Not everyone is happy with it

The January issue of California Red featured an article by Susan Englander on the then-upcoming strike of faculty in the California State University system. Here’s an update.

The 29,000 members of the California Faculty Association are voting this week (2/12 through 2/18) on a tentative agreement (TA) reached by their negotiations team after one day of a projected five-day strike. According to CFA members interviewed by California Red, the TA is a mixed bag, and despite some gains over current conditions for some members of the unit, a campaign to turn it down is underway.

Positives

The contract achieved some results in less expensive items, including the expansion of family leave from 6 to 10 weeks. Although some faculty feel it doesn’t make sense to interrupt the flow of the semester for students that way—why have one instructor leave and come back for a few weeks, instead of the substitute teaching a whole semester?—the increase brings the leave to within shouting distance of a semester, and it should be possible to boost it there in future negotiations.

Counselors, who had been suffering from enormous student ratios of up to 4000-1, seem generally pleased with aspirational language for a 1500-1 ratio in place in the TA. That’s the acknowledged international standard, and while still too high, represents a real improvement. 

In regard to policing on campus, a union rep can now be present with any interactions with cops.

Perhaps most significant is that the TA has elevated salary and working conditions for the lowest paid lecturers. Union negotiators had aimed for a ten thousand dollar increase for lecturers at the floor, and got six thousand for Group A (instructors without a terminal degree), and three thousand dollars for Group B (terminal degrees). It had been a major goal to make some progress for the bottom end of the scale. Again, not enough, but not nothing.

The union also won some movement on lactation spaces and gender-neutral bathrooms. 

Negatives

The union had proposed 12% for a general salary increase, which would have made up for historically high levels of inflation over the past couple years. The mediator suggested 10% would keep up with inflation. What the TA contains is 5%, plus another 5% raise in July, contingent upon the 2024 California state budget leaving the CSU line item intact—which, given the massive state budget deficit, currently figured at somewhere between $38 billion (Newsom’s estimate) and $68 billion (Legislative Analyst’s estimate), is no sure thing. And even 10% would probably not keep up with cost-of-living increases for the coming year. 

As Stephen McFarland, who teaches Labor Studies at CSU Dominguez Hills, told California Red, 

“Each contract we slip a few more points behind the increase in prices; the lowest paid lecturers would gain some much-needed ground with their increase, and everyone else will fall behind again.”

McFarland said that some of the more experienced lecturers feel they got placed in a donut hole by this contract; the lowest placed will get something; many of the ones just above that feel they aren’t getting much.

A “No” campaign

As a result of these feelings, and a strong sense among many that the leadership cut the strike too short, organizing for rejection of the TA is occurring across the state. Last week a website went up urging a “no” vote. There have been big turnouts on a number of campuses for reject-the-contract rallies, and 78% of faculty voting in a straw poll say they are going to vote no.  

It’s unclear at this point what will happen if the TA is accepted by the membership.  A lot will depend on how wide a margin the vote produces. One possibility is that faculty involved in the “no” campaign may feel they want to shift the direction of the union and get more active. 

The mobilization for the strike, even cut off at one day, should give confidence to the membership that future negotiations can be bolstered by a credible strike threat.

What might occur if the TA is rejected is also unclear.  The strike authorization vote should still be in effect through the end of the semester. The negotiations team can go back to the table with that in their pocket. But whether the union leadership will want to utilize it is uncertain. Some faculty might vote to approve the TA because at this point they don’t see a clear path to something better.

There is some history within CFA of a TA being voted down, in 1999, as recounted in Joe Berry and Helena Worthen’s Power Despite Precarity.  The union won a better deal in the wake of that rejection, and it pushed CFA in a new direction. We’ll find out soon whether that’s a precedent.

When the longtime incumbent in California’s 7th Congressional District, Doris Matsui, refused to meet with constituents about Gaza even after we occupied her office—and failed to call for a cease-fire—my Palestinian-American neighbors and allies decided it was time to replace her, and I agreed to run.

We seek to mobilize the many disenchanted, mostly young voters who share our anger over the Gaza carnage and other issues—and who will not support either the incumbent or the only other candidate in the race, a token Republican who is not campaigning. Finishing ahead of either of them will take us into the November general election.

I have been a member of DSA for a decade and involved for more than five decades as a participant and organizer in struggles for justice and peace in Palestine-Israel. Recently, I volunteered on cases to defend faculty and students under fire for engaging in support for Palestine rights on campus and a federal appeal defending a business’s right to boycott.

