189 Comments

why the hell do they donate to the party that hates them ????

Expand full comment

Ta, Robyn. All these strikes do my heart good. I'm in the wrong division of (possibly) the wrong union. 1199 is TERRIFIC for home health care workers who were experiencing wage theft, but for some strange reason, we're in the CBO for pharmacists, which none of us are. There is one pharmacy in our network, so there are definitely a few at one of our clinics (the only one with a pharmacy, and its main function is MAT). The network's attorneys were embarrassed at the last negotiation meeting because the network's offer was so ridiculous, and they (the lawyers) said they'd come back when they have SOMETHING. I love my clients, I love my supervisor and a number of my coworkers, but I loathe and detest the network for which I work. I'm not the only one.

Expand full comment

I was on the contract committee for a state agency. We were an outlier, Communications Workers of America rather than AFSCME, and AFSCME always negotiated their contract several weeks before us. Whatever pay package AFSCME got, we were getting. If management tried to pull shit, we'd just go into court and argue that our employees couldn't be paid less than other state employees doing the same job just because we were in a different Union.

AFSCME got 3% raises for each year of their three-year contract, so that's what we were getting.

Do we just write up a clause for 3-3-3? Management offers us 1-1-1. Since it was necessary to counteroffer to get us to 3-3-3, we offered 6-6-6.

It was a Republican administration.

Expand full comment

Wait. The Teamsters donated to WHO, now? WTAF?

Expand full comment

Yeah that makes zero fucking sense to me.

Expand full comment

Simply Juice? Topo Chico mineral water? This friends is why boycotts don't work. Who the hell knows what companies make what anymore! I wish these workers well and I hope they have many years of employment.

Expand full comment

Also, I haven't drunk any of those beers in forever. No one would know if I was boycotting.

Expand full comment

Well there's that. Every mid-size town in America has at least one microbrewery. WHy are people still drinking coors?

Expand full comment

some people don't really like beer.

Expand full comment

I got some small pleasure when I saw they were brewing Yuengling. The Yuengling family threatened to pull their brewery out of Pennsylvania if their workers unionized and move to a right-to-work state.

Expand full comment

Yes, we are on a roll. That is why the oligarchs are joining forces to push back. The whole attack on the NLRB by Trader Joes and Bezos, etc. is a response to it. The truth is they would like slaves. But if they can't have that they're going to get as close to that model as possible. They care no more about you or your family then slave owners did. The whole permanent poor working class was working very well for them, the pandemic shook that up a bit, and so they're working hard to return us to that "just be grateful you have a job" model.

Expand full comment

Force women to have children they can't afford to support, destroy public education so workers remain ignorant, destroy higher education in case a few smart ones make it through k-12. And bam, a nice exploitable work force.

Expand full comment

I will proudly continue my 40 year boycott against Coors products.

Expand full comment

Back in the 70's, I was at a party where one of the people there had just come back from Colorado and brought a case of Coors with them. Coors was this mythical beverage of the Gods to those of us east of the Mississippi, more powerful than any of the beers we had access to.

We had to go to his room to drink it behind closed doors, because he didn't have enough for everyone at the party, and he didn't want to start anything. The marijuana use was more open and less fraught with danger out there.

Full of anticipation, I take my first sip. Might as well have been fucking Budweiser.

Expand full comment

Too many C-suite types have been spoiled by too many years of cheap labor. Lately, all the talk of "imminent recession" encouraged them to dig in their heels and wait until a surge in unemployment drives down wages.

Well, that isn't happening and doesn't look likely to. So management can either get with the new reality and start paying workers fairly, or they can look forward to many, many more disruptions like this.

Expand full comment

Why does it say at the end, "A 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 by Robyn Pennacchia"?

Please tell me that doesn't mean Robyn is no longer a staff writer.

Expand full comment

She's on staycation this week.

Expand full comment

I'd be curious to know how much, if any, the Teamsters donated to the DNC? Is it possible 45K is just a token, enough-for-a-writeoff donation?

Expand full comment

I read somewhere that they donated $30K to the DNC, so the answer is "no."

Expand full comment

not. good.

Expand full comment

$0.99 over three years. So, is that 33 cents an hour extra this year, another 33 cents an hour extra next year, and a final additional 33 cents an hour the year after? Or are they offering 99 cents, a one-time payment, and let's talk about it again in three years?

Expand full comment

They neglected to add that particular raise would be going to health care

Expand full comment

With the employee contribution rising by $1?

Expand full comment
founding

Not a dollar, but 99 cents. That's some seriously petty-assed shit.

Expand full comment

Aren't the Coors part of that leave chick tracts that look like folded up twenties as tips crowd?

Expand full comment

Ain't got no candy nor time for Trumpers who feel a secure job and a raise aren't good enough. Fuck em.

Expand full comment

I'm all conflicted now. I was like 'yeah, hell yeah!' at their statement, but damn, why they gotta go ruin it by donating to the RNC? What a waste of fucking money. Still, hope the strike is successful.

Expand full comment

Why would any union donate to the an anti-union political party. One wholly owned by the most anti-union president in modern history. (I assume, I mean he's the worst on everything else).

Expand full comment

Well, ya know, if PAB gets re-elected and institutes his mass deportation program, there will be a lot of jobs for truck drivers.....

Expand full comment
Feb 22·edited Feb 22

Oops! Donation to GOP a nonstarter. Way to dissipate support, Teamsters mgmt.

[p.s. sounds like this was written before we KNEW about the donation, so...timeline.]

Expand full comment

Simply Lemonade is great, not too sour, not too sweet. Let's go, Teamsters and all Unions!

Expand full comment

I like Simply juices too but it looks like I'll be switching to Milo's lemonade and Tropicana orange juice for the duration.

Expand full comment