04/16/2024 - 10:00am
Thank A Union: In the States Roundup
It's time once again to take a look at the ways working people are making progress in the states. Click on any of the links to follow the state federations on X (formerly Twitter).
Alaska AFL-CIO:
Arizona AFL-CIO:
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO:
Connecticut AFL-CIO:
Florida AFL-CIO:
Georgia State AFL-CIO:
Illinois AFL-CIO:
04/15/2024 - 9:30pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Machinists Local 811 Gives Back to Houston Shelter
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
Every year, the Machinists (IAM) Local 811 Women’s Committee does a community service event in Houston. This year, the committee chose the Mission of Yahweh, which is a sanctuary for homeless women and children.
“We contacted the shelter to find out what their needs were,” said Local 811 Women’s Committee Chair Sarah Monderoy Garcia. “When we held our membership appreciation day, we asked every member to bring three items, and from there, we kept it going as long as we could.”
They delivered hundreds of dollars worth of canned goods, baby food, diapers, wipes and women’s clothing.
“My thanks go out to our membership, the Chair of the Community Services Committee, Roderick Lightfoot, and Women’s Committee member Evelita Iveritt,” Garcia said. “We’re always looking for a way to give back, and their efforts helped make this all come together, from collecting goods to delivering them. Without their assistance and contributions, this wouldn’t have been a successful outcome.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 04/15/2024 - 09:52
04/12/2024 - 12:30pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Arizona Labor Unions Host Successful Citizenship Fair, with More in the Works
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
Arizona labor organizers, union members, immigration lawyers and their clients filled the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) Local 86 hall in Phoenix last month for the Arizona AFL-CIO’s inaugural citizenship fair.
Nearly two dozen applicants worked closely with lawyers and union volunteers to fill out applications for naturalization, known as the N-400, to complete their last step to becoming a U.S. citizen. Once those forms were complete, attendees were directed to head straight to the post office to mail them off to avoid a higher filing fee. The Arizona AFL-CIO has been planning this free community fair for around three months, with more planned for the future, and every volunteer was a local union member. Organizers noted that, for a number of applicants, they were motivated to become naturalized citizens in order to finally have a say in the election process, which often decides where their tax dollars go.
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 04/12/2024 - 10:09
04/11/2024 - 6:30pm
A Big Thumbs Up: What Working People Are Doing This Week
Welcome to our regular feature, a look at what the various AFL-CIO unions and other working family organizations are doing across the country and beyond. The labor movement is big and active—here's a look at the broad range of activities we're engaged in this week.
Actors' Equity:
AFGE:
AFSCME:
Alliance for Retired Americans:
Amalgamated Transit Union:
American Federation of Musicians:
American Federation of Teachers:
American Postal Workers Union:
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA:
Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers:
Boilermakers:
04/11/2024 - 12:30pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Wisconsin Gov. Evers Protects Child Labor Law with Senate Bill 436 Veto
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers delivered remarks Monday at the Wisconsin State Council of Machinists’ 2024 spring conference in Madison and vetoed S.B. 436, which would have eliminated the requirement that employers obtain a work permit in order to employ 14- or 15-year-olds.
The work permit process keeps young workers safer at work through parental oversight and gives critical information about where kids work and what jobs they’re doing to Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development, so it can better enforce child labor laws. In 2017, then-Gov. Scott Walker, a national disgrace, signed a bill passed by fellow Republicans in the state Legislature that eliminated the work permit requirements for 16- and 17-year-olds. The bill Evers vetoed would have expanded and built on this exemption.
“Governor Evers continues to stand up for the safety of our kids by protecting child labor law in Wisconsin,” said Wisconsin State AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale. “The dangerous push to weaken child labor law in Wisconsin and across the country comes at a time when more children are harmed at work or work hazardous jobs.”
