Author: Kevin N.

Teamsters workers at the Airgas plant in Valley View, Ohio, are on strike as of June 25th. After voting 13 to 5 in favor of forming a union a little more than a year ago, the location’s 23 workers still don’t have a contract. Large corporations, like Airgas, are known to stall negotiations with newly formed unions for as long as financially possible. What is surprising is the Valley View location is not negotiating the first contract between Airgas and Teamsters, and another Airgas facility less than ten miles away got their contract months ago. However, another Ohio Airgas location just a few miles from the Valley View plant already negotiated their union contract months ago.

“In a nutshell, our sister plant in Oakwood is about 5 or 6 miles down the road. They just got a contract last year,” explains Joe Most, one of the Valley View union’s chief organizers. “That’s a good, fair contract, which that’s all we want. We’re not asking for anything more than them.” Among other benefits and stipulations sought by the Valley View union, the Oakwood contract includes a modest raise of an additional $2 per hour for each of the plant’s 23 employees.

Regardless of the Oakwood plant’s within-walking-distance precedent, Airgas is still refusing to negotiate. According to Most, the legal team that negotiated and signed the Oakwood contract was fired by Airgas after doing so, and the new legal team has been far from cooperative with the union at Valley View plant.

Among the conditions that Airgas was trying to include in the contract was a provision that would allow Airgas to make medical determinations in the case of emergencies. “If you got hurt on the job, [the company would decide] whether you go to the hospital and whether to provide transport.” Most says that this controversial provision, among others, caused negotiations to unravel, so the Teamsters declared on June 25th that they will strike until the Valley View Airgas workers are given fair treatment.

Joe Most says that he was initially skeptical when his coworker approached him about asking the Teamsters to help their small plant unionize. At a previous job, Most was a member of a UAW union, and he was disappointed by the lack of support his plant received. “Because we were only 150 [workers at that location], they [UAW] practically ignored us because we were so small.” Most recalls that when they approached UAW about supporting them during a strike, the union’s leaders declined to do so, claiming that the plant’s small size made it “not worth it.” (Most also notes that his experience with UAW was more than 20 years ago, and suggests that their practices may have changed since then.)

In contrast, the Teamsters have agreed to support the far smaller Valley View Airgas location, despite having a staff less than one sixth the size of Most’s previous job where the union was UAW. Most said he’s been “shocked” by the level of support they’ve received. When the plant was initially fighting for the contract, Juan Campos, the Vice President of the Teamsters, came to the Valley View plant to personally oversee the negotiations. “When they told me the vice president was coming in from Chicago, I thought, ‘I mean, he’s going to ‘big-time’ us, right? There’s no way he’s going to talk to these peons,’ you know?” laughs Most. “But no, he went to each person, shook their hand, asked them, ‘Do you have any questions?’ and gave them his card.”

What’s more, when it became clear during the contract negotiations that the Airgas representatives were refusing to match the Oakwood plant’s contract, it was Campos himself who walked out of negotiations and declared that the tiny plant of 23 workers would strike with the full support of the Teamsters. That is what working class solidarity looks like.

The Teamsters are coordinating an escalating strike strategy across the country, which Most estimates could continue for a month. Airgas has tentatively agreed to return to the bargaining table on July 22nd. So far, Airgas plants in Boston, Erie, Pittsburgh, and others have gone on strike, with Teamsters drivers refusing to deliver any goods to those facilities. Further locations are slated to strike next week. “About 20 to 25 [locations] across the Midwest are setting up picket lines,” Most explains, mentioning locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, among others. “And it’s not just going to be our guys from my place. If you noticed, we have some retirees and some of the trustees from the Teamsters here [on the picket line] with us.”

When asked about his personal reason for striking, Most explains, “I’m single. I’m basically fighting for the other people with wives and kids. Plus, I think our warehouse workers are underpaid big time for what they do. It’s hot, it’s laborious, I feel bad for them every day when I see them everyday. And I know how much they make.”

Most is confident that the strike will pay off. “If you think you can’t afford the strike, I would say the opposite. You can’t afford not to strike,” he declares. “This is your only way to nail the company. Especially an insanely profitable one like that one. It’s not like they’re filing for Chapter 11 [bankruptcy]. They’re a publicly traded company, so we can see their books.”

Joe Most is no stranger to the union fight. Despite his disappointment with his UAW experience twenty years ago, he acknowledges that it was far better than having no union at all. Most says after joining the UAW union, “I [had been] written up only one time in nine years, and all of a sudden I get fired six times in two years? It was obvious they were retaliating against me,” he recalls.

