Insane we aren't seeing more coverage of this catastrophic derailment, 2 months after greedy rail companies and Congress forced workers to accept a dangerous and unjust contract. Instead the media trumpets news of a Chinese balloon downed by a $400,000 missile.
14 miles from my house, in East Palestine Ohio.
Norfolk Southern assures us that the vinyl chloride spilling from the tanks of their derailed train and burning and turning into hydrogen chloride as it rises into the atmosphere and mixes with water vapor and turns into ......
Israel is carrying out war crimes against the Palestinian people, while the world cheers. As a Jew it’s sickening to see the history of oppression of our people used as ideological cover for genocide. The only path to real peace is an end to Israeli apartheid.
BREAKING: Israel’s military has directed the evacuation of northern Gaza, a region that is home to 1.1 million people, within 24 hours, according to a U.N. spokesman.
Calls for genocide on college campuses violate New York's Human Rights Law, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, & SUNY's Code of Conduct. We're prepared to take enforcement action if colleges & universities are found not in compliance.
Read my letter to college presidents:
Eating lunch in my 97°+ truck with no A/C or fan, laughing at the 'cool solutions' training today telling us to eat watermelons and drink water 😂. Will likely be a 12-14 hour day because UPS loves forcing max overtime on us. August 1, 2023 can't come soon enough.
#strikeready
UPS proposes cutting driver pay by 25%, enshrining a 6 day week, allowing non-union PVDs, and more. Obviously a ploy to try to get us to ‘meet them in the middle.’ Gtfoh 🤡. Now I want even more because they think we’re that stupid. And I’m willing to strike for it.
#StrikeReady
Why is
@UPS
refusing to install fans in our trucks? Drivers are getting heatstroke and dying. UPS refuses to install A/C or fans while putting cameras in trucks. If any customers have concerns, please tell UPS at 1(800)-742-5877.
@CarolBTome
#NotInOurHouse
#SafetyNotSurveillance
AFTER MARATHON SESSIONS, UPS NEGOTIATIONS COLLAPSE
Around 4AM, UPS walked away from the bargaining table after presenting an unacceptable offer to the Teamsters that did not address members’ needs. The UPS Teamsters Nat’l Negotiating Committee unanimously rejected the package
Americans now have more confidence in organized labor than they do in the Supreme Court, Congress, or the presidency. Makes sense. Labor is our only hope for winning true democracy. We need to transform the political institutions of this country.
Props to
@RepRashida
for voting NO on undemocratically forcing rail workers to accept a TA with no sick days. Very disappointed in
@AOC
and the rest of the squad for voting yes. The TA will pass in the senate, and there will not be 10 Republicans to vote up the 7 sick days bill.
Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern seems to be taking its playbook straight out of White Noise- 'Nothing is going to happen.' The crises of labor, the economy, and the environment are more intertwined than ever in 21st century capitalism.
Our Teamsters
@804_local
Women's Committee made a powerful statement today at our general membership meeting condeming the overturning of Roe v Wade and declaring an injury to one is an injury to all ✊!
When a pregnant worker is fired for falling asleep on the job and in despair takes her life, it is not suicide. It is murder. Grief isn't enough, feel the burning rage. Justice will be served only when workers take power. Until then we will not rest.
-Harlan County USA
-Norma Rae
-Killing Floor
-Salt of the Earth
-Blue Collar
-8 Hours Don't Make a Day
-The Organizer
-Pride
-Sorry to Bother You
Now I want the deeper cuts!
Hot take,
#1
virtue as an organizer is replying and following through on all messages within 24 hours, ideally less (except holidays and vacations), and delegating enough to be able to. If you can't maintain communication channels then you probably need to delegate more work!
As an anti-zionist Jew and
@nycDSA
member, I was proud to march alongside thousands and get arrested tonight to demand a ceasefire now in Gaza, and an end to Israeli apartheid!
#ceasefireInGazaNOW
#NotInOurNames
UPS workers who:
-Endure extreme heat with no A/C
-Battle harassment every day
-Can be forced to work unlimited ot
-PT workers start at $15.50
-Move 6% of GDP but make less than shareholders who do nothing
Are not afraid to strike. Yes billionaires, go ahead and cry about it.
BREAKING: United Auto Workers will strike Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.
Thousands of autoworkers will hit the picket line and shut down key plants across the country.
After two months of negotiations, the giant car companies failed to meet
@UAW
's demands.
We had a great
@nycDSA
Union Power campaign launch tonight with over 120 people ✊🔥. If it's a class war the bosses want, it's a class war they'll get. Join us .
