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.

The Newark Teachers Union (NTU)—an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)—and the district announced a tentative agreement on Friday that would increase the starting salary and give educators a 4.5% raise for each of its five years.

The five-year agreement would give educators raises averaging 22.5% over the life of the contract and a $3,000 increase in the starting salary for teachers (raising it to $65,000 per year) in order to help combat understaffing and attract new, talented staff members. Additionally, the contract would empower teachers to select and design curriculum within their subject areas, putting their expertise in the drivers’ seat and ultimately helping students. The bargaining unit includes teachers, classroom aides, guidance counselors and other roles such as psychologists and reading specialists.

“We felt the best way to get a contract that helps Newark students succeed and thrive would be to be partners, not combatants,” NTU President John M. Abeigon said. “What makes this contract transformational and a model for other districts is that teachers will have a genuine voice in all aspects of Newark education, including having seats on committees that deal with instruction issues and district operations.”

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.

Cannapunch cannabis workers in Las Vegas voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 711. The 32-person unit is the first cannabis processor in the state of Nevada to vote to join UFCW.

“I'm thrilled to join the other three Ayr Wellness locations in Nevada and cannabis workers across the country in this growing labor movement,” said Cannapunch cannabis worker David Rodriguez Prieto. “As the industry expands nationwide, I'm proud to stand with my colleagues, building our power to fight for just compensation and a voice on the job. A cannabis processing job should provide a stable career where workers feel valued and their efforts appreciated. We look forward to discussing a contract that genuinely mirrors our daily contributions that make Cannapunch the successful dispensary it is.”

Our latest roundup of worker wins includes numerous examples of working people organizing, bargaining and mobilizing for a better life.

Firefighters Reach Tentative Agreement with Boeing: Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local I-66 and Boeing have reached a tentative agreement (TA) after months of negotiations and a lockout that the company started on May 4. On Wednesday, the union, which represents 125 firefighters across multiple facilities in Washington state, said it had reached a tentative contract deal in a joint statement released with the multinational aerospace company. Members—who are on-site for fueling, takeoffs and landings, and to respond to any medical emergencies—are expected to vote on the TA Thursday afternoon. This fight for a fair contract has drawn significant attention as members bravely held the line. President Biden posted concerns about the lockout earlier this month on social media and urged both sides to reach a fair contract with the benefits and pay firefighters deserved. On May 14, a solidarity rally was held outside Boeing headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, where IAFF General President Edward Kelly, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, Rep. Val Hoyle and labor allies urged Boeing to make a deal. And just last week, House lawmakers from Washington state urged good-faith negotiations.

CVS Pharmacy Workers at Two Rhode Island Stores Vote to Join Union: Pharmacy professionals at two CVS stores in Rhode Island voted last week to join the Pharmacy Guild, an initiative of IAM Healthcare and an affiliate of the Machinists (IAM). These victories mark the second and third election wins by pharmacists organizing with the union in just four weeks and the first stores in the nation to form a union in CVS’ home state. Workers have cited overwhelming workloads and declining patient safety standards as core motivations for organizing. These organizing successes come as unsafe staffing levels have reached a crisis point for many pharmacies across the country, with CVS Health getting fined just last month by Ohio regulators over understaffing and patient safety issues. “Unionization is the best tool we have to ensure our patients are receiving the care standards they deserve,” said CVS pharmacist Chris Eggeman in a press release. “Our patients aren’t served by an unchecked profit-driven healthcare system; quality patient care needs to come first. There should never be a medication error or a delay in providing healthcare services because of short staffing derived from increasing the bottom line. With our union, we will have a voice to speak for our patients and our profession, and a legally enforceable collective bargaining agreement to ensure that voice is heard.”

