ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
We can’t fight climate change using forced labor in China
The Washington Post
By Josh Rogin
June 24, 2021
President Biden says climate change is the “number one issue facing humanity,” but that we must fight it while still upholding our values, such as human rights. China is testing our ability to honor both goals, by running its solar industry using forced labor linked to an ongoing genocide. That simply can’t be tolerated or ignored. We can’t save the planet by increasing the suffering of the world’s most vulnerable people.
POLITICS
Labor secretary touts jobs, infrastructure plan during Las Vegas visit
Las Vegas Review-Journal
By Dylan Svoboda
June 23, 2021
Walsh told the crowd of home care workers and union officials that President Joe Biden’s infrastructure proposal includes $400 billion for home care, creating 1 million new jobs and increased wages. The former Boston mayor said the plan aims to “create pathways into the middle class and allow people the opportunity that they chose and dignity and opportunity — working one job, not three jobs.”
Biden Moves the NLRB Closer to a Pro-Union Majority
The National Law Review
June 24, 2021
This week, President Biden moved the National Labor Relations Board one step closer towards having a majority of members with pro-union backgrounds. This occurred after Biden nominated his second new member to fill one of the NLRB’s five seats. Biden selected David Prouty, an attorney who has spent his career representing labor unions. If Prouty is confirmed, he will fill the seat that becomes vacant when Republican William Emanuel’s term expires this August.
SUPREME COURT
Court’s latest anti-union ruling shows why we need PRO Act
The Stand
June 24, 2021
In response, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released this statement on Wednesday:
“We are deeply disappointed that the court reversed a decades-old rule that allowed farm workers to exercise their fundamental right to organize at the location where they work as an unconstitutional ‘taking’ of their employers’ property. As the state of California recognized more than 45 years ago, meeting with the union during off-hours at their workplace is the only practical way for workers to organize when they must regularly move from farm to farm throughout the growing season. The AFL-CIO will do everything in our power to help California farm workers find other pathways to exercise their right to form a union to gain a voice at work and ensure safe and healthy working conditions.
JOINING TOGETHER
Harvard Graduate Student Union members sign letter committing to organizing strike
Boston Globe
By Jeremy C. Fox
June 24, 2021
The Harvard Graduate Students Union delivered a letter to university administrators Thursday signed by more than 500 student workers who committed to organizing a strike if they cannot negotiate a contract by the end of the month, union officials said. The union has been negotiating with Harvard since March, and the existing agreement expires Wednesday, according to the letter. If they cannot come to an agreement by then, the signers of the letter “commit to begin organizing to authorize, and if authorized, to participate in a strike alongside our peers.”
UNION BUSTING
Corporations like Amazon pay big bucks for "union avoidance" — and it all happens in the dark
Salon
By Jon Skolnik
June 24, 2021
Over the past year, we've seen Amazon, the e-commerce Goliath which employs 1.3 million people (roughly equivalent to the entire population of Dallas), launch one of the most aggressive anti-union campaigns in modern corporate history, successfully quashing a months-long employee-led organizing effort at a company warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama.
IN THE STATES
Federal emergency relief set to end Saturday; Floridians urge DeSantis to change decision
CBS4 News
By Joseph Erickson
June 24, 2021
A statewide federation of labor unions calls on the governor to reverse his decision to end the federal pandemic unemployment program. The Florida AFL-CIO says it presented a petition with more than 7,000 signatures to Gov. DeSantis' office earlier today. The federal government has been paying an additional $300 a week in unemployment benefits. The AFL-CIO says that money helped keep many Floridians afloat, and without it, many may end up losing their homes.