The Republicans decided rail workers do not deserve sick days. And the Democrats decided they'd rather break a strike than risk letting rail workers fight for sick days. The bosses have two parties, we need one of our own.
BREAKING: The Senate voted down a deal, 52-43 that would have granted rail workers 7 paid sick days.
This was the crux of the rail strike standoff. Railroad workers in the U.S. do not receive a single paid sick day.
@JonahFurman
@ChipGibbons89
@mrbrnn
But there wasn't ever really a chance for the sick days to pass the senate. It just allows the Dems to cover their real move of forcing the TA. Only principled vote imo is voting no on the TA and yes on sick days. If the Dems want to break a strike, they can own it.
Just helped lead a great call with over 80 DSA chapter chairs about our national DSA Organize Logistics campaign! DSA is gonna meet the hot labor moment with coordinated solidarity 😎✊. Emailing, texting, and calling every DSA chair personally bumped us from <20 rsvps to >80.
When UPS maliciously lays off 16 workers during contract negotiations what do you get? Supervisors uncontractually doing bargaining unit work to clean up the mess 🤦♂️. Oh yeah, plus grievances and more agitation among the members. Company bully tactics always backfire.
This is a big deal! Notice the pattern- with John Deere and the UAW, UPS and the IBT, now rail and the BLET. When union leaders fail to lead in important struggles, the rank-and-file will rise up with new leaders who are willing to fight.
BREAKING: TEAMSTERS SECURE AIR CONDITIONING FOR UPS FLEET IN MAJOR TENTATIVE DEAL
The Teamsters & UPS agreed to tentative language to equip the company’s fleet with air conditioning systems, new heat shields, & additional fans during national contract negotiations today.
“I was told by White house staff that if I didn’t remove the three stickers from my jacket that read “UAW Peace Justice,” “UAW Ceasefire,” and “UAW Work For Peace” before entering the stage with my fellow IEB members, Biden would cancel his speech. I refused…” ✊
🧵1/5 It's an uncontestable fact that the NY Democratic Party and its political leaders would rather risk losing the governorship and other seats, than pass popular left policy like BPRA or NYHA and win elections easily, by betraying their elite base. Why?...
Huge deal. First Amazon driver union *and* a tentative agreement on workplace improvements in the country with the
@Teamsters
. Won by building rank-and-file worker power through collective action. It's gonna be a hot labor summer ✊🔥.
As we approach DSA conventions, friendly reminder to engage in comradely debate, even on heated and contentious items. Meaning no ad hominem attacks, subtweeting etc. I get it, we all pour our lives into our organizing, and we don't want to see our hard work wasted...
DSA should not be paying a single grievance consultant $360,000 a year, when the market rate for such a position is 60-100k max. We need to cut consultant costs and hire more labor and electoral organizers instead. We also urgently need more transparency in this organization.
We must invest more in organizing than consultants, which is why B&R NPC members are voting against a new and extremely costly contract with our NHGO. They explain their decision and the need for more transparency around staff salaries.
Today while I delivered vaccines and other essentials, a supervisor and two managers followed and harassed me all day in an On Job Supervision. A sup even followed me into the bathroom! Us
@Teamsters
do the real work, and this Summer we're coming for what's ours. I'm
#StrikeReady
Shoutout to DSA elected
@JabariBrisport
, the lone Democratic 'No' vote on Hochul's reactionary Associate Judge pick. Among other horrible gigs, Halligan represented UPS against a pregnant worker, arguing that pregnancy should not be accomodated on the job.
Congratulations to Caitlin Halligan on her confirmation as Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals.
Her qualifications and commitment to public service will make her a terrific addition to our state’s highest court.
Lmao this coming from the manager who fired 10 part-time workers at once for not working excessive overtime, including pregnant women (they all got rehired with full backpay)🤡😂. You fuck with us we fuck with you.
I think these terms can be analytically useful. B&R believes in a dirty break, union reform, and a democratic road to socialism. Our positions are to the right of clean break, red unionism, and insurrectionism. But to the left of realignment, permeationism, and social democracy.
It makes me sad that some are using left/right-wing framing against comrades like me who organize alongside them. The right and left of US politics want fundamentally different things; in DSA we share a vision for an end to capitalism, we just differ on how best to get there.
Infuriating. Essential rail workers are being denied the right to any sick days, and the president is taking the side of the boss to keep the wheels of profit turning.
I'm calling on Congress to pass legislation immediately to adopt the Tentative Agreement between railroad workers and operators.
