Today's AFL-CIO press clipd
MUST READ
EPA is banning the import and use of asbestos
Safety + Health Magazine
By Staff
March 19, 2024
In a separate release, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said the rule “will undoubtedly save lives and prevent countless exposures that endanger working families.” Shuler added: “This rule is a landmark protection for workers, banning and phasing out all current uses and imports of chrysotile asbestos, and eliminating these exposures in workplaces and throughout the supply chain.” EPA published a proposed rule to ban the use of chrysotile asbestos in April 2022.
POLITICS
Biden wins United Steelworkers union endorsement after opposing US Steel sale to Nippon
USA Today
By Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy and Joey Garrison
March 20, 2024
Less than a week after President Joe Biden came out in opposition of the planned sale of U.S. Steel to Japanese-based Nippon Steel Corporation, the company’s union has endorsed his 2024 reelection bid. “With his track record of supporting working people, we're eager for his administration's continued progress on our core issues,” the union announced in a Tweet Wednesday. The United Steelworkers union, which also backed Biden in 2020, represents 850,000 workers in steel mills, manufacturing plants, mines, rubber plants and railyards as well as nursing homes, legal clinics, social agencies, call centers and credit unions, among other sectors.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
There's a big wealth gap between union and nonunion workers
Axios
By Emily Peck
March 20, 2024
There's a massive wealth gap between workers in unions and nonunionized workers, across education levels, finds a new analysis from the liberal think tank Center for American Progress shared first with Axios. Why it matters: Typically, unionized workers earn about 10%-20% more than their nonunion peers, but these wealth gaps are far wider, an indication that the benefits of union membership accrue to workers over time.
ORGANIZING
Long Beach Post, Business Journal unionize; demand voluntary recognition
Editor & Publisher
By Staff
March 20, 2024
Staff members at the Long Beach Journalism Initiative, which includes the Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal, filed a petition for a union election on Monday, March 18. The effort to establish the Long Beach Media Guild is unanimously supported by all eligible staff from the editorial and business sides of the organization. All members have signed cards in support of joining Media Guild of the West, the L.A.-based Local of the NewsGuild-CWA, and sent a letter to the LBJI board of directors on March 13 seeking voluntary recognition of the union. A public petition calling on the LBJI board and its CEO to recognize the union has collected more than 375 signatures since Friday.
Hourly workers at Olathe Public Schools push to unionize over pay and benefits
KCUR
By Kaylie McLaughlin
March 20, 2024
A collection of hourly school employees in the Olathe school district are planning to unionize. The classified staff members who are part of the push to unionize are organizing under the CWA Local 6400, based in Lawrence. Classified staff in Lawrence Public Schools started organizing under that union local back in 2020.
Employees at Carytown bookstore Shelf Life Books unionizing
WRIC
By Will Gonzalez
March 19, 2024
Employees at a popular Carytown store selling new and used books have officially unionized, according to a release from United Food and Commercial (UFCW) Local 400 Union. According to the release, the owners of Shelf Life Books, which was known as Chop Suey Books until about a year ago, voluntarily chose to recognize the union after all eligible employees signed up to support the effort. The union covers five employees and negotiations on its first contract are expected to begin later this week. According to UFCW, the union is the first one to be formed at a Richmond bookstore.
‘It’s finally time for change in this studio’: ABC6 staffers vote to unionize
Boston Globe
By Brian Amaral
March 20, 2024
Staffers at news station ABC6 in Providence voted on Wednesday to unionize, according to organizers. The vote, administered by the National Labor Relations Board, took place at the station’s Orms Street studio. The vote — which was 22 in favor and 3 against, according to those involved in organizing the union — means that workers at ABC6 will join the 10,000-member National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, which is part of the Communications Workers of America.
JOINING TOGETHER
Hollywood Pantages Ushers Reach Tentative Deal on First Labor Contract
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
March 20, 2024
After seven months of negotiations, ushers at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre have reached a tentative agreement on a first three-year labor contract with their employer. The Nederlander Organization-owned theater and union IATSE Local B-192 agreed to the provisional pact affecting over 70 ushers on Monday, March 11. The new agreement improves wages — ushers will see a 25 percent increase in their rates over the course of the contract, to a minimum of $21.50 an hour by the end of the deal.
Law360 editorial workers stage one-day strike
Talking Biz News
By Chris Roush
March 20, 2024
Unionized editorial workers, represented by The NewsGuild of New York at LexisNexis-owned Law360, have walked off the job in a 24-hour work stoppage to protest layoffs. Law360 Union members will begin picketing at 12:30 p.m. at LexisNexis HQ, 230 Park Ave., in New York. Last month, LexisNexis executives congratulated themselves on the company achieving its highest revenue growth in decades. The same day, management announced they would lay off 26 members of the Law360 Union.
Culinary Union to picket Virgin Las Vegas as negotiations continue for new contract
KSNV
By News 3 Staff
March 20, 2024
The Culinary Union announced they will picket Virgin Las Vegas on Thursday, March 21, as big table negotiations are scheduled for that day. The union said the March 9 strike deadline extension for that property has expired, and a strike can now be called at any time. If a strike is called, it would mark a historic first for this property as it has never been subject to a Culinary and Bartenders Union strike.
Southwest Airlines reaches tentative agreement with flight attendants union
KERA
By Staff
March 20, 2024
Southwest Airlines flight attendants have reached a tentative agreement with the Dallas-based carrier, the union announced Tuesday night. The TWU Local 556 executive board approved sending the agreement to union members on March 25, according to a statement on the union’s Facebook page. The union provided no other details on the terms of the potential contract.