“Eliminating these permits would have been a reckless gamble with the well-being of young people,” said Machinists (IAM) International President Brian Bryant in a press release. “Work permits are not merely red tape. They are essential shields protecting our children from exploitation, unsafe conditions, and disrupted education. By vetoing this bill, Gov. Evers has shown clear leadership in prioritizing the safety and welfare of Wisconsin’s future workforce.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Thu, 04/11/2024 - 10:01
04/10/2024 - 6:30pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Austin Pets Alive Workers File to Become Nation’s Largest Animal Shelter Union
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
Austin Pets Alive (APA) animal shelter employees in Texas filed to form a union with Machinists (IAM) District 776 on Thursday, taking a first step toward creating the largest animal shelter union in the country. Austin Pets Allied Workers (APAW) members are calling for voluntary recognition from management. Their core bargaining goals include implementing policies supporting the well-being and safety of both animals and workers, increasing wages, improving benefits, and codifying fair employment practices.
“I want to join with my co-workers to form a union because workers like me who are on the front lines of animal care deserve to feel safe and supported in our mission-fulfilling work at APA,” said Ryan Martinez, an APA staff member. “I know that a strong union contract negotiated by affected employees is the best way to make that happen, which will ultimately improve conditions for the animals in our care.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Wed, 04/10/2024 - 10:10
04/09/2024 - 11:30pm
Reinvigorating the Labor Movement: The Working People Weekly List
Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List.
Rail Unions Hail Biden’s Two-Person Crew Mandate: “The nation’s rail unions and the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department are hailing the Biden administration’s final rule mandating two-person crews on all but a few of the nation’s freight trains. The rule, strenuously opposed by the nation’s freight railroads, orders a minimum two-person crew—the engineer and the conductor—on all freight trains, especially those miles-long trains the nation’s big Class I railroads run. The unions have lobbied for two-person crews, both at the Transportation Department, the parent agency of the FRA, and on Capitol Hill, for years, but the rail lobby has always blocked congressional action. And it convinced the GOP Trump regime’s FRA to allow one-person crews, as a money-saver.”
Austin Pets Alive Workers File to Become Nation’s Largest Animal Shelter Union: “On Thursday, Austin Pets Alive! (APA) animal shelter employees filed to become the largest animal shelter union in the country, according to a news release. The release said APA employees filed a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) requesting recognition of their union, Austin Pets Allied Workers (APAW). The release said the majority of approximately 200 APA workers signed union cards with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, along with support from the National Veterinary Professionals Union.”
Harvard Law School Academic Workers Vote 62-3 to Unionize: “Harvard Law School clinical workers voted 62-3 on Wednesday in favor of unionizing under Harvard Academic Workers-United Auto Workers. Out of 110 eligible voters in the unit, 80 percent showed up to the polls at Roscoe Pound Hall, despite the rainy weather. After the votes were certified with the National Labor Relations Board Wednesday evening, HAW-UAW Clinical can move forward in negotiations with Harvard. In addition to the 65 official votes cast, 12 workers also voted under challenge.”
IATSE Sees Fears and Promise of Artificial Intelligence: ‘We Want the Spoils’: “When the Writers Guild of America went on strike last May, union leaders argued that artificial intelligence posed an existential threat to writers, painting a picture of a dystopian future in which TV shows might be crafted by one writer and a machine. Ten months later, the tone in Hollywood labor circles has shifted significantly. At a March 3 rally in Los Angeles, Matthew Loeb, international president of IATSE, argued that AI has the potential to make union members’ jobs easier. ‘We want some of the spoils of artificial intelligence,‘ Loeb said.”
Philly College Adjuncts Fight for Stability: “To draw attention to the struggles of adjunct or ‘contingent‘ faculty, instructors from Temple, University of the Arts, Community College of Philadelphia and several other schools will hold a rally outside City Hall on Friday with state Sen. Nikil Saval, state Rep. Rick Krajewski, and other supporters. ‘We’re keeping the focus on how the most vulnerable faculty are not only experiencing all of the instability and the political pressures that have been leveled at higher ed, but they’re also the ones bearing the brunt of these unnecessary cuts,‘ said Bradley Philbert, an adjunct at UArts and an officer with the United Academics of Philadelphia, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers union.”
