PAYWATCH/CEO PAY
Dozens of large companies "rigged" CEO pay during pandemic, study claims
CBS News
By Stephen Gandel
May 11, 2021
"CEO pay last year revealed the dirty secret that CEOs are not really paid based on their own individual performance," said Brandon Rees, deputy director of corporations and markets at the AFL-CIO. "When you compensate CEOs based on share prices, it incentivizes destructive behavior, but also contributes to economic inequality."
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Fearing For Their Pensions, Union Workers See Hope In Federal Aid
Connecticut Public Radio
By Brenda Leon
May 10, 2021
While the pandemic has brought a lot of economic doubt, there is hope now. Tucked into the $1.9 trillion federal American Rescue Plan is special financial assistance to save more than 200 failing pension plans like Whitaker’s. This will impact millions of workers, including roofers, truck drivers, machinists and musicians -- many of whom would have faced huge losses to their retirement benefits but are now breathing a collective sigh of relief.
JOINING TOGETHER
PR Newswire
By LeanIn.org
May 11, 2021
Today, LeanIn.Org, North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU), and Canada's Build Together announced Lean In Circles for Union Tradeswomen, a peer mentorship and training program to help women break new ground in an industry that's been historically dominated by men. "Unions are all about collective voice, and this innovative program offers the perfect opportunity to enhance that solidarity," said AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Liz Shuler. "We need more women in the trades, more women in leadership roles, and having programs like this is a meaningful step to create lifelong leadership skills and real tools that will guide tradeswomen throughout their careers. Connecting with other women in similar situations and sharing strategies through networks is invaluable." Two years in the making, the program was developed by LeanIn.Org in partnership with AFL-CIO and NABTU leaders, subject matter experts, and tradeswomen to address the specific experiences of women in the building trades. The program was piloted in St. Louis, Missouri, and throughout Canada in 2019 and 2020 and received positive feedback from participants: 95 percent of Circle members said they built strong connections, and 90 percent of group moderators reported gaining leadership, facilitation, and organizing skills.
National Nurses United President Deborah Burger on how COVID-19 has affected union efforts
Healthcare Dive
By Hailey Mensik
May 10, 2021
Labor unions have staged protests, gone on strike and even organized new members throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. National Nurses United is no exception — as the country's largest nurses' union with 170,000 members across the country, NNU notched two major election wins in the past year. About 2,000 registered nurses at Maine Medical Center voted to join NNU in April, making it the largest successful union election with the National Labor Relations Board so far in 2021. And in September, 2,000 nurses at HCA's Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, successfully unionized in a state with the second-lowest union membership rate in the country, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. NNU President and registered nurse Deborah Burger reflected on nurses' experiences over the past year on the front lines, and outlined where the union is headed going forward.
IN THE STATES
Time to give farm workers same rights, protections
Pueblo Chieftain
By Josette Jaramillo
May 9, 2021
All workers, no matter the industry they work in or the type of work they do, deserve basic workplace protections. Protections that so many of us have enjoyed for years due to the hard work and gusto of our union brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, Colorado's farm and agricultural workers have long been excluded from the most basic protections, like meal and rest breaks, overtime pay, protection from retaliation and the right to organize or collectively bargain with their co-workers. Even today, as many as 50% of Colorado's ag workers are excluded from minimum wage protections! With well over 40,000 workers in this sector that means that 20,000+ workers in Colorado aren't guaranteed this basic protection. In 2021 this type of gross inequity must swiftly be acted upon and ended.
Letter: It’s time to end the exploitation of platform workers (Opinion)
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Jeff Worthington
May 2, 2021
Workers across the country have borne the brunt of our nation’s COVID-19 economic fallout for nearly a year. And people who work so-called “gig jobs” for platform companies such as Uber or Door Dash are among the most exposed and vulnerable with very few protections and without a say in the way they do their work. We need to change that.
Hindu Sect Is Accused of Using Forced Labor to Build N.J. Temple
The New York Times
By Annie Correal
May 11, 2021
Federal law enforcement agents descended on a massive temple in New Jersey on Tuesday after workers accused a prominent Hindu sect of luring them from India, confining them to the temple grounds and paying them the equivalent of about $1 an hour to perform grueling labor in near servitude. Lawyers for the workers said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, a Hindu sect known as BAPS that has close ties to India’s ruling party and has built temples around the world, had exploited possibly hundreds of low-caste men in the yearslong construction project.
Our View: Maine Med nurses vote to have a voice
Press Herald
By the Editorial Board
May 11, 2021
National Nurses’ Week is a time when members of the public raise their voices to thank the men and women at the heart of the health care system. This year’s festivities were kicked off when the state’s biggest group of nurses broke out something new – a voice of their own. In a clear and convincing 1,001 to 750 vote that was certified Thursday night, nurses at Maine Medical Center joined a union, for the first time sending representatives to negotiate their pay, benefits and working conditions with hospital management. The Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses United will now represent 2,000 registered nurses at Maine Med, the state’s biggest hospital, as well as the Scarborough Surgery Center and the MMC Brighton Campus, in Portland.
Unions call on S.C. lawmakers to raise minimum wage
WRDW
By Live 5 Web Staff
May 11, 2021
The South Carolina American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations says the state must take action on raising the minimum wage. South Carolina AFL-CIO President Charles Brave called on the South Carolina General Assembly to establish a living wage benchmark in the state, Monday. Brave says his remarks come in the wake of South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster’s decision to eliminate the federal unemployment subsidy in South Carolina in June.