BREAKING: The Justice Department and 30 U.S. states have filed a sweeping lawsuit charging Live Nation-Ticketmaster with running illegal monopolies over ticketing and concert promotion. “It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster," Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
“Across the country, private companies are swooping in to buy local water and sewer systems from the governments that own them. Then they jack up the prices -- forcing normal people to pay higher rates not just for the water that comes out of their faucets, but even the water that comes out of their toilets.
We really need to rethink our capitalistic obsession of running things like a business. Cutting costs to increase profits obviously doesn't make sense in areas of education, healthcare, public utilities, and prisons, to name just a few.
Hell, Boeing is making a strong case that it doesn't even make sense for businesses to be run like a business, much less these public goods...
I was watching a video from More Perfect Union about how the US and Puerto Rico itself have created a wealth inequality that is as profoundly unique as it is disturbing.
In a clip from this video, I noticed something called Anarchapulco in the background. So, I paused it and looked it up.
Oh look! It’s a single graph that shows why sector-wide bargaining is crucial!
While there are a couple of stand-out employers -- whether from actual paid sick leave policies or unionization efforts to fight for said policies -- in the food service sector:
(1) Jack in the Box,
(2) Starbucks (in the midst of a strong union drive),
(3) Chipotle (at least one store closed due to unionization efforts),
(4) In-N-Out Burger
The overall trend is that 78% or so of all food service workers believe (accurately) that they do not have paid sick leave.
My conclusion? Trying to build up individual bargaining units at individual employers is an uphill, losing battle. Organization in food service needs to always have its eye on sector-wide bargaining.
I originally saw this graph from a post on Tumblr, which had a screenshot of a Tweet from More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) talking about a CDC study that found sick workers were tied to 40% of restaurant food poisoning outbreaks. Unionization protects everyone, not just the members.