Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Meet Tonya Hicks | IBEW Jouneyman Electrician, Serial Entrepreneur, and Philantropist
Shoutout Atlanta
August 19, 2021
We had the good fortune of connecting with Tonya Hicks and we’ve shared our conversation below. Hi Tonya, what was your thought process behind starting your own business? I started my business to provide career opportunities to women and minorities in the electrical industry. Women and minorities have been systematically kept out of the higher paying trades including; electrical, mechanical, and plumbing. As an apprentice in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, I didn’t see black men being promoted to management positions with the companies I worked for. Of course, I didn’t see any other women at all. Only 2.9% percent of tradespeople are women. That’s not because women aren’t interested in working in the trades; nor does it mean women aren’t qualified or capable. It’s not a big enough effort to hire, promote, or retain women and minorities in skilled labor.
JOINING TOGETHER
Mondelez workers on strike at Virginia bakery plant
ABC News
By The Associated Press
August 19, 2021
Hundreds of workers at a Mondelez International bakery in Virginia are on strike, seeking to block the company’s demands for concessions in contract negotiations and end what the union calls the outsourcing of jobs to Mexico. About 400 workers from the plant in Henrico started striking Monday, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. The plant makes foods like Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers and Chips Ahoy! Cookies. They are joining Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union workers striking since last week at a Mondelez bakery plant in Portland, Oregon, and at a sales distribution center in Aurora, Colorado.
IN THE STATES
La Crosse Labor Day Parade canceled due to COVID
News8000.com
By Jourdan Vian
August 19, 2021
The 130th La Crosse Labor Day Parade has been canceled. The Western Wisconsin AFL-CIO announced the decision Thursday, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. “It saddens us to make this announcement, but this postponement will not hold us back from continuing to develop solidarity in Western Wisconsin,” said Bill Brockmiller, Treasurer, Western Wisconsin AFL-CIO.“Whether we either in-person or by teleconference, we’ll continue to engage active and retiree members by encouraging them to connect with their brothers and sisters as well as with community and elected officials in productive and healthy ways.”
As federal worker guidance gets stricter, labor advocates denounce repealed Mass. protections
Boston Globe
By Katie Johnston
August 19, 2021
With federal workplace safety guidelines now calling for fully vaccinated workers to wear masks in areas with elevated risks of COVID-19 transmission, which currently includes every county in Massachusetts, labor advocates are doubling down on their criticism of the state’s expiring workplace regulations. Massachusetts rules on masking, distancing, and sanitization in the workplace haven’t been enforced since late May and are set to be officially repealed in the coming weeks, despite new guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that masks should be worn in public indoor spaces in areas of high or substantial transmission, regardless of vaccination status. “This latest decision of the Baker/Polito administration ties working families’ hands behind their backs as they continue to battle the scourge of this pandemic on the frontlines,” Steven A. Tolman, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said in a statement.