Dave Kamper 🌹
@dskamper
Followers
4,504
Following
2,047
Media
2,409
Statuses
56,755
Vying for title of labor's cool uncle. Uxorious husband, cat dad. He/his. Works at @EconomicPolicy , member @NonprofitUnion but tweets here entirely personal.
Minnesota
Joined February 2016
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Wizkid
• 255376 Tweets
Davido
• 237154 Tweets
FAYEYOKO BTS 1ST FANMEET
• 122244 Tweets
ケンタッキー
• 107446 Tweets
からくりサーカス
• 106851 Tweets
Supreme God Kabir
• 101526 Tweets
ニンテンドーミュージアム
• 95726 Tweets
#リゼロ
• 63106 Tweets
#BrightestStarBangChan
• 60526 Tweets
#우리의_찬란한_청춘_방찬에게
• 60033 Tweets
青木選手
• 55372 Tweets
引退試合
• 53325 Tweets
フォーエバーヤング
• 52795 Tweets
Shakira
• 44154 Tweets
SPILL THE FEELS TRACK LIST
• 39146 Tweets
青木さん
• 32956 Tweets
Alcaraz
• 30682 Tweets
Gago
• 26891 Tweets
Shana Tova
• 26782 Tweets
Cassper
• 25293 Tweets
שנה טובה
• 19526 Tweets
CHAE X JESBIBLE
• 18325 Tweets
センラさん
• 14654 Tweets
#JO1ANNX
• 13410 Tweets
#庭ラジ
• 12371 Tweets
テニプリ
• 11110 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
Some personal news: I'm writing a book! Tentative title: "It Doesn't Have to Be This Way: The Resurgence of Organized Labor"
Incredibly excited.
To my surprise, I've become an optimist about the labor movement, and the book will show some of the many reasons for my optimism.
27
40
392
A "malfunction" that apparently included installing a coffee machine THAT CAN TAKE PICTURES.
An Amazon worker at a Maple Grove warehouse accidentally discovered that a touchscreen on a coffee vending machine had taken photos of the breakroom. An Amazon spokesperson said a malfunction caused the camera to take photos.
53
288
2K
30
3K
24K
I’ll remind folks of what I’ve posted before: in 1960 you could pay for a full year at the University of Minnesota with SIX WEEKS at a minimum wage job.
Student debt is a consequence of the systematic defunding of higher education, not bad borrower decisions.
#CancelStudentDebt
148
4K
14K
If you're new to the movement, understand: this is without parallel in American labor history.
42
569
9K
So, here's my question. Why wasn't there a plan in a drawer? You've known an anti-Roe decision was coming at least since Coney Barrett was seated. Why wasn't there a whole plan in place to roll out the moment it happened?
Quick story from my own experience:
1/
164
990
7K
Nobody in 1900 thought factory jobs were the path to a better life. They were what you took because you needed work and it’s what was available. Factory jobs became desirable because of unions. That’s the whole reason.
THIS. Auto jobs aren't somehow "inherently" better jobs than jobs in other industries. In fact, they used to be terrible. UNIONS made auto jobs good, safe, family supporting jobs. This strike is about regaining that.
28
356
2K
23
634
4K
President Drescher's speech demonstrates something I've seen time and again: what drives workers to action, so often, isn't just the issues on the table. It's the disrespect.
I've been in negotiations where labor and management were miles apart on *fundamental* issues, but...
8
358
3K
@MPRnews
An investigation was done by law enforcement in 2017, but they didn't bother to interview the accused. Yep, sounds about right. And men wonder why women don't come forward. Good reporting on sad topic by
@bbierschbach
10
467
3K
All right, I've noticed a non-zero correlation between: a) people's level of knowledge of DNC delegate allocation rules and convention procedures, and; b) their accusations of "stealing" the nomination from Bernie, so let me offer this refresher thread for any who need it.
1/
78
1K
3K
@MAPEmn
is a scrappy little union of 15,000 people, with a staff of 20, but we knew what was going to happen and planned for it.
