MUST READ
Elizabeth Warren blasts equity firms, supports striking Alabama miners: ‘We can make change’
AL.com
By William Thornton
December 14, 2021
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren today showed support for miners, now in the ninth month of their strike against Warrior Met Coal, while attempting to spotlight legislation that she said will keep other American workers from making sacrifices when their companies are acquired by equity firms. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” Warren said in a Zoom press event this morning. “We can make change.” Warren, along with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was joined in an online press event by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America. The event, “How Private Equity Has Harmed Striking Workers,” dealt with the conditions that the union and its supporters say led to the ongoing strike.
POLITICS
PRO Act, Build Back Better will help build Alaska's future (Opinion)
Daily News-Miner
By Joelle Hall and Polly Carr
December 12, 2021
To make clean jobs good jobs, Alaska needs the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. The PRO Act would remove the many stringent barriers workers face when organizing a union in the workplace. Unions are key to higher wages, safer working conditions, and a diverse, well-trained, and sustainable workforce. That Data for Progress poll also found that 55% of Alaskans have a favorable opinion of labor unions and 56% of Alaskans support the PRO Act. As we transition into the post-pandemic period and our economy shifts, we know that we must seize this opportunity. Now is not the time to return to the status quo. We must make sure that Alaskans have a voice in the kind of jobs our communities need and that they have a continued voice in how those jobs will be sustained and grow. Alaskans have a unique perspective on what works for us, for our families, and for our climate. Let’s make sure our voices are never silenced. Protect our ability to make clean energy jobs sustainable and protect our climate. Good, clean jobs are the path to a prosperous and vibrant future for Alaska. Importantly, high wages would remain in our economy — in restaurants, car and snowmachine dealerships, local tourism, and other small businesses that complement our most prominent industries. Simply put, it’s a win-win for Alaska. We thank our senators for their leadership on these issues and their service to Alaska, and we espectfully request they support the Build Back Better Bill and the PRO Act to ensure good, clean jobs for future generations of Alaskans.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Black Women’s Unemployment Rate Fell, But Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story
The Observer
By Maya Pottiger
December 14, 2021
Black women reported a drop in unemployment from 7% to 5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ November employment situation report. This was the largest drop among any other race/ethnic and gender groups in the report, though Black men were close, dropping from 8.3% to 7.3%. Overall, November was a month of positive growth for Black people in the workforce. The employment to population ratio in Black women rose in November, which means that the drop in unemployment could mean that people are getting jobs as opposed to leaving the workforce, economists told CNBC.
JOINING TOGETHER
Wirecutter Union reaches a deal with The New York Times Company.
The New York Times
By Katie Robertson
December 14, 2021
Union members at Wirecutter, the product recommendation website owned by The New York Times Company, said on Tuesday that they had reached a deal on their first contract after two years of negotiations that were at times contentious. The contract includes immediate average wage increases of about $5,000, along with 3 percent raises on average for each year of the deal, which runs through February 2024, the Wirecutter Union said in a news release.
Starbucks employees at two Boston, MA locations file for union elections
WKBW
By Anthony Reyes
December 14, 2021
Starbucks employees at two Boston, Massachusetts locations have filed for union elections. The announcement comes just days after the Starbucks on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo became first U.S. store to vote to unionize. A second location on Genesee Street in Cheektowaga appears to have voted 'yes' to become the second store in the United States to unionize. However, several votes have been challenged that could affect the results. A third location on Camp Road in Hamburg voted no to unionizing.
Vermont Journalism Trust, VTDigger Guild reach first collective bargaining agreement
VT Digger
By VTD Editor
December 13, 2021
VTDigger and the VTDigger Guild, the union that represents its newsroom employees, have arrived at their first-ever collective bargaining agreement. The three-year deal was ratified this month by unanimous votes of the Guild’s members and the board of the nonprofit Vermont Journalism Trust, which operates VTDigger. The contract establishes consistent standards, rewards longevity, guarantees minimum salaries and overtime pay, and continues to solidify the organization’s commitment to improving diversity, equity and inclusion. Anne Galloway, executive director of the Vermont Journalism Trust, said both the management and Guild bargaining teams brought empathy, flexibility and a diligent exploration of solutions to the process.
University of California recognizes Student Researchers United
Santa Barbara News-Press
By Annelise Hanshaw
December 14, 2021
The University of California and Student Researchers United, a union of over 17,000 graduate student researchers across UC campuses, reached a recognition agreement Thursday after months of demonstrations. SRU, a United Auto Workers Union, had authorized a strike, late November. The recognition bridged the University and students’ definition of employees — a point of contention as Student Researchers United petitioned. “The UAW is proud to welcome UC Student Researchers into our union family,” Cindy Estrada, UAW vice president and head of the UAW Stellantis, Women’s, and Higher Education Organizing Departments, said in a news release. “They have shown what is possible when workers stand together and refuse to be divided. We look forward to supporting them as they bargain a strong first contract.”
