Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
MUST WATCH
Labor activists on how workers are shaping the future of work
Washington Post
By Washington Post Live
Sept. 8, 2022
“The future of the labor movement is bright. People are coming together organizing in numbers we haven't seen in a generation. Numbers last week, 71 percent of the public supports unions. The time is now to rise up, make your voice heard, and come together collectively to make change and do that through a union.” - AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler
MUST READ
Baseball players union announces affiliation with AFL-CIO at Club event
The National Press Club
By Bill McCloskey
Sept. 7, 2022
The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) has formally affiliated with the umbrella union organization AFL-CIO. Leaders of the two groups made the announcement Wednesday at a National Press Club Headliners Newsmakers event. (The full announcement and Q&A can be seen on the Club website or on YouTube. "The MLBPA has a proud, 56-year history of success rooted in unity and a highly engaged membership," said its executive director, former ballplayer Tony Clark. "We look forward to bringing that history to bear as a more formal part of the [labor] movement." Clark was joined at the event by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, who welcomed Clark and the players' union to her organization.
JOINING TOGETHER
MLBPA joins the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
Sports Illustrated
By Marc Delucchi
Sept. 8, 2022
The MLBPA announced that they have joined the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), continuing their recent work to build off the nationwide labor movement by joining a coalition that includes 58 other unions. Former MLB first baseman and current MLBPA president Tony Clark spoke at a press conference alongside AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler on Wednesday, discussing the reasoning for the partnership and MLBPA's short and long-term goals with the group. The MLBPA will be joining a sports council within the AFL-CIO, which already includes the NFLPA, the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association, the United Soccer League Players Association, the U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association, and the newly organized United Football Players Association. “The MLBPA and every single one of its 1,200 players have a home in our movement because this union understands and lives the meaning of the word solidarity by leveraging the power of sports and helping others,” Shuler said during her media availability. “Together, with our 12.5 million members, we will bring our strength to their fights, including working to organize 5,400 minor league players.”
Tony Clark: ‘Right players, right time, right climate’ for minor league union
The Washington Post
By Barry Svrluga
Sept. 7, 2022
The Major League Baseball Players Association would like to have a collective bargaining agreement for minor leaguers in place by next year’s spring training, executive director Tony Clark said Wednesday. Clark, speaking during an interview after an event at the National Press Club in which he announced the players union would join the AFL-CIO, reiterated that the players are asking MLB to voluntarily recognize a new minor league union. But he said the soon-to-be beefed-up players association — which would be responsible for negotiating separate CBAs for major leaguers and minor leaguers — would still hope for a deal to be in place early next year, even if the new union has to gain recognition through the National Labor Relations Board.
Speedy organizing drive brings minor-league baseball players into union fold
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
Sept. 8, 2022
In a record for speedy organizing—one week—more than 90% of the nation’s 5,400 minor league baseball players signed National Labor Relations Board union election authorization cards to join the Major League Baseball Players Association. The announcement, from MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark—a former minor leaguer and major league star himself and devoted unionist–came at a September 7 press conference in D.C. with AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. They simultaneously announced the MLBPA, one of the strongest independent unions in the U.S., will become the labor federation’s 58th member union. “The MLBPA and every single one of its 1,200 players have a home in our movement because this union understands and lives the meaning of the word solidarity by leveraging the power of sports and helping others,” said Shuler. “Together, with our 12.5 million members, we will bring our strength to their fights, including working to organize 5,400 minor league players.”
Hotel workers at prominent Hollywood hotel threaten to go on strike over wages
WLRN
By Sherrilyn Cabrera
Sept. 8, 2022
Union workers at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood have overwhelmingly voted to strike, after more than two months of negotiations failed to come to a deal. The decision, which could bring 450 employees to take industrial action, came after the resort and union, UNITE HERE Local 355, could not reach a collective bargaining agreement.
Kaiser Permanente nurses hold informational pickets for nurse and patient safety
People’s World
By Marilyn Bechtel
Sept. 8, 2022
As passing cars honked in solidarity, dozens of registered nurses and nurse practitioners, members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, walked an informational picket line Sept. 1 in front of Kaiser Permanente’s Oakland Medical Center to protest Kaiser administrators’ refusal to address their deep concerns about health and safety issues and chronic short staffing. The Oakland pickets, carrying signs proclaiming “Safe Staffing Saves Lives” and “No Kaiser Without Nurses,” were among nurses and nurse practitioners picketing at 21 Kaiser facilities around northern California and the Central Valley as well the giant healthcare corporation’s Los Angeles Medical Center. CNA/NNU represents over 22,000 registered nurses and nurse practitioners at Kaiser facilities in California.