MUST READ
Minor league baseball union creates massive change nearly unthinkable 3 years ago
The Athletic
By Evan Drellich
Sept. 14, 2022
“Today’s overwhelmingly victorious card-check from minor leaguers to be represented by the Major League Baseball Players Association is a historic win that will benefit the players both on and off the field for generations to come,” Shuler said. “Minor leaguers have gone more than a century without union representation. In a multibillion-dollar industry, there is no excuse to pay these players below the poverty line. Now, by joining together to use their collective voice at the bargaining table, the minor leaguers will be able to advocate for a union contract that will ensure a future with the good pay and benefits they deserve.”
JOINING TOGETHER
For the first time in history, minor league baseball players have a union
The Washington Post
By Chelsea Janes
Sept. 14, 2022
Earlier this month, the MLBPA announced it had more than the 30 percent support required by the NLRB, and that it had asked MLB to recognize the union voluntarily. Just weeks later, the union is official, and so is the affiliation of the MLBPA with the AFL-CIO, one of the more prominent labor unions in the country and a powerful organizing force.m For the first time since Branch Rickey developed the modern farm system, minor league baseball players will be represented by a union. An independent arbiter found Wednesday that authorization cards submitted by minor league players this month yielded a majority in favor of unionizing under the supervision of the Major League Baseball Players Association, according to two people familiar with the matter. That means the minor league players are officially unionized, represented by the MLBPA.
Minor league baseball players unionize, just 17 days after organizing began
MarketWatch
By Associated Press
Sept. 14, 2022
More than 5,500 minor league baseball players formed a union on Wednesday, completing a lightning-fast organization campaign that launched just 17 days earlier in an effort to boost annual salaries as low as $10,400. “In a multibillion-dollar industry, there is no excuse to pay these players below the poverty line,“ AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement. “By joining together to use their collective voice at the bargaining table, the minor leaguers will be able to advocate for a union contract that will ensure a future with the good pay and benefits they deserve.”
Minor league baseball players officially join MLBPA in 'historic' move
ABC News
By Jeff Passan
Sept. 14, 2022
Minor league baseball players officially unionized Wednesday, joining the Major League Baseball Players Association after an arbitrator validated the union-authorization cards and MLB recognized the MLBPA as the players' bargaining representative.
Minnesota nurses set to return to work after 3-day strike
Fox9
By FOX 9 Staff
Sept. 14, 2022
"Everyone in Minnesota talks about the importance of health care. Our nurses cannot continue being understaffed," said Bernie Burnham, president of Minnesota AFL-CIO. "Patients deserve to be treated in a timely manner with dignity and respect."
American Crystal Sugar employees have accepted contract offer, union official says
AG Week
By Mikkel Pates
Sept. 14, 2022
American Crystal Sugar Co. employees on Set. 13, 2022, voted to accept a four-year labor contract proposal that raises pay by a total of 17% over four years. Votes were tallied Sept. 14, 2022. The farmer-owned sugar processing cooperative has been negotiating with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers. The two parties most recently met Sept. 7 and Sept. 8, after which the negotiating committee recommended members vote in favor. John Riskey, president of BCTGM Local 167G, which includes Crystal factories at Drayton, North Dakota, Crookston, Minnesota, and Moorhead, Minnesota, confirmed the majority vote Wednesday afternoon after the tally was counted.
Over 1,100 timber workers on strike across Oregon and Washington
KAKE
By Adrian Thomas
Sept. 14, 2022
Hundreds of employees of Weyerhaeuser, one of the nation’s largest timber companies, began a massive strike in the early hours of Tuesday in Washington and Oregon. Workers say that most recent contract negotiations did not yield a substantial increase in wages, improved retirement, and under the proposed agreement, workers would have to start paying a healthcare insurance premium without any improvements in coverage. Weyerhaeuser locations on strike include Aberdeen, Longview, Raymond, Coos Bay, Springfield and Cottage Grove. The strike includes all Weyerhauser workers represented by the union, International Association of Machinist and Aerospace (IAM) Workers.
Condé Nast workers win recognition of company-wide union
The Washington Post
By Elahe Izadi
Sept. 9, 2022
Condé Nast employees won union recognition Friday from their company, making workers at iconic, glossy titles such as Vogue and GQ the latest to join a wave of unionization across the media industry. Staffers went public with their labor organizing effort in March, arguing that they needed to form a union to secure better pay amid increasing workloads. Hundreds of them signed a letter to Condé Nast managers requesting voluntary recognition. The two sides have since been negotiating the scope of who would be covered by the union, which is affiliated with the NewsGuild of New York.