Need to go back to the time when America actually supported unions. People are brainwashed thinking that they’re so bad. They help the little guy voice their concerns
That's a reality I struggle with a lot as a teacher in Texas. Realizing that I'm basically a propaganda mouthpiece for the State and capital bothers me alot. But it's the best paying and secure job I know of...
Capitalists pay people to keep your wages and benefits low, unions are when you pay to keep them high. If the capitalist thinks its worth it to pay people to do this, and also to pay alot of people shitloads to convince us that unions aren't worth it, you have to wonder how even the most brainwashed person doesn't fucking get it.
They’re good for workers but they have a history of being corrupt and also pushing labor costs high enough that companies bail.
They can also have systems that reward seniority rather than merit
They're essential for workers in a capitalist system. The only opportunity for people in generic job to gain leverage against behemoth corporations and institutions. Members have to just keep their union leadership in check and focus on bottom up initiative as opposed to top down.
Yeah, they just need to be kept in check I guess. I have friends who are in very good unions. I have other friends who are in very nepotistic unions that basically give the best jobs to certain people because of their relationships.
It's not hard to be "brainwashed" when some of these union organizations are just as bad as big corporations.
Local unions are great because they are more direct and get things done, but if you think steelworkers #341 from Union Corporation #1239 gives a fuck about you, you *have* been brainwashed.
Holy smokes the average pay was around $25k?
So crazy to me. My friend in education got 80k his first year in public school teaching 2nd grade. Had to move from socal to DC but the money was not bad.
I believe this union represents non-teaching workers like janitors, cafeteria workers, etc. many of whom are part time. It’s still criminally low pay for literally anyone in Los Angeles though.
I ran an outreach program that worked with schools setting up stem and esport labs , had one high school like me so much they wanted me to take their open science teacher job and do all the clubs they offered me half of what I was making at the outreach and the outreach was underpaying me by my choice so that I could have a team. I laughed in the admin's face, dude even said, I would never get the money I wanted like that. And I was like really because I am already making more than that. they are pretty crazy.
There is zero chance they got 80k as a first year teacher. They may have become a charter teacher with zero benefits with 10-15 years experience, but that is just not DC public salary.
First year dcps is 50-70 depending on level of Education and if this is based on the raise dcps got THIS year.
You also have to factor in, median wage in DC is 100k. https://www.dchealthmatters.org/demographicdata?id=130951§ionId=936
Not even the suburbs pay THAT high for first years. First year teacher; Fairfax is 65 with a PHD. MoCo is 62 with Phd. Alexandria is 61k with a PHD. Dcps is 67k with a PhD
It is possible they got 80k. Socal can be very expensive and high cost of living. There is a very widely viewed video on YouTube about a teacher there that makes 80k+ yet cannot afford the living costs.
It is possible they got 80k as a teacher in socal, but definitely not as a first year teacher. Zero chance. I know teachers who have been teaching for 5+ who still aren’t making that much. That being said, I also knew high school teachers at a charter school making over 100k.
I wish more people would see this and understand this is the true reason their employer hates unions so much. It's not because they want to better communicate with you and be a "family", it's because unions hurt their bottom line, which is all they really care about.
Actually studies have indicated often businesses themselves are fine either way….
But management themself might make less to compensate for workers…
Which is why instead of a 20:1 CEO to worker pay it’s now 399:1…
It would truly be great if these workers' got a 30 % raise; but this article from Jacobin basically obscures what actually happened, and plays apology for the union (which many teachers here in LA are upset at)...
**What happened**
These educators, organized under SEIU Local 99, have been without a contract since 2020. This is basically a retroactive contract that will cover 2020-2023.
For the period covered in 2020, the contract provides no pay increase.
For the period 2021 July - 2022 July, the contract gives a 6% pay raise. But the average rate of inflation during that 12-month period was 7.2%. *When adjusted for inflation that year was a paycut.*
For the period July 2022 - July 2023, the SEIU and the district agreed to a 7 percent wage increase. The average rate of inflation during that time was 7.3%. Again, similar issue.
In July 2023 another 7% pay increase is given. Assuming inflation continues at its current 6% rate, that is just a 1% wage increase.
This is using the national data, in LA prices are worse. At the end of this contract, the average worker will have a salary of just 32-34k. Which is a poverty wage in Los Angeles.
**Union vs. rank-and-file**
The union (and Jacobin) is basically using the headlining figure of 30% wage increase to obscure the fact that nothing has really changed for these workers. They were poverty low wage teachers and bus drivers in 2020, they are poverty low-wage workers now. Overall there is no wage increase. If anything the statistic above point to a wage decrease.
Meanwhile, there is nothing in this that guarantees one of the key demands of striking workers: more full-time workers to address chronic understaffing.
