A Hot Labor Summer Is Going Year Round

It’s a HUGE day for Unions, both in California and around the nation.

Today’s the last day for California’s legislators to put bills on the Governor’s desk for consideration and it’s no surprise there are hundreds of proposals to be considered.

Two big victories for unions are in the hopper, and observers in Sacramento believe they’ll become law.

Senate Bill 525 represents a last minute compromise between SEIU California and the health care industry, as a $25 per hour minimum wage will become law. Golden State voters will be rewarded by not having to live through yet another rerun of campaign ads over kidney dialysis clinics in 2024.

Assembly Bill 1228 is another win for labor. Led by the SEIU, a deal has emerged with fast food companies concerning legislation on regulations. Wages for workers in companies with over 60 stores will rise to $20 per hour next year. The industry was able to dilute the legislatively mandated labor council’s authority in the area of workplace regulations. 

The future for Senate Bill 799, which would authorize unemployment benefits for striking workers,  is less certain. We are, after all, still in what’s been referred to as the Hot Labor Summer, and the immediate impact of this legislation would include strengthening the hand of entertainment industry strikers.

Gov. Newsom’s class background plays into his thinking about signing (or not) SB 799. While he’s generally friendly toward unions, the businessman in him lies just under the surface. Last week he –without saying for sure– threw cold water on the idea, citing budgetary concerns. Organized labor has been beating the drum to get its members and supporters to weigh in via calls and online messages.

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Nationwide, a historic strike by the United Auto Workers is set to begin at midnight. The union’s ask is a big one, as it’s payback time for holding the line during the industry’s lean times, and they hold that upcoming changes in vehicle manufacturing need to include union workers.

The expiring agreements cover close to 150,000 workers at Ford, General Motors (GM), and Stellantis (the conglomerate that swallowed Chrysler).

Via Labor Notes:

• Entering this round of bargaining, the Big 3 have reported a combined $21 billion in profits in the first half of 2023. This comes on top of profits of $250 billion over the last 10 years. “Our message going into bargaining is clear: record profits mean record contracts,” [President Sean} Fain told UAW members on Facebook Live August 1.

• Instead of the UAW’s past tradition of targeting just one auto company in bargaining, then basing contracts for the others off that model, Fain warned all three companies to consider themselves targets, keeping them guessing about which one may ultimately be struck—or whether union members might walk out at all three. In 2019, 49,000 UAW members struck GM for six weeks.

As has been true with other successful unions in recent months, the UAW is asking for public support beyond just not crossing picket lines. In Southern California, there will likely be pickets at parts distribution facilities for the Big Three in or near Rancho Cucamonga and Ontario.

These distribution centers have been the focus of car companies’ strike preparation. The demand for (highly profitable)  after-sales parts has grown by double digits since the pandemic, as car owners have focused on maintaining their aging vehicles due to inventory shortages of new vehicles. 

For those of us not close to Big Three facilities, the UAW has a way to participate.

IF YOU’RE FAR FROM A PICKET Via Labor Notes

• Pressure the profiteers. BlackRock, Capital Group, and Vanguard are finance giants who are top shareholders across the Big 3, and they have offices that might be closer to you than a plant.

• General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis have authorized $5 billion in stock buybacks in the last year. At the same time they've been throwing cash at investors, major Big 3 plants have claimed they're in an “emergency” to force auto workers into 60-hour weeks to keep their jobs.

• Public spaces in front of these profiteer offices are fair game for non-UAW members to protest and spread the word: auto workers deserve more, and big investors have taken what they never toiled to earn.

• As a last resort, call. In-person pickets and rallies will build relationships and pressure the boss the most. But on top of that, you and other strike supporters can leave a stern phone message for Big 3 CEOs by calling 318-300-1249, thanks to a solidarity effort from environmental non-profits including Labor Network for Sustainability and Greenpeace. Let the executive goons know why you and your union co-workers stand with the UAW.

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Finally, a story from CNBC caught my eye this morning, demonstrating that union power goes beyond just the workers they represent.

• Amazon said it plans to boost wages for contracted drivers as part of a $440 million investment this year into its third-party delivery program but declined to say by how much.

• The company announced the pay bump at an annual, closed-door conference called Ignite Live with the 3,500 small businesses that make up its delivery service partner program. The DSP program, launched in 2018, comprises about 279,000 drivers, often distinguishable by blue Amazon-branded vans, who are responsible for delivering packages the last few miles to shoppers’ doorsteps.…

• …The move comes as Amazon faces a renewed push from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to unionize its delivery driver workforce. Since June, the union has set up picket lines at about a dozen Amazon warehouses in the U.S. to raise concerns about working conditions, after the company in April cut ties with a California-based DSP that unionized with the Teamsters. Critics have argued Amazon relies on subcontracted delivery drivers to dodge liability and avoid unionization.

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Notable News Stories for Thursday

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Column: Why an auto workers strike should have your support By Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times

• We know how this story will unfold, at least in the next day or two. The companies, sitting on increased profits, will plead poverty and maintain that the UAW’s demands will have vast, harmful effects on the economy and the environment. The union will press for better wages and working conditions for members who have seen their numbers, wages and benefits whittled away for years, just like those of millions of others in the American job force.

• Meanwhile, the managerial class and its shills in the political elite will wring their hands about how uppity the workers have become since the outset of the pandemic, and how undeserving they are of a living wage. Which side will you be on?

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Newly homeless in San Diego face the stark reality of no shelter beds (@dorianhargrove) is really doing a great job at CBS 8:

• Minutes after 8:00 a.m. nearly four hours after arriving, staff inside the Homelessness Response Center informed Scott, as well as the dozens of others in line, that no shelter beds were available.

• And while Scott says that the lack of beds was one part startling and another part frightening, for the thousands of San Diego's homeless population, advocates, as well as others, say it is no surprise.

• In a public records request, CBS 8 obtained the daily number of shelter beds available in San Diego since the beginning of the year and found that on average there were only 25 beds a day for men, women, unaccompanied minors, and transition-age youth. 

In case you haven’t figured it out already, we’re being gaslighted about unhoused people’s ability to obtain off the street shelter.

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Don’t Blame Drug Decriminalization for What the Housing Crisis Has Caused Via Truthout

• National media outlets have trained their sights on Portland, Oregon, releasing hit piece after piece. The New York Times published no fewer than three articles about the state’s drug decriminalization in a single week. “Oregon’s experiment to curb overdoses by decriminalizing small amounts of illicit drugs is in its third year, and life has changed for most everyone in the city of Portland,” reads the subheadline of one. The mischaracterizations begin before the article does, starting out with the assertion the primary goal was to curb overdoses, reaching a fever pitch by the final clause, “and life has changed for most everyone…”

• …Oregon ranks 33rd in the nation for drug overdose, with 32 states experiencing higher levels of overdose deaths, and with all 32 of those states having more punitive drug policy than Oregon. It ranks last or next-to-last in access to drug treatment nationwide — a central tenet of the Yes on Measure 110 campaign, since in addition to decriminalization, it transferred most of the cannabis tax revenue into a fund for substance use services, including outpatient treatment, medications, peer mentoring, housing and harm reduction. Despite this low ranking, the state is in the bottom third for overdoses. You wouldn’t know it by reading the national coverage…

• …Homelessness is often blamed on drug addiction, but the data do not agree. “Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri have high rates of disability and West Virginia has high rates of opioid use, but those states do not have high rates of homelessness since housing costs are much lower,” writes Nicole Hayden in The Oregonian. The strongest predictor of homelessness is an increase in housing costs, full stop. Average rents in Portland increased 22.5 percent since January 2020.