Striketober: Labor Militancy Grows, U.S. Workers Walk Off the Job & IATSE Members Get Tentative Deal

We begin our coverage of what some are calling “Striketober” with a look at how the union of 60,000 television and film production workers averted a strike just hours before a midnight deadline on Saturday, when it reached a tentative agreement with an association of Hollywood producers representing companies like Walt Disney, Netflix and Amazon. The tentative deal brings members of IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, higher pay, longer breaks, better healthcare and pension benefits. Some members say the deal doesn’t go far enough, and about 40,000 members from 13 Hollywood locals must still approve the pact. Jacobin writer Alex Press says the averted strike is part of a “broader moment” of labor militancy across the United States, including workers at Amazon, Kellogg’s and elsewhere. “Workers are willing to fight back,” she says. “They understand they have more leverage right now.”

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[kirstinstrand]

Finally! People are beginning to RESPECT themselves! Hooray!

[shaykespeeer]

The working class are sick and tired of the wealthiest hoarding more and more wealth, while the working class struggles more and more every year to get by. RISE UP!!!! WE ARE MANY and THEY ARE FEW!!!! Billionaires FEAR the 99% !!!!

[brandonharris]

We need to have a national strike for better pay, better hours, equity, inclusion and diversity.

[jimjett]

I was a union worker for 27 years before I became disabled, and I am with you . Stand together and you can do wonders ! Even the non union workers need to back the unions and you will better yourself too !

[lisaeischens]

9 hours turn around time? That is insane! When are they supposed to have time to eat, shower, spend time with their family and friends and then actually get 8 hours of sleep that is absolutely necessary for proper health. I can’t believe that people have tolerated it this long!

[kingofthecatnap]

A month makes little difference. It must be sustained until corporates have their knees in the dirt begging.

[markh]

The working class are sick of working every day and having nothing at the end of the month to show for it. I knew it wasn't that they were paid too much with enhanced unemployment.

[emiebex]

Striketober needs to be a National Holiday where Unions & Employees, can tell CEO's & their Bosses to go to Hell.

[oldschoolman]

The working class are tired of corporate slavery.

[adacasas]

Many people who I know have worked since they were children! My Grandparents had a store and a restaurant, so my cousins and I always had blistering 'chores'.
My own children were VOLUNTEERING for local community clean ups, the public library summer reading programs and our local art center, BEFORE they were old enough for legal jobs!
We've put in long hours before Covid-19, and now having to work from home longer hours than at an office. It's ridiculous! ( my youngest is a CPA getting gray hairs at 34yrs)
I'm nearly 60yrs old and putting in 50+ hrs/week.
I transport disabled people who are going to and from WORK! AT NIGHT!!!
Visually or hearing impaired, MS, amputees, etc., working thru adversity, but going WORK regularly.
These young people SHOULD STRIKE!
You can walk off the job in righteous protest or be carried off the job in a stretcher.
Choose LIFE!✊🏽✊🏻✊

[sm]

Wow! Alex Press significantly raises the bar on articulate and intelligent reporting. No hyperbole, no ambiguity, no unnecessary complexity; just clear, concise relaying of information. Very bright future ahead.

[maryjane]

Go go go American workers✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾We stand with you, greetings from Germany!

[ZaZen___]

My fear is that workers have been conditioned for so little for so long, that we won't progress societal benefits and that we will demand too little. We need a 4 day work week, healthcare, (some) profit sharing, more worker co ops for smaller local businesses that arent too complex to run.

[swatisharma]

It’s so sad that working class is asked to compromise their health, family time, well being, pension, salary raise when the big corporations are profiting even more in these unprecedented economic situation. It’s a shame and a crime against humanity.

[TomRivieremusic]

" There is no greater misfortune than greed." - Lao Tzu

[idontevenknow]

Thanks Alex for your work on the issue, and DN for having her on!

[ricseet]

Americans are finally waking up. Bravo!

[Labor_Jones]

*GREAT STORIES of the WEALTHY:*
Wealthy people filled up the Food Locker and shipped out on their Yachts while a Pandemic was killing fellow citizens.... They nearly doubled their incomes doing nothing but being safe at sea.

P E A C E!

[glanconer]

The Fred Hampton Leftusts channel is hosting a General Strike Summit Nov. 12th-14th to discuss how to implement a General Strike, mutual aid to support it, direct action to bolster it, and demands.

[janicewallace]

This has been a long time coming. From my perspective, it's the slow deterioration of the healthcare 'industry.' I use in home caregiving and being on medicare / medicaid means I am limited in the agencies I can pull from for that care. The focus on for profit healthcare has meant fewer caregivers as their positions were relabeled as 'unskilled' thus, esp with the medicare / medicaid oriented agencies, the pay is minimum wage, without raises or benefits. As a healthcare client, I know that there is a dollar amount that I am 'worth' to these agencies set by medicaid / medicare and the state (for me, Arizona). It has meant a slow leak of available in home workers and Covid has only made it worse. Even fast food restaurants pay more to start. That makes me less valuable economically than a combo meal. When there are no caregivers available, the county says, 'don't worry, we'll just place you in a nursing home.' That is a death sentence, especially exacerbated by Covid. Arizona was once the model that proved in home care was more economically sound than group or nursing facilities. This is a Quality of Life issue and it means that my life and all of the other elderly and disabled people in need of daily living assistance are set against a monetizing scale and found to be a poor resource. The shortage of available in home caregivers means if even one accident happens and a shift goes unfilled, I lose services. I have no family or significant other to depend on. When it really seems the only true value we hold as a country is on money and profit, those who cannot or can no longer work are being discarded. If feels, in general, and to me specifically, that the wealth of this nation and it's citizens is being sucked out in a survival of the fittest, everyone for themselves race to the end. I am terrified of what may become of Me in the next day or and next few months.