How can the entire Democratic Party apparatus, in comparison, be caught so flat-footed by something they *knew* was going to happen?
Stunned.
8/end
49
183
3K
Tip: when visiting a picket line to support, pretty good chance they have all the donuts and water they need. Think proteins, or fruit/veg. Also: little warmie things for gloves or shoes.
And EVERY picket line will have a use for duct tape.
13
415
2K
Your regular reminder that the ENTIRETY of the business model of Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, etc., is: "violate labor law to reduce costs, and use deep-pocketed venture capitalist $$ to fight efforts to hold us accountable."
That's the whole thing. Don't pretend otherwise.
BREAKING: The U.S. Labor Department has issued a final rule that will force companies to treat more workers as employees rather than "independent contractors."
This will mean higher wages and overtime pay for millions of workers in gig jobs, health care, construction, and more.
73
2K
6K
9
594
2K
The excuse is that the camera is there for credit card purchases, but, like, there’s technology for credit card purchases and none of it includes a camera, so not buying it.
6
36
2K
Also, the worker found it by clicking “Gallery” on the vending screen, so if it WAS there for credit card purchases, it means any person walking up to the vending machine can get all the credit card numbers by clicking “Gallery”.
2
53
2K
When the day came, we were absolutely ready. Our preparation and planning paid off - our membership numbers went up by five or six percent in the few weeks after the decision, because we'd done the work. No mass wave of drops. A stronger union.
It was good work.
7/
2
41
1K
This is so important to understand. If a company illegally fires someone because of their race or gender they face significant financial penalties. If they fire someone for exercising their legal right to organize, the only penalty to the employer is back wages.
Starbucks has mounted the biggest, fiercest union-busting campaign in decades. This points to huge flaws in the nation's labor laws. Sbucks can't be fined even one cent for firing pro-union baristas.
The union says Sbucks has fired 200 pro-union baristas.
69
1K
2K
11
457
1K
@RalphNader
@AOC
I’m sorry, but this is ridiculous. You got 2.74% of the votes in a presidential election TWENTY YEARS ago and yet have the temerity to demand that AOC respond to you. Get a grip and calm the hell down.
32
21
1K
The moment Trump won in 2016, the union I was working for,
@MAPEmn
, knew SCOTUS was going to make all public employee unions right-to-work. We didn't yet know which case (Janus) or when (summer 2018), but we *knew* it was going to happen. So we began to plan.
2/
1
51
1K
@magsrdoherty
Because it's coded as women's work, and women's work is treated as unskilled labor. I really don't think it's much more complicated than that. Basic structural gender inequity.
22
44
1K
It is **illegal** for public employees in Michigan to strike, yet a judge has just refused to issue an injunction against
@geo3550
's strike .
What's going on?
One of my biggest hobbyhorses is that labor folks should get the words "can" and "can't" out of their vocabulary.
1/
7
333
1K
We set up a task force that looked at every angle we could. We revamped our data systems to make sure we could track potential membership drops in the wake of the decision. We created flowcharts for all kinds of eventualities.
3/
1
20
1K
We held special trainings for all staff, and all-day trainings for leaders across the union, to prepare them for the decision, to prime them for the anti-union arguments we *knew* we would hear.
Once Janus was heard at SCOTUS, we went into high gear.
4/
1
26
1K
Months before we knew what date the decision would be issued we had letters and emails written and ready to send, web content ready to posts, meeting agendas already created.
On days that SCOTUS was scheduled...
5/
1
25
1K
...to issue decisions, me and a colleague were tasked to follow SCOTUSblog and call the Executive Director the moment the decision came out. All staff then had very specific assignments for that day, and we all knew what we were going to do.
6/
1
19
1K
"I don't always eat catnip. But when I do, I make sure it's grown by unionized farmworkers."
Periodic reminder that workers are the ones actually getting stuff done, and we WAY outnumber bosses
48
1K
9K
2
78
976
I'm becoming concerned that if the Teamsters settle the UPS contract without walking off the job, a lot of labor peeps are going to call it a sellout because the workers didn't go on strike.
