MUST READ
Senate confirms Marty Walsh to be Labor secretary
CNN
By Alex Rogers
March 22, 2021
But Walsh's confirmation was a victory for AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who rallied his federation of 56 unions to back the Boston mayor soon after Biden won the election in November. "It's difficult to overstate the importance of this moment," Trumka said. "For four years, working families have lived with a Labor Department devoted to serving a handful of elite interests. Now, the power to enforce safety and equity in our workplaces has been handed from a ruthless corporate lawyer to a proud union brother."
POLITICS
Senate confirms Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to lead Labor Department
Politico
By Rebecca Rainey
March 22, 2021
"For four years, working families have lived with a Labor Department devoted to serving a handful of elite interests," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a statement on Walsh's confirmation. "Now, the power to enforce safety and equity in our workplaces has been handed from a ruthless corporate lawyer to a proud union brother."
Marty Walsh, Boston Mayor With Union Roots, Confirmed As Labor Secretary At Key Time
NPR
By Sam Gringlas
March 22, 2021
Marty Walsh, the two-term mayor of Boston, was confirmed as the Labor secretary by the Senate in a 68-29 vote on Monday, becoming the first union leader to run the department in over four decades. Walsh will become the head of the Labor Department at a critical time, as the pandemic has left millions unemployed and raised concerns about workplace safety. The former union leader will also serve in a Biden administration that has pledged to protect the power of unions and is looking to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. "Right now, this work is critical to the future of our economy, our communities, and our families," Walsh told senators at his confirmation hearing last month. "I believe we must act with urgency to meet this moment to strengthen and empower our workforce as we rebuild."
AMAZON
Amazon Illegally Interrogated Queens Warehouse Worker Who Led Pandemic Walkout, NLRB Rules
Gizmodo
By Tom McKay
March 22, 2021
The National Labor Relations Board has determined that Amazon illegally interrogated a warehouse worker that led colleagues in a strike over the company’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, per a Monday report by Motherboard.
RETIREMENT SECURITY
Investment firms team with AFL-CIO to offer DC funds
Investment News
By Investment News
March 22, 2021
The AFL-CIO is collaborating with Wilmington Trust, BNY Mellon, PGIM Fixed Income and AFL-CIO ITC Financial to offer 12 new target-date collective investment trust funds to its 56 unions and 12.5 million members. “Defined benefit plans remain the bedrock of a secure retirement,” the union federation said in a release, “[but] this important extension of the AFL-CIO suite of branded investment products ensures that defined contribution investors’ interests are protected and provides a cost-effective solution that brings this proposition to life.”
AP
March 21, 2021
The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest federation of labor unions, announces a groundbreaking collaboration with Wilmington Trust, BNY Mellon, PGIM Fixed Income and AFL-CIO ITC Financial to distribute 12 new target date collective investment trust (CIT) funds, expanding retirement planning options for its 56 unions and 12.5 million members. This product is an important extension of the AFL-CIO suite of branded investment products—bringing the federation’s values to the defined contribution market. “This suite of target date CIT funds is a welcome addition to the lineup of financial products which carry the AFL-CIO name,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “Defined benefit plans remain the bedrock of a secure retirement. However, the Labor Movement’s philosophy that all Americans are entitled to retire with dignity and financial security dictates that we must also ensure that defined contribution investors’ interests are protected. This product provides a cost-effective solution that brings this proposition to life. We are grateful to our partners for sharing our values and making good on that commitment.”
TRANSPORTATION
‘It’s Going to End Up Like Boeing’: How Freight Rail Is Courting Catastrophe
Vice
By Aaron Gordon
March 22, 2021
None of these derailments resulted in any reported injuries. But according to Greg Regan, President of the Transportation Trades Department, a labor organization consisting of 33 transportation unions, these are red flags. "If you have increases in the less significant or catastrophic derailments," Regan said, "it reflects a degrading safety culture, and certainly leads to oversights and an environment that could lead to the more disastrous types of derailment that again grab the headlines."
LABOR AND ECONOMY
USPS chief DeJoy said to cut post office hours, lengthen delivery times in 10-year plan
The Washington Post
By Jacob Bogage
March 22, 2021
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will unveil the largest rollback of consumer mail services in a generation as part of his 10-year plan for the U.S. Postal Service, according to two people briefed on the proposal, including longer first-class delivery windows, reduced post office hours and higher postage prices.
JOINING TOGETHER
Colectivo Could Soon Become the Largest Unionized Coffee Chain in the U.S.
In These Times
By Alice Herman
March 22, 2021
Now, Colectivo’s staff of about 500 workers faces an election that will decide the fate of a union drive nearly a year in the making, with ballots due on March 30 and counted in the first week of April. If the campaign is successful, the workers will make history: the industry is almost entirely unorganized, and Colectivo would become the largest unionized coffee chain in the country. But as bakers, warehouse workers and baristas mobilize support for the union, the company has responded with open hostility, hiring the Labor Relations Institute (LRI) — a well-known union buster — during the campaign.
IN THE STATES
The PRO Act Would Undo Decades of Anti-Union Laws Rooted in Racism
LA Progressive
By Olivia Paschal
March 22, 2021
“We have a generational opportunity to make America’s economy and democracy work for working people again,” North Carolina State AFL-CIO President MaryBe McMillan said in a statement. “The PRO Act does that by ending misleading and racist ‘right to work’ laws and creating meaningful consequences for employers that retaliate against workers for simply exercising their