Illinois Ban on Anti-Union Mandatory Meetings Headed to Governor: A bill banning mandatory workplace meetings where managers discuss political and religious topics, including union membership, is now headed to the Illinois governor’s desk. S.B. 3649, the Worker Freedom of Speech Act, was approved by state lawmakers on May 26, and if signed by Gov. JB Pritzer, Illinois would join seven other states in enacting legislation banning captive audience meetings. The bill also creates a right of action for individual workers to sue employers if they are punished for refusing to attend these meetings. “Captive audience meetings are a direct violation of workers’ rights. They force our most vulnerable employees to choose between their job and personal values,” said Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea. “Employers are increasingly using the workplace to advance their political and religious interests, and this creates an atmosphere ripe for coercion. The Worker Freedom of Speech Act ensures that workers are protected when choose to walk away from these meetings.”

Academy Foundation Workers Ratify First Union Contract: More than a year and a half after winning voluntary recognition, workers at the Academy Foundation—the nonprofit arm of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that is dedicated to protecting film history—ratified their first collective bargaining agreement. The Academy Foundation Workers Union (AFWU) is an affiliate of AFSCME Local 126, which also represents workers at the Academy Museum. AFWU is composed of 86 archivists, film preservationists, librarians, curators and other staff members who operate outreach and educational initiatives, including the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the Margaret Herrick Library and the Academy Film Archive. Members voted last week to accept the new three-year contract that includes a wage increase between 11% and 27% over the next three years and annual wage increases that will be at least 3% minimum. Additional wins include another four weeks of paid parental leave, protections against subcontracting and language that will create more professional development opportunities for workers. “Our first contract signals to our bargaining unit and management that a new era at the Academy Foundation has arrived—an era of a more fair and equitable partnership with management and workers,” said film archivist and AFWU bargaining team member, Jessi Jones. “As we move forward, the bargaining unit will benefit from wage increases, health care and benefits stability and a system of checks and balances. I’m proud to be a member of AFWU and proud of our accomplishments.”

Workers at Genesis HealthCare Vote to Form Union: Staff at Genesis HealthCare in Millville, New Jersey, voted to join United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 152 last week. Workers at the assisted living facility, who work as certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs), connected with Local 152 last year after seeing how union representation helped protect others in the industry. Genesis launched an aggressive union-busting campaign against CNAs and LPNs—forcing the union to file multiple unfair labor practices charges and delaying the vote as management’s actions were under review by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB later ruled that Genesis did in fact violate labor law, and once the election was able to move forward, workers secured a massive victory. “These essential workers at Genesis HealthCare no longer have to settle for workplace grievances that go unheard. As members of Local 152 they will be treated with respect for the work they perform and empowered to seek the improvements they deserve. These workers fought an uphill battle to unionize, and we’re proud to welcome them into our local,” said Local 152 President Daniel Ross Jr. “We look forward to helping them accomplish their goals and secure a first contract with their employer.”

Blue Bird Workers Ratify First Contract as USW Members: The United Steelworkers (USW) announced on Thursday that members at Blue Bird Corp.’s Fort Valley, Georgia, facility overwhelmingly ratified their first union contract. Blue Bird is the only U.S.-owned and operated school bus manufacturer in the United States and is the No. 1 builder of electric school buses in North America. The company receives federal funding through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus program in order to produce low- and zero-emissions buses. When members voted to form a union in September, it was the largest union organizing win at a manufacturing plant in the region in 15 years. The three-year contract covers more than 1,500 workers; includes significant wage increases and language that ensures respect in the workplace; institutes a profit-sharing system; and establishes critical health and safety provisions. “Federal investments like these must come with a seat at the table for workers,” said USW District 9 Director Daniel Flippo. “Our union has a long history in the South fighting for better wages and working conditions in a variety of industries, but for too long, corporations and their political cronies have tried to characterize the South as a place where they could run away from unions, cut corners and pay workers less.”

Legal Worker Union Ratifies Contract Offer and Calls to End Historic 13-Week Strike: Last week, 72% of participating union members at Mobilization for Justice (MFJ) voted to ratify a new contract, which will end the union’s nearly three-month strike—the longest New York City legal services strike since 1991—upon ratification by the MFJ Board. MFJ Union is part of the Legal Services Staff Association, a unit of the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) and covers attorneys, paralegals, social workers and other staff. The new agreement secured major victories, including many of the unit’s core demands like double-digit raises for MFJ’s lowest paid workers, improved benefits and expanded workplace protections. Members were forced to strike after management responded to their offers with demands for givebacks, antagonistic counter-proposals and repeated violations of their duty to bargain in good faith. Workers held the picket line for months to force the nonprofit legal services and advocacy organization to honor its own mission and values. “It’s disappointing that MFJ Management put its staff and clients through months of unnecessary hardship when it was in their power to meet these demands all along,” said Brenden Ross, a bargaining committee member and staff attorney in MFJ’s Mental Health Law Project. “But they underestimated us. Our members fought hard, had each other’s backs, and we won an incredible contract.”