That's a dangerous attitude to have.
34
77
942
I feel like we’re not talking enough about how the house of one of the most prominent labor leaders in the country was set on fire this week under circumstances law enforcement are describing as suspicious.
15
156
870
...management was putting time and effort into good faith negotiations, was making an honest effort to understand the union's demands, and was treating those demands with the respect they deserved. Those negotiations never ended with militancy.
Conversely,
2
19
887
I've seen negotiations where the two parties were millimeters apart on the last few issues, but management's refusal to treat the process as legitimate, their condescension and disrespect (not to negotiators but to the membership as a whole), causes things to boil over.
1
32
885
@zackbeauchamp
@DKThomp
Sorry, I'm not sure which responses you find tedious. Do you mean the many responses highlighting policy areas where young voters were led to believe action would be taken and it hasn't been? What about that is tedious?
4
15
804
Heard news from my prior job. Employee fired in 2018 finally got their chance in grievance arbitration, and WON!
**Five years** of back pay and full reinstatement.
Unions, amirite?
8
62
828
For folks expressing outrage or surprise that the federal government can impose a contract on a railroad workers’ union, let me introduce you to public employee labor relations at the state and local level.
7
152
750
@adamm0rgan
My wife and I were packing boxes and we found a note that someone had written me (when I was single) when I left a job for another state.
At the time I thought it was just friendly, but we re-read it and my wife was like, wow, she was hitting on you.
Had. No. Idea.
2
3
745
@ToniGilpin
I can't think of an equivalent example of a group of workers, on their own, organizing a union in such a large shop against such a huge, anti-union company.
14
31
730
We oft forget that state governments literally have the power to close businesses down. They absolutely should use that power to protect workers from wage theft.
THREAD: New York lawmakers have introduced three bills that would make it almost impossible for businesses to operate in the state if they steal workers’ wages.
If these bills become law, any boss that steals over $1,000 from workers could be forced to shut down.
63
2K
11K
3
160
735
I’m an inactive DSA member so I don’t engage in most of its debates, but I want to jump in and say that it’s not helpful to describe *outcomes you want to achieve* as “strategy.”
“Building a mass working-class movement” is a desired outcome, not a viable way to get there.
16
34
708
Would watch the heck out of that cartoon.
“Jean, what do you want to do tomorrow?” I asked.
“Same thing we do every day, Jorts. Try to organize the world.”
59
911
10K
0
35
668
Historically, a good example (though with a very bad outcome) was the PATCO strike in 1981. The air traffic controllers actually got a pretty decent contract from Reagan, but his people were so dismissive of the union that the members wouldn't take it.
1
18
644
In that case, as I noted, it's likely the Reagan admin wanted the strike, and goaded the air traffic controllers into it, but generally even terrible bosses would prefer to avoid a strike. Basic decency goes a long way.
1
17
638
@Yascha_Mounk
End legacy admissions, restore tenure-track jobs, completely wall off donors from any influence on curriculum or hiring, close any institutes that are funded by private dollars without proper oversight, and end the exploitation of college athletes
4
13
583
Interesting and promising strategy here from
@UAW
. A few thoughts on what
#StandUpUAW
might be and why they're doing it.
The sit-down strike tactics that worked in Flint in 1936-37 are now illegal (when workers come up with good ways to fight, they get made illegal). 1/
6
144
597
You can talk all you want to about gerrymandering and the Senate, but the most important pro-Republican bias in our system is that the GOP no longer pretends to care about democratic legitimacy, while Dem leaders are, even now, too scared to call SCOTUS a purely political body.
2
51
560
Let me add, before I get to the Convention itself, that nothing in this tweet is meant to argue that the current system is good or special or anything, just that it IS the system we have right now, and it's not being changed this year, so you need to know it.
11/
2
49
506
Heavily reported?