South Philly stadium workers want Aramark to give health insurance and a standard minimum wage.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Lizzy McLellan Ravitch
March 20, 2024
Food service workers at Wells Fargo Center, Lincoln Financial Field, and Citizens Bank Park held a picket on Monday. At the South Philadelphia sports venues, food service workers like Spector are employed by Aramark, and many of them work at two or all three of the facilities. But the company has three different contracts with the workers’ union, Unite Here Local 274. With all three contracts expiring this month, the workers want that to change. Members of Local 274 held a picket on Monday outside the Wells Fargo Center demanding a standard minimum wage and health benefits for the hundreds of Aramark employees at all three venues.
Unionized MyMichigan-Sault nurses authorize plan to strike if contract negotiations not resolved
Upper Michigan Source
By TV6 News Team
March 20, 2024
Nurses at MyMichigan Medical Center-Sault voted Tuesday night to authorize their bargaining team to call for an unfair labor practice strike if necessary, according a Wednesday press release from the Michigan Nurses Association (MNA). The authorization follows an informal picket the MyMichigan Medical Center-Sault nurses held last Tuesday to draw attention to contract negotiations between the union and the hospital. Last week, the MNA said among those primary contract demands were competitive wages and better benefits. The MNA also said MyMichigan was demanding concessions in unionized nurses’ contracts which were not being asked of non-unionized nurses.
Condé Nast Staffers Stage Protest In CEO’s Office Amid Contentious Union Negotiations
Deadline
By Patrick Hipes and Dade Hayes
March 20, 2024
Contentious contract negotiations between publishing giant Condé Nast and the union representing staffers at many of its magazines spilled over Wednesday when staffers marched to the New York City offices of the company’s CEO. The action by members of Condé Union comes after it criticized Tuesday’s negotiations over the first contract since the NewsGuild union received certification in 2022. According to the union, during the talks, management threatened to add five additional layoffs to a proposed list and possibly more.
Unite Here to begin ratification votes with 34 Southern California hotels
Press-Telegram
By Kevin Smith
March 20, 2024
After nearly nine months of walkouts, protests and picket lines, union workers at 34 Southern California hotels will begin voting Thursday, March 21 to ratify tentative labor agreements with the hotels. Ratification results and terms of the labor contracts should be announced Monday, March 25 by Unite Here Local 11. The workers are among some 15,000 striking cooks, housekeepers, dishwashers and others at more than 60 Southland hotels who have staged protests over low wages and inhumane workloads.
Hundreds of Sky Harbor concession workers vote to strike
Phoenix New Times
By Eddie Velazquez
March 20, 2024
Food and beverage workers from dozens of establishments at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport could walk off the job any day as they push for a new contract that includes raises and retirement benefits. Workers with HMS Host, which manages food vending for more than two dozen businesses, including Starbucks, Barrio Cafe, Chelsea’s Kitchen and SanTan Brewery, voted unanimously on March 13 to authorize a strike. The company's 650 to 800 unionized workers at the airport have been toiling without a new contract since 2017, union leaders said in a press release last week. This is the second time HMS workers, represented by Unite Here Local 11, have voted to strike.
STATE LEGISLATION
Some Georgia workers would find it harder to become union members under a new bill
WFXG
By Jeff Amy
March 20, 2024
Georgia lawmakers have made it harder for workers at companies getting state economic incentives to unionize, in what could be a violation of federal law. The state House voted 96 to 78 Wednesday for Senate Bill 362, which would bar companies that accept state incentives from recognizing unions without a formal secret-ballot election. The measure, which has been backed by Gov. Brian Kemp, now goes to the Republican governor for his signature. Georgia AFL-CIO President Yvonne Brooks condemned passage of the bill, calling it a “political ploy by the corporate elite.” “Georgia’s working families deserve lawmakers who will defend our right to organize and advocate for good, union jobs with fair pay and good benefits,” she said.
IN THE STATES
AFL-CIO and allies mobilize to stop Texas attacks on Latinos, others
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
March 20, 2024
The Texas State AFL-CIO and a wide-ranging coalition of Latino and civil rights groups, including the national League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), are laying plans to aid and protect brown-skinned and other people threatened with instant arrest, detention and deportation to Mexico from the Lone Star State. Those plans include a massive LULAC education campaign, to be rolled out today, with materials telling people what their rights are—and who to contact—when and if they’re stopped by newly-empowered law enforcers. And they include, in addition to huge numbers of youth activists, a grand coalition of organizations in Texas, “pushing back against this” in the courts and in elections this fall, State AFL-CIO Organizing Director Ana Gonzalez said. The labor federation and its allies, including Workers Defense and the Texas Civil Rights Project, “plan to incorporate this into our campaign” to oust the law’s backers from their seats in the Republican-dominated legislature.
PA AFL-CIO, Union Members & Leaders Urge Senate Action on Public Sector OSHA Protections
Erie News Now
By Staff
March 20, 2024
The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO and elected leaders from unions across the commonwealth joined 75 union members to support Public Sector OSHA protections in Pennsylvania. Public Sector OSHA legislation was passed by the PA House of Representatives in 2023 and will be labor's top legislative initiative in 2024. Lawmakers are currently trying to pass Senate Bill 93, a companion bill to House Bill 299, which was passed by the House in 2023.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Checking for Charity fundraiser scheduled for March 24
Portland Press Herald
By Staff
March 20, 2024
The South Portland Professional Firefighters IAFF L1476 announced that its annual fundraising ice hockey event, Checking for Charity, will take place Sunday, March 24, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Troubh Ice Arena in Portland. The event will feature special guest, Boston Bruins anthem singer, Todd Angilly.