09/03/2024 - 11:00am
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Thousands More Nevada State Employees Win Union Election
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.
A group of nearly 3,000 state employees—including those working for the welfare agency and Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)—won union representation as AFSCME Local 4041 this week in an election overseen by the state’s Government Employee-Management Relations Board.
Nevada state workers won collective bargaining rights back in 2019, and since securing their first contract, AFSCME members have seen more than 30% wage increases as well as other new benefits and improved grievance procedures. The new bargaining unit that will join negotiations in the fall includes engineering technicians from the Department of Transportation, DMV service technicians, family support specialists in the Division of Welfare and Support Services (DWSS), and library technicians throughout Nevada System of Higher Education institutions and more. This election victory almost doubles the size of Local 4041, increasing their power to deliver victories for these critical public sector workers.
“We see the benefits of having a union contract and voice on the job; that’s why we’ve organized as AFSCME and voted to have union representation. I’m excited tech workers now get to join our fellow AFSCME members at the bargaining table this fall,” said Austin Krehbiel, a family support specialist at the DWSS.
Kenneth Quinnell
Tue, 09/03/2024 - 09:50
09/03/2024 - 11:00am
Shuler: Union Workers are Powerful. We Will Decide This Election.
The AFL-CIO represents nearly 13 million workers in our federation across 60 unions. This time every year, we come together to put the labor back in Labor Day.
As much as we love the barbecues, the mattress sales—this is our week. This is about recognizing and appreciating the workers who make this country run.
Last year, we started a conversation about how workers are doing in this country. Some of these numbers may surprise you: 70% of Americans support unions, among young people under the age of 30, it’s nine in 10.
Union workers are continuing to find their power in two very distinct ways.
First: We are the ones who are going to decide this presidential election. In swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Nevada that are going to come down to 1% or 2%, union voters are 20% of the electorate. That’s one in every five voters.
And second: Our workers are powerful because they have something that is so rare today—the trust of those around them. Union members are credible political messengers. They can connect with each other and with the people in their communities in a way no one else can.
Having the hard conversations
Many of us have felt like it’s hard to just have a conversation about politics with someone we disagree with. Or we’ve talked to someone who has figured out what team we play for, and then just tuned us out. Or—let’s admit it—maybe we’ve done it to someone else.
Yet in a room full of union members, that’s not how it plays out. When you ask a union member who their most trusted source in the world is on politics, it’s not their friends, family or loved ones. It’s their fellow union members.
It’s not hard to see why union workers trust each other.
We talk to each other in the break room every morning. We carpool home. We’re on the factory floor together, or in the teacher’s lounge, or outside on a construction site, braving the elements, while everyone else is asleep. We know each other, inside and out.
And when you combine that trust with this organizing machine we’ve built, this ability to connect with our members, our families, our neighbors and mobilize on a dime, you have a movement that can actually deliver voters—and win an election.
The power of unions
Workers are growing our power in this country in a way we haven’t been in a generation. Almost a quarter of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago were union delegates, more than we’ve had in a long, long time. We are seen as a force to be reckoned with.
And it’s about damn time.
When I travel the country and talk to working people—our members, but also people who aren’t yet in a union—they tell me they’re tired of the way things have been going. They're tired of going to the grocery store, and seeing it take more out of their paychecks than it ever has. They’re tired for people their peers in the sandwich generation, trying to care for their kids and their parents at the exact same time.
What I hear from the young generation of workers coming up is that they can’t believe there used to be a time when you could work one full-time job, and afford to make a down payment on a home.
That’s the daily reality for people all over this country.
Workers in this country have never been more productive. We have never created the kind of wealth for companies that we are creating right now. But it’s not benefitting our workers.
We need to fundamentally re-write the rules—by winning elections, by passing laws, by having the right to stand up for ourselves—if we’re going to balance the scales.
All over the country, people are realizing there’s a movement where you actually can fight back, where you actually can get some power and some control over your future.
It’s not about your race, your gender, age, orientation or, religion, it’s just about standing up for your freedom.
Strategy, organizing pay off
If you feel tired or alone right now, think about autoworkers in Chattanooga, right after they made history at Volkswagen, voting for representation by the United Auto Workers.
Or our Machinists in Seattle, who filled a baseball stadium to tell Boeing to give them a fair contract.
Or our sisters in the National Women’s Soccer League players association, who rewrote the sports rulebook and got rid of their draft, setting a new standard that gives them a voice in where they work, like every other worker in this country.
These wins are not accidents.
We’ve invested in our grassroots network all over the country, building local power and organizing capacity.