Along with most of Congress and the Biden administration, Matsui has abandoned the people of Palestine and shirked her duty to humanity. In allowing Israel’s genocidal assault to continue and supporting it with arms, money and diplomatic stonewalling, they ignore the vast majority of Americans who want our government to stop the killing. 

Running against misplaced priorities

I am running because the United States has misplaced priorities, wildly and existentially out of touch with the needs of its people and the demands of our changing world. I will push Congress to address the impending climate catastrophe as the ecological, economic and security threat it is, and press for a Green New Deal along with global action to end fossil fuels for good. 

I will fight to make healthcare and housing fundamental human rights, joining with others to push for universal single-payer to banish the insurance industry, and restructure the healthcare system to serve people over profit. 

I will fight for massive public investment in sustainable social housing, along with nationwide rent control and eviction protections to counter the rapacious hedge funds currently dominating the market.

I will fight for economic justice and labor rights, focusing on higher wages, wealth taxes and other progressive reforms, workers' rights to unionize, and support for small and cooperatively owned businesses, along with a shift to an economic model that prioritizes redistribution of wealth over exploitative growth at all costs. 

I will fight to enshrine abortion rights and for full gender equality.

I will fight for campaign finance reform, including publicly funded elections and the elimination of undemocratic institutions like the Electoral College, while ensuring easy and secure voting access and promoting ranked choice and proportional representation.

No corporate donations

Most of Congress is hopelessly corrupted by the influence of money in the form of corporate donations. I take none.

All these efforts are for a future in which the corrupting power of capital over our world will be replaced by democratization of workplaces and communities. 

A trillion dollars a year—enough to end homelessness 50 times over—are being diverted by and to the military-industrial-financial-congressional-lobbyist-media complex. Money that could go to improve our schools, build modern transit and provide healthcare and higher education for all is instead used to destabilize other countries and pursue forever wars that enrich arms traders, dirty energy companies and Wall Street. 

Nowhere lately has this been more stark than in Gaza. I join the demand—supported by a large majority of Americans—for an immediate, permanent cease-fire, freedom for hostages and political prisoners and massive amounts of humanitarian aid, to be followed by a diplomatic process to ensure self-determination, equality, human rights, restorative justice and safety for all.

We need leaders who work hard to create a society that guarantees equal rights and opportunity for all, rejects war and occupation, upholds international law and pursues economic, racial, climate, gender and social justice—on a planet that can survive the growing threats to its ability to support life as we know it. 

There are good reasons why the Sacramento Green and Peace & Freedom parties have taken the unusual step of recommending votes for me (their bylaws prevent official "endorsement").

Help us reclaim Congress from corporate and militarist interests and bend it in the direction of justice, peace, and equity. 

Please visit https://mandel4congress.org/. We welcome donations to help us reach supporters and get out the vote.

Back to all news

Seattle DSA and a broad coalition of working class organizations helped deliver Renton the highest minimum wage in the country through the passage of Measure 23-02. Now, South King County DSA organizers are forming a branch and expanding a socialist presence in a multiracial, working class city. 

Tonight, Seattle DSA is celebrating a historic win for the working class in Renton. Voters have overwhelmingly decided to raise the minimum wage to $20.29/hour for the largest employers in town.  This victory will facilitate a wealth transfer of tens of millions of dollars a year from the capitalist class to working class Rentonites.

We’re grateful for our coalition partners who were crucial in this campaign. Our progressive ally and Renton City Councilmember Carmen Rivera has been a champion of raising the wage from the beginning, despite constant outside pressures from business interests. The Transit Riders Union are the architects of Tukwila’s minimum wage initiative, and their guidance was a huge factor in getting this initiative passed. The Renton Education Association also played a crucial role: three REA members served on the Raise the Wage Renton steering committee and helped lead this campaign to victory. Contributions from labor and individuals sustained the campaign for over 13 months.

Membership mobilized at an unprecedented scale for our chapter, showing the power of a member-driven DSA Difference campaign. Raise the Wage Renton’s steering committee and PAC board were comprised entirely of DSA members. Most of these members, including everyone on the PAC board, live and work in Renton, and were fighting alongside fellow workers for greater economic freedom. The campaign knocked on 25,000+ doors, canvassed 59,000+ voters, made 14,000+ phone calls, and had 15,000+ conversations with Renton voters in the field or on the phone. Over 100 DSA members mobilized for 90% of these canvass attempts and 75% of these phone calls. Working at this scale established a new socialist organizing presence in Renton, and we’re excited for what the future holds for Seattle DSA and our soon to be formed South King County Branch.

