MUST READ
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Anna Orso
Nov. 5, 2022
On Saturday morning, Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the largest labor union conglomerate in the country, rallied in South Philadelphia with gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro and a bevy of local elected officials who spoke to 150 workers preparing to knock on doors through the city. “All these important labor leaders, national people, are coming into Pennsylvania because this race is the race,” Shuler said, pointing to the Senate campaign. “And you all are the most important people that will make this victory happen.”
Amidst organizing surge, Wisconsin unions still face an uphill climb
The Cap Times
By Natalie Yahr
Nov. 4, 2022
“People don’t realize how broken our labor laws are,” said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler, calling the NLRA “somewhat toothless.” She’s pushing for changes to those laws through the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would, among other changes, institute monetary penalties for employers who violate workers’ labor rights, bar bosses from mandating that unionizing workers attend anti-union meetings and allow newly certified unions to seek arbitration and mediation if their initial contract negotiations reach an impasse.
POLITICS
Lawsuit seeks to block counting of military ballots in Wisconsin
The Washington Post
By Patrick Marley
Nov. 5, 2022
Will Attig, director of the Union Veterans Council, expressed alarm at the attempt to prevent counting military ballots. These are service members defending our country that have the right to vote and their means to vote is by mail,” he said. “We’ve got what to me appears to be an orchestrated plan by election deniers who do not truly support our democracy.”
LABOR AND ECONOMY
U.S. added 261,000 jobs in October, as labor market softens slightly
The Washington Post
By Lauren Kaori Gurley
Nov. 4, 2022
Labor leaders, including AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and the Service Employees International Union President Mary Kay Henry, have echoed these demands, describing the interest rate hike announced Wednesday as “devastating for working people” and “a policy choice to balance the economy on the backs’ of working people.”
The unemployment rate for Black men fell in October, but so did labor force participation
CNBC
By Carmen Reinicke
Nov. 4, 2022
The unemployment rate for Black men ticked down in October while it rose for most other groups, but that may be because workers are dropping out of the labor force. “It went in the right direction for the wrong reasons,” said Bill Spriggs, an economics professor at Howard University and chief economist for the AFL-CIO.
JOINING TOGETHER
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, union members reach tentative deal on 2-year contract
KSTP
By Krystal Frasier
Nov. 4, 2022
Members of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) and leaders of Local Union #363 have reached a new contract agreement, board officials announced Friday morning. Both sides agreed to terms on the tentative two-year agreement this past Wednesday, and leaders with LIUNA Local 363 said negotiations had been happening for seven months. According to the MPRB and union leaders, the tentative agreement will be voted on by union members on Wednesday, Nov. 16.
Broadway World
By Chloe Rabinowitz
Nov. 4, 2022
Dancers employed at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in North Hollywood, who filed a petition in for a union recognition election with the National Labor Relations Board, will learn the results of the historic union vote this Monday, November 7, at 2 p.m. PT. The Star Garden dancers are seeking to become the only unionized strippers in the United States. Actors' Equity Association, the national union for 51,000 actors and stage managers in live entertainment, filed the petition in August on behalf of the Star Garden dancers with the labor board. The NLRB is conducting the vote count by Zoom. However, official observers for the union will be at the Equity office in North Hollywood watching the vote count as the mail ballots are opened. Star Garden dancers and Equity President Kate Shindle will be available at the union office for comment following the announcement of the election results.
IN THE STATES
The fight for blue collar voters in Ohio: Politics Weekly America midterms special
The Guardian
Nov. 4, 2022
In the second episode of our special series, Jonathan Freedland travels to Youngstown, Ohio, to see who voters are more excited by in the state’s crucial Senate race - the Trump-backed Republican, JD Vance, or the Democrat Tim Ryan, who analysts say is running one of the best campaigns in the country. He heads to Cleveland to talk to a union leader about who workers want to win, and then to a Vance event with other prominent Republicans.