Nearly half a million workers went on strike in 2023, a year that saw more than 2,700 union election filings, the most we’ve ever seen. Some 900,000 workers in unions won double-digit pay increases last year alone.
That is power.
What’s the point of building all this power on the ground, if we don’t use it when it really matters? When absolutely everything is on the line?
In those swing states we talked about earlier—Michigan. Pennsylvania. Michigan. Wisconsin. Nevada—union support is driving up the margin of support for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
We are the difference.
How we win
Our movement is full of joy and love, a way to have some fun and make your life better at the same time. We have the trust—with our union members, and the spouses, children and parents that we bring along. There’s a reason they call it “a union household,” which doubles and triples our impact.
We have a well-oiled organizing machine in every state, especially in battleground states. We have workers who are actually trained in how to have those tough conversations, how to steer them toward kitchen-table issues, and how to challenge someone, respectfully, if we need to.
A few months ago I walked up to a guy in a MAGA hat on a picket line. In any other situation, the two of us probably wouldn’t have much to talk about. But as we started to talk about politics, he looked at me and said, “I’ll hear you out, because I know we both love our unions.”
Those conversations are the key to everything.
Talking to each other again. Empathy and grace, instead of vitriol. Coming together to solve problems that actually matter to our families.
When we fight, we win.
This post originally appeared in te Detroit Free Press.
Kenneth Quinnell
Tue, 09/03/2024 - 10:06
08/30/2024 - 3:00pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Hampton Roads Transit Workers Score Major Raises with New Union Contract
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.
Hampton Roads Transit drivers and mechanics in Virginia secured huge pay raises in their new union contract. Starting pay for maintenance workers and operators will increase by 27%. The three-year contract also reduces the amount of time for bus and light-rail operators to reach the top of the pay scale and provides more sick leave and additional days off. The workers are represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1177.
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 08/30/2024 - 10:15
08/30/2024 - 3:00pm
The Road to the White House Runs Through America’s Union Halls: 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.
Project 2025 Provides a GOP Blueprint for Destroying the American Labor Movement: “Consequently, the nation’s labor movement saw Trump’s past record and agenda for the future for what they were. In a statement issued on July 18, 2024, Liz Shuler, president of the national AFL-CIO, declared, ‘In his first term as president, Donald Trump was a disaster for workers and our unions.’ Moreover, ‘the Trump Project 2025 agenda lays out his plan to turbocharge his antiworker policies, eliminate or control unions, and eviscerate labor laws and workers’ contracts.’ Consequently, ‘a second Trump term would put everything we’ve fought for―good jobs, fair wages, health care, retirement security, worker security―on the chopping block.’”
Thousands of Fred Meyer Employees Go on Strike Through Labor Day Weekend: “Nearly 5,000 employees at 28 Fred Meyer stores in and around Portland, Oregon, went on strike early Wednesday morning. The employees, represented by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555, plan to continue the strike for almost a week. Unless a deal is reached with Fred Meyer management, the grocery store workers won’t return to work until 8 a.m., on Tuesday, Sept. 3. UFCW says employees are striking over Fred Meyer’s violation of labor laws amid contract negotiations between grocery store management and the union. The union has filed several unfair labor practice charges against Fred Meyer, claiming that the company is ‘refusing to provide essential information for current negotiations’ and advertised benefits to employees the company hasn’t actually proposed at the bargaining table.”
Americans’ Approval of Labor Unions Near Highest Level Since 1960s: “Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, argued in a speech in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday that union influence would be pivotal in the race for the White House. The federation, which includes 60 unions, says that 22% of voters in Pennsylvania are either union members or retirees who’d been in unions. ‘We can run up the margins where it counts, we have built an organizing machine that can mobilize on a dime and we have built a singular trust and connection with workers, families and neighbors,’ Shuler said. ‘There is no question that the road to the White House runs through America’s union halls.’”
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler Delivers State of the Unions Address: “AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler urged union members to vote and get others to the polls for the Harris-Walz ticket because the unions and workers’ rights are on the line in the 2024 elections. Shuler stressed the importance of the labor movement and the role of unions in communities across America during a speech at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C.”
Missouri AFL-CIO President Looks Ahead to Labor’s Impact on 2024 Elections: “Missouri holds a unique distinction among Republican-dominated states: having a robust and politically significant organized labor community. Individual unions often play a major role in campaigns for statewide and state legislative offices. And although organized labor is a core constituency of the Democratic Party, labor unions in Missouri have gotten involved in Republican primaries—especially when GOP contenders have pro-labor views. During an episode of the “Politically Speaking Hour” on St. Louis on the Air, Missouri AFL-CIO President Jake Hummel discussed how labor unions are approaching the upcoming election cycle. And that includes how his group endorsed Democrat State Rep. (Mo.) Crystal Quade and Republican Lt. Gov. (Mo.) Mike Kehoe during last month’s primary races for governor—something he said was somewhat unusual.”
