POLITICS
Biden’s Acting Labor Secretary Su critiques corporate greed
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
Jan. 17, 2024
It’s a presidential election year, and that means Cabinet secretaries often deviate from official duties to laud their presidential bosses, while the secretaries speak out on the hustings. Which is what Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su did on January 12 in addressing the AFL-CIO’s Martin Luther King commemorative conference—but with a difference. She said one aim of President Biden’s pro-union, pro-worker agenda is to combat the corporate greed that particularly has oppressed workers of color. “Dr. King preached that we cannot have racial justice without economic justice and we cannot have economic justice without racial justice,” Su told the MLK delegates, meeting in Birmingham, Ala. “He dared us to imagine a world in which both exist.
ORGANIZING
‘There needs to be a deadline’: Culinary leader mulls stalled contract talks
The Nevada Independent
By Howard Stutz
Jan. 17, 2024
The head of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 said he expects to see hospitality worker picket lines in front of as many as 20 Strip and downtown casinos on the weekend before Las Vegas begins to host festivities surrounding Super Bowl LVIII. In an interview Saturday with The Nevada Independent, Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said the union and representatives of Bartenders Union Local 165 are scheduling negotiating sessions with management from the 20 hotel-casino operators over the next 17 days. Any property that does not have a tentative agreement with the unions by 5 a.m. on Feb. 2 will see non-gaming employees represented by the labor organizations walk away from their jobs and set up picket lines.
Madison's newest labor unions face next fight: getting a contract
The Cap Times
By Natalie Yahr
Jan. 17, 2024
In Madison, other workers currently waiting for contracts include game testers at Middleton video game studio Raven Software, who voted in a union in May 2022; seamstresses and screenprinters at custom clothing company Crushin’ It Apparel, whose votes were tallied in November 2022, and bakers and bread sellers at Madison Sourdough Company, who voted in a union last April. Hundreds of office workers at Madison-based financial services company TruStage, who went on strike in May for the first time since unionizing in the 1940s, finally ratified a new contract in December after close to two years of negotiations – likely the longest lag in the company’s history.
Fort Kent hospital nurses voting on unionizing Wednesday
Bangor Daily News
By Christopher Bouchard
Jan. 17, 2024
Nurses at Northern Maine Medical Center are voting today to decide if they will join the Maine State Nurses Association and National Nurses United. The NMMC nurses’ platform, according to a bulletin from the Maine State Nurses Association and National Nurses United, is for safer staffing and scheduling practices, retention-focused benefits, job protections, and fair and transparent wages that reward years of experience and longevity. They are also seeking an RN-elected committee to give them an equal say in patient care standards, nurse-led workplace violence prevention, adequate supplies and equipment, and improved differentials for floating shifts, charge, and precepting.
Iowa City’s unionized employees receive bonus, wage increase
The Daily Iowan
By Isabelle Foland
Jan. 16, 2024
The City of Iowa City’s unionized employees received a $1,600 bonus as well as a 3.5 percent pay raise after approval by the city council on Dec. 12. In mid-September, several members of Local 183, a union that represents eligible employees of Coralville, Iowa City, Tiffin, and Johnson County, spoke to the city council about how their current wages are not keeping up with post-pandemic inflation. A report by the National Bureau of Economic Research says total inflation went from 1.3 percent in 2020 to 8.2 percent in September 2022.
