Emily Butt
Emily Elaine Butt is a Delivery Driver at UPS. Worked at McPeak Media. Daughter of Jimmy Butt. Partner of Severin Mortensen.
Education
- Studied Political science at Eastern Michigan University.
Detroit Union Education League meeting
On July 31, 2023 the Teamsters Bargaining Committee recommended the new contract to the membership; voting is underway through Aug. 22. The new contract terms would ensure massive gains for many at UPS, including higher wages for full- and part-time workers, 7,500 new full-time positions, air conditioning in delivery vehicles, and other benefits. While the deal is substantial and being hailed in the media as a historic win, it still leaves some concerns unaddressed.
One day before the contract was finalized, the Detroit Union Education League (DUEL) hosted a panel discussion with four rank-and-file UPS workers and members of the Teamsters union in Detroit, Local 243. Panelists Josh, Jason, Emily Butt, and Severin Mortensen, who all work in different positions and warehouses at UPS, offered their thoughts on the new contract, and what lessons could be taken from their effort.[1]
Emily Butt, is a shop steward out of Lansing. Jason is a shop steward and worker at UPS for over 25 years. Josh is a part-time pre-loader out of Detroit, Severin Mortensen is a UPS worker out of Lansing.[2]
Jacobin Radio
Barry Eidlin returns to guest host, talking to San Diego Teamster Justin Alo, Detroit Teamster Emily Butt, and San Francisco Teamster John Elward about the tentative agreement reached on July 25 between the Teamsters Union and the shipping giant UPS, one week before the contract covering 340,000 workers across the US was set to expire on July 31. Talks broke down on July 5, and practice pickets were building towards what would have been one of the largest strikes in U.S. history.[3]
FRSO meeting
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack! is hosting another online meeting for the growing numbers of members on Thursday, February 17 2022at 8 p.m. Eastern time. We will use Zoom to welcome our new members who joined since the last meeting on capitalism destroying the environment.
Tom Burke, the organizational secretary of the FRSO, will speak about the growth of the FRSO, the importance of union solidarity with the George Floyd rebellion, the recent uptick in strikes, and how we can lead the American working class toward revolution.
Emily Butt, a union steward, will speak on the victories of the democratic reform movement that is transforming the Teamsters, and the need to strike at UPS so we can change the whole industry, including Fed Ex and Amazon.
David Gilbert-Pederson will cover how to win the immediate demands of workers through contract campaigns, job actions and strikes as we prepare the working class for bigger battles against the monopoly capitalists of Wall Street.
Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday
From the Freedom Road Socialist Organization website Fightback! News in an article titled "UPS Teamsters demand MLK Day become paid holiday" dated January 17, 2022:[4]
- UPS Teamsters across the country mobilized on January 17 2022, |Martin Luther King Jr. Day to demand UPS make MLK Day a paid holiday, end two-tier jobs, create more full-time jobs, and pay part-time employees a living wage. UPS Teamsters held parking lot rallies and gathered petition signatures at UPS warehouses.
- "People forget that MLK was as strong an advocate for the labor movement as he was for the civil rights movement, and it's important that we honor MLK day to re-establish that legacy in the labor movement," said Emily Butt, a part-time package handler and steward from Lansing, Michigan.
- The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) passed a resolution at their 2021 convention stating that the IBT will launch a campaign to make MLK Day a paid holiday in all Teamster contracts. The resolution was initially proposed by General President-elect Sean O'Brien.
- "People fought hard for MLK day to be a national holiday. It's time the Teamsters observe it and make it a paid holiday. The workers deserve it," said Adam Gerado, a part-time package handler from Jacksonville, Florida.
- The push to make MLK Jr. Day a paid holiday is the first action of many signaling that a Teamsters United administration will not be business as usual. The Teamsters United slate ran on a platform of winning better contracts, organizing key workplaces like Amazon, and bringing the fight back to the Teamsters union.
- “Dr. King's dream is still unfulfilled when we still have part-timers working for poverty wages with no access to full-time jobs. By fighting to make MLK Day a paid holiday UPS Teamsters are saying it is time we all be treated with respect,” said Eliza Schultz, a part-time package handler from Chicago.
Fight Back! supporter
Fight Back! / ¡Lucha y Resiste! is a Facebook group for readers and supporters of Fight Back! / ¡Lucha y Resiste! the newspaper of Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!
As of July 5 2020 members included Emily Butt.
Marching in Caracas
Emily Elaine Butt March 19 2020.
Over 600,000 people took to the streets in Caracas, March 10, marching to support President Maduro and the Bolivarian government.
Tom Burke, Emily Butt, Gabriella Killpack, Jared Hamil.
Labor delegation to Venezuela
Emily Butt, Jared Hamil and Tom Burke, Gabriella Killpack March 12, 2020.
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack! (FRSO) labor delegation with with Tibisay Lucena (center), president of the National Electoral Council.
Caracas, Venezuela - The Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack! (FRSO) labor delegation met today with Tibisay Lucena, president of the CNE (the National Electoral Council) to discuss the upcoming elections. Lucena spoke about this election as very important in the face of U.S aggression and the economic war.
Lucena explained the electoral processes in Venezuela are a result of democratic changes put forward in the 1999 Constitution after President Chavez was elected. The CNE is a new branch of government, the electoral branch, that oversees a fair and democratic process. This is in addition to the legislative, judicial and executive branches. The fifth branch of government as conceived by Simon Bolivar in 1826 is the Moral Power.
The delegation also met with space program officials, March 11, at the Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities. Pictured are Adolfo Godoy, the president of ABAE; Mariano Imbert, the manager of Commercial Development; Salvador Lugo, the vice minister of Science and Technology, along with members of the FRSO delegation.
Grand Rapids comrades
According to Tom Burke writing in Fightback News January 26, 2020 45 people rallied in Grand Rapids on January 25 2020 to demand “No U.S. war on Iran! U.S. out of Iraq!”
“We are part of an international day of protest, with more than 100 protests in U.S. cities alone. People are sick of the endless wars that Trump promised to halt. The U.S. needs to leave the Middle East and let the people of those countries decide their own destiny,” said Barbara Howard of the Anti-War Committee.
Howard continued, “Trump’s assassination of the respected Iranian General Soleimani was outrageous. We think it is good Trump backed down quickly from a regional war. Now it is time for U.S. troops to leave Iraq, including the 3000 soldiers Trump just sent. That is clearly what the people of Iraq want, and so do the people of the United States.”
“U.S. intervention hurts the international working class. Domestically, it diverts money away from the public good and forces working-class people into fighting wars of imperialism that benefit the 1%. Abroad, every day people are exposed to violence, occupation and political instability, while the elite reap the benefits of U.S. expansion and hegemonic domination,” said Emily Butt of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!.
Stepping off from the Union Soldier monument at Division and Fulton, the protesters marched and chanted through downtown to the Gerald R. Ford Federal Building carrying signs reading, “No to war, yes to peace, U.S. out of the Middle East!”[5]