ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND CLIMATE
Climate activists to Biden: Stop stalling, attack climate change
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
April 35, 2022
Unionists “are going to help build a clean energy future,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, an Electrical Worker (IBEW) and one of the headliners at the D.C. rally. She specifically declared Biden’s plan calls for unionists to build such climate-combating devices as solar panels and wind turbines. Public transit, not cars, is part of the solution, too, Shuler said. “Labor issues and climate issues are two sides of the same coin—and the solution to the climate crisis runs through the union movement.” It also runs through workers’ lives, she noted.
JOINING TOGETHER
Lockheed Martin F-35 plant’s machinists approve new union contract with pay raises
The Dallas Morning News
By Bloomberg Wire
April 25, 2022
Union members at a F-35 fighter jet manufacturing plant in Texas voted on Sunday to ratify a new contract with Lockheed Martin Corp. that includes wage hikes and improvements to retirement benefits. About 5,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 776 in Fort Worth approved the deal that their negotiating committee had unanimously recommended, according to a statement. “We have once again proven why the IAM is the largest and strongest aerospace and defense labor union in the world,” IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. said in the statement. “Our members stood strong and demanded a strong contract every step of the way.”
Arconic, United Steelworkers begin contract negotiations on Tuesday, April 26
Quad-City Times
By Tom Loewy
April 25, 2022
Contract negotiations between Arconic and the United Steelworkers union — which includes workers represented by Local 105 in Davenport — are slated to start Tuesday. United Steelworkers Local 105 committee member Genaro Gomez confirmed the start of the talks, which will take place in Pittsburgh. The new contract will set wages and benefits for employees from four locations — Davenport, Lafayette, Ind., Massena, New York, and Alcoa, Tenn. Arconic supplies aluminum sheet, plate and extruded products to global customers in aerospace, automotive, commercial transportation, defense, industrial and building and construction industries, according to its website.
McLean nurses, clinicians vote in union following fiercely contested campaign
Boston Globe
By Katie Johnston
April 25, 2022
Following a contentious union campaign that generated staunch resistance from management at McLean Hospital, nurses and other clinicians at the world-renowned psychiatric hospital in Belmont have voted to join AFSCME Council 93. The results of two elections, announced Friday, were close. Registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and clinical coordinators voted 113-100 in favor of the union, and mental health specialists and community residence counselors approved the union 121-91. About 60 ballots have been contested, but Council 93 expects the victories — representing more than 700 workers in all — to stand.
IN THE STATES
Minnesota AFL-CIO president to speak at annual Grand Forks Workers Memorial event
Grand Forks Herald
By Pamela Knudson
April 25, 2022
The president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, Bernie Burnham, will be the guest speaker at the annual Workers Memorial event, set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28 at the IBEW Hall, 1714 N. Washington. The public is invited to the event, which includes a service held in honor of the men and women who died while on the job in 2021, according to Mark Froemke, president of the Northern Valley Labor Council. A representative of the Grand Forks Firefighters will be on the program, speaking about being a frontline worker during the COVID-19 pandemic. The free event, organized by the Northern Valley Labor Council, will take place in the IBEW Hall basement. A picnic will be provided, at no charge, after the service.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Tacoma community is working with UFCW 367 to clean the community
The Tacoma Ledger
By Andrew Anderson and Madi Williams
April 25, 2022
On April 22, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 367 participated in the Adopt-a-Street program at the Hilltop Safeway at 1112 S M St. here in Tacoma. Adopt-a-Street, Seattle’s grassroots litter-removal program, is an open volunteer program for individuals as well as organizations. Michael Whalen, a member of the UFCW Local 367 since 2015, pitched the idea for the event to the executive board for approval. Mike Solberg, a Grievance Rep and Recorder for the executive board for the UFCW Local, was available for questioning about the details of the event.