MUST READ
'This is a huge step for law enforcement.' Police unions shift stance on protecting bad officers,
CNN
By Peter Nickeas
May 17, 2021
In response to the police killing George Floyd, 15 unions that represent law enforcement officers across the US have endorsed a blueprint for policing that includes an unprecedented shift in the way unions protect bad police officers, according to a copy of the plan obtained by CNN ahead of its release this week. A committee convened by the AFL-CIO, Teamsters and Service Employees International unions Friday approved the plan that calls on more than 250,000 law enforcement members and more than 100,000 members in police-adjacent professions to intervene when another union member is doing something wrong. Unions still have a responsibility to represent members they believe are wrongfully accused, but the framework challenges local unions to look at the merits of an officer's actions when considering whether to defend them.
POLITICS
Working Women Need the PRO Act
The Nation
By Mindy Isser
May 17, 2021
When D’Angelo learned about the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which recently passed the House and is currently in the Senate, she wondered if it could have helped her at Comcast many years ago. The legislation would make it easier for workers to form unions by making captive audience meetings and other employer intimidation illegal; it also essentially makes “right to work” laws a thing of the past. But it would do more than that, too: It attempts to fix the immense employee misclassification that plagues millions of workers across the country—workers like Jeanne D’Angelo.
TRANSPORTATION
U.S. labor leader calls for human drivers in automated vehicles
Reuters
By David Shepardson
May 17, 2021
A senior American labor union leader will tell U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday that the government should require human operators in all self-driving passenger services to take over in the event of an emergency. Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department for the AFL-CIO, will tell a U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce subcommittee that autonomous vehicles place “millions of jobs at risk” and any legislation to speed deployment of self-driving cars should not apply to commercial trucks weighing 10,000 pounds or more, according to his written testimony released by the panel on Monday. “We do not allow passenger airplanes to operate without pilots or passenger rail to run without engineers, and we should use a similar approach with AVs that operate on our often-congested roadways and in complex transit networks,” Regan says in his testimony.
AMAZON
Amazon Makes Push to Reduce Worker Injuries
The Wall Street Journal
By Sebastian Herrera
May 17, 2021
The company said Monday that its new program, called WorkingWell, aims to better educate some of its employees on how to avoid workplace injuries and improve mental health on the job. The online retailer began testing parts of the program two years ago and plans to expand it to 1,000 facilities by the end of the year, said Heather MacDougall, vice president of world-wide workplace health and safety at Amazon. The company said it aims to cut recordable incidents in half by 2025. The program has been in 350 sites in North America and Europe.
Amazon Executive Backed Mailbox in Union Election, Hearing Told
Bloomberg
By Matt Day
May 17, 2021
A top Amazon.com Inc. executive backed the effort to have a mailbox installed outside an Alabama warehouse during a recent union election, according to emails presented during a hearing about the disputed vote. Employees lobbying the U.S. Postal Service to install the mailbox said it was a “highly visible” initiative of Dave Clark, who leads the company’s retail and logistics groups.
IN THE STATES
Workforce shortage challenges reemerge as Wisconsin businesses dig out of the pandemic
Wisconsin State Journal
By Mitchell Schmidt
May 16, 2021
“There are structural factors in our society that have brought us to this point where we have high numbers of unemployed still, especially among low-skilled workers, and now we have a burgeoning demand for qualified workers,” Wisconsin AFL-CIO president Stephanie Bloomingdale said. “To now complain that unemployed workers are getting $300 extra to get us through the pandemic — it falls short.”
The Texas Tribune
By Megan Menchaca and Mitchell Ferman
May 17, 2021
Jobless Texans will soon lose access to all additional federal unemployment aid — including a $300-per-week supplemental benefit — that was extended as a result of the pandemic after Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday said Texas will opt out of the federal assistance. “We can’t even imagine the thinking behind Gov. Abbott’s callous decision to strip the remaining federal Unemployment Insurance benefits out of the pockets of Texas working families,” Rick Levy, president of the large labor group Texas AFL-CIO, said in a statement. “If he took the time or had any interest in understanding the challenges working people face, Gov. Abbott would see clearly that folks across Texas desperately need these funds as they try to navigate their way through the economic carnage of the pandemic.”
JOINING TOGETHER
Workers at the Whitney Museum Move to Form a Union
The New York Times
By Colin Moynihan
May 17, 2021
Employees of the Whitney Museum of American Art are the latest group of museum workers in the city to take steps toward forming a union. They are also the most recent example of museum employees who have chosen to organize under the wing of a union not everyone would associate with the art world: the United Automobile Workers. A petition asking for a union vote was filed on Monday with the National Labor Relations Board by the Technical, Office, and Professional Union, Local 2110 UAW.