MUST READ
‘Striketober’ isn’t a sign of chaos — it’s a healthy development for the country (Opinion)
The Washington Post
By Liz Shuler
October 25, 2021
The picket line has been crowded lately. Tens of thousands of workers are on strike, including nurses in Massachusetts, United Auto Workers at John Deere, coal miners in Alabama, metal workers in West Virginia, hospital workers in New York, ironworkers in Pennsylvania and Kellogg’s workers in four states. I recently walked the picket line with Keith Bragg, Darlene Carpenter and other members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 358 in Richmond. They saw Nabisco making record profits while trying to weaken health coverage for new hires. Bragg and Carpenter told me they refused to sell out their younger colleagues through a two-tiered system — and after a five-week strike, they won a contract that preserved good benefits for all.
JOINING TOGETHER
Survey Shows Broad Public Support For Worker Strikes
HuffPost
By Dave Jamieson
October 25 2021
Workers at companies like Kellogg’s, Nabisco and John Deere have hit the picket lines in recent weeks hoping to get a better deal from their employers. A new survey suggests the public by and large supports them. The AFL-CIO labor federation commissioned the progressive pollster Data for Progress to take the public’s temperature on the strikes that have made headlines this summer and fall. The online survey of nearly 1,300 likely voters asked if they “approve or disapprove of employees going on strike in support of better wages, benefits, and working conditions.” Seventy-four percent of respondents either strongly approved or somewhat approved of the strikes, while just 20% strongly disapproved or somewhat disapproved of them. Six percent did not have an opinion.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Alec Baldwin's fatal film set shooting followed union workers' outcry over safety issues
Salon
By Julia Conley
October 23, 2021
The news of the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a Hollywood film set intersected with the nationwide surge in labor movement activity Friday, as reports surfaced about unsafe working conditions and protests by union crew members on the set. Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, called the incident "a tragedy and a heartbreaking example of why production companies MUST take the safety and protection of our filmmakers more seriously."
LABOR AND ECONOMY
St. Vincent’s Nurses Are on Strike — This Is What It’s Like for Their Kids
Teen Vogue
By Jacqui Germain
October 25, 2021
On March 8 of this year, 700 nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, officially went on an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike after months of unsuccessful negotiations with the for-profit hospital’s owner, Tenet Healthcare. Now in its eighth month, the St. Vincent nurses’ strike has become the longest nurses' strike in Massachusetts state history. According to the MNA, nearly 700 nurses are still holding the line with signs, chants, and supportive family members in tow. Given the labor movement’s increased visibility in headlines, a generation of young people are watching as their parents go on strike for the first time in their lives.
Black and Latino families continue to bear pandemic's great economic toll in U.S.
NPR
By Laurel Wamsley
October 25, 2021
"The racial wealth gap is real, and one of its most basic manifestations is not having liquid assets," says William Spriggs, professor of economics at Howard University and chief economist to the AFL-CIO. The additional federal aid that expired last month gave people a sense of security, Spriggs says, so they could continue to consume.
IN THE STATES
Iowa labor leader says union, non-union workers pressing for better pay, benefits
Radio Iowa
By O. Kay Henderson
October 25, 2021
Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO President Charlie Wishman says the pandemic has changed the way workers think about their jobs. Charlie Wishman says it was no surprise members of the United Auto Workers turned down John Deere’s contract offer. “These folks are out here striking on behalf of members they haven’t even met yet, who haven’t even been hired yet,” Wishman says, “because one of the issues if they want to remove the retirement system for anybody hired after November 1.”
A Community Dialogue on Violence with Councilmember McDuffie
Washington City Paper
By Ambar Castillo
October 25, 2021
Funding was also top of mind for Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie and fellow panelists at a community dialogue Friday night about how to stop the surge in violence in D.C. The event, hosted by Metro Washington Labor Council President Dyana Forester at His & Hers restaurant in Northeast, came just before a deadly weekend involving multiple shootings and the arrest of Javon Duckwilder on charges for two homicides that occurred one year apart.