03/02/2025 - 2:30pm
Women's History Month Profiles: Patricia Redding
For Women's History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently active making women's history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Patricia Redding of the Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).
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Patricia Redding has been an IATSE member for seven years. She serves on her local’s women’s and diversity, equity and inclusion committees, and volunteers with food pantries and holiday toy drives her local participates in. Her inspirations are Michelle Obama, retired IATSE Vice President C. Faye Harper and fellow Local 479 sister Jennifer Hutchins. “Being an IATSE member means a lot to me. I was hungry to learn more about my union and wanted to be in a position to give more to our union members.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Sun, 03/02/2025 - 10:46
03/02/2025 - 2:00am
Women's History Month Profiles: Brittney Davidson
For Women's History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently active making women's history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Brittney Davidson of the Heat and Frost Insulators (HFIU).
Brittney Davidson isn’t just breaking glass ceilings—she’s smashing them with a sledgehammer. First female executive board member of Local 119? Check. First female trainer of the local? Check. Financial trustee? Sergeant-at-arms? You bet. Trailblazing comes naturally to Davidson. She isn’t just good at the job—she’s great. She trains the next generation, makes sure the work’s done right and keeps the union’s future positive. She’s got the grit, the know-how and the leadership to back it all up.
Kenneth Quinnell
Sat, 03/01/2025 - 10:46
02/28/2025 - 6:00pm
Strike Totals Remain High: 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.
Brightline's 'Onboard Service' Employees Vote to Join Union: “About 100 Brightline employees will join the Transport Workers Union (TWU) following a vote with the National Mediation Board last month. In a news release after the Jan. 14 vote, the Transport Workers Union of America said, ‘this is the largest newly organized group of railroad workers nationwide in over 20 years.’”
Actors’ Equity And The Broadway League Reach Agreement On Thorny Issues Around New Work Development: “Actors’ Equity Association has reached a deal with the Broadway League on a new five-year Development Agreement, resolving an eight-month strike prohibiting Equity members’ participation in early stages of development work. The National Council of Actors’ Equity Association, the labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, announced today that it had voted to ratify a new five-year Development Agreement, concluding an eight-month strike against The Broadway League, the trade organization representing theater producers and owners.”
The U.S. Postal Service Is More Efficient Than You Think. Privatizing It Could Cause Problems for Many: “‘The Postal Office remains the most affordable way to ship,’ Brian Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, told CNN. ‘The destruction of any part of the public service we provide is going to have one bottom line result for the customers, it’s going to cost more and take longer to get there.’ ‘It really comes down to the core meaning of a public service,’ he said. ‘The Post Office is going to serve you at the same cost no matter where you are. That really should be the very definition of a public service.’”
Reconsidered Goods Unionizes: “Reconsidered Goods is nestled on the corner of the Food Lion on Spring Garden Street, across the street from Pho Hien Vuong. Unlike its surrounding businesses, Reconsidered Goods is a 501c nonprofit organization that takes donated materials and helps divert them from landfills, putting them into the hands of artists, makers, teachers, children, and other reuse advocates to create something new. Their mission is to promote sustainability, environmental awareness, community engagement, and creative expression through reuse, education, and the arts. Unfortunately, despite the organization’s noble morals, the staff of Reconsidered Goods have had enough. Due to safety regulations, lack of training, and more the workers have banded together to try and unionize to get these policies changed.”
Workers at D.C.'s St. Anselm Secure Unionization as STARR Group Challenges Vote Outcome: “Hundreds of employees at some of D.C.'s most lucrative restaurants are overjoyed following the news of their union vote. On Friday, St. Anselm employees voted 51-42 in favor of unionizing. In mid-January employees with five restaurants: Le Diplomate, Pastis, and St. Anselm, operated by STARR Restaurant Group; and Rasika and Modena, operated by Knightsbridge restaurant group, announced they were organizing a union with UNITE HERE Local 25. The unit covers the front and back of house and includes servers, bussers, dishwashers, cooks and bakers.”
Keystone Ski Patrol Union Votes to Ratify New Contract Following Negotiations: “Nearly all 81 members of the Keystone Ski Patrol Union voted to accept a new contract with Keystone Resort that will last through the 2026-2027 ski season. The announcement follows months of back and forth between management at Vail Resorts and the union that formed in 2024. Union bargaining team member Jake Randall said that after workers at Keystone’s sister resort in Park City Utah went on strike, Vail Resorts was ready to come to the table. ‘We actually came to an agreement pretty quickly after the strike ended,’ Randall said. ‘We put it to a vote with overwhelming support. We did have a couple no votes in there, but the sentiment of the group is that we made a lot of progress with this contract.’”
Picketing May Have Peaked but Union Strike Totals Remain High: “Unions led fewer strikes against U.S. employers last year than in 2022 or 2023, according to Bloomberg Law labor data. But the 236 walkouts called in 2024 still represent the third-highest annual total in almost two decades, suggesting that the post-pandemic trend of labor unrest is still far from over. After unions initiated only 86 strikes in shutdown-riven 2020, strikes took place with increasing frequency in the ensuing three years—from 164 in 2021 to 317 in 2022 to 356 in 2023—as workers sought to assert more control over their job security and compensation. It took until 2024 for the tide of strikes to subside (to 236) rather than rise.”
Children’s Theatre Company Ratifies 1st Ever Contract With IATSE: “A state theatre company has ratified its first-ever contract with a theatre union. The Children's Theatre Company (CTC) in Minneapolis has completed an almost two-year process and come to terms with the International Alliance of Theatrical State Employees (IATSE) Local 13.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 02/28/2025 - 12:02
02/28/2025 - 12:00pm
Black History Month Profiles: Alfred Winters
For Black History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently actively making Black history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Alfred Winters of the Heat and Frost Insulators (HFIU).
