LABOR AND ECONOMY
Surprise! Economy adds 517K jobs in January
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
Feb. 6, 2023
The AFL-CIO had a positive take on the jobs report. “In today’s @BLS_gov #JobsReport: 517k jobs added in Jan. 2023, broad increases in jobs across industries, inflation slowing faster than wage growth, historic low unemployment rate of 3.4%. Bottom line: A blowout #JobsReport!” it tweeted.
JOINING TOGETHER
Harvard researchers and non-tenure faculty to push for union
Boston Globe
By Hilary Burns
Feb. 6, 2023
After five years of quietly organizing, researchers and lecturers at Harvard University are going public Monday with efforts to form a union. Organizers plan to start collecting authorization cards to prompt either voluntary recognition of the union by the university or a formal election by the National Labor Relations Board. The group, which represents up to 6,000 non-tenure-track workers, aims to raise wages, address job insecurity, and improve working conditions and benefits.
Nurses at Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph move to unionize
KWCH
By KWCH Staff
Feb. 6, 2023
National Nurses United on Monday filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to unionize nursing staff at Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph. The union would include all full-time, regular part-time and per diem registered nurses, including registered nurses who serve as relief charge nurses and full-time charge nurses, employed by the Employer at its acute-care hospital facility currently.
Crooked Media Staff Unionize With Writers Guild East
The Hollywood Reporter
By J. Clara Chan
Feb. 6, 2023
An “overwhelming majority” of staff members at Crooked Media, the progressive media company behind Pod Save America, are seeking to unionize with the Writers Guild of America East, the guild said on Monday.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Legislation reintroduced to protect meat processing workers
Meat + Poultry
By Rachael Oatman
Feb. 6, 2023
On Feb. 2, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) reintroduced the Protecting America’s Meatpacking Workers Act. The legislation provides additional protection for US meatpacking workers through strengthened safety measures and improved workplace conditions in meat and poultry processing plants. Systematic reforms are also included in this bill, such as a fair market that is more accessible to independent producers. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents 1.3 million workers, expressed its support of the act. “Meatpacking and food processing workers risked their health and safety as essential workers every single day during the height of the pandemic to ensure American families had food on the table,” said Marc Perrone, UFCW international president. “While our union was able to fight for and secure many protections for our members, every single worker in this industry deserves the essential protections that meat and poultry processing companies are still failing to provide.
UNION BUSTING
Fort Wayne Philharmonic Musicians accuse management of attempts to eliminate bargaining rights
WBOI
By Ella Abbott
Feb. 6, 2023
Negotiations between the Fort Wayne Philharmonic management and the players association continue as musicians near two months on strike. Following a meeting Sunday, musicians put out a statement saying management is demanding “unprecedented elimination of musicians’ workplace bargaining rights.” Musicians spokesperson Campbell MacDonald said via text management is trying to remove the union’s ability to bargain workplace issues that arise that aren’t covered in the agreement.