Sargon has a pipefitter claiming they can’t say the word “nipple”, but the word appears in the actual language of some pipefitter union contracts. This took me like five minutes to find. Did Sargon even find a second pipefitter to back up this one dude’s story?
Is the Woke Cultural Agenda of Union Leaders Undermining Support For Unions?
A heavily reported and very interesting article to the Outside Voice of our Substack by
@bungarsargon
:
140
54
239
16
46
502
A fundamental mistake of pieces like this is acting like anti-LGBT efforts are a reaction to the growing visibility of LGBT folks. This isn’t what’s happening. Hate against marginalized groups has never been based on objective circumstances.
3
79
477
@beyerstein
@j_n_foster
Yes, that's absolutely true. I was speaking of the political response from the Democrats, but I could have been clearer.
15
4
461
Back in the day, when universities had whole departments devoted to "Industrial and Labor Relations," the scholarship suggested that if union density in an industry reach 30-35%, the gains would flow to the whole industry. UAW is at about 15% - punching above its weight.
Tesla just announced raises for all 11,000 workers at its Berlin Gigafactory amid an aggressive unionization drive.
They also won bonuses and a promise from Elon Musk that the next-gen Tesla will be built at the factory.
This is what worker organizing can achieve.
23
471
2K
4
105
464
I encourage folks to resist narratives that call the Bucks’ strike “spontaneous.” This took organizing, planning, and commitment. We didn’t see it, but it was there.
Calling it spontaneous diminishes the work and solidarity that was involved.
8
73
443
Not my take (I don't know enough about how or why it happened to have a take), but my reaction, just up in
@ForgeOrganizing
:
2
43
448
@CLMalloy
@MPRnews
@bbierschbach
Story doesn't make it clear that's what happened, but even so, is the message here that prosecutors won't pursue a case if the accused lawyers up and refuses to answer their questions? Hell, that's maybe even worse.
5
49
400
get crushed in other districts and statewide, so they might get 8% statewide and still earn delegates, while someone else who gets 12% everywhere will not earn any delegates at all.
That will look very odd if it happens, but it's not a coup or a conspiracy.
5/
2
36
428
@queenozymandias
My vet wife: probably. Dogs are very good at reading expressions and body language in people.
3
0
421
I'd like to remind the smug, "I did my job and got vaccinated so I'm safe, and people who get COVID now are to blame for their own problems" people that, in addition to all the ways that is a morally troubling position, it's also a huge understatement of your own risk.
Brief 🧵
7
126
430
So, pending further research,
@gradworkersofBU
's win today appears to be the most lopsided NLRB election win **ever** by a bargaining unit more than 1000 people.
I said it before and I'll say it again: DAMN
4
103
429
The two MN marijuana-legalization parties appear to have won enough votes in key districts to deny the DFL the State Senate, thus making marijuana legalization highly unlikely.
20
124
413
Headlines we haven't seen:
"Biden visits Planned Parenthood clinic in [purple state]. 'We have your back,' President vows."
"Speaker Pelosi asks Attorney General for legal opinion on whether Gorsuch, Kavanagh, Coney Barrett committed perjury in Roe testimony."
3
97
404
A few quick notes on what this means, since the media will likely get some of this wrong (not through malice, but through unfamiliarity):
First, this deal does not force any worker to unionize, or force them to unionize only with
@CWAUnion
.
1/
NEWS: Microsoft inks agreement with a big union, CWA, to stay neutral in union elections at Activision, the gaming company it's acquiring for $70 billion. Could pave the way for 1,000s of gaming workers to unionize. w/
@KYWeise
4
95
286
3
135
409
I love naps, the workers, and have a super smart partner named J(ean)oanne to explain the complicated things to me. I frequently get stuck in places and can’t figure out how I got there. I am
@JortsTheCat
#IamJorts
🐈
Folks are poking at
@JortsTheCat
's identity.
Jorts is tubby, loves naps, has fallen into trash cans, has plenty to contribute if his needs are accommodated, is on the side of the workers, and hates union-busting.
Given that, I can reveal: it's me. I'm Jorts.