“But the union was there and I got reinstated with back pay and everything. Every single time.”

The post No Staff Too Small to Strike appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.

By: Collin P.

DSAers will be visiting the picket line in numbers on Tuesday, July 1 at 6pm, at 800 Farrow in Ferndale. Show your solidarity!

Our world runs on pressurized gas. I’m not talking about gasoline. I’m talking about acetylene for welding your cars together, propane for heating homes, nitrogen for fire suppression systems, and oxygen for hospitals. These gases are supplied by workers at companies like Airgas. These are the workers who fill the canisters, ensure gases are safely stored and stable, and transport them to where they need to be. And these are the same 30 Teamsters Local 283 workers who are now on strike for their dignity and livelihood.

The strike began June 23 after months without a contract. The workers had been trying to negotiate with management since November 2024 and the next session isn’t even scheduled for two weeks. Eleven Airgas units are now on strike across the country with more to come!

Workers’ Demands

I stood at the picket line in solidarity last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with workers like John, a truck driver who has been at Airgas for eight years. He loves being on the road and getting people the oxygen they need. What he doesn’t love is the poor wages and poor raises, neither of which are sustainable.

He also doesn’t love management’s introduction of driver-facing cameras; he is on camera at all times during the day. Management has been abusing these cameras to ding their workers for minor infractions, including drinking water, to slowly chip away at their dignity or even their livelihood.

Ray has been with Airgas for seven years. He used to be a union sheet metal worker, working in facilities where they built paint booths for the Big 3 automotive. He loved that job, talking of the brotherhood and solidarity he felt. He had to leave due to health conditions, but with his CDL and hazmat certifications, he found a new position driving for Airgas and loved it.

That was until new management added the driver-facing cameras and forced him out of the trucks and into the warehouse. He now unloads and loads every truck that comes into the facility as opposed to being on the open road where he would rather be.

Both John and Ray said that a new HR lead quickly started wrongly dinging the workers until they got disciplinary action. Ray talked of how management would not tell you of disciplinary action until days later, after it was supposed to be remedied, letting you go on unaware of any issues — so they could come at you with more.

John and Ray both want higher wages, similar to those at other Airgas facilities and industry competitors like Linde. And they want to fix their dispute/grievance system.

Not all Airgas facilities are unionized, adding to the pressure on its workers. Some of the other union Airgas facilities have settled their contracts. But this local wants more! They don’t want the bare minimum; they want a wage that is respectful of their labor. They want a disciplinary system that is fair and they want management to stop micromanaging.

Airgas’s Greed

Last year Airgas made approximately $30 billion in revenue. The union members believe they deserve some of that. Right now management is offering a $2 raise, which they find insulting. They are the ones who worked hard during the pandemic to supply the essentials needed for hospitals during the influx of patients. They were deemed “essential workers” but say that management gave them only an extra $100 for the entirety of the pandemic.

Management is trying to push these workers out by bringing in workers from other non-union facilities or even some union ones. The other facilities do not have strong enough contracts to be able to push back on scab assignments. I was told that normally this facility outputs 10 trucks of product every day, with about 140 stops. Since the strike, management has only been able to get out two trucks and a small pickup, decreasing their output to just 10–15 stops.

Safety alarms are going off non-stop because of the scabs’ incompetence. They are improperly marking trucks with the required placards for safety. These are volatile materials we are dealing with, putting the safety of workers and communities at risk. They are reportedly paying the scabs an extra $500 a day.

Management has even gone as far as sending letters and a press release to all striking workers saying they have been terminated, claiming their strike amounts to three days of “no-call/no-shows.” Firing workers for union activity is illegal, of course, but Airgas does not seem to care.

Right now union members are asking for more DSA members to show up, especially during the less staffed shift (2pm-10pm), but they appreciate any support on the other shift as well (6am — 2pm). DSAers will be visiting the picket line in numbers on Tuesday, July 1 at 6pm. The location is 800 Farrow in Ferndale.

Hope Is in the Air

Spirits are high at the Airgas picket line. Union members said they enjoy meeting community members who support their struggle and are willing to fight alongside them. This is the first time most members here have been on strike so they are learning a lot about what it means to be in a union. They have learned what solidarity looks like from DSA, community members, and another Teamsters local showing up and walking the line with them.

Ray talked of hopes for growing militancy in the union and growing solidarity among his coworkers. Since with a truck driving job you spend most of your time on the road, he has appreciated the opportunity to get to know those who support his fight. He told me, “We are a union. That means brotherhood. We stand together for all of us. That’s what it means to be in a union.”

