Washington Post (October 17)
“While Americans are leaving their jobs at staggering rates — a record 4.3 million quit in August alone — hundreds of thousands of workers with similar grievances about wages, benefits and quality of life are…choosing to dig in and fight.” Empowered by the Great Resignation, union action is up sharply in 2021. “Workers are now harder to replace, especially while many companies are scrambling to meet heightened demand for their products and manage hobbled supply chains. That has given unions new leverage, and made striking less risky.”
Tags: Benefits, Demand, Great Resignation, Grievances, Jobs, Leverage, Quality of life, Risky, Scrambling, Staggering, Striking, Supply chains, U.S., Unions, Wages, Workers
Wall Street Journal (November 17)
Hostess, the maker of iconic American junk food like Twinkies, filed for bankruptcy. “On Friday it shut down its 33 bakeries and 565 distribution centers and prepared to fire nearly 18,500 employees en masse and auction off its brand and recipe portfolio.” The bakers and other unions succeeded in killing “an American classic, and 18,500 of their own jobs” because they refused to make concessions which might have turned the enterprise profitable. Hostess lost $341 million on sales of $2.5 billion in 2011.
Tags: Bankruptcy, Concessions, Hostess, Twinkies, Unions
Time (June 28)
The deadline is nearing for the Greek parliament to decide whether to accept mandatory austerity measures and receive an EU bailout…or risk defaulting on sovereign debt. The unions are voicing their opinion with a strike. “Workers across Greece walked off the job Tuesday at the start of a 48-hour general strike as lawmakers debate a new round of austerity reforms designed to win the country additional rescue loans needed to avoid bankruptcy.” There won’t be long to wait. The vote is due on Thursday at the latest.