#IAmJorts
🐈
101
130
3K
1
22
400
Actions like this aren’t just ways for the workers to show each other solidarity. At scale, they can absolutely have an impact.
As I’ve noted before, the way management gets to sleep at night is that they tell themselves union leaders are radical outliers.
UPS Teamsters from Local 25 turn their backs on supervisors during a prework communication meeting in Norwood, Massachusetts today. Workers are fed up with management harassment.
66
1K
7K
3
76
393
@jonathanchait
Didn't stop you from breathlessly reporting on the supposed whistleblower's clearly absurd claims in the first place. Your journalistic caution now is just you trying to avoid admitting you got played.
2
2
375
They didn’t have a union back then, is what you mean
Ty Cobb had his tonsils removed in the morning and played in a baseball game the same afternoon -- and every game over the next 3 weeks while still bleeding.
They were built different back then
24
43
466
2
17
389
Understand what this means: the business model of Uber and Lyft IS low wages.
It's not incidental to what they do, it is at the core of their operations.
Uber, Lyft threaten to pull out of Minneapolis if council approves proposed ordinance.
By:
@GalvanReports
6
7
14
10
91
385
It has happened before many times. That, in and of itself, is not a conspiracy or a coup. It is the way the system was designed and has operated for 48 years.
Don't call foul if the system works as designed. Please.
22/end
15
31
363
In response to a particularly uninformed claim that this system was designed to prevent another McGovern, worth mentioning that much of the present system, particularly the proportional allocation of delegates, was created by a commission McGovern himself headed.
4
31
360
@RepDeanPhillips
Representative, the problem is not a lack of laws. The problem is an unwillingness to enforce the ones we have. This was already a Hatch Act violation. You voted him billions to fund the storm troopers who came to Portland. That was your moment to hold him accountable.
4
33
362
Even labor people who say this rarely consider how true it is. “Weekend” is a neologism, coined barely a hundred years ago.
When workers marched in the first May Day parades in Chicago for an eight-hour day in 1886, they were marching for a FORTY-EIGHT HOUR week
3
71
370
Under Democratic Party rules in place (in largely the same form) since 1972, delegates to the Democratic convention must be allocated proportionately in each state. Delegates are allocated both at the congressional district level AND statewide.
The threshold is 15%
2/
3
42
343
Embarrassing for
@ModeledBehavior
and
@ezraklein
to implicate unions in delays in residential construction - that sector of the construction industry is overwhelmingly nonunion. Wage theft and abuse of day laborers is rampant there, though, if you're looking to blame something.
Excellent realism from
@ezraklein
. I’ve been waiting for this from supply side liberalism, more to come hopefully
34
68
575
15
69
362
"What will happen if we go on strike?"
Two important things about that question, as opposed to asking a can/can't question:
1) It gives the union agency - we have the power to influence what happens!
2) It moves the question away from absolutes
3/
1
25
356
This is a staggeringly incoherent argument. "Once a polity has made a decision, any future attempts to change that decision harm the common good." What???
There is a moral obligation to obey the original meaning of the Constitution | Opinion by J. Joel Alicea
147
10
30
15
16
349
Famous movies about union organizing (eg, Norma Rae, Bread & Roses) understandably highlight people power and public actions.
But I would buy all the tickets for a movie about union organizing in the spy/thriller genre. Could easily be done.
If you don’t know what a “salt” is, is basically being a badass spy who works undercover to organize workplaces. It’s usually portrayed as paid organizers who infiltrate a workplace but it’s mostly volunteers just being cool.
(Bosses pay people big bucks to union bust, right?)
4
60
895
12
40
360
Wow. Very exciting news. Banking and finance has almost no union presence.
BREAKING: Wells Fargo workers in New Mexico and Alaska have filed for union elections.
If they win they'll be the only big bank workers in the country to have a union.
15
659
3K
0
54
346
Some months ago we labor peeps on here were half-joking that unions should mail union cards to every worker in the country. I'm maybe thinking this is now absolutely the right thing to do.
