The Bread and Roses Strike Was an Epic Labor Action for Workers’ Dignity
The Bread and Roses Strike began on this day in 1912, when women mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, walked out. The strike ended in a landmark victory and popularized an enduring slogan: “The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.”
“TxDOT, by using these public-private partnerships, is a way for them to shuffle off responsibility. And sadly, OSHA rarely shows up unless there is a death or serious injury.”
Work For Hire contracts are garbage and more ubiquitous than many people are aware.
That RPG tie-in novel you like? Almost certainly work for hire from a staffer or contactor - the writer gets no royalties if you buy more copies.
You may go ahead and bootleg those ebook copies of the Dragonlance Chronicles with a clear conscience, unless Hasbro's profit margins keep you up at night.
Come to mention it, RPG source books in general? Work for hire.
Tech books? Often work for hire.
Almost every magazine in the UK, Europe, and increasingly the US (ohhai, Advance Publications)? Work for hire, my friends.
Recent freelance contacts for the New York Times? I have fucking proof from multiple contributors that several of those have been work for hire, and I really need to get back to pushing a union campaign about this.
If you're not familiar with exactly what work for hire entails, the deal is that a freelance writer is commissioned, submits the work, and gets a (usually rather small) amount of money.
The publisher then owns it. Not a license to print it. The whole thing, exclusively, all moral and legal rights. The writer can't republish it, because its not theirs and gets no further money for reprints.
Some contracts indicate that they should, but in my experience it's incredibly rare that you'll ever see any money for this, even if reprints happen.
It's a piecework equivalent of the contact staff writers get (usually minus the clause about the company also owning stuff you write in your free time unless you get dispensation), only without the inconvenient obligation for the company to pay health or pension benefits to the worker, because they're an independent contractor.
In much of the world, and especially the US, this kind of contract was once far less common, but as it stands, more and more of the publishing industry is moving in that direction.
It's been a long time since jobbing writers earned decent word rates, which I think is pretty common knowledge, but work for hire contracts means that they also get no licensing and reproduction fees, no library lending fees, no legal right to reproduce work you've written for a publication that's folded, revamped its website, or been sold for asset stripping.
It's pretty common in most fields for your boss or client to own what they pay you to make for them.
But in a profession that has traditionally been provided with few benefits ostensibly because its practitioners get a long tail of intellectual property, the move towards this model is set to have a devastating impact on retiring and late-career workers.
By way of full disclosure, I'm writing some work for hire stuff for a tech book right now, but it's a contact I'm really happy with (the text goes into the Creative Commons once I've been paid for it, so it's basically CC for hire; the code is open sourced).
But most of the rest of my writing work, with only a handful of exceptions since 2010, is just under standard work for hire, and it kind of sucks.
This has been your regular reminder that copyright exists for the benefit of large companies, and not the people who actually make the stuff you enjoy.
Hitler deregulated the economy and acted against labour unions.
Trump wants to fire tens of thousands of federal employees and replace with with loyalists.
Trump has a history of using executive actions to bypass the legislature and, frankly, departments within the executive administration.
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"Thousands of union members and activists took to the streets of Argentina’s capital Wednesday to protest a decree from President Javier Milei that imposes sweeping deregulation and austerity measures.
"Unions had asked a court for a prior injunction to block measures lifting some labor protections, but a judge rejected the appeal, noting the decree had not yet entered into effect. It does so on Friday.
"Argentine labor activists question whether Milei, a self-described anarcho-capitalist who has long railed against the country’s 'political caste,' can impose the measures by way of an emergency decree bypassing the legislature where his party has few seats.
"Since taking office on Dec. 10 following a landslide election victory, Milei has devalued the country’s currency by 50%, cut transport and energy subsidies, said his government won’t renew contracts for more than 5,000 recently hired state employees and proposed repealing or modifying about 300 laws."
“The way that #USPS has treated San Antonio letter carriers during this summer’s heat wave is inexcusable. They have been misleading to members of Congress, gone back on their word, and created a dangerous working environment."
Juan Simental died in 2019 building the SH 288 tollway. No one has been held accountable: not TXDOT, nor the construction company nor the private equity firm that now runs the tollroad.
Antelmo Ramirez was a dad, grandpa, and husband. His death by hyperthermia is absent from a #Tesla report required as part of a Travis County tax deal.
Remember, Dee Snider fought valiantly alongside Frank Zappa and others against diabolical associations like the PMRC. He knows what he's talking about.
'According to Spotify data, there are around 100 million songs on the service, yet only around 37.5 million meet the new requirements to generate revenue.'
From 2024, Spotify are essentially taking away payment for a little less than two thirds out of all the materials that artists create that is available via Spotify.
The US Labor Movement Experienced a Breakthrough Year in 2023
In 2023, half a million workers, including machinists, teachers, baristas, nurses, hotel housekeepers, actors, screenwriters, and autoworkers, went on strike and won. Their historic gains underscore the momentum of a rising reform movement in US unions.
Current and former prisoners in Alabama filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday arguing that the state’s prison labor system amounts to a “modern-day form of slavery” that violates the U.S. and Alabama constitutions.
The complaint, brought with the support of labor unions, alleges that Alabama profits to the tune of more than $450 million a year through coerced work, and that fast food companies and other private corporations benefit from an unlawful “labor trafficking scheme.”
The Matewan Massacre | Stuff You Should Know | iHeart
The Matewan Massacre was a pivotal moment for the US mining industry and the labor movement as a whole. Learn about what happened in this sleepy West Virginia town today.
Top story: In total, the SH 288 tollway #construction resulted in dozens of worker accidents, at least 10 motor vehicle accidents, two of which resulted in deaths, a recent wall failure, a pavement collapse, four class action wage theft claims, and seven lawsuits alleging breach of contract.
Juan Simental died in 2019 building the SH 288 tollway. No one has been held accountable—not TXDOT, nor the construction company nor the private equity firm that now runs the tollroad.
I've long considered #Tesla shares overvalued, so this was probably a good financial move too.
https://expressional.social/@tanyakaroli/111549459553283303
tanyakaroli@expressional.social - Absolutely love how the Nordic countries are standing together against Tesla’s stupidly stubborn refusal to enter collective agreements to ensure workers’ rights. Now, one of the large pension groups in Denmark have dumped their Tesla shares:
“The government pimped out #Texas to seek out foreign toll operators from France and #Spain. They put out on the front lawn of the Texas capitol a sign that read ‘Texas is for sale. Name your price.’”