This summer of labor solidarity isn\u2019t just limited to private-sector employees \u2014 workers in the public sector are taking action, too, continuing a years-long trend. <\/p>\n
Striking Hollywood writers and actors joined 11,000 striking Los Angeles city employees on the picket lines during the public workers\u2019 one-day strike this week. About 4,000 city employees in San Jose, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley, are set to strike for three days next week. <\/p>\n
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Some high-profile public-sector strikes from earlier this year include teacher and school-staff strikes in California, in the cities of Los Angeles and Oakland. There have been at least a couple of dozen education-related strikes this year in the U.S., many of them at public schools, according to\u00a0the Labor Action Tracker report\u00a0from Cornell University\u2019s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. In West Virginia, where teachers have been striking for years, the legislature passed an anti-strike bill in 2021.<\/p>\n
Many of the issues facing public-sector workers are similar to those of private-sector workers, including stagnant wages that haven\u2019t kept up with rising costs of goods, services and housing. But historians and labor experts say the battles public-sector workers are fighting have a bit of a different context. <\/p>\n
Read more:<\/strong> Actors, writers, hotel housekeepers and grad-student workers are all striking for the same reason<\/p>\nWhy it\u2019s harder for public-sector workers to strike<\/h2>\n
For one thing, these workers don\u2019t have collective-bargaining and striking rights under federal labor laws, and only some state laws guarantee them those rights. Their unions aren\u2019t negotiating with big, multinational companies \u2014 they\u2019re talking with elected officials who are beholden to both workers and unions. And in many cases, the services public workers provide directly affect people they know and live around, so they might have more public support.<\/p>\n
\u201cPublic-sector unions these days are very interested in the \u2018bargaining for the common good\u2019 approach \u2014 tying their demands to the quality of city services in a way that the public will support,\u201d said John Logan, a professor and director of the labor and employment-studies department at San Francisco State University.<\/p>\n
William Jones, a history professor at the University of Minnesota, told MarketWatch in an interview that \u201cthe current strike stems from a long history of unionization and strike activity in the public sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly bolstered by the private-sector strikes, but reflects a particular history of devaluing essential workers that has shaped the public sector since the early 20th century,\u201d said Jones, who is currently writing about the history of race and inequality in public employment.<\/p>\n
Many jobs that are considered service work in cities \u2014 and elsewhere \u2014 are done by people of color and women, he added. Wages for these jobs, many of which offer tough working conditions, have historically been low.<\/p>\n
From the archives (March 2023):<\/strong> Women are overrepresented in lower-paying jobs. It\u2019s costing them billions of dollars.<\/p>\n\u201cIt stems from the history of treating service jobs \u2014 caring, cooking and cleaning jobs \u2014 as jobs that people should do out of a sense of duty,\u201d Jones said. The labor of women and people of color has been devalued for a long time, going back to the days of slavery, he added, and their overrepresentation in service jobs is part of the reason public-sector jobs were excluded from federal labor laws.<\/p>\n
The coronavirus pandemic brought these issues to the fore. Essential workers who couldn\u2019t work from home because they had to keep the city running are now fighting for higher wages and \u201crespect and dignity that is so overdue,\u201d said David Green, the president of SEIU Local 721, the largest public-sector union in Southern California.<\/p>\n
\u2018The national psyche after the pandemic has changed\u2019<\/h2>\n
This past Tuesday, thousands of Los Angeles city workers \u2014 including workers at Los Angeles International Airport, street-service workers and lifeguards \u2014 \u201creally shut down L.A. for a day,\u201d Green said. \u201cIt really sent a message that city employees are vital to our services.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green said \u201cthe mayor\u2019s office reached out immediately,\u201d and that he\u2019s cautiously optimistic about the union\u2019s negotiations with the city.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a public statement the day of the strike. \u201cAs Mayor, my job is to ensure the people of Los Angeles are served and safe, that the city finances are protected and that city workers \u2014 the backbone of our economy \u2014 are respected and treated fairly.\u201d Her office would not provide additional comment this week.<\/p>\n
In San Jose, where a three-day strike is scheduled for next week, the city is \u201cfacing a severe recruitment and retention crisis, leading to worse service outcomes for residents,\u201d Jean Cohen, the executive director for the South Bay Labor Council, told MarketWatch. <\/p>\n
\u201cCity workers are preparing to strike to defend public services \u2014 they cannot all keep doing the job of one or more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Among the entities and services affected will be libraries, community centers, permits and the airport, Cohen added. <\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the city of San Jose said Friday that \u201cwe are currently in mediation with the unions\u201d and that \u201cthe City realizes the potential impacts to our community.\u201d <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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\n \u201c<\/span>\u2018Both public- and private-sector workers have experienced inflation and the pandemic in similar ways.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p>\n
\n \u2014 Melissa Lyon, a public-policy professor at the University at Albany<\/span>
\n <\/small><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\nKent Wong, the director of the UCLA Labor Center and vice president of the California Federation of Teachers, said in an interview that public-sector workers in a labor-friendly state have some political advantages. He pointed out that Bass, the first Black mayor of Los Angeles, \u201cis a former community organizer who understands the challenges of working people.\u201d <\/p>\n
More than in the private sector, he added, the needs of employees in the public sector and the leaders with whom they\u2019re negotiating are more aligned. \u201cPublic workers are there to serve the public, and the government is there to address the needs of the public,\u201d Wong said. \u201cThey\u2019re united in their concern to provide education, public services, health and public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Melissa Lyon, a public-policy professor at the University at Albany, State University of New York, agreed. \u201cPublic-sector workers are making an appeal to officials who are essentially accountable to the broader public, and to the voters,\u201d Lyon told MarketWatch.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in the private sector, \u201cyou have a very intense profit motive, and you have globalization,\u201d Wong said. \u201cHollywood workers are dealing with corporations that reach across the globe. Hotel workers are negotiating with multinational corporations.\u201d He said it can be a \u201cbigger lift\u201d for those workers to stand up to the big corporations.<\/p>\n
Related:<\/strong> How jobbing actors are surviving the strike \u2014 and what we can all learn from them<\/p>\nDespite differing circumstances and negotiating positions, most workers in the public and private sectors have plenty in common.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth public- and private-sector workers have experienced inflation and the pandemic in similar ways,\u201d Lyon said. \u201cThe internal conflicts in the heart of individual workers you have to convince to go on strike have changed. The national psyche after the pandemic has changed. Workers have a different view on work \u2014 and what work should and should not ask of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This summer of labor solidarity isn\u2019t just limited to private-sector employees \u2014 workers in the public sector are taking action, too, continuing a years-long trend. Striking Hollywood writers and actors joined 11,000 striking Los Angeles city employees on the picket lines during the public workers\u2019 one-day strike this week. About 4,000 city employees in San […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[236],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-47369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"\n
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