JOINING TOGETHER
Bustle Staff Still Working Without a Contract 2 Years After Unionizing
Yahoo!
By Jeremy Fuster
Oct. 19, 2022
Jeremy Fuster
It has been nearly two years since more than 200 staffers at Bustle Digital Group successfully unionized with Writers Guild of America East, but union members still don’t have a contract with the company. According to WGAE offiicials, the BDG talks are far more drawn out than past contract negotiations the union has negotiated over the past few years as it has rapidly grown the number of digital media outlets under its umbrella.
TARC bus workers in Louisville approve strike authorization by wide margin, union says
Courier Journal
By Caleb Stultz
Oct. 20, 2022
Union employees with Louisville's bus system took a big step Thursday, with a vote to authorize a strike amid contentious contract negotiations. An overwhelming majority of Transit Authority of River City workers who voted were in favor of the move, according to union leadership, with 95% voting in favor of authorization. A strike is not yet in place, but Lillian Brents, president of the union that represents TARC employees, said they got their point across. "We hope TARC takes our negotiations seriously," Brents, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1447, said before the vote. "It is unfortunate that TARC is not willing to bend, listen, or negotiate in good faith in regard to safety, wages and working conditions. We hope this sends a message to the community that we stand together."
New York Nurses Union Affiliates With NNU, AFL-CIO
Law360
By Parker Purifoy
Oct. 20, 2022
Members of the New York State Nurses Association voted to affiliate with National Nurses United, the country's largest nurses union, the two organizations announced Thursday. The vote took place at NYSNA's annual convention, where elected leaders from every workplace the union has members voted to affiliate with NNU, the two labor groups said in a joint statement. With the addition of NYSNA's 42,000 members, NNU's membership will grow to almost 225,000 nurses. The agreement will also bring NYSNA into the AFL-CIO. According to the statement, NYSNA is the oldest nurses association in the country.
Corn Nuts workers in Fresno end strike over benefits, wage. Here’s what they won
The Fresno Bee
By Jim Guy
Oct. 20, 2022
Workers at the Corn Nuts factory in Fresno are returning to work with better health care benefits and a 75-cent per hour raise after ending a two-month strike at the Hormel-owned business. The strike by members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers union began Aug. 16, when workers walked out with the slogan “No Contract, No Crunch.”
RETIREMENT SECURITY
Column: GOP promises to gut your Social Security, Medicare if it takes power
Los Angeles Times
By Michael Hiltzik
Oct. 19, 2022
It used to be a truism that no elected office-holders would dare to tamper with Social Security if they wished to keep their jobs. That must not be true any longer, judging from the surge in threats to the revered program coming from the GOP lately. In its latest manifestation, four Republicans angling to become chair of the House Budget Committee in a Republican House talked openly about holding the federal debt ceiling hostage to an agreement on “entitlements” — that is, Social Security and Medicare — plainly aimed at cutting benefits.
IN THE STATES
Illinois vote takes center stage in battle over union rights
PBS News Hour
By Don Babwin
Oct. 19, 2022
With U.S. union ranks swelling as everyone from coffee shop baristas to warehouse workers seeks to organize, Illinois voters will decide next month whether to amend their state constitution to guarantee the right to bargain collectively. Tim Drea, president of Illinois AFL-CIO, which is pushing for passage, said union counterparts from around the country have been calling him about the ballot measure. “They are watching this very, very closely,” he said. Unions and others who support the proposed amendment view it as a way to ensure that workers will always be able to use their collective clout to secure better pay, hours and working conditions.
Illinois Voters to decide on ‘Worker’s Rights Amendment’ in November
KWQC
By Hernan Gutierrez
Oct. 20, 2022
When voters in Illinois take to the polls this November, in addition to voting for individual candidates, they will also decide whether or not to approve a new amendment to the state constitution. Amendment 1, or the “Right to Collective Bargaining Measure” aims to add the right to unionize directly to the Illinois Bill of Rights. Pat Devaney, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Illinois AFL-CIO said he believes this will attract more businesses. “They’re looking for something Illinois very much has and we would like to preserve and grow,” Devaney said. “That is a highly-skilled, trained workforce.”
Fighting For Workers Rights at Any Age
WVIK
By Susanna Kemerling
Oct. 20, 2022
After 40 years of retirement, a 95 year old man is still volunteering for his labor union. Seen as a wealth of knowledge, and of stories, Marvell Porter from East Moline visits his UAW union has four times a week to help run the call bank as an election retiree coordinator. This year he’s making calls to union workers urging them to vote for the Worker’s Rights Amendment to the Illinois Constitution.
Rob Bern is the Vice President of the UAW Local 4-34 and works at John Deere Seeding as a welder. He says Porter does this for future generations.