MUST READ
20 years after mine disaster, Brookwood miners are still fighting for safety (Opinion)
Alabama Political Reporter
By Liz Shuler
September 23, 2021
As I travel the country as president of the AFL-CIO, I meet and talk with union members who are the beating heart of our country — quiet heroes like Haeden Wright. As president of UMWA Auxiliary #2245/2368, for the last six months she’s gone above and beyond to keep the strike pantry stocked, clothing donations stacked and meals delivered each week to union members. Her father was working in Mine #7 the day of the 2001 tragedy, and her husband now works at the same mine as the explosion site (which has since turned into a processing plant).
IN THE STATES
North Carolina’s anti-labor record is a shameful betrayal of our state’s people
The Mountaineer
By Alexander H. Jones
September 22, 2021
As late as the 1950s, North Carolina was still the least unionized state in the nation. It speaks to the decline of American organized labor that our state’s unionization rate in the 1950s, about 9%, was higher than the national unionization rate today. North Carolina’s rate of union membership today is just below 3%. Perhaps that’s why the international NGO Oxfam recently called North Carolina the “worst state in the nation” for working people. Taking into account wages, working conditions and other indicators, Oxfam damned North Carolina as a working person’s hell. The response from our state’s Republican leadership was silence. After all, even the elected Labor Commissioner, Josh Dobson, has spoken to Art Pope’s John Locke Foundation about his robust support for “right-to-work” laws and strong opposition to collective bargaining rights for state employees. Out of the 50 states, only North Carolina and Virginia forbid their state employees from organizing.
Federal heat regulations may cost Nevada businesses
Las Vegas Review-Journal
By Gary Martin
September 22, 2021
Proposed new labor protections for workers in extreme heat would help reduce injuries and illnesses from heat exposure that disproportionately impact workers of color, according to the White House. The proposals were applauded by Susie Martinez, the newly elected Nevada State AFL-CIO executive secretary-treasurer. “Every year, Las Vegas grows hotter and hotter as our planet warms. Every day, working Nevadans brave this extreme heat while on the job,” Martinez said.
Maine AFL-CIO statement on minimum wage increase (Opinion)
Penobscot Bay Pilot
September 23, 2021
The Maine AFL-CIO applauds the announcement that Maine’s minimum wage will increase from $12.15 to $12.75 per hour, based on data recently made available by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, effective January 1, 2022, according to a Sept. 23 news release from the organization.
“No one who works full time should live in poverty,” said Matt Schlobohm, executive director of the Maine AFL-CIO, in the release. “For too long the cost of groceries, rent, heating oil and other basic necessities have gone up while wages have remained stagnant. This cost of living increase means that workers will have a little more dignity and a little more money in their pockets to support their families and spend in the local economy. The law is working to set a floor for wages and to drive wages up across our economy.”
AZ AFL-CIO Files Federal Lawsuit To Prevent New Union Mandates
KJZZ
By Heather van Blokland
September 22, 2021
On Tuesday, a new law goes into effect imposing certain mandates on how labor unions in Arizona can operate. Arizona union organizers have filed suit to prevent the law from being implemented. Senate Bill 1268, places a series of additional reporting requirements on private-sector labor unions — forcing unions to disclose details of revenues and expenditures collected by the union, breakdowns of costs paid per member for health care benefits and expenses paid for pensions, vacation and sick leave and other expenses — information that is already available according to Fred Yamashita, executive director of Arizona AFL-CIO. “This bill creates burdensome, costly, administrative requirements on labor organizations with no additional benefit to the public,” he said. Yamashita also said the bill itself violates the United States Constitution and the Arizona Constitution by requiring private-sector unions to allow members to obtain their own health plan instead of using the one the union provides.
JOINING TOGETHER
Nabisco Workers Return To Their Jobs Following 5-Week Strike
HuffPost
By Dave Jamieson
September 23, 2021
The workers who make and distribute Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers and other Nabisco snacks are returning to work this week following a five-week strike that brought national attention to the working conditions inside their plants. The work stoppage involved nearly 1,000 employees at sites in Portland, Oregon; Aurora, Colorado; Chicago; Richmond, Virginia; and Norcross, Georgia. They were resisting an attempt by Mondelez International, the company that owns Nabisco, to end some of their overtime pay premiums and put newer hires on a more expensive health care plan, among other proposed changes. The workers’ union, the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers (BCTGM), reached a tentative agreement with the company last week and put the proposal up for a vote on Saturday. Members voted 590 to 201 in favor of ratifying it, according to union officials.
Hundreds Of Workers On Northwestern Campuses Authorize Strike
Patch
By Jonah Meadows
September 23, 2021
Hundreds of subcontracted hospitality workers at Northwestern University's Evanston and Chicago campuses voted Wednesday to authorize a strike. The cooks, dishwashers, housekeepers and other hospitality workers are employed by Compass Group, with which Northwestern contracted to provide undergraduate dining and various other services at its business school and on its Chicago campus. The 364-person bargaining unit is represented by the union Unite Here and has been without a contract since 2019, a year after Compass took over the university's dining program. The workers may now strike at any time.