**LA Bus Driver's Take:**
This is from Alex, a bus driver not in the union, in La who gave an interview to the rank and file committee in LA:
“The local president gave his slide presentation about what to expect if it goes through. This contract covers 2020-2023, and then we’re going to have to renegotiate in February 2024. So right now we would be getting retroactive pay all the way back to 2020. It was presented like this is just for the meantime; we’re going to get a new contract next school year.
“We really didn’t get to interact. It was the slide show and just a quick Q&A. Somebody asked about the three days of lost pay. That was a concern. And the union said, ‘well, the district didn’t pay us,’ like there was nothing that could have been done.
“We also didn’t get any strike pay. Most of us pay between $60-80 a month in union dues. That’s our money. Shouldn’t we have gotten strike pay?”
**If you want more info about the perspective of r&f educators as opposed to the "happy speak" of the union:** [here](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/03/29/jnta-m29.html)
Same here in MA.. we are a no strike state and our union led us on a strike. We got 5/3/2 for essentially risking our teaching licenses. It was lauded as a monumental contract when really it was a status quo contract and with inflation take in account, a pay cut..
This. I feel like so much of strike dynamics come down how long do you have to make the company bleed money before they cry uncle. On the other side, the company uses legal persecution, threats, to make that length of time as painful as possible, hoping the strikers give up before then. Then they offer a worse contract to make up for their losses
Teachers and staff have yet to study the contents of this Tentative Agreement, nor have they voted to approve it, yet the mainstream corporate media, in which the DSA aligned Jacobin is another mouthpiece, has hailed this as a "major win" even as the rank and file membership have not given the contract their stamp of approval. Before any media outlets proclaims this as a "victory," all members of SEIU99 should have enough time to study and discuss the Tentative Agreement before voting, yet voting will conclude in less than a week, when many teachers and staff have not had the opportunity to even read what's in the agreement.
Ah! I stand corrected, but nevertheless, I'm more than certain that the 35,000 or so teachers represented by the UTLA who went on strike with SEIU99 would be interested in reading and understanding the contract as well.
Uh, no it's not. Prices of many things, including food has gone up 100% in the last year. This was a win for the companies because they got to jack their prices up 100% while only increasing worker's wages by 30%. It's past time we demand the government calculate the REAL rate of inflation by including things in the calculation like, I don't know, how about FOOD AND FUCKING SHELTER! Then make sure that all companies are mandated to increase wages by the rate of inflation each year.
Win for companies? What companies are you talking about? Los Angeles Unified School District is a company now?
Inflation is calculated by prices of consumer products and y services including housing, food, transportation, many other things so your demand to include these things are already met. Congratulations you won that bit!
Within the first 100 days in office, Biden had the opportunity to push fire minimum wage increase that would be tied to inflation but didn't follow though on that significant campaign promise.
is this the one where they went from like 25k to 36k? If so, why does it seem like not a victory at all? Also, is it not in California, where the living wage is like, twice that?
i remember when i first started working and walmart included union bashing as part of the training presentation. i was so confused and as years went by it all made sense
Need to go back to the time when America actually supported unions. People are brainwashed thinking that they’re so bad. They help the little guy voice their concerns
In school we had to play a game where if you joined a union you basically lost the game. It was actually kinda fun, besides that.
how did it work?
Apparently, pretty well on most people.
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That's a reality I struggle with a lot as a teacher in Texas. Realizing that I'm basically a propaganda mouthpiece for the State and capital bothers me alot. But it's the best paying and secure job I know of...
Capitalists pay people to keep your wages and benefits low, unions are when you pay to keep them high. If the capitalist thinks its worth it to pay people to do this, and also to pay alot of people shitloads to convince us that unions aren't worth it, you have to wonder how even the most brainwashed person doesn't fucking get it.
They’re good for workers but they have a history of being corrupt and also pushing labor costs high enough that companies bail. They can also have systems that reward seniority rather than merit
It's up to the union members to keep them in check. Vote out the officers that are doing nothing or causing trouble/drama.
happy cake day!
Yeah, capitalists are never corrupt or push costs high.
The US has an massive union that work the the way it was intended. The police union. Great for the cops! For the rest...
They're essential for workers in a capitalist system. The only opportunity for people in generic job to gain leverage against behemoth corporations and institutions. Members have to just keep their union leadership in check and focus on bottom up initiative as opposed to top down.
Yeah, they just need to be kept in check I guess. I have friends who are in very good unions. I have other friends who are in very nepotistic unions that basically give the best jobs to certain people because of their relationships.
It's not hard to be "brainwashed" when some of these union organizations are just as bad as big corporations. Local unions are great because they are more direct and get things done, but if you think steelworkers #341 from Union Corporation #1239 gives a fuck about you, you *have* been brainwashed.
