JOINING TOGETHER
A night (or day) at the museum: Getting better for workers?
Christian Science Monitor
By Cole Sinanian and Luke Cregan
Dec. 8, 2022
At a time of new energy in the U.S. labor movement, unions are on the rise at museums and cultural institutions nationwide, and in some cases they are making big wins against chronically low wages and a lack of workplace accountability. Workers at BAM and elsewhere have won increases in base salaries, challenging models that have long perpetuated an economically stratified workforce.
UAW wins key vote to represent Ohio electric car battery factory
CNN
By Chris Isidore
Dec. 9, 2022
Workers at the Ultium Cells plant, co-owned by General Motors and Korean giant LG, voted overwhelmingly this week to join the United Auto Workers union. It’s a huge win for the UAW that has major significance for the auto industry. The vote happened at Ultium’s first-ever plant in Warren, Ohio, which started production of batteries for GM’s new line of electric vehicles in September. Early Friday morning the union announced 710 had voted in favor of the union and only 16 opposed, with about 900 workers eligible to vote in the election. “As the auto industry transitions to electric vehicles, new workers entering the auto sector at plants like Ultium are thinking about their value and worth,” said UAW President Ray Curry. “This vote shows that they want to be a part of maintaining the high standards and wages that UAW members have built in the auto industry.”
Culinary Union convention center workers authorize strike
Las Vegas Review-Journal
By Richard N. Velotta
Dec. 9, 2022
Culinary Union workers for the contracted food service provider of the Las Vegas Convention Center unanimously authorized a strike, the union announced Friday. A strike authorization vote doesn’t necessarily mean workers will walk off the job, and union officials indicated negotiations would continue. Culinary Local 226 represents about 300 cooks, dishwashers, banquet servers, concessions cashiers and other workers employed by Sodexo Centerplate, the Convention Center’s exclusive contracted food and beverage supplier. The union is demanding higher pay for its workers. The average pay currently is between $16 and $19 an hour.
St. Charles home health, hospice nurses vote to form union
KTVZ
By KTVZ News
Dec. 9, 2022
Nearly three-dozen home health and hospice nurses with St. Charles Health System overwhelmingly voted to form a union with the Oregon Nurses Association in an election on Thursday supervised by the National Labor Relations Board, the union announced Friday.
Labor Dispute continues for union workers at WestRock paper mill
WRBL
By Cristina Feliciano
Dec. 11, 2022
Back in October, WestRock union leaders said the paper company began to lock out employees, creating the first labor stoppage in nearly 50 years. The same issues workers faced then are just as prevalent today. Workers gathered Saturday outside of the WestRock Mahrt Mill on Alabama Highway 165. They are continuing their efforts towards finding a resolution regarding contract negotiations.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Labor costs point to corporate profit as main inflation driver
The Hill
By Tobias Burns
Dec. 9, 2022
“Since the labor share [of inflation] is declining and it’s coming from profits, it’s hard for the Fed to have policies that can address that. Raising interest rates don’t rein those things in,” Bill Spriggs, chief economist with the AFL-CIO labor union federation, told The Hill. Spriggs said that higher rates may in fact be working in the opposite direction. “They can set a certain mentality, particularly with the way the Fed is talking about things. The Fed is suggesting that it would tolerate a recession in order to lower prices. If I’m a business person, why would that make me want to lower prices and drop my profits now, since you’re telling me that next quarter I’m going to start losing money?” he said.
Sick leave and family leave priorities for workers heading into new year
NBC News
By Eli M. Rosenberg
Dec. 10, 2022
Labor experts and organizers say the pandemic aimed a floodlight at the public health ramifications of in-person work, elevating for workers the importance of paid leave in contract disputes. “Through the pandemic, people saw what happens when someone comes to work sick,” said Rebecca Givan, an associate professor of labor studies at Rutgers University. “It’s bad for them and bad for co-workers.” Many companies offer some paid leave to employees, but the U.S. is one of only a handful of countries in the world not to require paid sick leave for workers — by some measures, the only wealthy country not to do so.
IN THE STATES
KHQ
Dec. 9, 2022
"We are grateful to the Court for finally putting this issue to rest and forcing the City of Spokane to bargain in good faith, following state laws," said Michael Rainey, President and Executive Director of the Washington State Council of County and City Employees (AFSCME, AFL-CIO). "During this battle for nearly two years, Spokane workers have shown up without a contract serving the people while their rights for fair wages and benefits were held hostage by an illegal ordinance. This ruling makes it clear that forcing workers to give in to unfair and arbitrary bargaining conditions is patently illegal."