POLITICS
Biden Picks Nominees for Top OSHA, Federal Transit Posts
Engineering News-Record
By Tom Ichniowski
April 12, 2021
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka—who formerly was the mine workers' union president—praised Parker, saying that he “has dedicated his life to advancing the cause of worker safety, because he understands this is a life-and-death struggle for working people in every industry and in every corner of the country.
AMAZON
Against the Current
By John Logan
May-June Issue
RWDSU campaign at Amazon deserves better than uninformed criticism. On Friday, April 9 the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) had lost its organizing campaign at Amazon in Bessemer, Alabama, one of the most closely watched union drives in decades, by a vote of 1798 to 738. The NLRB received 3215 ballots, and prior to the public count conducted by zoom, Amazon’s lawyers had challenged most of the almost 600 disputed ballots (which are put aside to be counted in case they might determine the outcome). The proverbial ink was barely dry on the result when organizing gurus published critiques, no doubt written weeks ago, full of heated rhetoric and organizing pearls of wisdom but light on facts — and lighter on an informed understanding of how the campaign had unfolded.
Union organizers vow to “not be oppressed by billion-dollar industries anymore”
Alabama Political Reporter
By Micah Danney
April 12, 2021
Stuart Applebaum, president of the RWDSU, said the union will file an objection to Amazon’s practices over the last few months, including convincing the Post Office to put a ballot drop box outside of the facility where workers would feel intimidated and under the company’s eye while casting their votes. “Workers are used to having every motion they make surveilled throughout the day. Cameras are outside. And I think it also gives people the impression that Amazon, not the government, is conducting the election,” he said. Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, called the organizers in Bessemer heroes who have started something much larger than them. He said America is on their side. “You see, you changed minds around unions and you captured the heart of the nation,” he said.
CORONAVIRUS
Your company can make you get a COVID shot, but many won’t. Here’s why.
Dayton Daily News
By Lynn Hulsey
April 11, 2021
None of the companies where workers are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 75 is requiring vaccines, said Kevin Garvey, local president of the union, which represents 32,000 retail, food packing and other workers from northern Kentucky to Toledo. Getting a vaccine “really comes down to personal choice,” Garvey said, and high numbers of the local’s members are choosing to be vaccinated. These essential workers were hard hit as they worked throughout the pandemic, with the union recording 423 deaths of frontline workers and 83,200 infected or exposed nationwide in industries the union represents, Garvey said. “I do highly recommend our employers enforce personal safety standards for their customers,” Garvey said. “My concern is everybody’s trying to rush to the finish line like this is over. It is not over. Some people are trying to force the issue and not wear a mask.”
U.S. Government Is Preparing an Emergency Rule to Protect Workers From Covid
Bloomberg
By Robb Mandelbaum
April 12, 2021
Mask mandates are coming down across the country, even as Covid cases are rising in most states. But the Biden administration appears poised to reinstate masking and other social distancing rules for recalcitrant governors — at least in the workplace. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is preparing to issue new short-term regulations to protect workers from catching Covid-19 on the job, according to lawyers tracking the agency's efforts. They could be made public as early as this week, these lawyers say, and take effect soon after that. Organized labor, for its part, pushed Virginia to adopt its rule in the first place. “They did lay out a decent standard,” says Rebecca Reindel, safety and health director for the AFL-CIO, “but it could be strengthened in many respects.” Last spring, the AFL-CIO sued the Trump Administration, unsuccessfully, to force it to issue a federal workplace safety standard for Covid.
IN THE STATES
Carrie Clark and MaryBe McMillan: Jobs Plan will benefit workers and the planet (Opinion)
Greensboro News & Record
By Carrie Clark and MaryBe McMillan
April 9, 2021
As we recover from COVID-19, now is the time for millions of people to get back to work, with new jobs in a clean-energy economy. Clean-energy jobs are among the fastest-growing in America, particularly in North Carolina, and offer a huge opportunity for high-quality, union jobs that will help rebuild the middle class. With the president’s plan, we finally have a chance to address the intersecting health, economic, social and climate crises we face, through bold investments that can truly Build Back Better with justice and equity.
Texas Senate revives push to block cities' paid sick leave ordinances
The Texas Tribune
By Megan Munce
April 12, 2021
“You have people on TV saying the most important thing to protect yourself from this virus is to stay at home if you don’t feel well, but we’re not going to do sick leave, so you can choose between going to work and eating,” said Rick Levy, the president of the Texas AFL-CIO.
Labor and Housing Committee hears public input on minimum wage bills
WABI
By Allegra Zamore
April 12, 2021
“There are many families that depend on income from young people to sustain the family budget and make sure they purchase the goods they need,” said Adam Goode with Maine AFL-CIO.
EQUAL PAY
Equal pay is key to the economic recovery for women workers (Opinion)
The Hill
By Robin Bleiweis and Jocelyn Frye
April 12, 2021
The two major crises that have roiled the country over the past year — the coronavirus pandemic and a long overdue reckoning on the prevalence of racial injustice — have focused new scrutiny on an old problem: the need for better policies to protect women’s jobs and wages. Both crises have been exacerbated by policymakers’ repeated failure to address longstanding inequities and strengthen workplace protections that could bolster women’s economic standing, thus threatening the prospects for a full economic recovery. In this environment, it is fitting that the U.S. House of Representatives is preparing, again, to consider the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that has languished for decades yet includes many much-needed policies to improve workers’ wages, from strengthening equal pay protections and enforcement to combatting discriminatory pay practices.