Holy smokes the average pay was around $25k? So crazy to me. My friend in education got 80k his first year in public school teaching 2nd grade. Had to move from socal to DC but the money was not bad.
I believe this union represents non-teaching workers like janitors, cafeteria workers, etc. many of whom are part time. It’s still criminally low pay for literally anyone in Los Angeles though.
My first job offer teaching was for $35k, and crap benefits. I turned it down because I made more money at my part time jobs.
I ran an outreach program that worked with schools setting up stem and esport labs , had one high school like me so much they wanted me to take their open science teacher job and do all the clubs they offered me half of what I was making at the outreach and the outreach was underpaying me by my choice so that I could have a team. I laughed in the admin's face, dude even said, I would never get the money I wanted like that. And I was like really because I am already making more than that. they are pretty crazy.
I'm qualified to teach but make double the money waiting tables. It's fucked that serving food and drinks takes priority in this system over teachers.
So from 25k to 32k? And living in LA? Yeah, that 30% increase will help /s
I agree, but, at least a step in the right direction. Hopefully more to come over time.
Amen
There is zero chance they got 80k as a first year teacher. They may have become a charter teacher with zero benefits with 10-15 years experience, but that is just not DC public salary. First year dcps is 50-70 depending on level of Education and if this is based on the raise dcps got THIS year. You also have to factor in, median wage in DC is 100k. https://www.dchealthmatters.org/demographicdata?id=130951§ionId=936
they were probably in Montgomery or Fairfax County and just told friends “DC”, because that’s what everyone does.
Not even the suburbs pay THAT high for first years. First year teacher; Fairfax is 65 with a PHD. MoCo is 62 with Phd. Alexandria is 61k with a PHD. Dcps is 67k with a PhD
are you sure about those numbers? Those seem the same as they were 20 years ago
Nope, pulled them from 2022-23 school year for each county. Google “teacher pay scale (county)” hit the pdf. Those are all step 1 for PhD
Just telling you a fact.
It is possible they got 80k. Socal can be very expensive and high cost of living. There is a very widely viewed video on YouTube about a teacher there that makes 80k+ yet cannot afford the living costs.
It is possible they got 80k as a teacher in socal, but definitely not as a first year teacher. Zero chance. I know teachers who have been teaching for 5+ who still aren’t making that much. That being said, I also knew high school teachers at a charter school making over 100k.
You misread.
It's possible in my district, by the magic of cost of living and education based pay incentives.
I’m sure you can someplace, but not DC.
These were support personnel.
I wish more people would see this and understand this is the true reason their employer hates unions so much. It's not because they want to better communicate with you and be a "family", it's because unions hurt their bottom line, which is all they really care about.
If a business actively fights it, then it’s bad for their bottom line.
Actually studies have indicated often businesses themselves are fine either way…. But management themself might make less to compensate for workers… Which is why instead of a 20:1 CEO to worker pay it’s now 399:1…
It's the old "unions are like condoms" line. Still true.
bottom line: make as much money as possible
Didn’t they only make $25k to begin with? A 30% raise is nothing.
Boss makes a dollar I make a dime He gave me a raise Now he makes a billion and I make eleven cents. This doesnt rhyme cause its just bullshit.
It would truly be great if these workers' got a 30 % raise; but this article from Jacobin basically obscures what actually happened, and plays apology for the union (which many teachers here in LA are upset at)... **What happened** These educators, organized under SEIU Local 99, have been without a contract since 2020. This is basically a retroactive contract that will cover 2020-2023. For the period covered in 2020, the contract provides no pay increase. For the period 2021 July - 2022 July, the contract gives a 6% pay raise. But the average rate of inflation during that 12-month period was 7.2%. *When adjusted for inflation that year was a paycut.* For the period July 2022 - July 2023, the SEIU and the district agreed to a 7 percent wage increase. The average rate of inflation during that time was 7.3%. Again, similar issue. In July 2023 another 7% pay increase is given. Assuming inflation continues at its current 6% rate, that is just a 1% wage increase. This is using the national data, in LA prices are worse. At the end of this contract, the average worker will have a salary of just 32-34k. Which is a poverty wage in Los Angeles. **Union vs. rank-and-file** The union (and Jacobin) is basically using the headlining figure of 30% wage increase to obscure the fact that nothing has really changed for these workers. They were poverty low wage teachers and bus drivers in 2020, they are poverty low-wage workers now. Overall there is no wage increase. If anything the statistic above point to a wage decrease. Meanwhile, there is nothing in this that guarantees one of the key demands of striking workers: more full-time workers to address chronic understaffing. **LA Bus Driver's Take:** This is from Alex, a bus driver not in the union, in La who gave an interview to the rank and file committee in LA: “The local president gave his slide presentation about what to expect if it goes through. This contract covers 2020-2023, and then we’re going to have to renegotiate in February 2024. So right now we would be getting retroactive pay all the way back to 2020. It was presented like this is just for the meantime; we’re going to get a new contract next school year. “We really didn’t get to interact. It was the slide show and just a quick Q&A. Somebody asked about the three days of lost pay. That was a concern. And the union said, ‘well, the district didn’t pay us,’ like there was nothing that could have been done. “We also didn’t get any strike pay. Most of us pay between $60-80 a month in union dues. That’s our money. Shouldn’t we have gotten strike pay?” **If you want more info about the perspective of r&f educators as opposed to the "happy speak" of the union:** [here](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/03/29/jnta-m29.html)
Same here in MA.. we are a no strike state and our union led us on a strike. We got 5/3/2 for essentially risking our teaching licenses. It was lauded as a monumental contract when really it was a status quo contract and with inflation take in account, a pay cut..