Alfred Winters is currently in his fourth year of HFIU Local 1's apprenticeship program. Since starting, he has proven to be an asset to the local. Winters works with Brand Safeway in the field. In 2024, he represented Local 1 at the Regional Apprentice Competition, showcasing both his expertise and his commitment to excellence in the trade. He serves as a delegate to the Southwestern Illinois Building Trades Council, where he plays a key role in advocating for the interests of the union. His representation of Local 1 at career fairs has been instrumental in attracting and encouraging minority workers to join the trade.
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 02/28/2025 - 10:03
Tags:
Black History Month
02/28/2025 - 12:00pm
Black History Month Profiles: Yusuf Al-Shabazz
For Black History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently actively making Black history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Yusuf Al-Shabazz of UNITE HERE.
Yusuf Al-Shabazz got his start with UNITE HERE Local 11 when he helped organize to bring the union into the American Airlines (AA) airport lounges at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. He was fired unfairly from the AA Lounges for organizing the union in 2023, and his case is still pending with the NLRB. He then got a job as a cook at the Hyatt Tempe Mission Palms and now serves as a chief shop steward of his co-workers. In the recent contract fight at Hyatt, 21-year-old Al-Shabazz helped lead his co-workers out on strike. They went on to win an incredible contract with life-changing raises and a pension. His sister is also a member of Local 11 with Starbucks at the Phoenix Airport.
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 02/28/2025 - 10:03
Tags:
Black History Month
02/28/2025 - 12:00pm
Hands off Medicaid: 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:
Boilermakers:
Bricklayers:
Communications Workers of America:
Department for Professional Employees:
Electrical Workers:
Fire Fighters:
02/28/2025 - 12:00pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Workers at St. Anselm Secure Election Victory Despite Aggressive Union-Busting
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.
In the midst of intense anti-union pressure from management, workers at popular Washington, D.C., restaurant St. Anselm successfully voted to form a union with UNITE HERE Local 25.
The lucrative dining spot is operated by STARR Restaurant Group—which refused to voluntarily recognize the union earlier this month—and the new bargaining unit covers both the front- and back-of-house workers. This victory was the first of three STARR-operated restaurants in the city to hold elections to join Local 25 as part of a larger DC Restaurant Workers Rising organizing effort. Staff are celebrating this powerful victory, and are eager to sit down at the bargaining table and secure a contract with improvements to working conditions and wages.
“I’m so proud of what we won today because I know it means real change is coming—in our paychecks, our benefits, and how workers at STARR restaurants are treated,” said Bridget Killburn, a baker at St. Anselm. “I’m excited for my colleagues at Pastis and Le Diplomate to join us in winning their union in the coming weeks.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 02/28/2025 - 10:02
Tags:
Organizing
02/27/2025 - 5:30pm
Black History Month Profiles: Elizabeth Ward-Robertson
For Black History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently actively making Black history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Elizabeth Ward-Robertson of the Seattle Education Association.
Since joining the Seattle Education Association (SEA), an affiliate of the Washington State Labor Council and the Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Council, Elizabeth Ward-Robertson has played a pivotal role in advancing educational support and equity. She began her union advocacy work serving as the treasurer of the Seattle Association of Educational Office Professionals before being elected as president. She now serves as the elected director of the SEA Center for Racial and Social Justice, emphasizing equity and inclusion within the education system, fighting for equity for SEA members and the students they serve. Ward-Robinson centers equity in her work, striving to uplift SEA members and support marginalized communities.Â
Kenneth Quinnell
Thu, 02/27/2025 - 10:01
Tags:
Black History Month
02/27/2025 - 5:30pm
Black History Month Profiles: Willie Douglas
For Black History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently actively making Black history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Willie Douglas of the Bricklayers.
Willie Douglas on what it meant to him to work on the Emmett Till house restoration project: “This project was an honor and a privilege to be a part of! It is a great feeling to know that, moving forward, my work and the work of our BAC apprentices will be mentioned in the same sentence as this historical landmark that is the home of one of the people that helped start the civil rights movement. The murder of Emmett Till was one the most horrendous things that has taken place in American history, but the result of what it sparked is truly amazing. I know that I would not have gotten this opportunity had it not been for the union and people like Hector Arellano trusting and believing in me. I am grateful and appreciative for his confidence in me to get this job done as well as every one of my union brothers and sisters that had a hand in this project.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Thu, 02/27/2025 - 10:01
Tags:
Black History Month
02/27/2025 - 5:30pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Reconsidered Goods Thrift Store Workers Unanimously Vote to Form Union
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.
On Monday, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union-UFCW (RWDSU-UFCW) announced that workers at Reconsidered Goods in Greensboro, North Carolina, voted unanimously to form a union.
Staff at the thrift store have become the second retail location in the city to join RWDSU-UFCW this year after their union brothers, sisters and siblings at REI Greensboro won their election last month. But the path to get here wasn’t easy: management attempted to exclude two people from the proposed bargaining unit, forcing workers to go on strike until all eligible staff could vote. Members cited concerns like safety issues, working conditions, wages and scheduling as core focuses for when they enter bargaining.
“There has been no doubt in my mind that we would win this election,” said fabric specialist Yvonne Rabel. “We’ve been working hard for over a year to build a sense of community and camaraderie with each other….Our community has been nothing but supportive of our goals to ensure a safer work environment, and we’re going to continue to work toward these goals during negotiations. I can’t say whether I expect our directors to be collaborative or not, but I’m hopeful we can work on a solution that includes the workers having a say in the decisions that affect them.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Thu, 02/27/2025 - 09:59
