"I am the strip club, and you wouldn't have a business without me."
Strippers in LA walked out over safety concerns & the unjust firing of 2 workers at Star Garden Topless Dive Bar.
Now
@stripstrikenoho
is unionizing with
@strippersunite
to change their industry.
NEW: Strippers in LA are trying to form America’s only unionized strip club.
Dancers at Star Garden started organizing after two workers were fired for voicing safety concerns about customers.
“I want to exploit the system that seeks to exploit me,” a lead organizer told us.
Watching my dad be an LA Times reporter made me want to be a journalist. Working as a journalist made me want to join a union.
I am so sad and angry for our industry, but watching my dad and his incredible colleagues at
@latguild
strike today makes me so proud.
I love the
@latimes
. I have happily given it 33+ years of my life. But I’m walking off the job with my comrades today in hopes of saving as many jobs as possible. …And getting fair deals for those forced to leave.
@latguild
Workers at a cake factory in Southern CA that makes ice cream cakes for
@BaskinRobbins
have been on strike for 4 weeks demanding the end of exploitation at work. Today the company turned the sprinklers on its own demonstrating workers - who have not been deterred.
Lamb Weston is able to evade public scrutiny because it doesn't have the name recognition of fast food giants like McDonald's.
But at this Idaho factory, workers are pushed to the brink without fair pay or proper safety protections all to make fries.
They deserve far better:
NEW: Your fries at McDonald’s, Wendy’s & Burger King are all made by one conglomerate, Lamb Weston.
Workers there say they're treated horrifically, worse than machines.
One worker was killed in 2020. Another had a mini-stroke and was assigned a 12-hour shift the next day.
As we
@democracynow
work with a bare bones crew to bring you the daily show amid the coronavirus outbreak, our hero Amy Goodman brought us each roses. A bright spot in a difficult week and a reminder to keep looking for glimmers of hope & solidarity in these tough times
BREAKING: In a historic victory, Apple Store employees in Maryland win the first union at Apple.
Despite a nationwide anti-union campaign by Apple management, workers voted overwhelmingly 65-33 to unionize with
@machinestsunion
.
In a rousing speech in front of Capitol Hill,
@IlhanMN
just addressed black women leaders gathered in solidarity with her as the president and both parties attack her for standing up for Palestinian rights. Tune into
@democracynow
tomorrow for more. You will not want to miss it!
Amy Goodman and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz at the Sanders Institute Gathering. The mayor says colonialism must end in Puerto Rico. “I don’t want to be a (U.S.) state... There needs to be a decolonization process.”
NEW: High rise window cleaners in Minnesota just won a historic contract agreement with large wage raises, more sick time & an apprenticeship program.
The window cleaners went on strike for ten days. Their new contract is one of the strongest for window cleaners in the country.
Inbox -- Teamsters Secure Air Conditioning for UPS Fleet in Major Tentative Deal:
"The new contract language would mandate UPS equip in-cab [AC] systems in all larger delivery vehicles, smaller sprinter vans, & all of UPS’ ..brown package cars purchased after Jan. 1, 2024."
NEW: UPS drivers are collapsing in the street, suffering heat stroke & dying because the company refuses to put air conditioning in their trucks.
@UPS
made $13 billion in PROFIT last year yet won't pay for A/C like FedEx & Amazon already do.
This should be a national scandal.
BREAKING: Trader Joe’s workers in Williamsburg are unionizing with
@TraderJoesUnite
.
Management told workers on Thursday that they knew about the union drive. A day later they fired a Black union organizer.
Workers are rallying outside the store today.
“We talk about this country as a place where democracy thrives, but we work 80% of our lives in an environment where we have no democracy.”
Apple workers are unionizing to bring the democratic process to their workplace:
NEW: Apple Store workers in Maryland are attempting to form the company’s first US union.
While CEO Tim Cook made $98 million last year, workers face threats from customers and are barely scraping by.
“There’s a revolution coming and it’s gonna be one retail store at a time.”
