MUST WATCH
AFL-CIO President Shuler Discusses Worker Power and Leverage on Bloomberg TV
Bloomberg TV
November 12, 2021
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler joined Balance of Power to discuss how workers are standing up for change across the country.
MUST READ
Liz Shuler: Seeing a Bigger Role for Women in the Labor Movement
The New York Times
By Mark A. Stein
November 12, 2021
When you’re the only woman in a room full of power linemen and older men, it’s challenging to have your voice heard and respected. I had to get creative in how I got things done. I also built a bench of mentors that I could lean on. All my mentors were men. I was always kind of assimilating back then. I have been passionate about women’s issues at work throughout my career, but it wasn’t until I came to the A.F.L.-C.I.O., frankly, that I opened up and really stepped into what it’s like to be a woman leader.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Here's how the infrastructure bill will impact Wyoming and its residents
Casper Star-Tribune
By Victoria Eavis
November 14, 2021
Union workers are expected to benefit. Many of the jobs added through the bill will “largely be union jobs,” Tammy Johnson, executive secretary of the Wyoming AFL-CIO, said in an email to union workers. The bill could also help the state’s highway system. The Wyoming Department of Transportation is expected to be a major beneficiaries of the federal dollars. Its director, Luke Reiner, said he is “encouraged” by the new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and is “working to plan how best to use these potential funds for the people of Wyoming.”
JOINING TOGETHER
MFA union votes to hold one-day strike next week
Boston Globe
By Jeremy C. Fox
November 11, 2021
The union representing about 200 workers at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts voted Wednesday to hold a one-day strike next week, with union officials saying management refuses to budge over wages and other issues after more than seven months of contract negotiations. More than 96 percent of members of the MFA Union, which represents public-facing staff, library workers, educators, curators, conservators, and administrative and professional workers, voted to picket outside the museum on Huntington Avenue on Nov. 17, according to union officials.
A Chance for More Worker Power
The Progressive Magazine
By Jennifer Dorning
November 11, 2021
Workers across the country are unsatisfied with their subpar employment arrangements and many feel empowered to do something about it. While some are quitting their jobs, others are using collective power to create lasting change. Last month, which came to be known as “Striketober,” workers across the country joined picket lines and threatened to walk off the job in response to stagnant wages, long hours and poor working conditions.
Kaiser Permanente Reaches Pact With Unions and Averts Strike
Time
By Sarah Holder
November 13, 2021
Kaiser Permanente reached a tentative agreement with unions, averting what could have been the largest strike yet this year. The averted strike would have involved more than 30,000 workers from nurses and pharmacists to janitors and locksmiths. The health-care company reached the agreement on a four-year contract covering 50,000 employees in 22 local unions, the Alliance of Health Care Unions said in a joint statement Saturday. Kaiser’s health-care workers helped carry the U.S. through the pandemic and “they should see a fair return on what is now a very, very profitable company,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power With David Westin” on Friday. Workers are saying “enough is enough,” she said.
Hating work is having a moment
Vox
By Rani Molla
November 12, 2021
Workers are fed up and fighting back against low pay, poor conditions, and the general idea that work is the center of their lives. That fighting back is taking on many forms, from the performative to the transformative. Posts about standing up to abusive bosses have become their own genre on TikTok, Reddit, and other platforms. Some workers are participating in collective actions, and approval of unions is at its highest rate since 1965. Others are finding alternative sources of income or committing to getting by on less. Perhaps, most directly, people are quitting their jobs at record rates in what’s become known as the Great Resignation.
Kaiser Permanente, workers represented by Alliance Unions reach labor deal to avert strike
KITV
By Nicole Tam
November 14, 2021
A planned strike has been averted following a tentative agreement between Kaiser Permanente and workers represented by Alliance Unions. The agreement is a four-year contract, covering nearly 50,000 Kaiser employees in 22 local unions.
IN THE STATES
New Jersey State AFL-CIO Congratulates Nick Scutari on his election as Senate President
Insider NJ
November 12, 2021
New Jersey State AFL-CIO Congratulates Nick Scutari (D-22) on his election as Senate President. “Senator Scutari was a strong leader as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and has the experience to lead as the Senate President. He has worked his way up through the ranks from Linden School Board to the Senate Presidency. We are confident that he will be a strong advocate for all of New Jersey’s working families” said New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech.