#workers' association

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"SCRIPTURES QUOTED AS CHATTELS LOADED BAILIFF IS DEFIED," Toronto Globe. August 15, 1933. Page 9. ---- Nothing to Prevent Removal of Seized Furniture, Is Claim Made --- GUARD VETERAN'S HOME --- "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and all loving favors rather than silver and gold. The rich and the poor meet together: and the Lord is maker of them all."

Opening with these words, Alex. Kirkwood, leader of the Christian Workers' Brotherhood in York Township, read from Proverbs 22, as C. Blake defied a bailiff's orders not to remove furniture from his home at 523 Northcliffe Boulevard, after they had been distrained for arrears of rent claimed by the landlord. The chattels were seized on Saturday, and late on Sunday night Blake had them taken out of the house and conveyed to a city address. As the last piece was loaded on the truck Kirkwood read the Psalm in the presence of Blake, his wife and child and other members of the brotherhood, and before leaving closed with a brief prayer.

Blake was not at home when the bailiff called on Saturday, and when his wife was called upon to sign a bond undertaking not to move the articles she positively refused. She claimed that, faced with this affront, the bailiff threatened her before leaving.

Before moving the chattels Blake, had Mr. Kirkwood communicate with Joseph Sedgewick of the Attorney-General's Department. As a result, according to Kirkwood, that official declared that, inasmuch as no bond had been given, there was nothing to prevent Blake from moving the furniture.

All day yesterday two members of the brotherhood were posted at the Northcliffe Boulevard address, thinking that the bailiff might return to claim the chattels, He did not put in an appearance, however, but the men remained until nightfall, standing at either entrance with a Bible in their hands. Had the bailiff called, they told The Globe they intended to block his entrance with out-stretched arms holding an open Bible and defy him to push it aside.

[knifearo]

this year my challenge for everyone is to unlearn the association between love and morality. love is not something that is inherently morally good, and the absence of love is not something that is inherently bad. sex without love isn't morally bankrupt, it's just an action. people without love aren't less kind or less good, they're just people. when we can get past this false (and often unnoticed) dichotomy of good love/evil lovelessness then i think we are going to be able to take leaps and bounds in sex positivity, aro advocacy, certain discussions of mental health...

[sui-imi]

Roo met a kindred spirit today... T_T

post!sans belongs to @ridgewell04

undereats!sans (roo) belongs to me (@sui-imi)

[alwaysbewoke]

always on time.

[piebingo]

So the trailers say different things according to what language you watch it in, which is something we’ve seen before in the other seasons. And there’s something really interesting about a part of the French translated trailer:

In the Swedish version with English dub, Wille tells Simon (I assume?) "Everything you do now represents me and the royal house"

But in the French version, Wille tells Simon "What you post [online] represents me and the royal family too." Which could mean that Simon posted something about them maybe, without asking Wille, but I don’t see that happening. But you know what can have a lot of impact on the royal house’s image?? The Crown Prince’s boyfriend going to a Workers’ Rights event (Bjärstad Workers Association). Assuming that this is a for workers rights, and perhaps a protest.

This could potentially tie in Simon’s own values being very out of sorts wit Wille’s position as a Prince, and would bring back the social media aspect that was super important in s1.

[superbeeny]

Shigaraki talks a lot about how society ignored his plight because of 'the hero system', but he lacks perspective. Society ignoring or exploiting abused/vulnerable people has been around for a long time; it's just that superpowered beings took a shitty situation and set the shit on fire.

[iww-gnv]

[T]he rank-and-file campaign goes beyond demanding an end to Israel’s military operations, which have killed at least 22,000 Palestinians, 12,000 of them children. Othman and other members want the NEA to revoke its endorsement of Joe Biden for the 2024 presidential race until the president secures a “permanent cease-fire,” stops “sending military funding, equipment, and intelligence to Israel,” and commits “to a fair due process for asylum-seekers and refugees.” “Until NEA takes this step,” a member petition states, signatories are planning to withhold voluntary donations from the union’s political action committee, which is used to support candidates. (Signatories are not planning to withhold their union dues.) The demand is eye-catching, because Biden appeared to really want the NEA’s endorsement: The president addressed the union by video at its last representative assembly in July 2023. And first lady Jill Biden has made her long-term membership in NEA a key part of her public political identity. “You—all of you—make me proud to be a longtime member of the NEA,” Jill Biden said in an August 2023 address to educators.

