Workday Magazine (https://workdayminnesota.flywheelsites.com/category/organizing/page/16/)
After two weeks on the picket line outside General Motors’ Hudson, Wis., facility, members of United Auto Workers Local 722 are still standing together as their international union seeks a fair deal in nationwide contract talks with the automaker.
“This strike is about providing safe patient care. I can’t do that when I am assigned four patients, two of whom are intensive care (ICU) patients and two of whom are very sick. Someone may be on a ventilator to breathe for them. Someone may be septic and require intravenous antibiotics and require constant monitoring. Some people are getting their first diagnosis in the ER and I can’t educate them about their disease or medication.”
Winter explained that turnover is particularly high at the facility. Someone with her longevity is rare. Pay raises are necessary to “retain good staff”, and she further explains that the union wants Guardian Angels to “invest in their employees.”
Hundreds of Minnesotans came to the Bloomington Airport Marriott hotel Monday evening to support the proposed plan of increasing the minimum wage at the MSP Airport to $15 per hour
When asked why he’s planning to support the Global Climate Strike slated for September 20, Larry Hopkins, a rail crew driver for the transportation and maintenance company Hallcon, says the reason is simple: “I want to help preserve and protect our personal safety. Because right now, we’re in a climate emergency that is very bad for our health and our safety.
Walking out was “scary and uplifting at the same time,” said Shawn Edwards, a worker at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant with three years’ seniority. “It’s scary because we have lives to maintain and we don’t know how long we’ll be out. We don’t want it to be too long but we do need to make a statement.
At the 33rd minute of the Sunday afternoon, Minnesota United match against Real Salt lake fans in the supporter’s section started to sing the Italian anti-fascist resistance song “Bella Ciao,” and displayed the “Iron Front” symbol.
GM doesn’t appear to be taking the strike lightly. On September 17, the company effectively canceled its payment of health insurance premiums for all striking workers.
Update: A settlement was reached Friday morning
The history of militant organizing, plus the simple fact that workers deserve more than one holiday, makes Labor Day worth celebrating. And this year, there are more reasons than usual for working people to rejoice.
