JOINING TOGETHER
HarperCollins union approves contract, ends 3-month strike
AP News
By Hillel Italie
Feb. 16, 2023
Striking union members at HarperCollins Publishers have approved a tentative agreement reached last week and will return to work Tuesday, ending a walkout that lasted more than three months and became the center of an ongoing debate about salaries in the industry. More than 200 members, from editorial assistants to publicists and designers, of Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers union had been working without a contract since last spring. They went on strike in early November, with wages, workplace diversity and union protection among the issues. Notably, the union called for raising the entry level salary from $45,000 to $50,000.
Miners union issues return to work letter to Warrior Met Coal
ABC 3340
By Caleb Turrentine
Feb. 16, 2023
The unfair labor practice strike at Warrior Met Coal may be coming to an end as workers are set to return to their jobs in early March, according to a letter from the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). According to a release Thursday from the labor union, UMWA's International President Cecil E. Roberts has sent a letter to Warrior Met Coal announcing the UMWA membership who have been on strike would return to work at the company's four locations on March 2. “We are entering a new phase of our efforts to win our members and their families the fair and decent contract they need and deserve,” Roberts said in the release. “We have been locked into this struggle for 23 months now, and nothing has materially changed. The two sides have essentially fought each other to a draw thus far, despite the company’s unlawful bargaining posture the entire time."
Minneapolis Institute of Art workers picket museum as negotiations stall
Minnesota Reformer
By Max Nesterak
Feb. 16, 2023
Minneapolis Institute of Art workers picketed outside the museum on Thursday evening as negotiations over wages and benefits have come to a standstill. The “informational picket” — not a strike — is the first time the museum’s staff have organized a labor demonstration in at least 25 years, as long as Debbi Hegstrom has worked there. “MIA has a record budget this year. (MIA) continues to spend millions of dollars on acquisitions and leadership level salaries,” Hegstrom said. “We need to see the love. We need to see how much they appreciate us with a paycheck.” The museum and the union representing about 150 curators and other non-managerial staff have been negotiating a two-and-a-half year contract since November, but failed to reach an agreement even after the contract expired at the end of the year. Workers say the museum’s most recent offer of 9% wage increases over two-and-a-half years is too small and amounts to a pay cut given soaring inflation. The workers, represented by OPEIU Local 12, have countered with 16% over two-and-a-half years.
Culinary union pickets at Las Vegas Convention Center
Las Vegas Review-Journal
By Richard N. Velotta
Feb. 16, 2023
The Culinary union ramped up the pressure Thursday on the company that provides food services at the Las Vegas Convention Center with a pair of loud picket lines protesting the lack of a contract. Hundreds of workers marched along Paradise Road near Convention Center Drive and in front of the center’s North Hall for more than an hour, calling on Sodexo Live!, the multinational company that operates Sodexo Centerplate, the food-service provider at the Convention Center, to provide a better contract deal than offered. Workers have been without a contract since late summer, and collective bargaining talks stalled in November.
EDUCATION
'Pursuit of Happyness' inspiration makes stops at Austin high schools
CBS Austin
By Monique Lopez
Feb. 16, 2023
“We’re able to present some awesome, serious alternatives to some young people who may not afford or don’t want to a four-year university, lifetime opportunities in the building trade,” said Fred Redmond secretary-treasurer for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.