MAGA House Republicans Attack Workers Again: “The Republican House majority on the Education and the Workforce Committee—ideologues for whom ‘Labor‘ in its title was a dirty word so they removed it–attacked workers again. This time, they approved House Joint Resolution 116, the equivalent of a law if a president signs it, would abolish the Biden Administration Labor Department’s new rule that makes it much tougher for shady businesses to misclassify their workers as ‘independent contractors.‘ The committee OK’d it on a party-line vote on March 21, just before lawmakers skipped town for another of their many two-week recesses. In its place: A Trump-era rule which gives those bosses a much freer hand, and lets them deprive workers of the right to organize, while cutting ‘labor costs‘ for the crooks in half, one estimate says. HJRes 116 would enshrine the anti-worker Trump rule forever. Trump’s ‘rule unfairly tipped the scales toward businesses rather than the workers DOL is supposed to protect,‘ the unions and their allies retorted in a joint letter to House and Senate legislative leaders, anticipating floor fights on this Republican brainstorm.”
East Bank Redevelopment Project Update: Master Developer, Labor Union Strike Deal: “This memorandum of understanding between Fallon and Laborers' International Union of North America Local 386, also known as LIUNA, strengthens worker pay and security protections, said Ethan Link, vice president of LIUNA Local 386. The Madison-based union represents construction workers and Vanderbilt University service workers. Workforce development apprenticeship programs are key to the union's efforts to keep job sites active with limited labor supply.”
How a Union Battle Could Decide Who Wins the U.S. Senate: “Tim Burga, president of the Ohio branch of the AFL-CIO—America's largest federation of unions—told Newsweek that once organized labor mobilizes around a candidate, unions can tap into their extensive networks and existing infrastructure, to spread political messages. Through worksite outreach campaigns, door-to-door volunteers, and manpower to deploy traditional campaign mailers, unions can play a pivotal part in turning out voters. With Brown's robust labor record, Burga expects him to garner support across the board, saying, ‘I couldn't even quantify. It's really strong.‘”
Barnes & Noble Workers Plan Union Drive at Largest U.S. Bookstore Chain: “Workers at America’s largest chain of bookstores are gearing up for a nationwide union drive after six Barnes & Noble outlets voted to organize over the past year. ‘Many more‘ stores will unionize, according to booksellers demanding better pay and conditions. At locations that already have, employees accuse the chain’s management of dragging their heels during contract negotiations. James Daunt, the CEO, is said to have embarked upon a months-long campaign to dissuade employees from voting in favor.”
Liz Shuler Wants AI to Reinvigorate the Labor Movement: “Liz Shuler was standing inside a university lab one day a few years ago when she saw the future of everything—in a cutting board. At the time Shuler was secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, one of America’s most storied labor organizations, and she’d come to Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University with a delegation that included members of Unite Here, the union representing hundreds of thousands of workers in the hospitality industry. Their mission: to get a glimpse at how technology might impact the workplace in the years ahead. It didn’t take long before that impact became clear, at least in the kitchen. One of the professors at CMU, a school known for its prowess in technology and design, was demonstrating a cutting-edge cutting board that was able to measure how fast someone sliced vegetables, as well as the quality of their motion.”