Why isn’t Trader Joe’s bargaining with its union workers in good faith?
The company won’t budge on pronoun pins that would help non-binary & trans workers feel safe at work and a number of other issues. And bargaining is just getting started:
NEW:
@TraderJoe
's is sabotaging negotiations with workers at two unionized stores.
The company refuses to bargain on anti-discrimination protections, better wages, and much more.
Trader Joe’s workers took us inside their fight for a contract with the “progressive” company.
As a coup attempt is underway in Venezuela,
@democracynow
is outside the Venezuelan embassy in Washington DC, where
@codepink
activists are demonstrating against the US-backed coup. They have been occupying the embassy for 16 days.
🚨Breaking news: Trader Joe's workers in NYC confronted their boss today demanding immediate changes to safety protocol after their store waited an entire day to alert them about an active shooter threat in their store.
They gave Trader Joe's 24 hrs to respond to their demands:
BREAKING: Trader Joe’s workers in New York City just confronted store management to demand immediate changes to safety protocol in their store after workers say management failed to warn workers about an active shooter threat in the store last week, putting them at risk.
While all eyes are trained on Kellogg's, an equally important labor struggle is playing out at a Southern California cake factory.
100+ workers have been on strike for more than five weeks. Hear their stories:
NEW: Workers who make cakes for Baskin Robbins are forced to work 12-14 hours/day, make 13+ cakes/minute & get 3 sick days/year.
Workers say they’ve developed arthritis & been denied time off for cancer treatments.
Now 100+ mainly immigrant Latina workers are on strike.
32,000 Kaiser workers are ready to hit the picket line next Monday. They're rejecting Kaiser's offer of just a 2% wage increase and a 15% pay *cut* for new hires. Extremely inspiring that Kaiser workers are prepared to strike to protect future employees from a two-tier system.
NEW: 32,000 Kaiser workers are on the verge of a major strike.
The health care giant made $2.2 billion in 2020. But it’s offering workers only a 2% raise and trying to cut wages for new hires by 15%.
Workers say the offer is an insult. They plan to go on strike November 15.
NEW: Verizon fired Jesse Mason after he started unionizing with his coworkers.
Mason was terminated the day after he was photographed at a vote count party for two other Verizon stores.
Verizon has poured big money into an anti-union campaign. But workers are fighting back.
Cornel West is speaking at the Sanders Institute Gathering about the spiritual emptiness of the American Empire and the need to fight back with everything we’ve got. We at
@democracynow
are here listening.
A huge crowd of Kaiser workers has gathered in Pasadena to demand Kaiser pay its workers a fair wage and stand down on its attempts to implement a two-tier wage system on new workers. 40,000 Kaiser employees have voted to authorize a strike & it’s clear they’re ready to do so.
Truck driving used to be a solid middle class union job. For many drivers, deregulation and misclassification have turned it into a nightmare. Watch here:
NEW: The supply chain crisis is being blamed on a truck driver shortage.
That's a lie. There are 15% more drivers than a decade ago.
The real shortage is in trucking jobs that don't ruthlessly exploit drivers. “Truck driving as it is right now can be compared to sharecropping.”
🙌
@MorePerfectUS
video coming soon featuring striking Minneapolis educators fighting for a living wage and a better future for their students.
solidarity!!!
At
@labornotes
, one of the most invigorating sessions I attended was trade unionists & reproductive justice activists talking about how the labor movement can mobilize to defend abortion access.
One tactic discussed was fighting to include abortion access in bargaining:
.
@HelloFresh
markets itself as a glossy guilt-free meal option, but behind the scenes workers are suffering injuries, being monitored on bathroom breaks and making poverty wages.
Solidarity to the workers organizing with
@unitehere
for safe working conditions & a living wage.
NEW: Warehouse workers at meal-kit giant Hello Fresh are unionizing to end to traumatic workplace injuries, horrific working conditions & low pay.