The Real Reason NWSL Players Are Walking Out in ‘We Said Now’ Shirts: “On Aug. 25, Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, congratulated the players from the Washington Spirit and Kansas City Current (the first teams to play since the new collective bargaining agreement was announced) on such an historic accomplishment. ‘By ending the draft, they’ve won the right to shape their own futures—a victory for all workers,’ Shuler wrote on Twitter. ‘This is the power of unity! #wesaidnow.’”
‘Barely Surviving’: Some Flight Attendants Are Facing Homelessness and Hunger: “America’s largest flight attendants union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), said in a recent news release that many members working with Alaska Airlines have reported financial insecurity, including some who have ‘experienced homelessness, lived in their car, lived in a shelter or endured some combination of these circumstances.’ An employment verification letter from American Airlines showing a projected starting pay of $27,315 per year recently went viral, with some calling it a ‘poverty verification’ letter that could be used to apply for government assistance programs such as food stamps. American Airlines confirmed that the letter reflects the current base rate for first-year flight attendants on reserve, without premiums or incentives.”
The Workers’ Mic Reflects on the DNC: “Listen in while Phil shares his interviews with AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter Jr., Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Choose Chicago Richard Gamble and many others.”
Interview with AFL-CIO President Shuler: “My [Sari Beth Rosenberg’s] exclusive interview with Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 08/30/2024 - 12:05
08/28/2024 - 7:00pm
Fighting for a Fair and Just Contract: 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 Teachers:
American Postal Workers Union:
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA:
Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers:
Boilermakers:
Bricklayers:
Communications Workers of America:
Department for Professional Employees:
Electrical Workers:
Heat and Frost Insulators:
08/28/2024 - 7:00pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: SMART-TD Announces Tentative Deal for Conductors with Amtrak
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.
Last week, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division (SMART-TD) announced a tentative agreement for a seven-year contract with Amtrak that covers conductors and assistant conductors.
Details of the agreement will go out to membership for a ratification vote over the next few weeks. Key economic highlights of the contract include substantial wage increases that are retroactive to July 2022, greater new hire training per diem, more conductor certification pay and improved training pay. SMART-TD also secured major wins relating to worker health and work-life balance, such as more paid parental leave, designating Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a paid holiday, improvements to bereavement pay and expansion of overtime.
Kenneth Quinnell
Wed, 08/28/2024 - 09:56
08/27/2024 - 6:00pm
Break the Bias: 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).
Arizona AFL-CIO:
08/27/2024 - 6:00pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Guitar Center Workers in Six Locations Ratify New Contract
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.
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU-UFCW) members at six Guitar Center locations in Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada and New York ratified a new three-year contract.
The agreement includes multiple meaningful wins for staff, like an increased minimum wage rate for every position—which will continue to go up every year throughout the life of the contract—and an additional seniority wage adjustment for more tenured workers. Additionally, members are maintaining their union health care plan with the addition of a new short-term disability benefit. Other highlights are an updated attendance policy that increases the grace period for being late, provisions protecting the right to call additional labor-management meetings during the year, work schedule transparency, upward mobility opportunities, protections for the current commissions policy and more.
Kenneth Quinnell
Tue, 08/27/2024 - 09:56
08/26/2024 - 5:00pm
Saving Workers' Lives and Limbs: 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.
Labor Leaders Stand Up, Show Out for Kamala at DNC: “The Democratic National Convention’s (DNC) nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris for president and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the next vice president commenced with a wave of endorsements from the nation’s largest labor unions. On the very first night of the convention, an impressive gathering of union presidents took the stage. AFSCME’s Lee Saunders, SEIU (Service Employees International Union) President April Verrett, LIUNA (Laborer’s International Union of North America) President Brent Booker, Ken Cooper of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Claude Cummings Jr. of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), and Liz Shuler of the AFL-CIO stood on stage together, they displayed the power of unions.”
NWSL, Players Reach New CBA That Includes Elimination of Draft: “The National Women’s Soccer League and its players agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that will grow salaries and further expand player rights regarding free agency and trades, the sides announced Thursday. The deal includes the elimination of the college draft, a first for a major North American professional sports league. The new CBA will extend the current contract, which was negotiated in 2022 and was set to expire in 2026, through 2030. Some of the new terms, such as the elimination of the draft and free agency for all players when their contracts expire, will go into effect immediately; others will begin in 2025.”
