sharks + planes as formerly seen on Twitter

Listed from oldest to newest. Hopefully we can do this again at the end of 2024.

The stuff I'd consider my best or most important posts:

• Florida Legislature passes bill to gut public-sector unions, DeSantis expected to sign it into law
• Strippers at North Hollywood's Star Garden appear to win recognition, will become only current union for strippers in the United States
• AI-trained chatbot allegedly used to undermine unionization at the National Eating Disorders Association's Helpline / An update on the National Eating Disorders Association's Helpline
• Magic Tavern strippers in Portland, OR seek to become second stripper union in the US
• UC San Diego student workers arrested for felony "conspiracy and vandalism" over chalk/washable paint messages supporting UAW Local 2865
• How many IWW workplaces are there in the U.S.? At least 40 across 33 employers by my estimation.
• Longpost: Trouble brews in the independent Amazon Labor Union over theory of change, internal democracy, & leadership of Christian Smalls
• Ohio Republicans continue to push bill that would prohibit striking by professors among other far-right priorities
• Support Durham city workers as they contravene the law in striking for better wages!
• An interesting petition before the NLRB: the Dartmouth College men's college basketball team
• The attempt to save San Francisco's Anchor Brewing by turning it into a worker cooperative, and how that's going

Unions and Israel/Palestine:

• Multiple Spanish trade unions, parties support the Fin al Comercio de Armas con Israel (End the arms trade with Israel) coalition
• UAW becomes the latest union to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza
• 1199SEIU calls for a ceasefire in Gaza
• GoFundMe shuts down a fundraiser for the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate that was organized by the IWW Freelance Journalists Union

Some underappreciated union wins:

• Rhode Island School of Design students and faculty walk out in support of RISD custodians / Update: RISD custodians and student-worker solidarity win a big victory!
• Coalition of Independent Unions formed by several Portland, OR unions
• BREAKING: Toronto transit workers win right to strike again after Ontario court rules provincial legislation to be unconstitutional
• Charlotte airport workers unionize in big win; largest Carolina airport worker victory since 1997
• 1,400(!) Georgia workers at school bus manufacturer Blue Bird unionize with the United Steelworkers

Labor law wins:

• NLRB overturns Trump era General Motors decision, removing civility requirement and allowing heated language for union members again
• Maine becomes latest state to take action against captive audience meetings―at least third state this year to address practice
• Alphabet's appeal fails, NLRB finds them to be joint employer of Youtube Music employees!
• Public sector employee strikes found lawful in San Francisco as Public Employment Relations Board overturns 70s-era laws
• NLRB issues new and significant pro-worker rules surrounding union elections, bargaining
• New York Governor Kathy Hochul signs bills banning captive meetings; punishing wage theft; and increasing benefits for some workers
• U.S. Marshals actually arrest an employer for not complying with an NLRB and Court order
• California governor Gavin Newsom signs "first-of-its-kind law" that requires teaching students about workplace rights, forming unions
• New NLRB rule will make corporations joint-employers if they determine one or more essential condition of employment
• Wisconsin unions challenge the constitutionality of the state's collective bargaining laws

Labor stories to consider into the New Year:

• Minnesota legislature caps off session with massive expansions to labor rights
• Trevor Project allegedly announces layoffs in the middle of bargaining session with union; threatens to withhold employee severance
• Starbucks workers in Ithaca walk out and Cornell students occupy administration offices in protest of Starbucks decision / After two days, twelve hours of occupation, Cornell students appear to win first steps of university ending relationship with Starbucks / UPDATE: Cornell to terminate relationship with Starbucks over union-busting, labor violations; will change coffee vendors by 2025
• Minneapolis City Council votes 7-5 to give Uber and Lyft drivers guaranteed minimum wage, labor protections—this time, mayor mulls veto / UPDATE: Jacob Frey vetoes Minneapolis City Council's rideshare ordinance; council will have a chance to overturn the veto in September
• Gizmodo en Español, Gizmodo's Spanish wing, shut down and replaced with machine translation—latest mess in G/O Media's pivot to "AI"
• Georgetown students petition to get Starbucks off their campus

In the meantime—and especially to all the new followers, hello!—you may wish to peruse some of what I consider to be the best posts of this account over the past year. It probably includes developments you didn't hear about!

I am not looking for advice. I do not like putting this up top but I have been going through every channel available to me where I live. I assure you that everything even a little bit associated with social assistance programs is something I have already explored.

Yesterday I found out that I am no longer receiving disability payments. As in immediately. As in I do not get paid at the start of next month.

Apparently they've been sending me money for the past 28 months in fucking error. You know, a little error of $1300 for 28 months. They accidentally sent me over $36,000 over the course of nearly 2.5 years for 28 months, went "whoopsie doodle!" and sent me a letter saying "yeah okay, so we're gonna stop doing that." This has left me in a lurch that I don't think should be fucking legal, but after doing what due diligence I can in a ruined emotional state, it turns out it is.

Worse yet, they want that $36,400 back.

Right now I have about $95 in the bank. My rent is $725 a month. My electricity is $75 a month. My heating bill is $40 a month. My internet is $85 a month. I don't even know what my food budget is per month because my answer is basically always "the rest I guess" because everything else goes either to that or whatever incidental costs come up. I am expected to pay the government $36,400.

What I've done so far is the equivalent of putting a bandaid on a bisected body. I've cancelled things like my select few patreon pledges, things like xbox live, whatever I can that I can actually do, but that's going to save me maybe $40 a month when I am in desperate need of $1000 just to make ends meet. I hate asking for money and I hate how often I have, but now I'm in the most desperate situation I've been in since I had to move between provinces in the first place.

They announced this earlier today on Twitter; you can read about why they unionized here.

I didn't get to cover this, but CBS News Digital Union was formed earlier this month by the 46 members of CBS News Digital—that section of the newsroom controls "CBSNews.com, its mobile website, social media channels and the CBS News app." They had four major issues they outlined in their letter to management which they hoped to resolve through unionization, which were:

Transparency: Open and honest communication is essential in our industry, and we want to ensure that management is consulting with employees on major decisions that affect CBS News Digital.

Equitable and Fair Compensation and Benefits: We want to ensure that we are being paid fair, respectable and liveable salaries. We need clear and comprehensive job descriptions, competitive compensation, fair benefits and financial recognition for taking on extra projects and working holidays, weekends and nights. We want a standard for raises and a streamlined pathway to grow within CBS News.

Diversity: To create content that is truly reflective of America, we need to have a diverse and inclusive team. It is vital to our mission as journalists to show all viewpoints and have employees from all backgrounds. We want a workplace where every employee is treated equally and will receive the respect they deserve.

[and] Editorial standards: As employees of one of the most prestigious and well-respected news organizations in the world, excellence is demanded of us every day. We want standard guidelines around what will be produced editorially and be allowed to produce outstanding quality journalism.

Hopefully they will be able to swiftly bargain with CBS on these points given that they've been voluntarily recognized!