One worker’s foot was crushed by a 300lb pallet. Employees are timed on bathroom breaks. And many work two jobs to afford rent.
outrageous: Refresco workers voted to unionize but are being forced to re-do the election bc voting opened 5 minutes late.
The company's gone all out to union bust. Workers say they're going to win again anyway.
"Refresco can't imagine what a blow we're about to land on them."
NEW: Hundreds of mostly immigrant workers who make Tropicana & Gatorade vote to unionize today.
They were told to keep working & drink Gatorade if they got Covid.
Workers already won a union election last year, but Refresco forced a revote because voting opened 5 mins late.
"When...we’re back at work & negotiating a union contract, that’s going to be huge not just for Star Garden but also for the industry, because it’s the first opportunity in almost 30 yrs for dancers to have a say in the workplace."
I interviewed Velveeta with
@stripstrikenoho
:
A dancer at Star Garden Topless Dive Bar, on recent unionizing efforts: "To . . . be able to fight back as a group has just been a completely transformative experience for me — to experience that solidarity and to see actual change start to happen."
“Every time we would pick the grapes, we would shake free the ashes from the fire.”
As the west enters another deadly fire season, farmworkers are fighting for protections in the fields.
No one should go to work in an evacuation zone.
NEW: This summer could bring the worst fire season the west has ever seen.
California farmworkers are forced to work through raging wildfires even as residents flee.
In wine country, workers are calling for urgent protections like hazard pay and disaster insurance by June 1.
"My job is to hold power to account," says Maria Ressa, who has become a target for Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. "We shouldn't allow harassment, intimidation and the fear of that stop you from doing your job."
100+ bakers in Southern California have been on strike for *3 months* demanding an end to inhumane working conditions.
Show your support by boycotting
@RichProducts
cakes. You can also go to the picket line: 12805 Busch Place, Santa Fe Springs, CA
solidarity!
.
@BCTGM
is calling for a boycott of Baskin Robbins, Safeway, and Coldstone Creamery cakes made by Jon Donaire / Rich Products.
Over 100 cake makers have been on strike since November 3 to demand an end to 12-14 hour days and low wages.
The extremity of the climate crisis can make it hard to recognize all we can save. The West's mega-fires aren't a given. With a return to indigenous practices of land stewardship and prescribed burning (and historic investment), we can better control fires in our warming world
NEW: Smokey Bear had it wrong. The way to control fire is with more fire.
We spoke to a firefighter on the front lines about how we must rethink the way we control fires as the climate crisis intensifies, and how
@AOC
&
@EdMarkey
’s Civilian Climate Corps can make that happen.
"It's time to stand up. It's time to talk to your coworkers. The more stores that stand up & join us & have a voice with us, the power we have at the bargaining table to get what we truly deserve."
Verizon workers in Washington are unionizing. They want more stores to join them:
NEW: Verizon retail workers in Washington are unionizing and calling on workers across the country to join their movement.
Verizon made over $4.5 billion in profit last quarter, but is cutting pay for retail workers and understaffing its stores.
@VzwUnion
is fighting back.
I traveled to the Bay Area with
@democracynow
to cover the housing crisis and speak directly with unhoused people and their advocates. Their stories deeply moved us & revealed a humanitarian crisis that CA politicians are only making worse. Watch here:
If you wear Forever 21, Fashion Nova, Charlotte Russe or other fast fashion brands, there’s a good chance the workers who made your clothes are earning pennies for their labor, right here in Los Angeles. A California bill that will soon be on
@GavinNewsom
’s desk could change that
@Amazon
gave its workers a $3 raise. Then it took it away.
Workers are fighting for their raise back, time off for Eid & a humane time off policy.
Right now, workers say they get 20 hours off every 3 months. If they get down to 0 hours, they're fired.
NEW: Amazon is penalizing workers who staged a walkout in Shakopee, MN.
Workers walked out to demand time off for the Muslim holiday of Eid & reinstatement of a $3/hour pay raise.
One worker said the company responded by docking those who walked out up to 10 hours of time off.
