Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
MUST READ
Poll: A majority of voters support the PRO Act
Vox
By Gabby Birenbaum
June 16, 2021
The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act seems unlikely to succeed in the Senate due to a lack of Republican support — but it has the support of the majority of likely voters, according to a new poll from Vox and Data for Progress. The act, a sweeping labor rights bill, would strengthen unions through overriding Republican-led “right to work” state laws, which impede unions’ abilities by allowing workers to join without paying dues. It would also penalize companies that restrict union activity, and would bestow independent contractors — such as drivers for Uber and Lyft — with the right to organize and collectively bargain.
JOINING TOGETHER
New Yorker Union Reaches Deal With Condé Nast After Threatening to Strike
The New York Times
By Katie Robertson
June 16, 2021
After more than two years of talks, an evening protest outside Anna Wintour’s townhouse in Greenwich Village and the threat of a strike, a group of union employees at The New Yorker and two other publications has reached a deal with their parent company, Condé Nast. The New Yorker Union and the unions representing two other Condé Nast publications, Ars Technica and Pitchfork, came to an agreement with the company on Wednesday after bargaining together for higher wages and improved health benefits, among other demands.
Workers at progressive data firm Catalist unionize
The Hill
By Chris Mills Rodrigo
June 16, 2021
Workers at Catalist, a data firm that works with progressive causes, have formed a union that was voluntarily recognized by management Wednesday. Thirty of the company’s 38 eligible employees have joined the Catalist Union and will be represented by the Communications Workers of America, which has made significant inroads into the tech industry recently.
Condé Nast Agrees to Contract With New Yorker Union, Averting Strike
The Wall Street Journal
By Lukas I. Alpert
June 16, 2021
Condé Nast has agreed to its first contract with unionized employees at the New Yorker and two other publications, marking the media company’s first labor agreement in its history and averting a threatened strike after 2½ years of negotiations. The three-year deal, which also covers staffers at music website Pitchfork and technology publication Ars Technica, raises the salary floor to $60,000 in the final year of the contract, places a cap on healthcare cost increases and establishes a defined 40-hour workweek. It also includes stipulations that employees can be fired only for cause, an issue that had been a sticking point in the contract talks.
Deadline
By David Robb
June 16, 2021
Leaders of IATSE’s 13 production locals in Hollywood are showing a united front in their negotiations for a new film and TV contract with management’s Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. In a joint statement, they said that their locals “stand together in our fight for sustainable pension and health benefits, reasonable rest, improved working conditions, and livable wages. These basic worker rights are the cornerstone of the labor movement, and we all are committed to fighting for them in order to create a more humane and equitable workplace.”
IN THE STATES
Hotels, unions forge compromise on ‘Right to Return to Work’ ordinance
Chicago Sun-Times
By Fran Spielman
June 15, 2021
Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter countered that laid-off hotel employees are “predominantly women and people of color” who are “the most vulnerable economically and health-wise.” They need and deserve protection — even at a time when restaurants and hotels are competing for workers. “If you’ve had a long career working at these hotels, we want to make sure that those workers are called back in the order that they were let go. Without having a check on that, there’s no guarantee … that long-time workers aren’t penalized for where they were at in terms of their compensation or their age,” Reiter said.
Is it a labor shortage crisis, or a low wage, no benefits crisis?
NW Labor Press
By Graham Trainor
June 16, 2021
There is no question that some industries have faced challenges filling open positions as the economy has begun to reopen. But as we race towards state and federal goals of a 70% vaccination rate and the subsequent economic reopening push, we must look carefully at what the real barriers are and are not for workers reentering the labor market. Let’s start with childcare. Working women, especially women of color, have been forced to make impossible choices throughout the entire pandemic. Not only did a pervasive gender pay gap exist prior to COVID-19 taking hold of our lives (with most women of color making between 54 and 62 cents to every dollar their white male counterparts make), but now over a decade of progress towards gender equality in the workplace has mostly stalled out since March 2020. Layer these inequities with a broken childcare system, where affordable, accessible, quality care is nearly impossible to find. According to a survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a quarter of unemployed Americans say they can’t go back to work because of childcare or other family care needs. There is no denying that on-going school closures, childcare deserts and the demands on parents and caregivers—most of whom are women and mothers—are preventing countless workers from returning to work.
Culinary Union workers celebrate the passage of ‘Right to Return’ bill with Sisolak
The Nevada Independent
By Chanel Pulido
June 16, 2021
Gov. Steve Sisolak joined members of the Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas on Tuesday to celebrate the passage of the much-debated SB386 – referred to as the “Right to Return” bill – that guarantees the rights of laid-off gaming and tourism industry workers to return to their previous jobs. Sisolak was met with applause and cheers after he was introduced by D. Taylor, president of the labor organization’s parent union, UNITE HERE. The event came after Sisolak signed the bill last week with little fanfare.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Food distribution at Bader Field Thursday morning
Downbeach
By Nanette LoBiondo Galloway
June 16, 2021
The distribution of food boxes for Atlantic City residents and displaced casino and hospitality industry workers will be held 10 a.m. Thursday, June 17 at Bader Field. The food distribution is possible through a unique partnership between state and local governments, the casino industry and its unions, including Local 54 and AFL-CIO, the CRDA Community Food Bank of New Jersey and other private donors.