WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Striking John Deere Worker Hit And Killed By Car While Walking To Picket Line
Yahoo! News
By Dave Jamieson
October 27, 2021
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, said the worker “lost his life while standing up for dignity and respect on the job.”
Baldwin shooting highlights risks of rushed film production
AP
By Jake Coyle
October 29, 2021
The fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin on a movie set has put a microscope on an often-unseen corner of the film industry where critics say the pursuit of profit can lead to unsafe working conditions. Several “Rust” camera crew members walked off the set amid discord over working conditions, including safety procedures. A new crew was hired that morning, according to director Joel Souza, who spoke to detectives. He was standing near Hutchins and was wounded by the shot.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust Marks 100 Minnesota Projects
Yahoo
October 28, 2021
The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) announced today it reached the milestone of investing $1.6 billion in 100 construction projects in Minnesota. This achievement has contributed to the HIT’s track record of producing competitive returns for its investors since its inception in 1984, while generating important social impacts. In Minnesota, these have included about 22.8 million hours of well-paying union construction work; 13,142 new units of sorely needed housing that is 47% affordable; and transformative growth with total economic impacts of $4.8 billion.
JOINING TOGETHER
Union for John Deere Workers Reaches Tentative Deal to End 2-Week Strike
The New York Times.
By Noam Scheiber
October 30, 2021
The United Automobile Workers announced on Saturday that it had reached a tentative agreement with the agriculture equipment maker Deere & Company, potentially ending a strike involving about 10,000 workers that began in mid-October. The agreement must still be approved by the union’s members. “The negotiators focused on improving the areas of concern identified by our members during our last ratification process,” Chuck Browning, the U.A.W. vice president who oversaw the negotiations, said in a statement, which cited the new agreement’s “enhanced economic gains.”
Pasadena Now
By Staff
October 30, 2021
Members of the United Steelworkers Local 7600, which represents more than 7,000 medical workers at 72 Southern California Kaiser Permanente, are planning to host a demonstration in Pasadena Saturday following months of contentious contract negotiations, organizers said. The “March for the Future of Health Care” is scheduled for noon at Memorial Park, 85 E. Holly Street, just down the road from a Kaiser Regional Offices facility, the USW said in a written statement. Participants will march to Pasadena City Hall, where they will hear from speakers including AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer and USW International Vice President Fred Redmond, who heads up bargaining for the USW’s health care sector, representatives said.
San Antonio Symphony Musicians Rally as Strike Continues
San Antonio Magazine
By Kathleen Petty
October 29, 2021
At Friday’s rally, Goree will speak along with Rick Levy, head of the Texas chapter of the AFL/CIO; Ray Hair, president of the American Federation of Musicians; and Debbie Brooks, a Fort Worth Symphony musician and representative with the American Federation of Musicians and Employers Pension Fund, among others. Friday, Oct. 29, was supposed to mark the start of the San Antonio Symphony’s 2021-22 season. Instead of filling the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts with the sounds of Rachmaninoff, however, many of the musicians who make up the symphony will spend the evening across the street, participating in a rally as they continue to strike against what they’ve described as unfair labor practices proposed by the symphony’s board and management in contract negotiations.
Workplace strikes are surging. Here’s why they won’t stop anytime soon.
The Washington Post
By Jacob Bogage and Alyssa Fowers
October 31, 2021
Factory workers, nurses and school bus drivers are among the tens of thousands of American who walked off jobs in October amid a surge of labor activism that economists and labor leaders have dubbed “Striketober.” The strike drives, experts say, stem from the new leverage workers hold in the nation’s tight job market: Having seen the massive profits their companies collected during the coronavirus pandemic, they want their contributions acknowledged in the form of better pay and working conditions. While work stoppages may contribute to near-term inflation and production tie-ups, economists say they could fundamentally change the economic standing of millions of workers. Here’s what you need to know about the tide of recent strikes.
IN THE STATES
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Stands with SFT Local 1147 Educators Ready to Strike
The Bradford Era
By PA AFL-CIO
October 29, 2021
The officers of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, President Rick Bloomingdale, and Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder issued statements on Thursday in support of the Scranton Federation of Teachers Local 1147, who has announced its decision to strike next Wednesday, November 3, 2021. "These educators are standing up for their students and their community. They have been fighting for a fair contract that values teachers and paraprofessionals and provides educational resources for Scranton's children for too long. The union members of the Scranton Federation of Teachers are standing up for their community, and the labor movement stands with them," stated President Bloomingdale.
Indiana AFL-CIO's top leaders reelected at labor group
New Canaan Advertiser
October 30, 2021
The top leaders of the Indiana AFL-CIO have been reelected to four-year terms to lead a group of some 400 local labor organizations around the state. Brett Voorhies was unopposed for a third term as president during the recent statewide AFL-CIO convention. Shawn Christ won election a second term as secretary-treasurer.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Waverly, Tennessee, residents still struggle to recover from flooding as local unions help out
Chattanooga Times Free Press
October 31, 2021
Following devastating flooding that killed 20 people in Waverly, Tennessee, in late August, volunteers from local unions are helping fill gaps in rebuilding efforts. Seventeen inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours on Aug. 21, 2021, on the small town in Middle Tennessee and took out homes, roads, cellphone towers and other critical infrastructure. Although it's been two months since the waters swept two twin infants from their father's arms, residents are still struggling to get back on their feet and piles of debris litter the streets, according to multiple sources. The AFL-CIO organizes workers from around the country and has been coming to Waverly for weeks to help. Volunteers and union members are providing the skilled labor needed to tear down houses, repair electrical and plumbing systems and help residents clean up. Because the AFL-CIO is a federation of 57 national and international labor unions that represents 12.5 million working people, volunteers from groups like the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Ironworkers responded to calls for help. Billy Dycus is president of the Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council and said he's been visiting Waverly on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons for weeks to organize volunteers. Dycus said many of the volunteers are retirees and have been stripping out drywall, removing insulation from underneath houses, taking out decking and preparing electric and plumbing inside houses for repair. Dycus said two months after the flooding, there are houses that haven't even been entered and assessed for damage yet.