Let me be clear: a rail shutdown would devastate our economy. Without freight rail, many U.S. industries would shut down.
🚨🧵Exciting News: Today
@DSA_Labor
is announcing the launch of a national labor solidarity fund, to help local DSA chapters support strikes and new organizing drives, at . I'm signing up to be a monthly donor because...
1/6🧵I became a
@DemSocialists
activist when I saw they were *the* organization on the forefront of worker struggles from the picket line to the ballot box. Here's a brief recap of just a few crucial ways I've seen DSA support labor struggles, for our new member drive 😎...
Mood: This Teamster is pissed I had to wake up an hour early for the privilege to vote for neoliberal scumbag Hochul, to keep out far right clown Zeldin. Hope someday we can win basic political democracy in this country- a multi-party system and election day as a holiday!
Teamsters
@804_local
contract campaign launch! We need:
-Higher PT wages ✅
-End the two tier 22.4 position ✅
-Safety Not Surveillance ✅
-More overtime protections ✅
And if we don't get it we will strike ✊🔥. We are essential workers. It's time
@UPS
treat us like it.
This bill is great, it would protect workers from unjust firing, and prevent retaliation when workers are unionizing. No wonder the bosses are scared! We'll be organizing for it as part of our
#UnionPower
campaign. Sign up here to get involved:
So the mayor of NYC lied on live tv to slander DSA- will
@MSNBC
fact check him as enthusiastically as they do Trump?
I’m not holding my breath. The media will happily allow politicians to lie about anti-zionist socialist Jews like myself to provide cover for Israeli genocide.
On MSNBC, Mayor Adams says in NYC "you had the DSA and others carrying swastikas and calling for the extermination of Jewish people" following Hamas' attack on Israel.
Most stunning NYC result tonight for me is
@David4BK
*accidentally* winning 20% of the vote on the WFP line against the Democratic candidate with *absolutely no* general election campaigning. Tell me again how people are irredeemably identified with the Democratic Party?
On 7/28 my Local will have mass membership rallies to demand UPS stop the hypersurveillance and start caring about worker safety. We'll be demanding this and much more when we renegotiate our contract next year. And come August 1, 2023 if we don't get what we need we will STRIKE
26 years ago the Teamsters declared ‘Part-Time America Won’t Work’ and carried out a victorious national strike at UPS. Today we take up that banner once again ✊!
#EndPartTimePoverty
AT UPS, AND IN THE U.S., PART-TIME POVERTY DOESN’T WORK
Receiving near-minimum wage in many parts of the country, part-time workers at UPS are the most at risk in the company’s workforce of being exploited and cast aside.
#1u
#HotUnionSummer
In the light of history, the 'clever' dealmaking of politicians will melt away to reveal simple facts. Biden+Congress are breaking a rail strike to deprive workers of sick days. Our DSA electeds except Tlaib caved under pressure. We need more discipline if we hope to build power.
Fantastic weekend organizing blitz with over 50 brothers and sisters in Cincinnati ✊. New organizing under the new
@Teamsters
leadership is picking up on a scale not seen in decades. Watch out corporate America the workers are coming.
Any hope of passing Left policy lies in a fighting labor movement. Glad UAW Region 9A has new militant
@UAWD_Reform
leadership, for the sake of their members and the future of the working class more broadly ✊.
In better news UAWD reform candidates in the UAW leadership election are performing far better than expected across the board, with two having already won outright. No matter what the boss, corrupt politicians, or bad union leaders do, rank-and-file workers will rise up and win.
While doing some
@UAW
solidarity flyering outside of a
@Stellantis
dealership I met Yousef, who was actually a fellow
@Teamsters
@804_local
brother for 10 years. He says “I support the union and the workers’ demands 100%, all the way!” ✊🔥
Huge win for
@nycDSA
,
@NYCDSA_Ecosoc
and the working class of New York tonight in getting the Build Public Renewables Act into the budget. It has strong labor provisions and a mandate for the state to build renewable energy. This is a great first step towards a Just Transition.
This text is the biggest Green New Deal win in US history:
The
#BuildPublicRenewables
Act, now in the NY State Budget
Through four years of organizing across the state by thousands of
@DemSocialists
,
@publicpowerny
and more.
A better world is possible. And we are building it.
Huge win for 1,127 DHL workers at CVG who just joined
@Teamsters
Local 100 ✊🔥! Had a great time supporting their campaign on a weekend organizing blitz last year with fellow
@804_local
organizers.
BREAKING: 900 DHL Express workers just won a union.
