Due to cuts to the NIH, “…scientific advancement will be delayed, treatments will go undiscovered, human health will be compromised, and lives will be lost.” Read about how UAW is fighting funding cuts in court:

BREAKING: A majority of Amazon workers at the trillion-dollar company’s largest air hub on the West Coast have now joined the Teamsters. Air hub workers marched on the boss today at KSBD in San Bernardino, Calif., to demand that Amazon recognize their union and deliver a

They’re online chanting “Up up up with the workers, down down down with the bosses!” They should be chanting, “Up, up, up with the unelected staff functionaries — down down down with the leaders that rank-and-file workers elected.”

And it’s giving the actual billionaire-funded union-busters a story to run with against UAW at precisely the time we should be focused on preparing to lead the fight against the Trump agenda. See here:

The language of this strike is extreme, unnecessary and just spreads confusion among the working-class. It plays into stereotypes that unions are just as corrupt as the billionaires they fight against.

Weird that the same ultra-“left” (ultra-liberal) forces that tend to go hard on union democracy and against staff domination of unions are supporting attempts of unelected junior temporary staff to carve out some new privilege to join, and expand, the bureaucracy of the union.

To draw an equal sign between OUR union that members tirelessly work to build to advance the working-class movement and the very corporations & billionaires we are fighting is completely disingenuous and promotes the anti-union propaganda of our enemies.

These positions shouldn’t be occupied by those assuming it will deliver the equivalent of a private sector career or “upward mobility” like a foundation-funded NGO.

If the labor movement wants to advance, and not become a bureaucratized version of its worst self, staff organizer positions must be occupied by the most dedicated and selfless champions of the working class.

Staff unions *should be* working with the leaders elected by the workers to work out conditions and salaries that correspond with the strategy and real capacities of the union. You shouldn’t be taking a “class struggle approach” because it’s not actually a class struggle!

Do you know how much totally unpaid work went into building this movement and goes into sustaining it? I’m not saying people shouldn’t be decently paid but if that’s not the spirit bringing you into this, you shouldn’t work at a union.

They’re complaining on the podcast about lacking “upward mobility” and working more than 40 hours sometimes. So? How much work do you think it takes to win a union campaign? At Haymarket Square, should the organizers have gone home at 5pm?

The main function of a union is to return more of the stolen surplus value to the workers who produce it. Not to take a portion of that surplus value and redirect it to deliver middle-class lifestyles to a few dozen staffers.

These people use union slogans but don’t understand the most basic thing about what a union is. No matter how big, the UAW is not a business! Shawn Fain is not a capitalist.

See awful podcast episode here:

On a podcast I heard one of the USU leaders actually say they rejected the existing Staff Council union because it was a “business union” that “worked with management [meaning the UAW leaders elected by workers] to deliver a good deal for” UAW organizers. The horror!

Third, a word must be said on unions of union staff generally. Working for a union - a working-class organization where the workers are the highest authority - is not the same as working for a corporation, where workers are ruthlessly exploited to line the pockets of the rich.

So now UAW has an obligation to effectively not use temp organizers anymore? How is that a responsible use of members’ dues? You’re a “union buster” if you keep UNIONIZED temps as temps?

Keep in mind there are good reasons why unions use temp organizers, usually workers on release from their existing jobs to focus on specific campaigns and then redeploy fairly quickly.

From what I understand, these striking temps are basically saying they should get way longer-term appointments and better salaries than any other UAW temps — not to mention the salaries of members.