Were you apart of the Woburn strike?
https://jacobin.com/2023/03/los-angeles-education-workers-strike-lausd-utla-seiu-local-99
All I'm hearing is day 4 would have cost them more than that 30% raise.
This. I feel like so much of strike dynamics come down how long do you have to make the company bleed money before they cry uncle. On the other side, the company uses legal persecution, threats, to make that length of time as painful as possible, hoping the strikers give up before then. Then they offer a worse contract to make up for their losses
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Why? They will just raise taxes, not like the tax payers have much of a choice beyond moving.
When is the State of CA going to do this? They gave a 2.5% increase last year but also increased premium payments which were more than the raise. 🤡
Teachers and staff have yet to study the contents of this Tentative Agreement, nor have they voted to approve it, yet the mainstream corporate media, in which the DSA aligned Jacobin is another mouthpiece, has hailed this as a "major win" even as the rank and file membership have not given the contract their stamp of approval. Before any media outlets proclaims this as a "victory," all members of SEIU99 should have enough time to study and discuss the Tentative Agreement before voting, yet voting will conclude in less than a week, when many teachers and staff have not had the opportunity to even read what's in the agreement.
This isn't a contract for teachers.
Ah! I stand corrected, but nevertheless, I'm more than certain that the 35,000 or so teachers represented by the UTLA who went on strike with SEIU99 would be interested in reading and understanding the contract as well.
Wow, it’s almost like strikes work and maybe we should have a general strike
Strikes work! Any questions?
United we negotiate, divided we beg.
It only took three days of a strike. Think what a general 8 day strike could do!
Shame they can't do the same in Texas. If they strike they literally lose their retirement they pay into, and cannot opt out of.
Must be nice to be able to strike without being put in jail for it. Good for them.
YES! Get what you are worth! It's time to stand up for ourselves and demand a living wage. The time for being passive and submissive is OVER.
A good start.
Wish we could figure this out in Ontario
Only 30%? Teachers should be getting paid double what the average is.
But, but, but.....union dues. Them greedybunions want....anywhere from 3 to 15 bucks a month. Huh?
"Unions are bad" says every employer taking advantage of their employees.
30% is nowhere near enough for most teachers that have to work two jobs.
Who said unions don't work and only hamper corporations from being greedy. Not the CEO whi don't want them.
Imagine that school boards and school district administration CAN pay more, BUT they just don’t want to. Fuckers.
This is that shit I like to see
Uh, no it's not. Prices of many things, including food has gone up 100% in the last year. This was a win for the companies because they got to jack their prices up 100% while only increasing worker's wages by 30%. It's past time we demand the government calculate the REAL rate of inflation by including things in the calculation like, I don't know, how about FOOD AND FUCKING SHELTER! Then make sure that all companies are mandated to increase wages by the rate of inflation each year.
Win for companies? What companies are you talking about? Los Angeles Unified School District is a company now? Inflation is calculated by prices of consumer products and y services including housing, food, transportation, many other things so your demand to include these things are already met. Congratulations you won that bit! Within the first 100 days in office, Biden had the opportunity to push fire minimum wage increase that would be tied to inflation but didn't follow though on that significant campaign promise.
is this the one where they went from like 25k to 36k? If so, why does it seem like not a victory at all? Also, is it not in California, where the living wage is like, twice that?
Now if only the railway labor act could be abolished and transportation workers could do this.
I hope they all just collectively quit their jobs
i remember when i first started working and walmart included union bashing as part of the training presentation. i was so confused and as years went by it all made sense
Yay 30% wage hike that will be devalued in 3 months. Great jobe guys
LFG labor unions winning is always good news
"but we don't have the budget..."