The post Renton Raises the Wage! Workers win $20.29/hour starting in July 2024 appeared first on Seattle Democratic Socialists of America.

The unionization rate in the United States remains at around 10% after decades of deindustrialization in the Northeast and Midwest as well as anti-worker policies from corporations and the state, but labor organizers are fighting back. Across the country the UAW is attempting to organize non-union auto plants while here in New York service workers are building collective power. Last year we spoke with organizers from Barboncino’s who successfully organized a union at the pizza restaurant where they work. Today we’re joined by members of Nitehawk Workers Union Organizing Committee as they prepare for an National Labor Relations Board Election.

Does Initiative 83 pose a threat to the District's left-wing electoral project? A Minnesotan expatriate shares their perspective on the proposed system.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, 2/14 (6:45 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): February Chapter Meeting (In person at UNITE HERE Local 2, 209 Golden Gate Ave)

Friday, 2/16 (12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): Office Hours (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Friday, 2/16 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Cross-Bay Mixer with East Bay DSA (In person at Arthur Mac’s Tap and Snack, 4006 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland)

Saturday, 2/17 (12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.): Field Trip to the Museum of International Propaganda with EBDSA (In person at 1000 5th Ave, San Rafael)

Tuesday, 2/20 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): What is DSA? (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Wednesday, 2/21 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): HWG Reading Group – Mean Streets (In person at 1916 McAllister; Zoom)

Thursday, 2/22 (6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): February Tech Workers Meetup (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Friday, 2/23 (12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): Special Edition Office Hours with DSA’s National Political Committee (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Friday, 2/23 (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Gumbo Dinner with the NPC and Dean Preston (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, 2/24 (11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.): February Office Cleaning/Organizing (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, 2/24 (11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group (HWG) Office Hours (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, 2/24 (1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.): HWG Sock Distro (Meet in person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, 2/24 (7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.): [Hosted by East Bay DSA] Social: Meet Your National Political Committee! (In person at 2344 Webster Street, Oakland)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events/ for more events.

Events & Actions

Nominate Co-Chairs for the Palestine Solidarity Working Group

The Palestine Solidarity Working Group will be holding elections for the working group’s co-chairs at the February 14th chapter meeting tomorrow! The new co-chairs’ term will last from February through June. Members can nominate themselves or a comrade by emailing steering@dsasf.org with their nominations before the February chapter meeting.

Show Your Smolidarity at the February Chapter Meeting

The Priority Mutual Aid Working Group will be providing childwatch at the chapter meeting tomorrow, February 14th!

Parents and caregivers can fill out this form before the meeting to help ensure we have enough volunteers and supplies on hand. Volunteers interested in providing childcare can let us know on the #priority-mutual-aid Slack channel or via the form. We hope to see you and your kiddos there!

DSA SF and East Bay DSA Cross-Bay Mixer

Join us this Friday, February 16th at 6:00 p.m. for an evening of community-building and connection with our comrades! We will be meeting at 4006 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way in Oakland.

DSA SF and East Bay DSA are co-hosting a Valentine’s cross-bay mixer. Come for a comradely take on “speed dating” where we’ll chat, mingle, and make new friends! Hope to see you there!

Field Trip to the Museum of International Propaganda with East Bay DSA

EBDSA is organizing a  field trip to the Museum of International Propaganda on February 17th from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in San Rafael. They’ve invited us to join them!

If you’re interested in tagging along, message ellie or Jenna L on Slack.

Apply to Join the 2024 Convention Planning Subcommittee!

The 2024 Convention Planning Subcommittee is tasked with setting the timeline, putting together the agenda, leading the coordination, and handling the logistics for the chapter’s 2024 Annual Convention in June. We are starting early because its a big operation! The cadence will be light at the beginning of the process and naturally pick up the pace as we get closer to the main event!

Comrades with event planning experience are especially encouraged to apply! This is also a great place for newer members who are interested in jumping into the chapter to get involved. You’ll have plenty of support and see how the sausage is made for one of the biggest productions and most important cornerstones of our chapter’s democratic practice.