[marzipanandminutiae]

thinking about the museum guests who get surprised by our photo of an Irish-Canadian immigrant maid on her wedding day, because she’s dressed indistinguishably from a wealthy woman of the same era (to modern eyes, at least)

and the thirtysomething Black femme sapphic couple I talked to at another museum who had never seen extant images of Black women in fashionable Victorian clothing until that week, and were absolutely delighted by them

thinking about how empowering it can be for historically oppressed people to learn that, no, beauty and elegance and artistic expression within this specific cultural framework were not the exclusive purview of wealthy whites until like 1920

(thinking about who it serves to erase those images and that knowledge from the public consciousness)

[booasaur]

For the third time, the US has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution related to the violence in Palestine.

Imagine the people who would have still been alive after the first one. Even the second one. And instead, it won't even stop now, at confirmed 29K, but most likely beyond 33K.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Two Democratic U.S. senators announced Thursday they plan to introduce a piece of legislation that would require large companies to disclose quota practices to workers and prevent those quotas from interfering with a worker’s health.

“The Warehouse Worker Protection Act would put an end to the most dangerous quotas that plague warehouses,” Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, a sponsor of the bill, said.

There is no published bill text yet.

Markey said the bill would require companies to notify workers of the quotas they need to meet and ban quotas that rely on 24/7 surveillance or are likely to lead to violations of health and safety laws. He added that companies that don’t comply would be investigated by the Department of Labor and could face fines and penalties.

INJURIES AT AMAZON

Markey was joined outside the U.S. Capitol by workers who shared their stories of being injured on the job at Amazon warehouses, along with Democratic Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith and Sean O’Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Smith said that big companies like Amazon care about “efficiency and cost savings and maximizing their profits.”

“They’re experiencing record profits at the same time that the people whose labor they are earning profits on the backs (of), are experiencing completely unacceptable levels of injuries,” she said.

The speakers singled out Amazon for quota practices that endanger workers, though Markey said the Seattle-based e-retail giant is not the only company that engages in a quota system that harms workers.

“Amazon may be at the front of the pack with an injury rate double the national average, but the rest of the big warehousing companies are close behind,” he said.

Some of Amazon’s quota practices include constant monitoring to measure how many items a worker scans, with automatic flags for workers below a certain percentile, and monitoring how long employees take on bathroom breaks and other “time off task,” according to a Thursday report by the National Employment Law Project.

The Amazon warehouse injury rate is “twice that of the private-sector average for all industries and tens of thousands of warehouse workers each year experience serious injuries requiring medical treatment,” according to the report.

O’Brien said that Amazon’s business model “pushes workers to the brink and creates a culture of fear.”

“Warehouses can be very dangerous places to work if safety isn’t made a priority,” he said.

Wendy Taylor, an Amazon worker in Missouri who is organizing for a union, was injured at work in March.

“I was injured at work because of Amazon’s inhumane work rates, because of the exhausting pace in the physical work me and my coworkers do,” she said.

Taylor said she fell and hurt her knee, but when she went to the company medical center, she said “they (refused) to let me see a doctor when I asked, sending me back to work.”

She eventually went to her own doctor, who diagnosed her with a torn meniscus in her knee.

“This experience (shows) how hard it is to get timely, adequate medical treatment from a company that breaks down my body and speeds up my aging for shareholder profits,” she said.

In a written statement, a spokesperson for Amazon pushed back against some of the comments from senators, including claims that workers lack adequate bathroom breaks and see fixed performance quotas.

“It’s a common misperception that Amazon has fixed quotas, but we do not,” the spokesperson said. “Our Time Logged In policy assesses whether employees are actually working while they’re logged in at their station. Our employees can see their own performance at any time and can talk to their manager if they’re having trouble finding the information.”