Workers at nonprofit news site San Antonio Report vote to unionize
San Antonio Current
By Michael Karlis
Jan. 17, 2024
Staff at nonprofit news organization San Antonio Report have voted to unionize, according to a Tuesday social media post. Reporters, editors, business staffers and photojournalists at the 12-year-old outlet moved to join the Media Guild of the West after witnessing staffing- and budget-related issues at other nonprofit publications, the San Antonio Report Union wrote in a statement shared Wednesday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Unionized N.Y. Postproduction Coordinators Ratify First Contract (Exclusive)
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
Jan. 16, 2024
After spending over a year in negotiations, unionized postproduction coordinators in the New York area have unanimously ratified their first labor contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The ratification vote took place Dec. 19, with 67 percent of the bargaining unit turning out to vote and all participating union members voting to support the agreement. Around 60 postproduction coordinators who work in scripted film and TV (members have been credited on titles including the 2024 Mean Girls and Severance) currently belong to the group, a subsidiary of the Communications Workers of America union. The contract went into effect on Dec. 31, with signatories including Apple Studios LLC, HBO Entertainment Inc., HBO Films Inc., Netflix Productions LLC, Universal Television LLC, Universal Content Productions LLC and Paramount Pictures Corporation, among others.
Richmond council declares boycott on hotel behind picket lines
Richmond News
By Maria Rantanen
Jan. 17, 2024
The City of Richmond will boycott three hotels in city centre that are currently behind picket lines. City council unanimously voted on Monday to not hold any city "business" at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel, and two adjacent hotels, in order to support the striking workers. The BC Labour Board has ruled strikers, who are Sheraton employees, can also picket the two adjoining hotels, the Marriott and the Hilton hotels, as they are under the same ownership. City council made a similar decision two years ago for the Pacific Gateway Hotel – currently rebranded as Radisson Blu – which has been behind pickets lines for several years. Representatives of Unite Here Local 40 were at city council on Monday asking councillors to support their strike with a boycott.
Nurses’ Union Rally on MLK Day Draws Hundreds As Contract Negotiations With UCMed Continue
The Chicago Maroon
By Nick Rommel
Jan. 17, 2024
More than 200 UChicago Medicine (UCM) nurses and their allies took part in a rally organized by National Nurses United (NNU) Monday morning amid a months-long contract negotiation between the labor union and UCM. Despite 15 meetings and 15 tentative agreements across nearly four months of negotiations, NNU says that UCM “refuses to take our patient concerns seriously.” These concerns include staffing issues like high patient-to-nurse ratios and low retention of recent hires, as well as the proposed inclusion of a trigger clause that would allow the union to bargain for certain guarantees in case of events such as a pandemic.
Culinary Union preparing for strike following visit from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
KSNV
By News 3 Staff
Jan. 17, 2024
The Culinary Union amped up contract negotiations with several Las Vegas hotel properties after receiving motivational words from a political leader. pUnion representatives gathered for a meeting with officials at Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday. Negotiations continued after the union set a strike deadline for February 2 at 5 a.m. Someone who could be joining them on the front lines is representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
JOINING TOGETHER
Davis: Lessons I Learned From Starting a Union (Opinion)
Colorado Times Recorder
By Logan M. Davis
Jan. 16, 2024
On an unseasonably warm Sunday afternoon in January 2021, my friends and I gathered around a shoddy table in a borrowed conference room for the specific purpose of causing trouble. Some were legislative aides, historically underpaid and mistreated at the state Capitol. Some were campaign workers, historically underpaid and mistreated on the campaign trail. All of us knew we deserved better, and all of us had come to the realization that asking nicely wasn’t going to do the trick. We had gathered to put a collective foot down.
IN THE STATES
Texas Politics Project: 64% of Texans view unions as beneficial to workers
KXAN
By Cora Neas
Jan. 17, 2024
Recent polling by the Texas Politics Project suggests that 64% of Texans have a positive view of labor unions. Nineteen percent of respondents said they think unions are bad for workers, and 16% had no opinion. Factoring in 2022 data from TPP, Texans’ views on labor unions are increasingly favorable. Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy said that the public and elected officials should “stop and reflect” on the findings. “It’s a reflection of what’s going on in Texas right now. There’s such an upsurge of workers coming together to advocate for themselves and better working conditions, benefits, pay, etc,,” Levy said. “There’s so much of a political culture that is opposed to the unions and workers coming together, that I think the findings are really, really important.”