JOINING TOGETHER
SAG-AFTRA Teams With AFL-CIO To Offer New Health Options For Medicare-Eligible Members
Deadline
By David Robb
July 23, 2021
SAG-AFTRA and the AFL-CIO have teamed up to provide two new affordable health plan options to all Medicare-eligible SAG-AFTRA members and their spouses, many of whom might have lost, or are in danger of losing, their union health coverage due to recent changes in the guild’s Health Plan eligibility rules. The Motion Picture & Television Fund and the Actors Fund are administering the application process. SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris and AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said in a joint statement that the new options, which will become available in early July, are being offered through Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which are group Medicare Advantage plans that include prescription drug coverage.
IN THE STATES
Texas AFL-CIO says big labor played a big role in Robin Mouton's mayoral runoff victory
KFDM
By KFDM/FOX 4
June 21, 2021
Across Texas, the labor movement is celebrating Saturday’s election victory by Communications Workers of America (CWA) member Robin Donatta Mouton in a runoff for Mayor of Beaumont. Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy said the Central Labor Council’s stellar work supporting Mouton culminates a local election cycle in which CLCs fully renewed labor’s political ground game and scored 14 significant victories in local races as the COVID-19 pandemic receded.
‘Needlessly exposed’: Few inspections, hundreds of complaints about unsafe workplaces in Wisconsin as COVID cases spiked
Channel 3000
By Naomi Kowles
June 21, 2021
“Too many frontline workers were exposed to COVID needlessly,” Wisconsin AFL-CIO president Stephanie Bloomingdale said. “This pandemic showed a light on so many things that are wrong in our workplaces.”
Yamashita: Arizona’s economy should work for working people
Daily Independent
By Fred Yamashita
June 11, 2021
Workers are the backbone of our economy. From our schools, grocery stores, hospitals, to the construction workers that build our roads and the electrical workers who power it all, our region runs because of workers. Yet, for decades workers have been forgotten when it comes to passing legislation to empower us on the job. Between 1948 and 1973, after New Deal era laws expanded and enforced collective bargaining, hourly wages rose by more than 90%. But over the next 40 years — from 1973 to 2013 — hourly wages rose by just over 9% while productivity increased 74%.
GIG ECONOMY
Massachusetts coalition launches to fight Uber, Lyft and avoid California gig-work outcome
MarketWatch
By Levi Sumagaysay
June 22, 2021
Trying to avoid a repeat of gig companies’ victory in California last November, Massachusetts workers, community organizers, labor and civil-rights groups on Tuesday launched an effort to fight an expected ballot measure over worker classification.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Two Monroe County high school youth earn Monroe/Lenawee County AFL-CIO Central Labor Council scholarships
Daily Telegram
By Brad Heineman
June 23, 2021
Two Monroe County high school students were named recipients of annually awarded scholarship funds from the Monroe/Lenawee County AFL-CIO Central Labor Council. “On behalf of the Monroe/Lenawee AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, we congratulate Caroline and Emma,” Jason C. Matthews, president of the Monroe/Lenawee County AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, said in the news release. “We are proud and excited to award scholarships to these great students, strong leaders and community activists.”