The spokesperson also said claims that the injury rate at Amazon is double the industry standard are misleading.

“Many large companies that should be included in these comparisons—companies like Walmart, Target and Costco—report almost all of their injuries under different OSHA reporting categories,” the spokesperson said.

Brian Wild, a spokesperson for the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, said in a statement that the industry group does not support the bill, arguing that it could lead to delays and price hikes.

“The bill includes provisions that inappropriately tip the scales to union bosses at the expense of employees and employers by inviting labor organizations to participate in investigations, essentially granting union leaders access to potentially coerce or harass worksites under the guise of ‘worker safety,’” Wild said.

SEEKING BIPARTISAN SUPPORT

Markey said there is bipartisan support in the Senate for the bill, as well as the House.

“We just want to build this out,” Markey said. “It should not be a Democrat or Republican thing, it’s a worker safety bill.”

A warehouse protection law went into effect in Minnesota last year, but advocates have raised concerns that Amazon is not complying with the law.

Several other states, including California, New York, Oregon and Washington, have passed legislation similar to what Markey and Smith are proposing.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“WORKERS ORGANIZING TO BLOCK EVICTIONS,” Toronto Star. February 17, 1933. Page 20.   ---- Mimico. Feb. 17. - Fearing that an epidemic of evictions might result in an account of contemplated govern mental action to protest mortgagees and because of the present financial crisis in the town, the Mimico Workers Association, meeting in the town hall last night decided to strengthen their organization created to "discourage bailiffs." It was tentatively decided that the municipality would be divided into districts, each with a captain to be appointed at a later date, to whom anyone threatened with eviction could apply for aid. 

The recent Piazzo eviction in North York was discussed.. Members said they sought means to prevent any such "ruthless" action from taking place in Mimico.

It was suggested that each captain we furnished with a copy of the bailiff act in order to be able to advise those threatened. 

"We don't want any violence, we don't want trouble, but we must fight for our homes," J. P. O'Donnell said. "If we can in an ordinary way run eight or ten men in and get the furniture back, it is a wonderful piece of work and should be carried out." 

Action taken by the association has on several occasions prevented evictions or provided new homes for the unfortunate families to go to. 

A resolution was passed serving notice on the Lake Shore Central executive council, with which the association is affiliated, that the Mimico branch would sever its connection because of its "apparent inactivity," unless immediate steps were taken to rectify the situation. 

A resolution was passed thanking the local merchants who aided the recent smoker held by the association by providing the smokes.

[jasonraish]

Organize the unorganized was my topic for the 2023 National Labor Federation calendar. I thought of the metaphor of the fox hunt. A cruel pastime of the wealthy and noble class in Britain where a gang of hunters on horseback with dogs chase down a single fox to the death. What if you could organize a coordinated effort against the wealthy and other systems at play? Could a labor organization/union take down the nobleman? Prints available https://society6.com/art/organize-the-un-organized

[rollercoasterwords]

ummmmm fyi i do not write stories about lesbians to "provide wlw representation" 😐 please get a grip 😐

[thoughtportal]

In a sweeping two-year investigation, The Associated Press found U.S. prison labor tied to hundreds of popular food brands. The goods end up on the shelves of most supermarkets and are also exported.

Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/42jJTSz

[allthecanadianpolitics]

TORONTO — The Ontario Nurses’ Association started negotiating a new contract Monday for hospital nurses and the union is planning to take its push for higher wages beyond the bargaining table.

The nurses, and other broader public sector workers, have been subject for three years to a wage restraint law known as Bill 124, which capped increases at one per cent a year.

Bernie Robinson, the interim president of the ONA, said the last contract left nurses feeling disrespected and devalued.

“Safe to say that we are looking for far more,” she said during a break from negotiations.

“We’re looking for respectful wage increases, and basically to be able to retain nurses so that we can have the staff there to improve working conditions and improve care for patients.” [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[archivlibrarianist]

Created by the Missouri Library Association, via PENAmerica's methodology, for books banned by Missouri SB775, which went into effect November 2022.