The Columbia Strike Is Still Underway, and Tensions Are High
Jacobin
By Alex N. Press
December 14, 2021
On December 2, Columbia University’s vice president of human resources Daniel Driscoll sent out an email stating that if workers who have been on an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike didn’t return to work by December 10, their positions would be replaced. The workers are three thousand members of Student Workers of Columbia (SWC), part of UAW Local 2110, and have been on strike since November 3. “What they’re threatening is illegal,” says Becca Roskill, an undergraduate member of SWC’s bargaining committee and a course assistant in the computer science department. While SWC continues to bargain for its first contract, the current work stoppage followed members filing ULP charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Bernie Sanders to stand in solidarity with Kellogg's workers at Battle Creek plant
News Channel 3
By News Channel 3
December 14, 2021
Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) is expected to rally with striking Kellogg's workers Friday. The former presidential candidate plans to visit the company's plant in Battle Creek, where workers have been striking since early October. Union members say the company had plans to implement new wage and benefit systems that would disadvantage employees, spawning the strike.
IN THE STATES
Burnham to succeed McCarthy as Minnesota AFL-CIO president
Workday Minnesota
By Michael Moore
December 14, 2021
The Minnesota AFL-CIO General Board today elected Bernie Burnham as the statewide labor federation’s next president. The former Duluth teacher, who currently serves as Education Minnesota’s vice president, will succeed Bill McCarthy, who plans to retire Feb. 1 after more than six years in the state’s top union office. The Minnesota AFL-CIO represents over 300,000 union members across the state. The federation supports more than 1,000 affiliate unions in their efforts to build worker power through contract and organizing campaigns, as well as the political process. As a Pacific-Islander, Burnham is the first person of color elected to an executive office at the Minnesota AFL-CIO, and the second woman elected president. The vote was unanimous.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
This Is What Happens When Workers Don’t Control Their Own Lives (Opinion)
The New York Times
By Jamelle Bouie
December 14, 2021
Which is what appears to have happened on Friday at the Mayfield Consumer Products factory in Mayfield, Ky. There, more than 100 people, including seven prisoners, were on the night shift, working even after tornado sirens sounded outside the facility. “People had questioned if they could leave or go home,” one employee told NBC News in an interview. But, she said, they were warned: If they left, they were “more than likely to be fired.” When a powerful tornado did bear down on the factory, it was so strong that there was nowhere safe to hide, according to Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky. When the storm cleared, eight people on site were dead and eight others were missing. Three hours north, in Edwardsville, Ill., a similarly powerful tornado hit an Amazon warehouse, killing six people. There, too, workers had been toiling in the midst of severe weather. Had either of these groups of workers been empowered to say “no” — had they been able to put limits on work and resist unsafe working conditions — they may have been able to protect themselves, to leave work or miss a shift without jeopardizing their jobs. In the absence of that ability, they were, in effect, compelled to work by the almost sovereign power of their respective employers, with horrific consequences for them, their families and their communities.
Global Unions Call to End “Long Hours Culture” for Film, TV Workers
The Hollywood Reporter
By Etan Vlessing
December 14, 2021
Global unions and guilds have called for the film and TV production industry worldwide to end a “long hours culture” that has only worsened during the current post-COVID-vaccine surge in filming. In a report titled “Demanding Dignity Behind The Scenes” released on Tuesday, UNI Global Union, which represents 20 million film, TV and arts workers worldwide, called for production wages and working hours to respect collective agreements, “or in their absence national legal standards.” The organization, which includes 140 unions and guilds in over 70 countries, including the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees in North America, urged that overtime on film and TV sets be voluntary, “not required on a regular basis, and must always be compensated at a premium rate.”
YOUNG WORKERS
Could Gen Z bring unions back into the mainstream?
Fortune
By Jane Thier
December 14, 2021
But that stat doesn’t tell the full story. Gen Z may not yet be unionized in significant numbers, but it is overwhelmingly in favor of organized labor. A recent Gallup poll found that approval of labor unions is at its highest point since 1965, with nearly four in five (77%) of adults ages 18 through 34 supporting them. That’s a cohort that includes millennials as well as Gen Z, but there’s good reason to believe that younger adults are at least as pro-union as their late-twentysomething and thirtysomething counterparts. Supporting organized labor is a historically progressive cause, and, according to Pew Research, Gen Z is more progressive on social and economic issues than any other generation.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
‘One of those good things.’ Boot Block returns to Lee’s Summit to help those in need
The Kansas City Star
By Debra Skodack
December 14, 2021
One of the more visible holiday giving traditions in Lee’s Summit is returning to the corner of Third and Douglas this week. After collecting virtually last year because of the pandemic, off-duty Lee’s Summit firefighters will be collecting donations for the Needy Family Fund Boot Block from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 16, 17 and 18. The donations benefit the Lee’s Summit Social Services, but the event also gives something to the firefighters. “It gives us a chance to see people we don’t normally see. It’s a chance to have a positive interaction,” said Bryce Buchanan, a captain in the training division of the Lee’s Summit Fire Department and president of IAFF #2195, the union that organizes the event. “We’re proud of it and what it has grown to.”