Behind the Scenes

The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.

To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.

Questions? Feedback? Something to add?

We welcome your feedback. If you have comments or suggestions, send a message to the #newsletter channel on Slack.

For information on how to add content, check out the Newsletter Q&A thread on the forum.

By Vanessa Bartlett and Oscar Strzalka

CAMBRIDGE, MA – About 30 cafeteria workers at Meta’s Cambridge offices staged a walkout on Friday, escalating their ongoing fight for a fair contract. The food service workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 26, have been working without a contract since Meta replaced their subcontractor with Yarzin Sella in December. Workers walked out to demand that Yarzin Sella adopt the contract that workers had with their previous employer, Flagship Facility Services. 

Last December, Yarzin Sella took over dining operations at the Cambridge Meta office, and refused to acknowledge the contract that workers had negotiated with their previous employer. Their contract expired on December 31, 2023, and workers have been demanding recognition from Yarzin Sella since. 

The Yarzin Sella workers who serve @Meta Cambridge have been members of @UNITEHERE26 since 2022. They had a contract with the previous operator, Flagship Facility Services, that expired on December 31, 2023. pic.twitter.com/GZj9lSjNZN

— UNITE HERE Local 26 (@UNITEHERE26) February 9, 2024

Unite Here Local 26 President Carlos Aramayo said that dining workers “down the street” at Google, also represented by Local 26, make substantially more than the dining workers at Meta, despite the fact that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the fifth-richest person in the world.

“So we’re here today to demand Yarzin Sella, the contractor, and Meta, do the right thing, to recognize the contract that these folks have and bargain a new contract that meets the standards of Google,” Aramayo said. 

Rank-and-file dining worker Maria Pineda said that she has experienced the precarity of working in non-union workplaces. 

“We worked hard in a lot of different jobs in the 20 years that we’ve been in the U.S., in a chicken factory and also as cleaners at Flagship before we started working as dishwashers here. In most of that time, we didn’t have respect from our bosses or benefits unless they just wanted to give it to us,” said Pineda. Having a union contract meant no longer having to rely on a benevolent boss to receive fair compensation for her labor.

“When Yarzin Sella came in, they were putting in danger the benefits, job protections, and wages that we won when we got the union last year,” said Pineda. 

Shawn Fain, the President of UAW, was also present at the picket line. 

“We hear about cafeteria workers here – they’re not asking to be millionaires, none of us are asking to be millionaires. We just want a fair share of the fruits of our labor,” Fain said during his speech. 

The dining workers were joined by DSA members and union members from Harvard, MIT, and other union siblings in the Greater Boston area, making up a crowd of roughly a hundred picketers. 

Fain addressed the cross-union working class solidarity that was evident at Friday’s picket, where Unite Here members were joined on the picket line by many other unions and community groups. 

“This is how we win. We stand together – it doesn’t matter what industry you’re from, what union you’re from, or even if you’re union. Our fight is the same,” Fain said. 

Vanessa Bartlett is a staff organizer for UAW, and a member of Boston DSA. She has a background in print and radio journalism, but please don’t hold that against her.

Oscar Strzalka is a Boston native, former union staffer, and longtime labor advocate in the Boston area.

Photo Credit: Terry A./ Working Mass

Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America Little Red Letter #123 Putting Our Office To Work, Sending YDSA Members To Conference, and A Ceasefire Remains Critical Putting Our Office To Work Before anything else, let’s start off with an invitation to our upcoming office open house.  Details are further below, but as we have mentioned, last […]

As Americans tuned in to the Super Bowl on Sunday night, Israel mercilessly bombed Rafah, the last major city in Gaza that had yet to be seriously touched by Israel’s genocidal onslaught. In just over an hour, the Israeli Defense Forces killed an estimated hundred civilians in rocket and bomb attacks, escalating the government’s ongoing effort to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people. As citizens in the U.S. woke up on Monday morning, more and more became aware of what had happened the previous night in Gaza, and quickly organizers in Maine and across the U.S. did what they do best: they organized.

In Chicago, they took to the streets near Federal Plaza. In New York City, they shut down the tunnel to Grand Central. Here in Portland, with less than 12 hours to organize, the Maine Coalition for Palestine rallied roughly 200 to Monument Square on a chilly Monday night, reiterating calls for an immediate ceasefire and decrying the incomprehensible crimes against humanity being committed by the state of Israel. As folks with signs and noise makers lined Congress Street and passing cars gave supportive honks, others gathered around the square’s statue, ready to hear the night’s featured speakers.

