LABOR AND ECONOMY
Job Gains of Black Americans Are Under Threat as Economy Slows
Bloomberg
By Chris Anstey
May 26, 2022
“We’re still going to be the last hired, so if you increase the unemployment rate, you just undo all the gains,” says William Spriggs, chief economist at the AFL-CIO and a Howard University professor. “What’s the point of the tight labor market? It is the necessary condition for Black advancement.”
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Protect New York’s Warehouse Workers Now!
New York Amsterdam News
By Stuart Appelbaum
May 26, 2022
Warehouse workers are the backbone of the modern e-commerce economy, yet regulations protecting workers and communities affected by this new industry have lagged far behind its rapid growth. When New York’s warehouse and distribution center workers leave for work every day, they face a job that sees them three times more likely than the average private industry worker to suffer an injury or illness. That’s why New York needs to pass the Warehouse Worker Protection Act (WWPA – A10020/S8922), which helps protect workers from inhumane quotas at companies such as Amazon.
OSHA inspects less than one-half of 1% of firms yearly
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
May 26, 2022
In 2019, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected fewer than one-half of 1% of U.S. firms it regulated, the non-partisan watchdog Government Accountability Office told Congress on May 25. And that’s around its usual inspection percentage, GAO official Thomas Costa said.
JOINING TOGETHER
Academy Museum Staff Seeks to Unionize With AFSCME
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
May 26, 2022
Less than a year after the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opened its doors, staffers working in the front and back of the house at the industry institution are seeking to form a union with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). A group calling itself the Academy Museum Workers United (AMWU) announced on Thursday that they will be seeking voluntary recognition from management and otherwise will be submitting a petition for an election with the National Labor Relations Board. They are looking to be represented by the AFSCME Council 36, which encompasses Locals representing library workers, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) employees, city workers and probation officers, among others, and advocating to have more than 200 front and back-of-house workers included in a bargaining unit.
Culinary Union strikes three-year contract with Resorts World Las Vegas
News 3
By News 3 Staff
May 26, 2022
The newest resort on the Las Vegas Strip is now covered by a union contract. The Culinary Union announced that it has negotiated a three-year contract with Resorts World Las Vegas that will cover about 2,000 employees. "The Culinary Union applauds Resorts World Las Vegas for committing to a card-check neutrality agreement early on - which showed the city and employees that the company respected workers’ right to choose whether to form a union - and for agreeing to a strong union contract that protects workers by providing fair wages, job security, and the best health care benefits in Nevada," Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said in a press release.
Baristas at 4 Philly Starbucks vote to unionize
KYW Newsradio
By John McDevitt
May 26, 2022
Employees of 4 Philadelphia Starbucks stores are the first in the city to have voted in favor of forming a union. “We have to be able to give these workers a voice,” said Pat Eiding, president of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO. Eiding says the Starbucks baristas who voted to unionize want better pay, fairer distribution of tips, improved work conditions and benefits.
CIVIL, HUMAN, AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Meet in L.A.
Los Angeles Sentinel
By Sentinel News Service
May 26, 2022
Melvin, who will celebrate his 10th anniversary as CBTU president, said, “Black workers, Black communities, Black women, Black youth, Black seniors, Black incarcerated men and women are under siege from all directions. “Our very humanity is in peril – stoked by anti-Black racism and by the monstrous Big Lie of a stolen presidential election. We must come together – now – in this embattled landscape to affirm our beautiful humanity and to lead the way out of these dark, dark days. True, our plate is full, but we come to L.A. ready to work.” Melvin, who is also secretary-treasurer of the New York AFL-CIO, said the run-up to the midterm elections would be front and center. “Everything is on the ballot in November,” he declared. “Voting rights, civil rights, women’s reproductive freedom, control of Congress and statehouses across the country. The January 6 insurrection showed the world that the Radical Right has decided to take down democracy in order to hold onto power by any means necessary.