Ep 135 - There’s No Such Thing As a ”Pro-Labor Capitalist”

We start this week's episode with some sad news, as the South Korean truckers have been forced to end their strike after weeks of vicious government repression. Also this week the NLRB ruled that Apple has been breaking the law with its Starbucks-inspired union busting campaigns at its retail stores. Minnesota nurses have called off their potential strike after tentatively agreeing to a new contract with safe staffing measures for the first time. About a quarter of the striking workers at UC ratified new contracts this week but the majority have stayed out, escalating tactics in response to the intransigence of the administration. The strike at the New School ended this weekend after solidarity between faculty and students forced the school administrators to concede to the workers' demands. Grad students at BU became the latest group of academic workers to unionize this week. Workers also voted overwhelmingly to unionize at the Ultium Cells electric car battery factory in Warren, OH this week. We are getting the first test of Microsoft's "neutrality agreement" with the CWA as QA testers at ZeniMax are aiming to build the largest union within a major games publisher in the country. Workers at Disney World are struggling for a new contract as their low wages leave a majority unable to pay their bills, causing many to have to live out of their cars. And finally, this week marks the 1 year anniversary of the first successfully unionized Starbucks, as the movement has exploded to cover over 7000 workers.

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