KENSINGTON, Md.—Linda Bridges, president of Office and Professional Employees Local 2, has some of her Kaiser Permanente clinic union members “sleeping in their cars.”
That’s because even with their jobs at Kaiser clinics in the D.C. suburb of Kensington, Md., plus second jobs after that, they can’t afford rent.
“They drive to work. Then they drive to their second jobs. Then they sleep in their cars” and report to their Kaiser posts again, Bridges explains.
It’s these types of incremental reforms that build the basis from which workers can continue the fight for more.
Back in August 2022, I wrote about a newly passed law in California that would create a sector-wide labour-management council giving fast food workers the right to bargain over wages and standards in their industry. At the time, myself and many others considered the law a significant victory.