Jim, the alternate steward on duty for the strike, said he wanted to join other picket lines after seeing our show of solidarity. He said he’s learning real quick the relationships they thought they had with management don’t exist when you are on the other side of the fence. We talked of a strategy to make the other Airgas facilities contracts all lined up so they can go on strike together in the future.

We talked about inspiring ideas such as the direction of the UAW to try and line up all union contracts for May Day so we can have a general strike. Jim is hopeful about this new wave of unionism — from the Teamsters to Starbucks — to make change in the world. It’s on us as DSA to show that a better world is possible.

Join the picket line to show them support. Put DSA words into action!

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Airgas Teamsters on Strike in Ferndale: Greed Is in the Air was originally published in The Detroit Socialist on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

There's never been a more exciting time to be in DSA. As you may have heard, a democratic socialist recently won the New York City mayoral primary.

33-year-old Zohran Mamdani's unexpected victory over former governor Andrew Cuomo in America's biggest city demonstrates the power of politics that centers the material needs of the working class. Amid numerous reasons for despair, it shows that DSA can offer a path forward. It's a moment of national significance, and now we need to take the model nationwide.

You can play a part by joining DSA and getting involved in your local chapter. Scroll down for our calendar of meetings in July.

You'll notice that it doesn't include a chapter or branch meeting. Instead, we've planned a couple outdoor social events for the summer. One of them is tomorrow (6/29)!

Come to Waterbury Center State Park (177 Reservoir Rd.) at 9:30 a.m. or to Stowe's Sterling Pond Trailhead (6443 Mountain Rd.) at 10 a.m. and spend a day in nature with other socialists. You can hang out with us again on July 20 at Burlington's Oakledge Park (11 Flynn Ave.), where a picnic will begin at 4:30 p.m. Feel free to email us at this address if you have any questions about either event.

We're getting folks together in part because we're trying to raise funds for our chapter's elected delegates in advance of the 2025 DSA National Convention in Chicago, where they'll debate resolutions and help choose a new National Political Committee. If we want our chapter's voice represented in August, we need to make sure that our representatives can afford the trip. You can donate here.

Finally, you may have heard that downtown Burlington is getting a new movie theater in the fall. If you noticed its name or read about its democratic governance, you may guessed that socialists had something to do with it. GMDSA has endorsed Partizanfilm, a cooperative, grassroots project to build a not-for-profit cinema for the people. Consider becoming a member! And please tell them we sent you on their signup form.

GMDSA MEETINGS
🚲 GMDSA's Urbanism Committee will meet on Monday, July 7, at 6 p.m. on Zoom.

🧑‍🏭 Talk about your job and learn about shop-floor organizing from peers at Workers' Circle (co-hosted by the Green Mountain IWW) on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, including July 9, at 6 p.m. at Migrant Justice (179 S. Winooski Ave., Burlington).

🔨 Our Labor Committee will hold its next meeting on Monday, July 14, at 6 p.m. on Zoom.

🗳️ The next meeting of our Electoral Committee will take place on Wednesday, July 16, at 6 p.m. on Zoom.

🏳️‍⚧️ Our Gender & Sexuality Committee will meet on Monday, July 21, at 7 p.m. on Zoom.

🤝 Find out how you can help our Membership Committee improve recruitment and involvement in our chapter on Tuesday, July 22, at 6 p.m. on Zoom.

🎥 Socialist Film Club will temporarily go remote next month. July's pick is the Italian drama The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971), available via Solidarity Cinema. After watching it individually at home, we'll discuss it together at Zero Gravity (716 Pine St., Burlington) on Friday, July 25, at 8 p.m.

🍉 Our Palestine Solidarity Committee will meet on Monday, July 28, at 7 p.m. on Zoom.

STATE AND LOCAL NEWS
📰 About 16,500 protesters rallied against President Trump in Burlington on No Kings Day, which may have been the state's most active day of political demonstrations ever.

📰 The Vermont Progressive Party needs a new executive director.

COMMUNITY FLYERS

A review of Malcolm Harris' recent ecosocialist proposals.

Has the US Left's failure to unite around a Black presidential candidate damaged trust and relations of solidarity?

Review of Mark Fisher's dissertation and the strategic limits of Marxist cultural criticism.

Boycotts to protect DEI and workplace diversity are strengthened by lessons from the Black civil rights movement

Speaking to a renewed age of public-sector austerity, a history of US postal worker organizing

Metro DC has elected a range of political tendencies to represent the chapter at the 2025 convention; a brief analysis.

An empathetic understanding of a recent DSA social-media discourse and questions about caucuses and representation