AMAZON
Amazon Faces New Activism From Pension Funds in New York Over Worker Safety
The Wall Street Journal
By Dana Mattioli
April 21, 2022
A group of New York city and state pension funds that collectively own more than $5 billion of Amazon.com Inc. stock are urging fellow shareholders to vote against re-election of two board members for what the institutions say are failures to adequately protect worker safety. New York City’s pension fund, which represents the teachers, police department, fire department and other unions, has paired up with New York state’s pension fund and the office of the Illinois state treasurer to vote against the re-election of Amazon directors Daniel Huttenlocher and Judith McGrath. The two directors sit on a committee on Amazon’s board that oversees leadership development.
JOINING TOGETHER
Kansas City IUPAT accepts contract, largest pay increase in 17 years
Construction Dive
By Zachary Phillips
April 21, 2022
A painters' strike in Kansas City, Missouri, has ended after eight days. The 600 members of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Local 2012 voted by a two-thirds margin on Wednesday to accept a new contract offered by The Builders' Association, a local construction employment group, according to a release shared with Construction Dive.
AFSCME Local 1110 members and ISU administrators celebrate contract ratification
Vidette
By Erin Gessert
April 21, 2022
After weeks of uncertainty about whether Illinois State University would see a strike from its workers, a new contract has been agreed upon by the university and the union. President of AFSCME Local 1110 Chuck Carver spoke about his reaction toward the newly ratified contract, in that he is very glad an agreement was reached. “I’m very, very happy that we’ve come together to achieve this,” Carver said. Reflecting on the overall process of negotiations, Carver said that “at the very beginning, it was very disheartening on how it was going.” However, with unity and support, this disheartening feeling changed. “But I can definitely say at the end we had such an uproar. We felt like we couldn’t be stopped,” Carver said.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Feds could revoke Arizona's authority to regulate workplace safety after 'pattern of failures'
AZ Central
By Russ Wiles
April 20, 2022
But the move could mean greater enforcement of workplace health and safety rules. Fred Yamashita, executive director of the Arizona AFL-CIO, welcomed it. Over the past two years, the Arizona OSHA "has completely abdicated its responsibility to protect working Arizonans on-the-job by refusing to implement even minimal protections from aerosolized infectious disease, despite the inextricable link between workplace safety and COVID-19,” he said in a statement. "Today’s announcement marks an important step toward accountability on behalf of working Arizonans," Yamashita added, charging that Arizona has failed to follow the federal OSHA’s temporary infectious-disease standard established in June.
The What, When and Why of Workers’ Memorial Day: Things to Know and Remember This April 28
Risk & Insurance Magazine
By Autumn Demberger
April 21, 2022
In 2019, 5,333 workers lost their lives on the job as a result of traumatic injuries, an increase from 2018, according to fatality data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number dropped in 2020 by 10.7%, likely a direct correlation to the pandemic, in which fewer workers were on a physical job site. “Employers have made incredible strides in creating safer workplaces, investing and innovating to protect their people. But the zero injury goal remains elusive, especially for high-risk industries,” said Michelle Kerr, national workers’ compensation editor for Risk & Insurance and National Comp conference chair.
IN THE STATES
CT Senate votes to allow workers to opt out of ‘captive audience’ meetings
CT Mirror
By Andrew Brown
April 21, 2022
Connecticut is one step closer to passing a law that would outlaw “captive audience” meetings — a tool that critics say companies use to thwart labor organizing and convince their employees to vote against union drives. “A captive audience meeting is a mandatory closed-door meeting held during work hours by the employer,” Ed Hawthorne, the president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, told lawmakers in written testimony. “It is designed to discourage workers from joining the union by instilling fear. They are often conducted one-on-one or in small groups.”