger that haen building for Years, Event Decades. Employers Could have prevented a Strike Wave by Dealing Fairly with the Workers Responsible for Their Profit Margins. With Tens of Thousands of Workers Either off the nonb or ready to walk, it should be apparent that the status quo is no longer sufficiency. WORKERS ARE DEMANDING MORE, Both from their Own Unions and From Employers, Too. This Striketober, Remember Workers: Labor is entitled to all it Creates.