Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Sunrise Hospital Workers in Las Vegas Secure First Contract, 12% Raises

Working people across the United States regularly step 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.

Medical professionals at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas, members of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1107, are celebrating their first contract. The new contract will improve staff recruitment and retention and provides average raises of more than 12% over three years.

The contract covers nearly 300 employees working in laboratory technology, social work, occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech-language pathology, among other fields. The contract also provides union representation and a neutral arbitrator available for workplace problems, a Patient Care Committee and other committees to improve staffing, and protected benefits like 100% employer-paid health care premiums.

“In order to provide the best care and meet all of our community’s complex needs, we must have the very best professionals working here,” said Cristina Hooper, a medical social worker at Sunrise. “Our first union contract is the foundation that will empower us to attract and keep professionals, and give us a seat at the table to represent our patients and ourselves.”

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 10/07/2025 - 10:09

‘Put Working People First’: 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.

What the Government Shutdown Means for Federal Workers—Hundreds of Thousands Are Required to Keep Working Without Pay: “The U.S. government shut down Wednesday, putting hundreds of thousands of federal workers at risk of losing pay. About 750,000 federal employees are expected to be furloughed each day, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Hundreds of thousands more are required to keep working without pay until funding resumes, based on federal agency estimates, including essential staff like air traffic controllers and border patrol agents.”

We Organized Our Nonprofit and Lost Our Jobs, but We’d Do It Again: “When we finally won our union election to affiliate with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), NEDA bosses responded with blatant, illegal union busting. They fired every single one of us and attempted to replace our lived experience with a dangerous AI chatbot named ‘Tessa.’ Despite having to pull the chatbot almost immediately, the organization still chose to shutter the Helpline, claiming it was a ‘long-anticipated change.’ But make no mistake: it was about silencing voices who dared to question them, and crushing worker power.”

‘Put Working People First,’ Says AFL-CIO Angered by Trump Agenda and Government Shutdown: “The largest federation of labor unions in the United States called out President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday after a government shutdown began at midnight following failed votes on competing congressional funding bills. ‘The federal government is shutting down right now because President Trump and his administration chose chaos and pain over responsible governing,’ declared American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) president Liz Shuler in a statement.”

Adler Planetarium Workers Announce New Union: “Employees of the Adler Planetarium announced this week that they have joined a union. The roughly 80 workers said Tuesday that they have formed the Adler Planetarium Workers United, or APWU, organized by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 31. In a letter to their coworkers, the employees said they are concerned about staffing shortages, management communication, and changes to procedures without employees sharing input. AFSCME Council 31 represents workers at several other major Chicago museums—including the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Chicago History Museum.”

Unions Sue to Protect Federal Workers from Mass Firings During Government Shutdown: “Just hours before an expected U.S. government shutdown, two major unions for federal workers filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in hopes of protecting them from the Trump administration’s threat of mass firings. ‘Announcing plans to fire potentially tens of thousands of federal employees simply because Congress and the administration are at odds on funding the government past the end of the fiscal year is not only illegal—it’s immoral and unconscionable,’ American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) national president Everett Kelley said in a statement.”

Tilly Norwood, Fully AI 'Actor,' Blasted by Actors Union SAG-AFTRA for 'Devaluing Human Artistry': “A major Hollywood actors' union condemned reports that talent agents are looking to sign AI ‘actor’ Tilly Norwood for representation. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, said in a statement Tuesday that Tilly Norwood ‘is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers.’”

University of San Diego Faculty Approve First Union Contract: “After more than a year of negotiating, faculty members at the University of San Diego (USD) have approved their first union contract. Members ratified the contract Friday with 99% voting yes. The contract applies to about 200 non-tenure-track faculty in the university’s College of Arts and Sciences. It includes wage increases, back pay and job security based on seniority, according to Service Employees International Union Local 721.”

UFCW Local 324 President Andrea Zinder Dies ‘Unexpectedly’: “Buena Park labor leader Andrea Zinder, a 42-year veteran of the United Food and Commercial Workers union in Los Angeles and Orange counties and who led tough negotiations with major supermarket chains in Southern California for decades, died unexpectedly last week. Zinder was 67. UFCW said in a statement that her death Saturday, Sept. 27 was ‘unexpected’ and did not provide a cause of death. Kathy Finn, the president of UFCW Local 770, worked with Zinder on just about every major labor campaign for the past quarter-century.”

Unions Rally Around New Plan to Boost Clean Energy Jobs: “Estimating that the federal government’s turn away from clean energy projects has eliminated at least 20,000 jobs here, organized labor groups on Thursday renewed their push to create more work by requiring energy assessments in public schools and universities across Massachusetts. Massachusetts AFL-CIO, the Climate Jobs Massachusetts Action coalition and a handful of individual locals were among those who voiced support for a bill (H 3476 / S 2275) that would require energy and air quality audits for public schools, universities and colleges.”

New Jersey State AFL-CIO Proposed Rules Receive Final Approval from PERC: “At yesterday’s Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC) meeting, the commission gave final approval to two new rules initiated by the New Jersey State AFL-CIO. Working in conjunction with our public employee affiliated unions, this process took over a year to achieve. We thank the PERC Commissioners that voted in favor of these rules.”

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 10/06/2025 - 12:15