Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
JOINING TOGETHER
West Penn Power maintenance workers vote for union
Trib Live
By Joe Napsha
Jan. 26, 2023
Eleven building maintenance workers at West Penn Power Co. of Greensburg and Potomac Edison of Williamsport, Md., have voted to join a union, the National Labor Relations Board said. The NLRB in Pittsburgh said that the workers voted 11-0, with one vote being challenged, to join the Utility Workers Union of America Local 102, which represents West Penn Power line workers, said Kayla Blado, a spokeswoman for the NLRB. The mail-in ballots were counted on Jan. 24. The UWUA said the members sought union representation to address workplace issues including job security and concerns about their work being contracted outside of the company. “These individuals understood they needed to change their worksites for the better and drove this process the entire way,” said UWUA Local 102 President Travis Beck. “They stood together throughout the process from 100% card check to unanimously voting to join the union.”
'I'm taking action today' | Austin nurses join nationwide protest
KVUE
By Kim Yonick
Jan. 26, 2023
Nurses across Austin will gather for a candlelight vigil Thursday evening as part of a nationwide protest that highlights the "quad-demic," which they say spotlights "the hospital industry's prioritization of money over patient care." Ascension Seton nurses will gather the administrative offices of Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin. “I’m taking action today with nurses in Austin and across the country because we are fed up with the unsustainable conditions of nursing and the band-aid solutions that hospitals are putting forward,” said Kristine Kittelson, an Ascension Seton Medical Center mother-baby RN. “We need the hospital industry to start putting their nurses – and patient care – above profits. That means significant investments in staffing so hospitals can recruit and retain nurses.” “We’re the most trusted profession in America because we do everything in our power to take care of our patients, whether it’s at the bedside or on the streets to fight back against corporate greed,” NNU Executive Director Bonnie Castillo, RN, said, referencing the December 2022 Gallup polling that found nurses hold the highest professional ranking among Americans for ethics and honesty – a recognition they’ve claimed for the past 21 years.
Unionizing efforts could ‘push the envelope’ this year after steady organizing in 2022
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Lizzy McLellan Ravitch
Jan. 26, 2023
Coming off a year of noteworthy unionizing efforts in the Philadelphia region, labor leaders and organizers say interest in union membership is high, employees are more empowered than ever, and 2023 could be a big year for more organizing and collective bargaining, even as the job market softens. Within Pennsylvania, 715,000 workers were union members last year, an increase of 22,000 from the year before, and union membership was higher than the national average, according to recently released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “What we saw by and large was one of the best demonstrations of worker power both nationally and in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Philadelphia in a very long time” in 2022, said Danny Bauder, the new president of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, which has more than 100 local unions as members. “It’s exciting to see workers from so many different places getting together to fight for a contract … or starting a union in the first place.”
Wichita nurses join nationwide rally for better staffing
KWCH
By KWCH Staff
Jan. 26, 2023
Registered nurses at Ascension Via Christi Saint Francis joined thousands of other members of National Nurses United across the country for a day of action. They say they want the hospital industry to end their profession’s staffing crisis by providing a safe number of nurses to care for patients. It’s an issue many hospitals are facing across the country. “It’s time for management to listen to us, to take us seriously, to listen to their nurses. We know what we need and they haven’t been giving it to us and this is unity right here. The nurses throughout the country need this, we need to be heard, we need to be listened to so we can take care of our patients,” said Sara Wilson, a registered nurse at Ascension Via Christi.
'Unsafe, dangerous and unacceptable': Nurses protest alleged conditions at Tucson hospital
AZ Central
By Sarah Lapidus
Jan. 26, 2023
Nurses from Carondelet St. Mary’s Hospital, owned by Tenet Healthcare Corporation, rallied in Tucson demanding more staff and more funding for equipment on Thursday. Many of the dozen nurses at the protest arrived after their long shifts, joining nationwide protests of unsafe staffing numbers. St. Mary’s nurses are members of the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United. Jessica Guzman, a wound care nurse who has worked at St. Mary’s for seven years, said nurse-to-patient ratios should be three nurses to one patient, or even less if the patients are sicker but now are frequently being pushed to four or five patients per nurse.
NLRB
Pittsburgh Union Progress
By Jon Moss and Steve Mellon
Jan. 26, 2023
An administrative law judge from the National Labor Relations Board handed journalists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette a major victory Thursday by ruling the newspaper didn’t negotiate in good faith, illegally imposed working conditions and unlawfully surveilled workers engaged in union activities.
IN THE STATES
1 big thing: Ohio's rise in union membership
Axios
Jan. 26, 2023
Statewide union membership grew last year compared to 2021, per new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Why it matters: The increase is further evidence of a growing labor movement involving local workers at Ohio institutions and global companies alike. State of play: The percentage of statewide workers represented by a union rose from 13% in 2021 to 14% last year. That might seem like a modest rise, but it amounts to 52,000 more Ohioans belonging to organizations designed to advance and protect their rights at work.
New York AFL-CIO and key labor unions back legislative staff union
Spectrum News 1
By Nick Reisman
Jan. 24, 2023
A coalition of regional and statewide labor unions on Tuesday publicly endorsed the effort by legislative staffers in the New York Senate and Assembly to organize, according to a letter signed by the New York State AFL-CIO. The unionization push by legislative staffers has the backing also of the large public workers unions in the state, including the Civil Service Employees Association, the Public Employees Federation and 1199SEIU. "As representatives of New York’s labor movement, we believe that all workers have the right to meet their employers at the bargaining table and negotiate for a fair contract that benefits the entire workplace," the unions wrote in the letter to the top Democrats in the Legislature, Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
Texas AFL-CIO president outlines 2023 legislative priorities and concerns
Texas Public Radio
By Josh Peck
Jan. 26, 2023
As the Texas legislative session gets underway, and as union representation in the state grew by nearly 70,000 workers between 2021 and 2022, labor unions are pushing for their legislative priorities with increased energy. The Texas AFL-CIO, which has more than 240,000 affiliated members, has proposed its Fair Shot Agenda — a collection of aspirational and more immediately viable legislative priorities for the 2023 session. Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy explained the major goals the union has for this session. “It’s education, it’s job training, it’s state employees, it’s expanding wages,” he said. “And so all of those are very doable in this economic climate.” That economic climate is one in which the state has a nearly $33 billion budget surplus, though preliminary budgets recently released by the Texas House and Senate have left more than $50 billion on the table.