MUST READ
JetBlue ground operations workers seek union vote, major labor group says
CNBC
By Leslie Josephs
Sept. 23, 2022
A major airline union said Friday that it has enough support among JetBlue Airways’ roughly 3,000 fleet service staff to seek a unionization vote, in the latest move to organize workers. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said it will file an application for a union vote with the National Mediation Board. The work group includes baggage handlers and other ground operations employees.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
The Fed says unemployment will rise. Here's who economists say would lose their jobs first.
ABC
By Max Zahn
Sept. 24, 2022
Those job losses will disproportionately fall on some of the most vulnerable workers, including minorities and less-educated employees, according to economists and studies of past downturns. William Spriggs, the chief economist at the AFL-CIO labor union and a professor of economics at Howard University, said Hispanic workers would suffer acutely in a downturn brought about by interest rate hikes, since they're disproportionately represented in the construction industry.
JOINING TOGETHER
Inside the Drive: The Minor Leaguers Who Sprung a Union on MLB
Sports Illustrated
By Emma Baccellieri
Sept. 22, 2022
The conversations happened in dugouts and on backfields, through group chats and during bus rides, over the phone and on Zoom. They had to be loud enough to reach every corner of the clubhouse but not so loud that they tipped off management. There were some players ready to jump in right away—whatever the risk—and others nervous to draw attention to themselves, fearful that they might imperil their one shot at the majors. They played for different organizations, came from different places and had different needs, resources and experiences outside of baseball. But they all had the same goal. They wanted to unionize the minor leagues.
Maine Medical Center nurses ratify their 1st union contract
Bangor Daily News
By Christopher Burns
Sept. 23, 2022
Maine Medical Center’s nurses have ratified their first union contract. The Friday announcement followed two days of voting and marked the end of more than 13 months of negotiations. “We feel the imperative of history in our vote,” Michele Flaherty, bargaining team member and pediatric intensive care unit registered nurse, said Friday. “We stand in a long line of Maine Med nurses who have fought for their union over the past half a century. Nurses’ first attempt to unionize at Maine Med was in 1976.”
The Highlands Current
By Leonard Sparks
Sept. 22, 2022
More than 90 percent of workers at Dia:Beacon and the other exhibition spaces run by the Dia Art Foundation voted on Sept. 13 to join Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers’ Technical, Office and Professional Union as part of a wave of organizing at arts organizations. Just six of the 107 employees who cast ballots voted against joining Local 2110, two months after organizers filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold a union election. Those eligible to vote included curators, gallery attendants and managers working at the foundation’s locations in Beacon, New York City, Long Island and New Mexico. The organizing effort began earlier this year, fueled by a desire for higher pay, benefits for more employees and more opportunities for gallery attendants, security guards and other public-facing employees to ascend into administrative jobs, said Vernon Byron, who has been employed at Dia:Beacon for nearly 10 years as a guard and attendant.
Carnegie Museums' union workers demand living wage as contract negotiations continue
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Jesse Bunch
Sept. 23, 2022
Nearly two years after Carnegie Museums employees voted to join the United Steelworkers union, members of the bargaining unit rallied outside one of the institution's high-profile galas on Friday to demand a contract offering higher salaries.
Hotel employees picket, call for better workloads outside Hilton Chicago/Magnificent Mile Suites
ABC 7
By ABC7
Sept, 25, 2022
Housekeepers have been protesting for better workloads at a North Side hotel. Dozens of room attendants and their supporters picketed outside the Hilton Chicago/Magnificent Mile Suites Hotel in Chicago's downtown Streeterville neighborhood. Workers at Hilton Suites voted in May to join Unite Here Local One, which represents about 16,000 hospitality workers in the Chicago area.
IN THE STATES
Illinois Workers' Rights Amendment Goes Before Voters in 2022 Election
NBC 5
Sept. 25, 2022
“Worker safety and economic security is a fundamental right of all workers from domestic workers to PHDs,” said Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea in a statement. “Everybody deserves a safe workplace and economic security.” If the amendment were to pass, it would effectively ban “right-to-work” laws, according to experts.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
MC Amalgamated Sugar employees donate to Meals on Wheels
Magic Valley
Sept. 25, 2022
PAUL — The Burley Senior Center and Minidoka County Senior Center each received donations of $1,250 from Mini-Cassia Amalgamated Sugar employees for the centers’ Meals on Wheels programs. “With such a large-scale, industrial operation, employee safety must always remain a major focus,” Amalgamated Sugar Mini-Cassia Plant Manager Stan Case said. “It was a team effort to achieve this safety milestone, and we’re proud to celebrate by giving back to two organizations that do so much good in our community.” “You can see just how much safety has become a priority on the factory floor by the growth of our Safety Committee,” BCTGM Mini-Cassia Local 282G Union President Craig Lindsay said. “A few years ago, we had six or eight employees, and now we fill the conference room.”