Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Union Strikes and Workers

The John Deere Strike Shows the Tight Labor Market Is Ready to Pop

https://portside.org/2021-10-18/john-deere-strike-shows-tight-labor-market-ready-pop

Portside Date: October 18, 2021

Author: Jonah Furman and Gabriel Winant

Date of source: October 17, 2021

The Intercept in partnership with Labor Notes

Workers on strike.

Shortly before midnight on Wednesday, production workers at a John Deere facility in Waterloo, Iowa, started shutting down the plant, quenching the furnaces in the foundry. The plant was already mostly empty, with Deere telling overnight workers to stay home. Three days earlier, union members at United Auto Workers meetings in Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas had voted overwhelmingly to reject a proposed contract that gave subinflation raises and eliminated pensions for all new hires. The rejection came as a surprise to both the union leadership and the company; even some of the workers who had voted no and authorized a strike were surprised that it was actually happening. The 10,000 workers who walked off the job are striking Deere for the first time in 35 years. “Just confirmed Waterloo has their picket signs,” one worker said before the strike began. “Shit’s about to get real.”

 

Read more.

https://portside.org/2021-10-18/john-deere-strike-shows-tight-labor-market-ready-pop

Portside Date: October 18, 2021

 

  

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