MUST READ
Employer Appeals for Temporary Worker Visas Meet Union Pushback
Bloomberg Law
By Andrew Kreighbaum
Jan. 19, 2022
Liz Shuler, president of AFL-CIO, said in a statement that employers have misused the H-2B program to lower wages, discriminate against and exploit both U.S. and foreign workers. “To steer our country towards a just economic recovery, we need to fix the systems that are failing workers, rather than expanding failed models,” she said.
POLITICS
Stacey Abrams to land key union endorsement for 2022 bid
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Greg Bluestein
Jan. 19, 2022
Democrat Stacey Abrams is set to receive a key union endorsement at a Wednesday press conference that will highlight her support for organized labor in her bid for Georgia governor. The Democrat has long had a close relationship with union forces, and endorsements from the AFL-CIO and other labor groups gave her an instant financial and organizational boost during her 2018 campaign. Since her narrow defeat to Gov. Brian Kemp, she’s worked to bolster her ties to union forces.
JOINING TOGETHER
Two more Boston-area Starbucks join unionization push
Boston Globe
By Diti Kohli
Jan. 19, 2022
Workers at another two Boston-area Starbucks locations took steps to unionize Wednesday in keeping with a nationwide organizing campaign at the country’s largest coffeehouse chain. The vast majority of employees at a Starbucks cafe in Cleveland Circle and one in the Continuum building in Allston sent a joint letter to Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson earlier this week, asking the company to recognize their efforts and end what they called “shameless union-busting.” “Unions are the backbone of the working world, and we recognize that forming one is the only true way to become agents of change in the workplace,” the workers wrote and later tweeted.
Suicide hotline workers to vote on joining Oregon AFSCME
NW Labor Press
By Colin Staub
Jan. 19, 2022
Workers at Lines For Life want a union. Lines For Life, a Portland nonprofit led by former U.S. attorney Dwight Holton, operates suicide prevention and substance abuse helplines. Oregon AFSCME says a strong majority of the 160 employees who are eligible for union representation signed union cards, and on Dec. 21, the union asked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a representation election. Ballots will be mailed out Jan. 25 and be counted Feb. 23. Workers at Lines For Life say demand has been rising for behavioral health services during the pandemic.
IN THE STATES
SW Washington Central Labor Council elects new set of officers
NW Labor Press
By Don Mcintosh
Jan. 19, 2022
Southwest Washington Central Labor Council (SWWACLC) finalized the election of officers at its Jan. 5 Zoom meeting. The Council, a local body of the AFL-CIO, coordinates union activity for Clark, Skamania, and west Klickitat counties. That includes efforts to elect labor allies to public office, support affiliates in contract battles, and build community at events like an upcoming awards dinner and an annual Labor Day picnic. All told SWWACLC represents 17,000 members of 51 affiliated local unions.
Maine proposal to increase overtime pay faces opposition
The Center Square
By Christian Wade
Jan. 19, 2022
"Working people should be compensated for their labor and should not be expected to work for free," Adam Goode, political director of the Maine chapter of the AFL-CIO, said in testimony. "This bill restores overtime pay for workers who have lost that benefit over time."
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Howard University professor says Americans are quitting ‘bad jobs’
New York Amsterdam News
By Stacy M. Brown
Jan. 19, 2022
William Spriggs, a professor in Howard University’s Economics Department and an economist for AFL-CIO, cautioned that the government’s job numbers shouldn’t frighten anyone. “The problem of job matching was going to be a problem once we, the United States, showed a policy of separation as opposed to retention to make it through the virus,” Professor Spriggs remarked. He said the federal government placed workers on unemployment, separating them from their jobs with no reconnection plans.