I wrote my thesis on Joan Didion's early writings, from her college days to Vogue. One summer she took a train from New York to California and wrote letters to her friend along the way. She signed one letter "love from Joan, The Girl For Whom Publishers Are Clamoring."
We at
@democracynow
have the honor of interviewing a lot of wonderful people. But the control room is rarely as awestruck as it was when we interviewed Chanel Miller about her memoir "Know My Name." Don't miss it:
EXCLUSIVE: Trader Joe’s workers in Massachusetts are organizing to form the company’s first ever union.
They say Trader Joe's has repeatedly slashed pay & benefits and neglected safety issues in recent years.
They're unionizing to make the company live up to its own values.
Juan Haines & Michael Adams speak out from inside San Quentin about conditions in the prison since the mass covid outbreak began there. They both contracted the virus. Hear them and the incredible
@jamesking0314
on
@democracynow
today:
Greta Thunberg is on
@democracynow
talking about how her dad told her to take out her most damning takedowns of world leaders from her UN climate speech last year. So she deleted those sentences from her script, MEMORIZED the lines, & said them anyway. Teenagers will save us all
BREAKING: Reporter Juan Haines reports from San Quentin that impending transfers have been called off after public outcry. This is a HUGE win. But the fight to release people from inhumane conditions at SQ continues.
@democracynow
report on the transfers:
We at
@democracynow
are at the Delta Conservation Camp speaking to prisoner firefighters fighting on the frontlines of CA’s climate-fueled wildfires for $1 an hour. This is Marty Vinson, who says prisoners should be paid more for their work.
We are in front of the Capitol for Black Women in Defense of Ilhan Omar. Angela Davis and 99 other black women leaders are here standing in solidarity with
@IlhanMN
.
@BarbaraRansby
says “We will not allow her to be villified... they’ll have to go through us to get to her.”
There is rampant misclassification in the trucking industry. These drivers in LA are fighting back by launching a historic union campaign.
If they win, it will have huge implications for other misclassified workers.
And they're going to win!
NEW: Truck drivers at the Port of LA are leading a groundbreaking union campaign.
Their employer XPO systematically misclassifies them as 'contractors' so it can deny them basic benefits & rights.
A victory could set a historic precedent for misclassified workers nationwide.
As US cities shelter in place, unhoused people have been left extremely vulnerable. Yet hotels, apartments & homes sit empty. This moment affirms what activists have long been saying: Housing is a human right & the solution to homelessness is a home.
“The National Rifle Association’s annual meeting is set to be held in Houston starting on Friday. Former President Donald J. Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Senator Ted Cruz are among those scheduled to address the gathering.”
A gunman walked into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday afternoon and killed 14 children and a teacher, Gov. Greg Abbott said on Tuesday. The last day of school was to be this Thursday.
Apple workers in Maryland are currently voting in a historic union election and they’ve faced union busting tactics multiple workers called “disgusting.”
If they win, they’ll become the first unionized Apple store in the US.
NEW: Apple Store workers in Maryland are voting this week to form the company’s first union.
Workers are trying to overcome vicious union-busting by Apple. The company ran a misinformation campaign that included painting the union as racist.
Votes will be counted Saturday.
Today
@democracynow
had the honor of having
@prisonculture
on our morning broadcast to talk about Cyntoia Brown. Please listen to this phenomenal, important interview with Mariame Kaba on the criminalization of survivors of sexual violence.
Reproductive health care providers are unionizing. The labor movement needs to mobilize to support them.
The abortion crisis is a labor crisis!
#IStandWithPPWorkers
NEW: Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood workers are under tremendous stress and expecting a “tidal wave of need.”
Now they’re organizing to protect and improve abortion care by ending chronic understaffing and low wages at clinics.
Hearing from
@IATSE
workers that there's a lot of anger & uncertainty ahead of the contract ratification vote. Many don't think the contract goes far enough. 2 workers expressed that regardless of the outcome, it's a new era for rank & file members, who are united & fired up:
The majority of workers here are Latina women — they frequently are forced to work up to 16 hour days and get only 3 sick days a year. They’re fighting to end forced overtime - much like other
@BCTGM
workers have been at Kellogg’s and Nabisco.