Western Washington University Student Workers Reach TA After Strike: On Tuesday, 1,100 unionized Educational Student Employees (ESEs) at Western Washington University (WWU) walked off the job in their fight for a fair first contract. After this powerful show of unity, the union reached a historic tentative agreement (TA) in the early hours of Thursday morning. ESEs formed Western Academic Workers United-UAW (WAWU-UAW) two years ago, winning recognition last June. WWU tutors, teaching assistants, peer advisers and other ESEs have been bargaining a first agreement with university administration since September. Core concerns for these student workers include wages that reflect cost of living in Bellingham, partial relief from sky-high tuition and fees, bereavement leave, and strong contractual protections against discrimination and harassment. Despite the union meeting for bargaining sessions 19 times over eight months, the administration continued to stall talks, so workers committed to this escalation to secure the contract they deserve. And their efforts have paid off. On social media, the union announced they had signed an exciting TA that members will be voting on soon. “This is a precedent-setting agreement that puts in place protections we badly need, and changes what it means to be a student worker here,” the WAWU-UAW posted on the social platform X. “Huge shoutout to each and every member, our community supporters, and our allies accross [sic] Washington who stood with us.”

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.

Transit Agencies Must Replace Most Maintenance Workers This Decade: “The public transit industry employs 430,000 workers and is anticipating 243,000 job openings for mechanics over the next decade, according to a report from TransitCenter. The industry should build on successful partnerships between agencies, labor unions and high schools and colleges to recruit a more diverse maintenance workforce, the report says.”

UC Medical, Service Workers Picket for Higher Pay, Housing Help: “Thousands of UC workers, including hospital technicians, custodians, gardeners, security officers and parking attendants picketed on UC campuses and medical centers Wednesday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The employees, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299, are demanding higher pay and help with housing. The union has been negotiating a new contract since January. The workers said their wages have not kept up with inflation and rising rents, according to the Chronicle.”

SIU School of Medicine Ratifies New Contract with Union Workers in Springfield: “After long negotiations and bargaining, the SIU School of Medicine has come to an agreement about their contracts with their employees. After 14 months of negotiations, the school and the AFSCME Local 370 agreed to and ratified a new contract on Tuesday. Nearly 800 employees work in positions represented by the union, according to AFSCME. The new contract includes a sustainable pay increase in addition to the 17.2% increase the school has made since 2019.”

Meet the Michigan Workers Supporting Biden Over Trump: “Union workers are standing behind President Joe Biden’s efforts to invest in manufacturing, infrastructure, and clean energy—and sounding alarms over what another Trump administration could mean for Michigan’s middle class. John Coleman has already decided which candidate will earn his vote in this year’s presidential election. As a union organizer for metal workers across Michigan, he said it was a relatively simple decision that all boiled down to an even simpler underlying philosophy: ‘We support people who support labor. Period,’ Coleman, of Traverse City, told The ‘Gander.”

Investing in Infrastructure Helps Everybody: “My family is my life, and I’m grateful that the Biden administration’s infrastructure legislation was written with families like mine in mind. Not only is it expected to create 2 million jobs per year through the course of a decade, it incentivizes companies to hire union workers and pay non-union laborers a fair prevailing wage. This protection of wages for millions of workers gives us a real chance to grow the middle class, and marks the difference between delivering jobs and building careers.”

