MUST READ
Vice President Kamala Harris offers union support in Philadelphia visit
WHYY
By Tom MacDonald
April 12, 2022
Liz Shuler, president of the national AFL-CIO talked about how the Biden-Harris administration was one of the most pro-union ever. “It looks like a national labor relations board that is ready to put an end to the days of captive audience meetings and bosses cornering employees about unions,” Shuler said. “Put that away. It looks like an administration that puts working people at the heart of their plans for recovery and for the future.” “This administration is not afraid to say the word union,” said Walsh, a former Mayor of Boston and union leader. He added the Biden infrastructure bill has high standards to “build a middle class for all.”
Labor Board’s Top Counsel Makes a Formal Move to Make it Easier to Unionize
Truthout
By Sharon Zhang
April 12, 2022
“Reinstating Joy Silk in its original form would stop employers from playing games and refusing to recognize a union when workers have unquestionable proof of majority support and would deter employers from unlawfully interfering in organizing campaigns,” wrote American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) President Liz Shuler on Tuesday.
TRANSPORTATION
MTA official and lifelong Brooklyn resident on attack at subway station
NPR
By Ailsa Chang
April 12, 2022
NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with John Samuelson, a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, about his reaction to the attack in a Brooklyn subway station that injured multiple people. We wanted to hear from someone with deep knowledge of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs New York's mass transit. John Samuelsen is the international president of the Transport Workers Union and a member of the MTA board, as well as a lifelong New Yorker. Welcome.
JOINING TOGETHER
Actors in ‘Waitress’ Tour Seek to Join Labor Union
The New York Times
By Michael Paulson
April 12, 2022
A group of actors and stage managers employed by a nonunion touring production of the musical “Waitress” is seeking union representation, emboldened by a growing focus on working conditions in the theater business and by the labor movement’s recent successes in other industries. Actors’ Equity Association, a labor union representing 51,000 performers and stage managers, said it had collected signatures from more than the 30 percent of workers required to seek an election, and that on Tuesday it had submitted an election petition to the National Labor Relations Board, which conducts such elections.
New Flyer workers approve possible strike in St. Cloud; talks set to resume next week
Star Tribune
By Janet Moore
April 11, 2022
Talks are set to resume next week in a labor dispute at the New Flyer bus manufacturing plant in St. Cloud, where unionized workers have authorized a strike. Officials with Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 7304 said they have proposed a number of improvements to the current contract, which they said would "still only catch New Flyer up to a level equivalent to similar employers in the St. Cloud area." The union represents nearly 500 workers at the plant, which makes electric, diesel-electric and compressed natural gas buses mainly for public transit agencies in the United States and Canada. Metro Transit is among New Flyer's customers.
Kansas City-area painters, allied trades union members strike Tuesday
KSHB
By Katelyn Brown
April 12, 2022
Members of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Local 2012 will strike on Tuesday. The union encompasses trades from painting and glazing to drywall and flooring. Members voted to strike because they "answered the call to work during the height of the pandemic" and continued to work, but have not had successful negotiations to increase payment. Unions members could be seen striking at the Garmin construction site in Olathe early Tuesday morning, hoping to negotiate better pay with the Builder's Association.
IN THE STATES
North Charlotte Starbucks Baristas Fight for a Union
Queen City Nerve
By Nikolai Mather
April 11, 2022
If there’s one message Ashley Hawkins, president of the Charlotte-Metrolina Labor Council, spends much of her time trying to get out, it is that unions are everywhere – even in North Carolina.“Unions are amongst us,” she said. “We’re here. We’re your neighbors. If you want a union at your job, then you should have one, too.” Hawkins has been involved in the labor movement since 2009, when she joined the stagehands union IATSE Local 322. And as a native Charlottean, she said she knows firsthand how frightening it can be to unionize in this state. “Support is really, really meaningful. Especially in Charlotte and North Carolina because people have so many questions about unions,” Hawkins told Queen City Nerve. “It’s not something they understand.”
Utility union: DTE blocking progress on contract for new members
The Detroit News
By Kalea Hall
April 12, 2022
The Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO says DTE Energy is blocking progress on negotiating a first contract with a small unit of members that organized last year. The union's general counsel, David Radtke, contends DTE is elongating the negotiating process by only agreeing to two of about 50 proposals presented outside of wages and other economics. The two sides have met eight times since December, according to the union. The negotiations are for 27 members of Local 223 who are wind and engineering technicians who are not covered by a contract with about 3,500 other DTE employees; that six-year agreement was reached in March 2021 with Local 223, Radtke said.
AMAZON
Amazon Workers Seriously Injured at Twice the Rate of Other Warehouses, Study Finds
CNET
By David Anders
April 12, 2022
Injuries at Amazon warehouses jumped last year, according to a study published Tuesday by union coalition the Strategic Organizing Center. Injury reports at Amazon warehouses exceeded 38,000 in 2021, an increase of more than 20% over the previous year, according to the study. Of the recorded injuries, more than 89%, or roughly 34,000, were classified as "serious" injuries that left employees either unable to perform their regular job functions or forced them to miss work entirely.
UNION BUSTING
Companies like Amazon spend millions on anti-union efforts. Where’s that money going?
MarketPlace
By Janet Nguyen
April 12, 2022
Employers spend about $340 million a year on consultants to prevent union elections, according to a 2019 report from the Economic Policy Institute. Laboratory Corp. of America spent $4.3 million on these efforts between 2014 and 2018, while FedEx spent $837,000 over the same period and Quest Diagnostics (one of America’s largest COVID-19 testing companies) spent $200,000 between 2015 and 2017. The EPI also found that consultants can get paid $350-plus an hour or $2,500-plus a day.