12
31
343
have voted for someone other than the person who got the most votes, but that candidate will get ALL the delegates. This exact scenario feels unlikely, but you get my point: it would look fishy as heck, but it won't be a conspiracy.
7/
2
26
325
A sad moment tonight we long knew was coming… the 1,000 square foot mega-roll of Costco aluminum foil, which has been in our house for lo these many years, is no more.
Its service is complete, and now it goes to its final rest in the recycling bin.
33
7
335
because they found a reason to change their mind, that is not a conspiracy or a coup. Some people have different opinions than you.
That process could easily lead to the person who was in front after the first ballot nonetheless not winning a majority of delegates.
21/
3
26
321
@haleymlotek
About 15 minutes into the opening of "Saving Private Ryan," an elderly man in front of me said, "that's exactly what it was like," and I almost threw up.
6
3
304
Oh, it gets better.
According to a lawsuit Brock filed against his local, he was disqualified from seeking re-election as the local president in 2006 on the basis of corruption, including (allegedly) accepting “contributions” from employers…
1
29
288
6
4
318
Those delegates will not be idiots or pawns. They will be inundated with poll numbers and arguments from all sides about who the best nominee should be.
Arguments and poll numbers do not a conspiracy make. If delegates are persuaded to back someone you don't like
20/
1
23
311
A candidate might get below 15% statewide, but could get above 15% in a congressional district, and could therefore still pick up delegates.
With candidates on the bubble, you might see this happen a lot - they get 16% in a district amenable to their campaign, and
4/
3
33
298
So, a candidate who gets 15% of the vote in either a congressional district or statewide gets delegates, and they are allocated proportionately among all those who meet that threshold.
So, right away, here is a place where results COULD look fishy but aren't.
3/
3
34
302
Union shifts on immigration over the last 25 years or so, however incomplete and halting in places, is one of the underappreciated good things that has happened to the US labor movement.
We stand in support of HR 2920. Working families must be UNITED!
7
47
105
3
40
306
so-called superdelegates do not vote. Starting with round 2, they can vote. Note that there are only 771 superdelegates and approximately 3,979 pledged delegates, so superdelegates (even if completely united, which they are not) will not be the primary deciding force.
18/
7
44
298
@profmusgrave
A skilled piano player and singer stays loyal to his boss even when forced to flee his cosmopolitan home for a desert backwater, only to have his boss abandon him for a life of crime when the boss's old girlfriend shows up.
9
17
299
One final note: the first day on the picket line is categorically different than the tenth. Please keep your support going throughout a strike. It can get a little lonely.
0
29
299
There is no requirement for delegates to dance with them what brung 'em, so to speak. They can jump ship.
You may not like this rule, but it's not remotely new.
A majority of delegate votes cast at the convention decides the nominee. On the first ballot,
17/
4
35
292
who really support the candidate they're ostensibly a delegate for.
Campaigns need to pay close attention to the process of selecting who a delegate is. Falling asleep at that switch isn't a conspiracy by others; it's malpractice by yourself.
14/
2
29
283
You also might have situations where only one candidate breaks the 15% threshold in a district or state, yet gets all the delegates because no one else got to 15%. Imagine a district vote breakdown of 45/14/13/12/10/6 for 6 candidates. The majority in that district will
6/
2
27
276
affect their statewide allocation) so it's highly possible that the candidate's vote totals across a whole state will not match the share of delegates they get. Indeed, that's nearly certain to happen in some states. It's not a conspiracy.
10/
1
25
263
vote for someone else on the first ballot at the convention. However, as I say, that's unlikely. More significant is:
2) once the convention has finished its first ballot for the presidential nomination, ALL delegates are free to switch to other candidates.
16/
2
29
260
@jbouie
I've got a chapter in my dissertation on Jack the Ripper. A common refrain in the working-class Sunday newspapers of the time was complaining that all police were good for was cracking people over the heads at rallies, and that they would never solve the murders. 'Twas ever thus.
2
22
260