Nurses Are Pushing Back on AI in Health Care. Here's Why: “According to a new survey from National Nurses United (NNU), 60% of nurses don't trust their employers to prioritize patient safety when implementing new artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For the survey, NNU gathered responses from over 2,300 RNs and members of the organization between Jan. 18 and March 4. In total, 40% of nurses said their employer had introduced ‘new devices, gadgets, and changes to the electronic health records’ over the last 12 months. Half of respondents also said that their employers used algorithms based on electronic health record (EHR) data to determine patient acuity and need for nursing care.”

SAG-AFTRA Applauds Scarlett Johansson for Rebuking OpenAI Over Voice that Sounded Like Her: “SAG-AFTRA, the labor union that represents thousands of Hollywood actors, commended Scarlett Johansson for publicly calling out OpenAI for using a voice that sounded ‘eerily similar’ to hers in its new GPT-40 model. ‘We thank Ms. Johansson for speaking out on this issue of crucial importance to all SAG-AFTRA members,’ a spokesperson for the guild said in a statement Tuesday. ‘We share in her concerns and fully support her right to have clarity and transparency regarding the voice used in developing the Chat GPT-40 appliance ‘Sky.’’ ‘SAG-AFTRA members are among the most talented and often most recognizable people on the planet,’ the union spokesperson added. ‘That is why we’re strongly championing federal legislation that would protect their voices and likenesses—and everyone else’s as well—from unauthorized digital replication.’”

Postdocs Unionize at Albert Einstein College of Medicine: “Postdoctoral researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, a private nonprofit institution in the Bronx, have unionized with a 152-to-32 vote. Einstein Researchers United, the new union, said postdocs voted Wednesday and Thursday. It said it will represent about 230 workers. The union is affiliated with the UAW. Brandon Mancilla, director of the UAW region that contains New York City, said in a news release that the postdocs ‘overcame intense opposition from the Einstein administration to win their union.’”

Flight Attendants Union Meets in Atlanta Amid Push to Unionize at Delta: “Leaders of the Association of Flight Attendants are holding their national convention this week in Atlanta, the hometown of Delta Air Lines—the union’s white whale it has sought for decades to organize. The airline industry is highly unionized, and the AFA represents cabin crew members at more than a dozen carriers. But Delta, nestled in the more union-averse South, has remained an anomaly among the nation’s largest carriers with pilots as Delta’s only major unionized group. Holding the convention in Atlanta was a decision ‘to go somewhere meaningful,’ said Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants.”

Resident Assistants at Tufts, Barnard Form Unions to Improve Their Jobs: “As my sophomore year at Tufts University comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting on enjoyable moments and my accomplishments that have occurred over the course of the school year. One of the achievements I’m most proud of is that my union—the United Labor of Tufts Resident Assistants, part of OPEIU Local 153—ratified our first contract. The union contract was the result of about seven months worth of negotiating with the Tufts administration over resident assistants’ pay, benefits, and working conditions, and we ratified the contract with 96% ‘yes’ votes. What excites me the most, though, is knowing we’re part of a wave of resident assistants organizing at campuses across the country.”

Workers at Better Buzz Coffee in Hillcrest Vote to Join UFCW Local 135: “Workers at Better Buzz Coffee’s Hillcrest location voted overwhelmingly Friday to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 135, the union announced. Baristas, trainers and shift supervisors, who organized under the name Better Buzz United, cast ballots in an election held by the National Labor Relations Board. The workers had cited concerns about wages, benefits, scheduling and overall workplace safety as reasons for seeking union representation.”

Disneyland Character Workers Vote to Unionize with Actors’ Equity: “Another union is coming to Disneyland. On Saturday, a majority of the amusement park’s character workers voted to unionize with Actors’ Equity Association in a National Labor Relations Board vote, ushering more employees at Disneyland into the union fold. Nine hundred and fifty-three workers voted ‘yes’ to join Equity, while 258 voted ‘no.’ The parties now have several days to file any objections, and if none are submitted, the results will be certified. ‘They say that Disneyland is ‘the place where dreams come true,’ and for the Disney cast members who have worked to organize a union, their dream came true today,’ Actors’ Equity Association president Kate Shindle said in a statement on Saturday.”

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.

