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Today's AFL-CIO press clips

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JOINING  TOGETHER

Kellogg Co., union reach tentative agreement on 5-year contract

Battle Creek Enquirer

By Nick Buckley

December 2, 2021

Kellogg Co. and the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union have reached a tentative agreement on a five-year master contract. The agreement is pending a vote expected Sunday among the 1,400 union employees at the company's cereal plants in Battle Creek; Omaha, Nebraska; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee. If the vote passes, it will end a strike that lasted over eight weeks as workers sought better wages and benefits.

Starbucks fights expanding unionization effort at its stores

ABC News

By Dee-Ann Durbin

December 2, 2021

Starbucks is fighting an expanded effort to unionize its stores, even as a union vote proceeds at three of the coffee-chain's locations in Buffalo, New York. Union organizers from three additional Buffalo-area stores appeared before the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday, asking to hold union votes at each of their stores. The workers say they want more input on pay and store operations and they're seeking representation by Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.

Striking Phoenix Airport Employees Return To Work

Patch

By Caitlin Sievers

December 2, 2021

Sky Harbor airport foodservice employees have returned to work following a 10-day strike during the busiest travel week of the year, according to Unite Here Local 11, the union representing them. "We want to thank the community for all of the support they showed us while we've been on strike," Beatriz Topete, organizing director with UNITE HERE Local 11, said in the release. "The tweets from travelers, the thumbs up from other airport workers, the daily deliveries of food and drinks all kept us going. The generosity of our labor partners, especially the UFCW Local 99 and the Arizona AFL-CIO, made this Thanksgiving one we will remember for the rest of our lives. Solidarity means everything."

BuzzFeed News workers walk off the job to protest contract talks

Los Angeles Times

By Gerry Smith

December 2, 2021

BuzzFeed News employees plan to walk off the job Thursday to protest what they say is the company’s failure to agree to a fair labor contract, creating turmoil at the startup days before it goes public. The NewsGuild of New York, which represents the journalists, said they plan to stop working for one day to call attention to the stalled contract negotiations, which have been going on for two years.

INCOME INEQUALITY

NYC principals union sues Education Dept. over pay disparities for preschool directors

New York Daily News

By Michael Elsen-Rooney

December 2, 2021

A “staggering” wage gap between directors of city-funded, community-based preschools — who are almost exclusively women of color — and those in Education Department facilities — who are mostly white — amounts to racial discrimination, a newly filed lawsuit alleges. The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, the union representing preschool directors under the umbrella of Mayor de Blasio’s sprawling “Universal Pre-K” program, filed the suit Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court after a years-long effort to close the wage gap through negotiations went nowhere, union officials said. “The mayor’s unwillingness to address this income inequity undercuts his commitment to ending ‘a tale of two cities’ and communicates that the families that utilize these programs somehow deserve less,” said CSA president Mark Cannizzaro. “This is not only hypocritical, but we believe unlawful.”

IN THE STATES

Lakewood City Councilperson Picked For Justin Bibb Transition

Patch

By Chris Mosby

December 2, 2021

Lakewood City Council President Dan O'Malley will be part of Justin Bibb's transition into becoming Cleveland mayor. "I am honored to have been asked to join the transition committee. Mayor-elect Bibb has made it clear he wants to make transformational changes at Cleveland City Hall, and I am excited to help formulate recommendations for his first 100 days," O'Malley told Patch. O'Malley said he was asked to participate because of his role as Executive Secretary of the North Shore AFL-CIO. He will be part of the Open Government Committee.