LABOR DAY
AFL-CIO leader: Come November, NC workers will be voting with unions in mind (Opinion)
The News & Observer
By Marybe Mcmillan
Sept. 5 2022
All this organizing is contagious — each victory inspires other workers to mobilize. Nationally, the number of petitions filed at the National Labor Relations Board by workers who want to join together in unions and negotiate for a fair return on their work is up 69% compared to last year. This wave of worker organizing is no accident. During the pandemic, workers kept this country running by clocking in every day and risking their own health to make sure we had food, medical care and other necessities. After all that sacrifice, front-line workers are tired of being relegated to the back of the line when it comes to sharing in corporate profits.
NC Policy Watch
By Clayton Henkel
Sept. 5, 2022
North Carolina AFL-CIO communications director Jeremy Sprinkle talks about the resurgence of unions and worker organizing in North Carolina and across the country.
JOINING TOGETHER
4,000 Google cafeteria workers quietly unionized during the pandemic
The Washington Post
By Gerrit De Vynck and Lauren Kaori Gurley
Sept 5, 2022
Unite Here, a 300,000-member union of hotel and food service workers, has been steadily working to unionize Silicon Valley cafeteria workers since 2018, experiencing the most success at Google. Employed by the contract companies Compass and Guckenheimer, those unionized now make up about 90 percent of total food services workers at Google, according to the union. Workers have unionized at 23 Google offices nationwide, including in Seattle and San Jose.
MLBPA says it has majority support for minor league union, seeks formal recognition from MLB
The Atlantic
By Evan Drellich
Sept. 6, 2022
In just a week-and-a-half’s time, more than 50 percent of minor leaguers have returned signed union authorization cards, Major League Baseball Players Association officials told The Athletic. Now, with that majority’s support, the MLBPA has taken another significant step: it has asked MLB and the 30 teams to formally recognize the MLBPA as the minor leaguers’ collective bargaining representatives, Players Association officials said.
DC’s Only Unionized Bookstore Politics And Prose Approves First Contract Agreement
DCist
By Amanda Michelle Gomez
Sept. 6, 2022
Nine months into bargaining, Politics and Prose workers reached a contract agreement with their employer, voting in favor of a deal that secures wage increases for nearly every union member. “I am excited,” said employee Isa Salazar during a press conference outside the flagship store on Connecticut Avenue NW. “This is what we started out to do. We were coming from a place of care and concern to improve this workplace that we definitely love.” John Fisher, who works at the Wharf location, echoed his colleague’s excitement. “We’ve taken a really big first step towards letting everyone know on day one what they can expect from Politics and Prose and what management can expect from us.” Both Fisher and Salazar will see pay increases under the contract, which workers voted in favor of 33 to 4. At the presser, they were joined by representatives from their bargaining agent, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400, owner Lissa Muscatine, and At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman, who chairs the council’s labor committee.
A Labor Union Put Together a Texas Hospitality Bill of Rights
Eater Austin
By Polly Anna Rocha
Sept. 6, 2022
Labor union Unite Here Local 23, which represents approximately 25,000 hospitality workers across the United States, hosted the first Austin Hospitality Workers Summit on Saturday, August 20. The organization unveiled a list of goals the union hopes to push for going forward, with its first-ever Texas Hospitality Workers Bill of Rights. The Texas Hospitality Workers Bill of Rights includes seven specific items that Unite Here Local 23 is prioritizing in its activism: the right to join a union, living wages and healthcare access, affordable housing for workers, access to public transportation, training and advancement opportunities, and equal treatment regardless of nationality, race, gender, or sexuality. Kate Moulding, a representative for Unite Here Local 23, says this list isn’t a legislative proposal or something they intend for companies to adopt, but rather “it is the vision our union has for what we can win for hospitality workers in Texas, and the framework that guides us as an organization.”
UF Health flight, ground paramedics vote to unionize amid compensation concerns
The Gainesville Sun
By Javon L. Harris
Sept. 6, 2022
An essential unit part of UF Health Shands has recently decided to unionize amid concerns over working conditions, training and compensation. A team of flight and ground paramedics along with dispatchers known as ShandsCair recently voted unanimously to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a national union dating back to the civil rights movement. “In the framework of the great resignation, people are looking closely at what they’re being asked to do and reevaluating the potential for career advancement, doing meaningful work and staying safe,” said Nat Bender, AFSCME spokesperson.
IN THE STATES
The Chronicle
By Sevana Wenn
Sept. 4, 2022
North Carolinian advocacy group leaders gathered in a virtual town hall to discuss the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case Moore v. Harper, a North Carolina gerrymandering case, on Thursday evening. N.C. AFL-CIO President MaryBe McMillan emphasized the importance of the vote and urged people to remain politically active. “Through the power of our vote, we can create shared prosperity for all of us. Legislative leaders know that, and that is why they have been hell-bent on undermining our power,” she said.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Firefighters will ‘fill the boot’ for Muscular Dystrophy Association on Sept. 8
Mercer Island Reporter
Sept. 6, 2022
Mercer Island firefighters from the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Local 1762 will be raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) from 7-11 a.m. on Sept. 8 at the corner of Southeast 40th Street and Island Crest Way. In 1952, a father of a child with muscular dystrophy asked the firefighters in Boston to help raise money for the medical bills associated with his child’s disease. The firefighters agreed to help, and they raised $5,000 in a door-to-door campaign asking people to contribute to this cause by putting money in a firefighter’s boot. That is how “fill the boot” was born.