More than a year and a half after winning voluntary recognition, workers at the Academy Foundation—the nonprofit arm of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that is dedicated to protecting film history—ratified their first collective bargaining agreement.

The Academy Foundation Workers Union (AFWU) is an affiliate of AFSCME Local 126, which also represents workers at the Academy Museum. AFWU is composed of 86 archivists, film preservationists, librarians, curators and other staff members who operate outreach and educational initiatives, including the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the Margaret Herrick Library and the Academy Film Archive. Members voted last week to accept the new three-year contract that includes a wage increase between 11% and 27% over the next three years and annual wage increases that will be at least 3% minimum. Additional wins include another four weeks of paid parental leave, protections against subcontracting and language that will create more professional development opportunities for workers.

“Our first contract signals to our bargaining unit and management that a new era at the Academy Foundation has arrived—an era of a more fair and equitable partnership with management and workers,” said film archivist and AFWU bargaining team member, Jessi Jones. “As we move forward, the bargaining unit will benefit from wage increases, health care and benefits stability and a system of checks and balances. I’m proud to be a member of AFWU and proud of our accomplishments.”

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.

Last week, 72% of participating union members at Mobilization for Justice (MFJ) voted to ratify a new contract, which will end the union’s nearly three-month strike—the longest New York City legal services strike since 1991—upon ratification by the MFJ Board.

MFJ Union is part of the Legal Services Staff Association, a unit of the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) and covers attorneys, paralegals, social workers and other staff. The new agreement secured major victories, including many of the unit’s core demands like double-digit raises for MFJ’s lowest paid workers, improved benefits and expanded workplace protections. Members were forced to strike after management responded to their offers with demands for givebacks, antagonistic counter-proposals and repeated violations of their duty to bargain in good faith. Workers held the picket line for months to force the nonprofit legal services and advocacy organization to honor its own mission and values.

“It’s disappointing that MFJ Management put its staff and clients through months of unnecessary hardship when it was in their power to meet these demands all along,” said Brenden Ross, a bargaining committee member and staff attorney in MFJ’s Mental Health Law Project. “But they underestimated us. Our members fought hard, had each other’s backs, and we won an incredible contract.”

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.

United Steelworkers (USW) members at Blue Bird Corp. in Fort Valley, Georgia, voted to approve a three-year contract that will provide the more than 1,500 covered workers with at least a 12% raise. Some of the lowest-paid workers at the company will get raises of more than 40%. The contract also requires the company to contribute to a retirement plan for workers, share profits, and improve health and safety.

“Federal investments like these must come with a seat at the table for workers,” said USW District 9 Director Daniel Flippo. “Our union has a long history in the South fighting for better wages and working conditions in a variety of industries, but for too long, corporations and their political cronies have tried to characterize the South as a place where they could run away from unions, cut corners and pay workers less.”

Blue Bird received $40 million in federal aid to build electric school buses, and President Biden said acting Labor Secretary Julie Su helped bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion.

For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Ligaya Domingo of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA).

Ligaya Domingo has served the labor movement in every capacity from organizer and shop steward to lead negotiator and local representative. As the current racial justice education director of SEIU Local 1199NW, she is transforming labor culture, leadership development and coalition relationships. She started as a union organizer in AFL-CIO’s Union Summer Program in 1996. She is also trustee of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW's multi-employer training fund. She serves on the national executive board for APALA as president.

For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Marlan Maralit of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

Marlan Maralit serves on the APALA National Executive Board as an at-large member and was trained as a professional organizer through the APALA Organizing Institute's three-day training. His experience has been informed by the migrant Filipino farmworkers of the 1960s. Maralit works as a lead organizer with the AAUP, an affiliate of AFT, and has organized faculty throughout the country. He is currently organizing a full-time faculty unit of nearly 1,000 people in the Midwest that started during the pandemic and is nearing a representation election for collective bargaining.

For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Tracy Lai of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

Tracy Lai has served in multiple capacities as an elected officer of AFT Local 1789 and AFT Washington. She received the 2023 Philip Vera Cruz Lifetime Achievement Award from the APALA and the 2024 Engaged Scholar Award from the Association for Asian American Studies.