#workers solidarity

[makingsenseofwhathappened]

[ghostwav64]

Fuck Bob Iger, Fuck David Zsaslav, Fuck all these corporate pieces of shit who have wanted to remove the humanity and soul from the art for increased revenue streams who made it so none of us own any of the art we love, we all only rent it.

[dailyanarchistposts]

WORKERS AT the Early Learning Centre Toy Shop, in Cork, have been on strike since early December. Management at the Cork store, have refused to recognise the workers’ union, Mandate, or to negotiate on pay and conditions. So far the strikers, all women, have been able to maintain a highly effective picket on the shop. Workers Solidarity spoke to the workers in January as the sales got underway. The shop was, once again, empty of customers.

-> Over the busy Christmas and New Year period, you have had a big effect. Few people seem to have passed the picket line?

It has been massive. Yeah. We reckon that there has been over a quarter of a million in losses at the shop, for the sake of £150 divided by six workers, a week. We’re out nearly five weeks now and it’s possible that something will be happening in the Labour Court. Hopefully they’ll do something in our favour, and that it won’t be just for the employer.

-> That’s the problems with the Labour Court.

lt’s a problem getting anything there. It’s a challenge.

-> How many of you are out on strike?

Well, there’s six of us that work all the time in there, permanently, but two of the staff that were taken on for the Christmas came out also, because they wouldn’t pass a picket.

-> What are you looking for?

Our main crib, really, is that in six years we’ve got on average only 10p per year rise on our hourly rate. If you came into this job tomorrow, even with no qualifications and with no experience in retailing, you would get the same money as any of us. Even those of us who are here for six years. As well as this, we’re two pounds an hour underpaid to the trade rate in Cork, that’s the union rate. We joined the union in May, and the company won’t recognise us. They refuse to recognise the union. Basically, there is to be no pay increase this year, and we’ve been told by our own manager, inside, that we won’t be getting the next one until 1997. More than likely that will be under ten pence an hour again. On top of this, we’re doing a lot more than we should as shop assistants. They expect us to unload the articulated lorries that pull up with supplies. There could be anything between seven and ten pallets a week. That stuff has to be taken upstairs. We have to clean the place and also do the lock-up and security. We’re asked to read course books — distance learning books — also, once a month. There’s nothing extra for any of that.

-> There’s also the issue of pensions?

All the British workers are in their pension scheme. We’re here six years. They say it’s very hard for an Irish pension company to take us on and that the tax system here is a bit different to theirs. Excuses. Being fobbed off again. Also, everything is set by sales targets and they’re set artificially. They’ve opened shops in Limerick and Waterford recently, lets say, on both sides of us here in Cork. So in Cork, obviously, we’ve lost customers to both Waterford and Limerick — people that would previously have shopped here. But, then, they keep upping the targets for this store here, which means you can’t achieve them. You don’t get a bonus, you don’t get a wage increase, because you’re not making this target all the time. But the target has never actually come down, even though they’ve opened these other stores. No allowance is made for that. That kind of thing.

-> Who is setting these targets? Is it management in the shop in Cork?

Personnel management within the stores itself. It would actually be set from Swindon in England, at Head Office. They set them for each individual store. Each shop gets a budget every year to work through. That’s being kept down all the time. Bonuses come from that. You get nothing as a result. I got one bonus — £8 for a year’s work, and my next one was £32 for another year’s work, before tax and PRSI! You get nothing at Christmas, just one card between everybody in the shop. A mass-produced card. Your name isn’t even mentioned on it.

-> And what about The Early Learning Centre Toy Shops? Is it a big company?

There’s two hundred and nine shops in the chain. They are a multinational.

-> You mentioned they had other shops in Ireland?

They have a massive problem with staff turnover everywhere. It got so bad in England that they had to an ‘Exit’ interview — which means you have to give your reasons for why you are leaving. They know there is a problem. But they don’t want to listen either. Look at the reasons we have here. We’re here six years. The job situation here is different to in England. You can walk out more easily there. It doesn’t work like that in this country. You just have one job.

-> The picket has been well supported by the public. What other support have you got?

It was a very bad time to go out. Christmas is a very rushed time of the year. And, in fairness, people from Marks & Spencer came over to us with collections and things like that, and we really appreciate that. Dunnes Stores and Roches Stores staff also held collections at Christmas for us. We appreciate that. We also like to thank the people from Socialist Worker, who’ve been great bringing coffee and tea. And even a few people in the street — it may only be a pound or two — but they say, here get a cup of coffee. Fantastic. It was worth a million pounds to us.

SHORTLY AFTER the strike began at the Early Learning Centre, workers at the nearby Marks & Spencer (M&S;) branch, on Patrick’s Street in Cork, said they would join the picket during their lunch break to show their support for the strikers. Management at the Early Learning Centre found out about this. They contacted their own Head Office in Swindon, who, in turn, contacted M&S;‘s Head Office, also in England. M&S; in England then sent a memo to the M&S; shop in Cork ordering the workers there not to join the picket at the Early Learning Centre. Who says the bosses don’t stand together? The M&S; workers, in Cork, told their own management where to get off — they joined the picket!

[psychoblush]

friendly reminder that the writer’s strike didn’t ruin your show, unfair working conditions and the greed of the capitalist class did.

[nokingsnocrowns]

You can't keep the workers down MAYDAY Workers Rise Up

📸 Brooklyn, NY

[ianspideythompson]

Creatives on Strike (WGA + SAG-AFTRA)

Now that SAG-AFTRA is officially joining the WGA on the picket lines, many of your favorite shows and films you're looking forward to that were already facing major delays will now face even longer delays.

Don't blame the writers or the actors. Blame the studios for refusing to compensate them fairly. I've spoken a bit about what studios are trying to do to the profession of screenwriting in my last post about the WGA strike, but I'll be focusing on acting in this one. 

It's easy to see the headlines about actors striking and go "Why are the actors striking? What the hell are they complaining about? They're all millionaires. They don't need more money!". And if SAG-AFTRA was an exclusive cool kid's club with only A-Listers amongst their ranks, maybe there's a point there. But it's not and there isn't.

There are countless working actors in SAG-AFTRA either making an honest living or living paycheck to paycheck like so many in the country are right now. Over the past few years, I've gotten to know and work with some incredibly talented actors, and even dabble in some acting myself. It's not easy work and they deserve to be fully compensated for it, whether their famous or not. And the working actors just trying to make a living like everyone else deserves it the most.

While writers are the backbone of film and television, creating worlds and characters through treatments and scripts, actors help tell those stories by bringing those characters to life through their performances. With no script or actors, you got nothing.

While I'm not a member of either guild, as an aspiring writer who does some acting every now and then, I stand with both 100%. Writers and Actors deserve to be properly compensated for their work. 

Please show your support for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA on strike! 

Solidarity forever.

Read more about the SAG-AFTRA strike here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sag-aftra-strike-what-know-actors-writers-wga-rcna94075

[desertbuddie]

We support all the strikes here!

[victusinveritas]