MUST READ
We Desperately Need Schools to Get Back to Normal (Opinion)
The New York Times
By Michelle Goldberg
December 17, 2021
It was a Wednesday night in December, and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, was sitting in a living room in a giant suburban house in Mason, Ohio, for what was billed as a “Stressed Out Parents Strategy Session.” The crowd of about a dozen or so people, most of them women, was a friendly one. The event had been organized by Katie Paris, founder of a Resistance group called Red Wine & Blue that mobilizes suburban women. No one there seemed mad at teachers unions, and a few were teachers themselves. They weren’t upset at schools for closing too long, because theirs had opened relatively quickly. But they did want to talk about the anguish of the previous year, and the damage done by even a few months of what’s euphemistically called remote learning. At the gathering in Ohio, Weingarten said that she saw the problems in public schools as a microcosm of the toxicity of American politics right now. “If we actually could deal with the vitriol nationally, this situation would turn around soon,” she said, adding, “This constant sense that we are alone, and battling this by ourselves, I think that’s really deflating.” It’s part of why the pandemic has driven so much of this country mad, and was so distinctly corrosive to public schools. Isolation is terrible for solidarity.
POLITICS
DPE Applauds Confirmation of Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson as National Endowment for the Arts Chair
Broadway World
By Chloe Rabinowitz
December 20, 2021
The U.S. Senate approved Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson as chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) President Jennifer Dorning released the following statement in response to Dr. Jackson's confirmation to lead the NEA: "I am excited to congratulate Dr. Jackson on her confirmation as chair of the NEA. Through her scholarship and tenure as a member of the National Council on the Arts, Dr. Jackson has demonstrated that she will be a champion for the arts and arts professionals. The NEA plays a pivotal role in the lives of union creative professionals. Many earn their living working on nonprofit productions and performances that receive NEA funding. Still more union creative professionals working now in the commercial parts of the arts, entertainment, and media industries established their careers through NEA-supported work in the nonprofit sector. As the arts recover from the economic devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, DPE looks forward to working with Dr. Jackson and the NEA to rebuild a more inclusive industry where creative professionals can get back to work in good-paying, family-supporting jobs".
Coal Miners Urge Manchin to Rethink Opposition to Spending Bill
Bloomberg Green
By Mark Chediak
December 20, 2021
America’s biggest coal mining union is calling on West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin to reconsider his opposition to President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion social and climate spending bill. The legislation includes several provisions that would aid coal workers, including extension of a fee that helps fund benefits for workers suffering from black lung and tax incentives that would encourage manufactures to build facilities in coal fields and to employ out-of-work miners, said United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil Roberts in a statement. For the first time, the bill would also penalize employers that deny workers their rights to form a union, Roberts said. “We urge Senator Manchin to revisit his opposition to this legislation and work with his colleagues to pass something that will help keep coal miners working, and have a meaningful impact on our members, their families, and their communities,” Roberts said. West Virginia AFL-CIO President Josh Sword also asked Manchin to continue negotiating with Biden on the bill because it would help the state’s workers and their families.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Last-minute adopters still needed for Adopt-A-Family
News Press-Now
By Ryan Sheehan
December 20, 2021
With days to go until its holiday deadline, the AFL-CIO is still in need of more donations for the Adopt-A-Family Christmas program. The AFL-CIO has been annually helping the greater St. Joseph area through Adopt-A-Family, which allows for families and groups to “adopt” families and individuals in need by sending gifts during the holiday seasons. For 2021, the AFL-CIO had a list of 717 families to provide for. As of Monday, Dec. 20, Seckinger said their list contains around 150 families who still haven’t been adopted.
UAW Local 1765 collecting DVDs for nursing home residents
The Lima News
December 20, 2021
The UAW Local 1765 is collecting donations of DVDs to distribute to nursing homes in Lima, Ada, Kenton and elsewhere. The DANA union has already collected 300 DVDs and will resume its donation drive on Monday, Dec. 27, outside Irons Lawnmower Repair, 1805 McClain Road, Lima.
JOINING TOGETHER
Workers at local animal hospital pursue a union
WXXI
By Beth Adams
December 20, 2021
They've been working with Liz Hughston, president of the National Veterinary Professionals Union. "I hear from veterinary workers multiple times a week who are interested in learning about organizing," Hughston said. Since it was formed in 2017, the union has supported efforts at five veterinary hospitals on the West Coast, but only one group of workers was able to ratify a contract with their employer. The VSES workers supporting a union are confident their vote will succeed. If it does, they will be represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. That doesn't sound like an obvious fit for veterinary professionals, but Hughston said it's not the name or industry that matters. "What's important is that these organizations see workers being taken advantage of and they want to help them get their power back." If the workers make it to the bargaining table with Thrive, IAMAW organizer Mike Evans anticipates some tough negotiations.
Erie Strayer's union employees return to work with new 5-year labor deal. Here are the details
Go Erie
By Kevin Flowers
December 20, 2021
Since Oct. 4, when they walked off the job in a labor dispute, more than 40 union-represented workers at Erie Strayer Company systematically pressured their employer. During their 11-week strike, workers continually picketed outside the plant, at 1851 Rudolph Ave., often joined by members of other Erie-area labor unions. They started a social media campaign, and marched the streets outside Strayer CEO Kyle Strayer’s Millcreek Township home. Members of Ironworkers Regional Shop Local 851, the union that represents the employees at Erie Strayer — which builds concrete-making machinery — believe that mobilization was key in forging a new 5-year labor deal between the union and Erie Strayer management. Employees returned to work on Monday. “We didn’t get everything we wanted, but we kept up the pressure and got a contract,” said Tracy Cutwright, vice president and business representative for Local 851, which is based in Canonsburg, Washington County. The union workers’ new contract, approved by the union on Friday, provides a 56-cent raise in the first year, followed by raises of 40 cents in each of the next four years.
UFCW Local 400 reps join Tudor’s employees attempting to form a union
WV Metro News
By MetroNews Staff
December 20, 2021
Jennifer Patton, a Clendenin resident and an employee at the Elkview Tudor’s Biscuit World location says not being paid correctly and work conditions during COVID-19 were the last straw before she thought about forming a union with coworkers. In November, a group of workers joined Patton in an attempt to meet with their district manager in Sissonville about the want to from a union. On Monday, Patton was joined by dozens of union leaders around the state including UFCW Local 400 to support Tudor’s workers. A “Union yes, Tudor’s no, union-busting has got to go” chant echoed through Main Street in Elkview. Patton told MetroNews employees are looking for better working conditions and fair treatment. “At the end of the day, I want to be treated like I am a person. That’s not asking too much to come here, do your job and treat me with respect like I treat you with,” she said.
Fred Meyer and QFC workers in Oregon return to work after brief strike
Grocery Dive
By Sam Silverstein
December 20, 2021
UFCW Local 555 officials did not immediately disclose the terms of the agreement they reached with Kroger over the weekend, but said the deal, if ratified by workers, would be "the best contract in UFCW 555 history." On Dec. 11, the local, which represents grocery workers in Oregon and southwest Washington, announced its members had voted to authorize the strike. The local, which had been in talks with Kroger since July, said at the time that Kroger had engaged in "multiple unfair labor practices." In a statement, UFCW 555 President Dan Clay said Fred Meyer had refused "to provide information necessary for the Union to negotiate a new agreement and to process grievances."