NEW: Workers with Unite Here are running the largest canvassing operations in AZ, NV and PA.
In Philly, they're knocking on doors in working class neighborhoods to get out the vote for John Fetterman and Josh Shapiro—and to get more people in union jobs.
Why is
@HelloFresh
trying to silence its warehouse workers?
Because they are organizing a historic union drive and speaking out against the company that's exploiting them.
NEW:
@HelloFresh
has filed a takedown notice and had our video wrongfully removed from Twitter.
The video was about how HelloFresh is union busting while its workers launch a historic union drive.
We reject the takedown and are reposting the video. Please share.
It's long past time that
@Wendys
join the Fair Food Program and start treating farmworkers with dignity & respect.
Join the
@ciw
in its campaign to
#BoycottWendys
and hold billionaire chairman Nelson Peltz accountable for abuse and mistreatment in Wendy's supply chain.
The National Prison Strike begins today and will run through September 9, the 47th anniversary of the Attica Prison uprising. Tune into
@democracynow
NOW to learn more about why and how prisoners are striking.
This documentary is groundbreaking & required viewing -- there wasn't a dry eye in the house when it premiered at Sundance. We covered it on
@democracynow
back in February. Don't miss it!
.
@Disclosure_Doc
— from director Sam Feder and producer Laverne Cox — features interviews with MJ Rodriguez, Jamie Clayton, Jen Richards, Lilly Wachowski, Yance Ford, and more in taking a vital and unprecedented look at the history of trans representation across film and TV
"Remember, the working class and the employer class have nothing in common—and a cop is just a boss with a gun."
-
@GrimKim
in
@TheRealNews
on the fight to kick cops out of the labor movement
Amy is interviewing Christine Hallquist, who made history by becoming the first openly transgender major-party gubernatorial nominee in U.S. history in 2018. She was the Democratic candidate in Vermont, and she says she is staying in politics to advance a progressive agenda.
NEW: Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood workers are under tremendous stress and expecting a “tidal wave of need.”
Now they’re organizing to protect and improve abortion care by ending chronic understaffing and low wages at clinics.
Dozens of Extinction Rebellion activists have been arrested after staging a die-in in the street outside city hall. They join thousands of protesters in the UK and around the world engaging in direct action to demand governments confront the climate crisis.
It's Day 7 of the Minneapolis teacher strike!!!!
Meanwhile around 200 food service workers for the Minneapolis school district are also on the verge of walking out:
NEW: Minneapolis Public Schools educators tell us they’re forced to work 2-3 jobs to make ends meet, and some of their coworkers are homeless.
@MFT59
teachers & educators are striking to demand at least $35K/year.
It’s their first strike in nearly 50 years.
Here's our piece from the Venezuelan embassy in DC. Demonstrators have been occupying the building for 2+ weeks to protest US sanctions & Trump administration plans to turn the embassy over to Venezuelan opposition leaders amid the ongoing attempted coup.
Watch young activist Yazmin go door to door to tell voters about the constitutional amendment on the Kansas ballot that would overturn the right to an abortion in the state.
She artfully debunks anti-abortion talking points to explain why they should vote no and protect access:
NEW: Kansas will be the first state to vote on the right to abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
We spoke to Kansans about what it will mean if voters remove the right to abortion from the state constitution on August 2.
“It will literally kill us.”
SHARE and VOTE NO.
"If these people can get fired for trying to do the right thing, where does that leave us?"
@Starbucks
is firing union leaders at its stores across the country. The reasons are laughable:
NEW: Starbucks is firing union leaders during elections for increasingly preposterous reasons.
One union leader was fired for showing up to work too early. Another was terminated after her co-worker refused to return from lunch.
The reasons only get more absurd from there.
I just got my $1,200 deposit. My income has not been affected by the pandemic, so I'm giving it all away. I hope others who are able to will do the same!
