Unionizing: 'It takes two'

 As 12 shoppers stood in line one afternoon at an Illinois Dollar General – where a register and a self-checkout were out of service – one part-time cashier was falling behind. The only other worker in the run-down small-town store was a “manager” stocking shelves from a wheeled cart the Tennessee-based chain calls “Rolltainers.”

Some 800 miles east, a couple of Dollar General workers faced similar woes with understaffing, unreliable equipment, inconsistent scheduling, no lunch breaks and nonstop demands to somehow shelve goods from narrow aisles, check out customers, and watch for thieves.

The difference is the Union of Southern Service Workers – an affiliate of the Service Employees now operating in Alabama, the Carolinas and Georgia – advising workers TyBrianna Shaw and Miranda Chavez about their legal rights, and defying the conventional wisdom that workers can’t stand up for themselves in Right To Work states, and that the South is anti-union anyway.

(In fact, a Gallup poll done before the COVID pandemic said that 60% of people in the South approve of unions. Since the approval rate nationally is 71%, support has probably gone up in the last two years.)

So last month, Chavez and Shaw became the first underpaid workers to strike with USSW help.

Their two-day work stoppage demanded better pay, an end to wage theft, no more “disrespect from management,” and especially stopping the pattern of having a single employee working some shifts.

“In our jurisdiction, we have either shut or threatened to shut down almost any business that has the name ‘Dollar’ in it,” said Irmo Fire District fire marshal Brian Haley, speaking to Hanna Raskin in The Food Section, a newsletter and quarterly publication based in Charleston, S.C.

“The merchandise is shipped before the store can sell it or stock it,” Haley continued. “The stores do not have enough employees.”

Standing up to employers can be daunting, whether a Fortune 500 behemoth or a small business with a handful of employees working for owner-operators, whether in the South, with its anti-union Right To Work limitations, or in Illinois, with its new Workers Rights Amendment protecting everyday working people.

But at a certain point, especially with the encouragement of knowledgeable organizers, enough is enough.

“How many Dollar General workers does it take to whip up a strike at Store #10635 on Broad River Road in Irmo, S.C.?” Raskin asked.

“Two,” she answered.

Some will appreciate the USSW’s skepticism of depending on government to help. The advocacy group will file charges with agencies when necessary, but it stresses grassroots action.

Others will hear about two brave souls on strike and remember the ’60s song “It Takes Two” by Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston, singing, “It takes two, baby. Make a dream come true. It just takes two.”

Still others may appreciate the unionization of small units here in Illinois:

11 workers at Atlantic American Fire Protection in Elgin (now with UA Local 281),

8 maintenance workers at Royal Crane in Markham (now with Operating Engineers Local 150),

8 maintenance workers at Stetson Building products in the Quad Cities (now with the Steelworkers),

6 technicians at South Surban Mitsubishi in Matteson (now with Machinists 701),

6 Verizon Wireless workers in Oswego (now with the CWA),

5 veterinarians with Eye Care for Animals in Chicago (also with Machinists 701),

4 maintenance workers at a Chicago Marriott (now with Operating Engineers 399),

3 air traffic controllers at an airport in Waukegan (now with PATCO),

3 workers at United Rentals Pac-Van in the Qusd Cities (also with Operating Engineers Local 150),  and

2 – yes, 2 – mechanics at First Student in DeKalb (also with Machinists 701).

 

 “One of USSW’s slogans is ‘Don’t Quit: Organize,’ so when Chavez and Shaw’s two-day strike was up, they clocked back in as scheduled,” reported Raskin. “Dollar General hasn’t made any of their requested changes, but Shaw reports nobody at the store has been scheduled to work alone since they walked out.”