AFL-CIO Press Clips: June 14, 2022
MUST READ
Alabama Amazon union organizers get standing ovation at AFL-CIO convention
AL.com
By William Thornton
June 13, 2022
Workers organizing for a union at Amazon’s Bessemer fulfillment center received a standing ovation this morning before the AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. In a five-minute segment before the convention, workers Isaiah Thomas, Clint Shiflett, Kenneth Carter and organizer Adam Obernauer appeared, talking about efforts to organize for the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union (RWDSU).
POLITICS
Biden courts labor ahead of tough midterms
The Washington Post
By Theodoric Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell
June 14, 2022
President Biden is heading to Philadelphia today to address the AFL-CIO convention — his latest show of solidarity with the labor movement as Democrats confront a tough midterm election forecast. He's expected to talk about building an economy around working people, according to a White House official, with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Stacey Abrams in attendance.
JOINING TOGETHER
Microsoft Pledges Neutrality in Union Campaigns at Activision
The New York Times
By Noam Scheiber and Karen Weise
June 13, 2022y
Microsoft and the Communications Workers of America union announced an agreement on Monday that would make it easier for employees to unionize at the video game maker Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft is acquiring for $70 billion. “This process does gives us and Microsoft a way to do this quote unquote election without spending the time, the effort and the controversy that goes along with an N.L.R.B. election,” Chris Shelton, the president of the Communications Workers union, said in an interview.
Microsoft enters agreement to respect Activision Blizzard unionization
The Washington Post
By Shannon Liao
June 13, 2022
Microsoft said Monday it would respect the rights of Activision Blizzard workers to join a union, and would enter into a so-called labor neutrality agreement with major media union Communications Workers of America, which has been helping video game workers organize. If Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is approved, the new labor agreement will take effect for the video game giant 60 days after the deal is finalized.
Vox Media Union Reaches Tentative Deal, Averting Threatened Strike
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
June 13, 2022
Vox Media Union has reached a tentative deal with management on a new contract the weekend before its current agreement expired, seemingly averting a threatened strike. The Writers Guild of America East group, which represents editorial and video staffers in collective bargaining across brands including Polygon and Eater, announced the deal on Saturday after a compromise was struck that afternoon. The union’s first agreement was set to expire at 12 a.m. ET on Monday, June 13, and the union had taken some initial steps to mounting a strike after, though a work stoppage still wasn’t a sure thing: 95 percent of union members had signed a strike pledge, and the WGA East Council unanimously voted to authorize a strike, but unit members still would have needed to vote to authorize a strike.
Senators urge CNH Industrial to offer striking workers more
KWQC
By The Associated Press
June 13, 2022
A group of U.S. senators led by Vermont independent Bernie Sanders is lending its support to workers at two CNH Industrial plants who have been on strike for better pay and benefits for more than a month. The group, which was also led by Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin and includes three other Democrats, has written a letter to CNH CEO Scott Wine urging him to offer the more than 1,000 striking workers a better deal. Sanders plans to attend rallies with the strikers next week. The group said workers at the plants that make construction and agriculture equipment shouldn’t have to accept the drastically higher health care costs and modest raises the company is offering now, especially when the company reported a $336 million profit in the first quarter. The senators said the lowest-paid workers at the plants in Racine, Wisconsin, and Burlington, Iowa, would receive raises of $1.33 an hour, which they say wouldn’t cover the $6,400 health insurance deductible CNH Industrial has proposed.