#solidaritynotcharity
I gave to:
Today on
@democracynow
we share part two of our special on growing homelessness the Bay Area: "Pushed Out, Attacked & Criminalized: San Francisco’s Unhoused People Speak out Amid Housing Crisis"
NEW: Thousands of nurses & workers just went on strike at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo, where low wages have led to an exodus of workers and dangerous understaffing.
They say equipment isn’t being cleaned, nurses are overworked, and it’s putting patients’ lives at risk.
today's episode of
@democracynow
is all about building union power -- from teachers in Chicago to Amazon workers in Alabama. and
@sarahljaffe
's new book Work Won't Love You Back!
New York City is leaving tens of thousands of people in overcrowded shelters & on the streets while COVID-19 overwhelms the hospitals. I spoke to
@SafetyNetUJC
@humandotnyc
@Josiahhaken
@pthny
who are demanding hotel rooms for the unhoused now:
We’ve covered your union, here’s ours.
We are the staff of More Perfect Union, and this Labor Day, we’re proud to announce we unionized with
@WBNG32035
.
As
@IATSE
gears up to strike, we at
@MorePerfectUS
are looking for rank and file members who are willing to speak out on the terrifying issue of car accidents due to overwork.
Want to submit your story? Directions here:
This is from Jade Thompson with IATSE 705: “One thing is for certain and that is the fact that we need to start changing the culture on set ourselves… we have to start putting our foot down and holding them accountable to the contract they f***ing sign, whatever that is.”
Construction workers with
@CTUL_TC
are fighting back against wage theft & exploitation.
"I can't put food on the table with happiness. I can't pay rent with being happy... My economic problems are only resolved when someone stops stealing my wages."
NEW: Construction workers in Minneapolis are taking on developers to stop rampant wage theft.
Developers use citizenship status to bully workers into staying silent. One worker says they’re owed $110K in stolen wages.
The Building Dignity & Respect Program would end this abuse.
My interview with striking Uber driver Inder Parmar yesterday, filmed by
@backpck_journo
. He has lost two-thirds of his income as the company has slashed compensation.
“Members of LAist’s union noted that the station’s current CEO made around $675,000 last year, while the former CEO has been paid half a million dollars per year, three years after leaving the job.”
HEAR YE, HEAR YE! April 1st marks 50 DAYS since we walked out, taking a stand against the egregious unfair labor practices & illegal union-busting by
@MedievalTimes
. We continue to fight for fair wages, safe working conditions, & better treatment (for ourselves & for our horses).
We at
@democracynow
are in Burlington, Vermont at the Sanders Institute Gathering. Bernie Sanders spoke tonight about the US-backed Saudi-led war on Yemen, Medicare for all, a $15 minimum wage, and the powerful progressive movement sweeping the country.
These dancers have been on the picket line for 2+ months.
Every weekend they set up outside Star Garden in what one dancer described as a "strip club on the street" with signs & bullhorns.
This movement takes heart & resources. You can support here:
The rate of injuries for
@Amazon
workers is outrageously high. Nearly one in five Amazon delivery drivers were injured on the job in 2021.
Don't miss this important piece by
@brookedarrah
:
NEW: Accidental deaths and injuries have skyrocketed since the 1990s.
More than 200,000 people died in accidents in 2020. So what has made the U.S. such a dangerous place to live and work?
We’ve spent decades systematically deregulating our economy to benefit corporations.
"Between 2016 and 2022, at least 22 people have died in the state after being restrained stomach-down by law enforcement officers, according to a new analysis of currently available state use-of-force data"
"There is often radio silence when an abortion clinic is under threat. And yet if you have another health care facility, like a nursing home or hospital where union jobs are at risk, the union shows up in force to protect those jobs..."
NEW: San Francisco renters are taking on the city’s biggest landlord, aided by a groundbreaking law giving tenant unions new power.
Veritas, a $4.5B company, is neglecting rent-controlled units to force people out.
Now tenants at 24+ buildings are unionizing to fight back.