How Tim Walz Saved Workers’ Lives and Limbs: “In 2023, with a narrow Democratic majority and working closely with the Minnesota AFL-CIO, the state legislature passed several innovative laws that greatly strengthen the safety and health protections provided to Minnesota workers employed in high-hazard jobs. These include: Protecting Workers from Ergonomic Hazards: About 30% of all serious injuries reported by employers to the Bureau of Labor Statistics are musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). These are injuries to the back, wrist, neck, or arm caused by exposure to lifting, twisting, repetitive motions, and other ergonomic hazards.”
Union Leaders at DNC Push Back Against Trump Overtures to Organized Labor: “Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is highlighting its pro-union stance at the Democratic National Convention this week, pushing back against Republican Party overtures to organized labor at their own convention last month. It’s an attempt to refute former President Donald Trump’s claims that he will work with organized labor amid recent meetings with the president of the Teamsters union, and an effort by Harris to hitch onto President Joe Biden’s labor record, which includes being the first president to walk a picket line. Addressing the Wisconsin delegation to the DNC Wednesday morning, U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su argued Harris had fought wage theft as attorney general of California, and would enact worker-friendly policies as president.”
Venetian Las Vegas Reaches Tentative Deal with Workers for First Union Contract: “The Venetian Resort has agreed to its first union contract with more than 4,000 hospitality workers. The Culinary Union announced that a tentative agreement was reached Tuesday morning for workers at The Venetian and Palazzo. A contract ratification vote will be scheduled soon, according to a union spokesperson. Culinary and Venetian leadership reached an agreement in June last year for ‘card check neutrality.’ That meant the resort would not take a position as employees explored possible unionization.”
University of Alaska and Graduate Student Union Reach Three-Year Contract: “A new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the University of Alaska and the Alaska Graduate Workers Association-UAW Union (AGWA-UAW) took effect on July 1. This is the first time the University of Alaska and AGWA have negotiated a CBA. The agreement comes less than a year after University of Alaska graduate student employees voted to form a union.”
Union Leaders Frame Harris as Champion of the Working Class in Night 1 of DNC: “Union leaders championed Vice President Kamala Harris as the choice for working class folks in a series of speeches on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention. ‘This election is about two economic visions,’ said Liz Shuler, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, or AFL-CIO. Her union represents nearly 13 million American workers, she said.”
Kamala Harris Names a Unionist as Her VP: “Just hours after Vice President Kamala Harris named Tim Walz as her running mate Aug. 6, AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler celebrated the pick in a press statement, calling Walz a ‘principled fighter and labor champion’ who’s not just an ally but a union brother. Walz is a former public high school teacher and football coach who has been Minnesota’s governor since 2019. As governor, he signed lots of pro-worker legislation, including: Paid family and medical leave and mandated paid sick days; A ban on noncompete clauses; A ban on employers from holding mandatory anti-union meetings; Letting teachers unions bargain over class size; and $2.6 billion in infrastructure investments.”
The Rev. Barber: Kamala Harris Isn’t Just Listening to Workers. She’s Sounding Like Them: “With its rallies that pack arenas, Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has harnessed an energy that many have compared to Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. Polls in battleground states indicate that the dynamics of the presidential race have fundamentally shifted, but skeptics question if the good vibes can last once the vice president starts to detail policy. Is this burst of excitement, they ask, just the momentary enthusiasm of voters surprised by an unexpected transition? When we pay attention to what Harris and Walz have already said, though, it’s clear they have tapped the energy of worker-driven movements that want to create an economy that works for all of us. The good vibes and the economic vision of this campaign are, in fact, deeply connected.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 08/26/2024 - 12:04
08/26/2024 - 5:00pm
Service & Solidarity Alert: 17,000 AT&T Southeast Workers on Strike
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.
We are CWA members on strike at AT&T Southeast because AT&T is refusing to engage in good faith negotiations for a new contract.
We are a big part of AT&T’s success, but we have been at the bargaining table since June, unable to make any progress because of the Company's bad faith bargaining.
The National Labor Relations Act requires companies to bargain in good faith. We have filed an unfair labor practice charge against the company and are on strike to protest the Company's unfair bargaining tactics.
We want to be on the job, providing the quality service that our customers deserve and getting to work making sure every household and business in the Southeast has reliable high-speed internet service.
Tell AT&T to show us the respect we deserve and get serious about bargaining.
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 08/26/2024 - 10:22
Tags:
Organizing
