MLK
Here's how Montgomery plans to honor MLK Day
Montgomery Advertiser
By Shannon Heupel
Jan. 10, 2024
While the world will recognize MLK Day on what would have been his 95th birthday — Jan. 15 — here in Montgomery there are several days of activities celebrating King's life and works for civil rights, voting rights and racial equality. It’s work that others continue to carry forward. 2024 AFL-CIO Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference When: Friday-Sunday, Jan. 12-14 Where: Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center Info: With a theme of “Our Voice, Our Ballot, Our Future,” this year’s AFL-CIO Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference will be held over three days in Montgomery.
JOINING TOGETHER
Faculty at Second City poised to go on strike
CBS News Chicago
By John Odenthal
Jan. 10, 2024
The Chicago Federation of Labor said the faculty, music directors, and facilitators at Second City voted to join the Association of International Comedy Educators in 2021. The union said Second City leadership walked away from the table in December after three years of bargaining.
IATSE Chief: Workers “Ready to Fight” in Upcoming Contract Talks With Studios
The Hollywood Reporter
By Carolyn Giardina
Jan. 9, 2024
IATSE international president Matthew Loeb did not rule out a potential 2024 crew strike when several of his union’s contracts come due this year in an appearance on Tuesday. “Nothing is off the table, and we’re not going to give up our strength and our ability because they [studios] think they sapped us and everybody’s bank account got sapped because they were unreasonable for months and months,” asserted the crew union leader of his organization’s upcoming Basic Agreement negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, set to start in early March. “My folks aren’t going to just settle.” He added, “Folks are fed up … People are ready to fight and the studios would be ill-advised to assume that they’ve weakened us to the point where we can’t [strike].”
WA Conservation Action staff celebrates first union contract
The Stand
By Staff
Jan. 11, 2024
Washington Conservation Action and Evergreen Workers Union finalized contract negotiations and signed a two-year agreement. EWU workers successfully voted to unionize in August 2021. WCA leadership voluntarily recognized the union and began work with Evergreen Workers Union, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 7800, on its first Collective Bargaining Agreement. The agreement was ratified on Oct. 11, 2023, and signed by all parties over the holidays.
Denver Art Museum workers will form union to combat wage, safety concerns
The Denver Post
By John Wenzel
Jan. 11, 2024
Dozens of Denver Art Museum workers are planning to unionize in order to ensure that they can earn a living wage while also improving safety and transparency from management. The majority of the museum’s roughly 250 eligible employees said Thursday morning that they’ll take part in the Denver Art Museum Workers United push, according to a statement posted at damworkersunited.org. A letter circulated among workers said they will join the Denver-based American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 18. The move comes during an uptick in organizing “that is taking place across the country’s cultural sector,” according to a statement.
Illinois State U Tenured, Tenure-Track Faculty Members Unionize
Inside Higher Ed
By Ryan Quinn
Jan. 11, 2024
Tenured and tenure-track faculty members at Illinois State University have unionized. This week, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board certified the new union, the United Faculty of Illinois State University. It will represent about 650 faculty members. In October, the union submitted 386 authorization cards, showing a majority of the employees in support of unionizing. Keith Pluymers, an assistant professor of history at Illinois State, said the organizing campaign has lasted more than two years.
Breeze Airways Flight Attendants announce union campaign with AFA
Aviation Source News
By Len Varley
Jan. 11, 2024
Flight Attendants at Breeze Airways have recently announced their campaign to form a union, aligning with the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA). This development brings together over 50,000 cabin crew members from 19 different airlines, with nearly 600 Flight Attendants at seven bases constituting the workgroup. AFA International President Sara Nelson expressed strong support for Breeze Flight Attendants, emphasizing their right to the certainty of a union contract and the respect they deserve on the job. Nelson stated, “Breeze Flight Attendants deserve the certainty of a union contract and respect on the job. We’re proud to welcome them to our Flight Attendant Union, and we’re ready to help them secure everything they deserve.”
WWU student workers aim for ‘wall-to-wall' union protection
Cascadia Daily News
By Charlotte Alden
Jan. 11, 2024
More than 2,000 student employees at Western Washington University will be part of a union if students’ efforts come to fruition. That would constitute “wall-to-wall" union protection, as organizers call it, an effort that reflects broader efforts to unionize across industries in recent years.
STATE LEGISLATION
Democrats Could Pass Huge Wins for Workers
The Stranger
By Hannah Krieg
Jan. 10, 2024
As workers continue to breathe new life into the labor movement across the US, some Washington State Democrats want to make it easier for workers to organize and fight for better working conditions. In the third-most union dense state in the country, the Washington Labor Council, AFL-CIO, expects the pro-worker Democrats they helped get elected to get shit done. And with Dems holding comfortable majorities in both chambers, they have no excuse not to live up to their campaign promises of being the party for working people. “Working people statewide have shown up year after year to bring lawmakers to Olympia who are committed to meeting the needs of workers, not just the wealthy few–we expect big progress this year,” said Sybill Hyppolite, the government affairs director at Washington Labor Council.
Nebraska commission says the state violated order to pause return-to-office mandate
Omaha World-Herald
By Andrew Wegley
Jan. 11, 2024
"Our union will hold management accountable for their actions, and should they ignore this order, they should expect to be held in contempt by the District Court.” It's unclear whether the state intends to comply with the CIR's latest order. A spokeswoman for Pillen's office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The two sides are scheduled to appear in civil court Jan. 19 to take up the union's motion to hold the state in contempt. And the CIR has yet to ultimately decide whether Pillen has the authority to order state employees back to work. NAPE has argued that such unilateral change in terms and conditions of employment require the state to negotiate with the union.
INCOME INEQUALITY
County Council addresses pay inequities
Akron.com
By Emily Scharf
Jan. 11, 2024
Summit County Council adopted a bargaining agreement that will correct several pay inequities for county employees during its first meeting of the year Jan. 8. The agreement between Ohio Council 8 and Local 1229 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO (Executive’s Office Unit) and the Executive runs from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2026.