Major Nebraska Labor Federation Backs U.S. Senate Candidate Dan Osborn: “Independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn has announced significant endorsements from major Nebraska unions for his campaign, along with the achievement of collecting enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Osborn, a U.S. Navy and Nebraska Army National Guard veteran and steamfitter from Omaha, was joined by local union leaders/members at the Steamfitters & Plumbers Local Union #464 in Omaha on his lunch break to make the announcement Thursday. At the event, the Nebraska State AFL-CIO—the state chapter representing the federation of labor unions in the United States—announced their support for Osborn in the U.S. Senate race, challenging incumbent Senator Deb Fischer. ‘…because we know he will be a champion for working people,‘ said Lori J. Meyers, Communications Director/Mobilization Coordinator for the Nebraska State AFL-CIO. ‘Osborn has proven that he will fight to ensure that workers have a voice in the workplace, protect, and strengthen labor standards and expand employment protections. Our affiliates believe that Dan Osborn is the right person to represent working people in the U.S. Senate.‘”
‘The Right to Organize Is on the Line,’ Casey Says as He Picks Up Labor Endorsement: “Shortly after thanking dozens of trade union members and leaders for endorsing his reelection bid, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., stood near a wall-size mural of an overalls-clad working man gazing past the Pittsburgh skyline and concluded the 2024 election cycle could be summed up in one word: rights. ‘If you and I were having this conversation, say, 15-20 years ago, and you were saying this election would be about women’s rights, workers’ rights and voting rights, I’d have said, ‘Well, that’s not where the election’s going to be because those rights are settled,’ Casey said. ‘But now those three rights are on the line, in this election. His specific focus on this day: workers’ rights. Dressed in jeans and a gray pullover, Casey made his argument to a friendly crowd—he was visiting the Plumbers Union Local 27 headquarters in North Fayette, a suburb west of Pittsburgh, to receive the endorsement of the Pittsburgh Regional Building Trades Council. The council supports 33 local unions representing a broad swath of workers, from carpenters to plasterers to electrical workers to bricklayers.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 04/08/2024 - 10:15
04/09/2024 - 11:30pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Los Angeles City Workers Ratify Contracts with Robust Wage Increases
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
Six AFSCME locals representing more than 10,000 Los Angeles City workers ratified new contracts with robust wage increases and other benefits. AFSCME locals 741, 901, 2006, 2626, 3090 and 3672 began negotiations with the city in August 2023 as a part of the Coalition of Los Angeles City Unions, which negotiates benefits for all Los Angeles city employees represented by AFSCME, the Laborers (LIUNA), the Operating Engineers (IUOE), the Los Angeles/Orange County Building Trades, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the Teamsters. Union members ratified the tentative agreements in March.
The workers secured a 22% cost-of-living adjustment over the five-year life of the contract, allows members to cash out all of their unused sick time from their 100% sick time bank when they retire, increases the minimum pay of employees to $25 per hour by 2026, provides 12 weeks of parental leave, allows workers to cash out unused personal leave at the end of each calendar year, among other benefits.
“I have been with the city for 20 years, and never have I had a contract of this magnitude,” said Larry Gates, president of Local 3090. “In speaking with my members, almost all are overwhelmingly excited and grateful for the hard work and dedication of the negotiations committee.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Tue, 04/09/2024 - 10:00
04/09/2024 - 5:00pm
Fighting for Respect: In the States Roundup
It's time once again to take a look at the ways working people are making progress in the states. Click on any of the links to follow the state federations on X (formerly Twitter).
Alabama AFL-CIO:
Alaska AFL-CIO:
Arizona AFL-CIO:
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO:
Colorado AFL-CIO:
Connecticut AFL-CIO:
Florida AFL-CIO:
Illinois AFL-CIO:
Kentucky State AFL-CIO:
Maine AFL-CIO:
Massachusetts AFL-CIO:
Michigan State AFL-CIO:
Minnesota AFL-CIO:
Missouri AFL-CIO:
Montana State AFL-CIO:
Nevada State AFL-CIO:
New Hampshire AFL-CIO:
New York State AFL-CIO:
Ohio AFL-CIO:
Oregon AFL-CIO:
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO:
Rhode Island AFL-CIO:
Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council:
Texas AFL-CIO:
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO:
Wisconsin State AFL-CIO:
Kenneth Quinnell
Tue, 04/09/2024 - 10:18
04/08/2024 - 10:30pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: DreamWorks Animation Production Workers Vote to Join the Animation and Motion Picture Editors Guilds
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
DreamWorks Animation production workers are joining their artist and technician colleagues in The Animation Guild (Theatrical Stage Employees [IATSE] Local 839) and their editor colleagues are joining the Motion Picture Editors Guild (IATSE Local 700). More than 90 production workers who work on television and feature films voted to join the two IATSE locals, while 41 voted against unionization. The workers include production assistants, production coordinators, post production supervisors and post production assistants, and they have worked on the recent releases like "Kung Fu Panda 4," "Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken" and "Trolls Band Together."
“Production workers know what’s best for their roles and lives, and with the recent announcements of significant company policy changes like increased outsourcing and a disallowal of most remote work for production staff, they felt a sense of urgency,” said Animation Guild organizer Allison Smartt.
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 04/08/2024 - 10:02