Seven speakers addressed the crowd, backdropped by messages projected onto the statue and nearby building, like “Never Again is Now,” and images that stressed the atrocities taking place. Paige from the Maine Coalition for Palestine reminded the crowd that the world has “been letting Gaza die for five months now.” Contrasting the celebration of sports in America with the horrors faced in Rafah, they left the audience with the final thought that there had been “109 killed in one hour, and that was our halftime show.”

Tim, from Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights noted the cowardice of President Joe Biden in the face of what the world is increasingly coming to see as a genocide. “If Genocide Joe wants things to change, then stop sending 2,000 pound bombs to incinerate the rest of Gaza!” And Nick from Maine Students for Palestine spoke on the decimation not only of Palestinian life, but of Palestinian knowledge. “All universities in Palestine have either been significantly damaged or completely destroyed,” he said before listing names of Palestinian scholars and professors killed by Israeli forces in these last five months. 

Speakers Anna and Lily came up together. Anna, of Jewish faith, invited other Jewish attendees to come stand with them up front. About twenty people came forward, showcasing that this isn’t about religion, but about standing up against genocide and fighting for the human rights of everyone, everywhere. “When I think of those murdered in this genocide,” she said, “I think of my Oma, who fled genocide in Nazi Germany.” And Lily sang a Jewish song of mourning to remember those Palestinians who have been killed. 

Finally, Niko from the Party for Socialism and Liberation brought the message of the night full circle. They emphasized that this genocide does not exist in a vacuum. It has been allowed to continue with the blessing of the global West, because Israel is important to its continuing imperial project; and noted how its weapons sales have been profitable for merchants of death, like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. But, they made sure to end with a call to action and agency. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you cannot change this, because we are changing the narrative right now.” Lastly, Niko led the crowd in a growing, echoing cry, “Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation!” With a growing chorus of protests across the world, and the growing cries of those being killed in Gaza, there’s no doubt U.S. and world leaders hear peoples’ desire for peace. Now, it’s a matter of making them care.

The post Portland Rallies for Palestine After Rafah Bombed appeared first on Pine & Roses.

To the management of Index Media,

Well, this is an easy one.

Workers at various Index Media properties, like The Stranger, Portland Mercury, and Everout, are unionizing with CWA-News Guild. As Seattle residents and fans of The Stranger, we have some earnest advice for the higher-ups at Index: you gotta recognize the union. For your own sake.

The Stranger has stood with working people, and with unions, in their fights for justice in Seattle and beyond. Their endorsements highlight pro-union candidates, and shame assholes endorsed by Seattle Chamber of Commerce and other anti-union groups. The Stranger’s excellent reporting lets Starbucks workers tell their stories, correctly calls union-busting CEOs like Howard Schultz “brats”, and exposes nonprofits who hire union-busting law firms.

So, Index Media, you might not think a bunch of socialists from Seattle DSA would be on your side, but we’re being sincere here. You’ve got a newsroom full of energetic reporters whose entire body of work is about being on the side of the common person against the bosses and landlords who run Seattle. These troublemakers come to you saying you should voluntarily recognize their union.

They’re going to get their union, because they already are a union, and you know it. If you voluntarily recognize their union, you get to skip a bunch of bullshit, save a ton of money in legal fees, and get straight to the part where you negotiate a contract. If you don’t, you get an angry group of people whose job is literally writing about how you suck. If they weren’t good at getting a massive audience of Seattlites to read about unfair bosses, they wouldn’t be working at The Stranger.

So, what’s it gonna be? Will you skip to the part where you negotiate a contract with your writers, or do you want them to use that creative energy on clever picket signs? Should your social media team do their jobs of promoting your paper, or should those viral tweets be about how you’re trying to bust the union?

Honestly, it would be way more fun for us at Seattle DSA to plan actions with the union and be at their picket lines, so arguing that you should voluntarily recognize them isn’t even in our best interests. If you’d rather listen to us leading chants outside your fancy offices instead of listening to us telling you to recognize the union, we can do that, too.

Signed,

Seattle DSA Labor Working Group

The post Index Media: Recognize the Union! appeared first on Seattle Democratic Socialists of America.