The hazardous conditions that workers in the shipping industry face—dangerous accidents, sleep deprivation, and serious injuries—led them to organize with the
@Teamsters
.
Now they've won 505-288.
My
@UPS
warehouse has the bay doors open and is only providing ineffective surgical masks. To get a N95 you have to sign a waiver. Despite NYDOL recommendations to not have employees working outside in these conditions at all.
🧵Here's a little story, why I care about
#SafetyNotSurveillance
. The first time I truly realized that UPS does not give a shit about its employees' safety, was when my friend and coworker tore his shoulder on the job, and our manager immediately claimed he was lying...
On 7/28 my Local will have mass membership rallies to demand UPS stop the hypersurveillance and start caring about worker safety. We'll be demanding this and much more when we renegotiate our contract next year. And come August 1, 2023 if we don't get what we need we will STRIKE
🧵Disappointed to see SMC, GW, and RS NPC members kill fundraising for the DSA Solidarity Fund, which was one of the great successes of the previous NLC, that allowed our labor work to scale, and raised tens of thousands of dollars from people who wanted to support labor work…
Over 100
@804_local
@Teamsters
members at our contract escalation rally in Maspeth, demanding UPS make MLK Jr. Day a holiday. We're getting
#StrikeReady
.
Just punched out a few minutes ago myself. UPS Drivers are forced to work late into the night, in some places up to 6 days a week. For UPS it means a few extra bucks of profit. For workers it means missing social and family events, strained relationships, and exhaustion.
UPS
#Teamsters
regularly face the impossible choice between supporting their families and actually being with their families.
Excessive overtime keeps UPSers like Christina Phoenix away from their families so that UPS can squeeze more revenue out of its workforce.
#1u
Was proud to see
@nycDSA
help bring together a wide coalition and organize a rally of several thousands in less than a week.
If you want to organize to end the occupation in Palestine and build a movement for the liberation of all working people join us:
This explanation clarifies little and contains misinformation. Sofia was at the contract meeting with Paula, did bring her concerns to the NPC group chat, motioned to postpone the vote until debate in front of members could be had, and raised concerns with NPC members one-on-one.
For 3 weeks, Starbucks Roastery workers have been on strike over unsafe conditions. Management said they were lying. The state Dept of Ag just found mold in the ice machine and issued the store a failing inspection report. When in doubt, trust the workers!
Feeling very optimistic about the future of
@DemSocialists
. Resolutions passed mandating full time elected political leadership for the NPC, NLC, and YDSA, and affirming our commitment to the rank-and-file strategy and independent party building. Mass work here we come ✊🔥.
This AM my
@UPS
manager yelled at me for taking my truck to the mechanic after I found a nail in the tire during my pre-trip. He says if the tire isn’t deflated it’s fine! Glad I have a union to protect me, but still pissed at this company that always puts profit over people.
Because losing a race means at worst an individual goes on to a lucrative career in an appointment, or in the private sector. But betraying their ruling class base means a Dem leader would risk being ostracized from power, both politically and personally...
🧵This weekend doing house calls with the
@Teamsters
for a Cincinnati DHL organizing drive, we heard from a worker whose shin was gashed to the bone on the job, who was told not to go to the hospital. A coworker whose legs were cut off on the job. A worker who couldn't afford...
Early morning bus of 50+
@Teamsters
@804_local
members heading to Albany to fight to raise the minimum wage with
@RaiseUpNY
✊. Watching Harlan County USA on the ride up.
Want to build worker power in NYC?
Join
@nycDSA
in doing:
🤝New Organizing
🏠District Organizing
⚖ Fighting for the Secure Jobs Act
✊Labor Solidarity
Get involved at
🧵My take on imperialism in 4 claims:
1) Imperialism serves the interests of certain fractions of capital and the ruling class
2) Imperialism is not a necessary condition for the origin or reproduction of capitalism
3) Imperialism doesn’t benefit the working class of any country
is it time for us to have this discourse? who’s ready to hear the marxist case that wealth does not come from imperialist extraction (it’s actually the exploitation of the working class)
Us
@Teamsters
@804_local
members stand in solidarity with Starbucks workers!
@SBWorkersUnited
are on strike at the Starbucks Roastery in Manhattan at W 14th St and 9th Ave over health and safety issues. Go show some support ✊
I would rather we have this discussion elsewhere than on Twitter, but seeing as this vote over 5% of our budget is being rushed through in an online asynchronous vote, that doesn't seem to be an option. Unfortunate, given the financial status of the org and the tasks before us.