MUST READ
Michigan Senate repeals right-to-work law in historic victory for organized labor
The Washington Post
By Lauren Kaori Gurley
March 15, 2023
“This is what happens when we elect union members to halls of power,” Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, tweeted on Tuesday evening after news broke of the bill’s passage. “We fight and we WIN for working people.”
MUST WATCH
What the Fed’s Inflation-Fighting Efforts Could Mean for the U.S. Economy (President Shuler speaks at 1:18)
PBS FrontLine
By Patrice Taddonio
March 14, 2023
As the documentary explores, the prospect of potential layoffs stemming from interest rate hikes doesn’t sit well with members of the organized labor movement. While acknowledging that part of the Fed’s mandate is to fight inflation — and that inflation, too, is a threat to workers — Liz Shuler, who leads America’s largest labor organization, the AFL–CIO, told FRONTLINE she’d been urging the Fed to slow down its rate hikes. “We can’t take aggressive moves that are gonna throw people out of work and basically balance the economy on the backs of working people,” Shuler said.
IN THE STATES
Workers flock to see Right to Work reversal, prevailing wage restoration pass Michigan Senate
Michigan Advance
By Laina G. Stebbins
March 15, 2023
“We fought hard … and now the politics are in our favor, so we’re going to capitalize on that,” said Matt Ley, a district business agent for UA Local 669 Road Sprinkler Fitters, AFL-CIO. “We’re excited about the vote today. It starts a new day, as long as we can maintain control of the House, Senate and executive branch,” Ley said, while testimony from the Senate Labor Committee streamed nearby.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs measure requiring paid leave for workers beginning Jan. 1
Chicago Tribune
By Hank Sanders
March 13, 2023
The bill had the support of labor, with AFL-CIO Illinois President Tim Drea saying the measure “gives a worker paid time off when work gets in the way of life.”
JOINING TOGETHER
Mia union workers and management agree to a new 2½-year contract
Star Tribune
By Alicia Eler
March 15, 2023
After five months of negotiations, OPEIU members at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and Mia management Tuesday struck a new labor agreement. Union members — representing 152 people in administrative services, art services, specialists and building services — voted 95% in favor of ratifying the new 2½-year contract, which is retroactive to Jan. 1.
Techs win first contract at hospital in The Dalles
Northwest Labor Press
By Don Mcintosh
March 15, 2023
Hospital techs at Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles have ratified their first-ever union contract, almost 18 months after they voted 45 to 4 to join Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals in September 2021. The contract covers around 75 workers, including respiratory therapists, MRI radiology techs, surgical techs, ultrasound echo sonographers.
Underpaid and Insulted, Maximus Call Center Workers Organize
Labor Notes
By Luis Feliz Leon
March 15, 2023
Call center workers average half an hour on the phone with each caller and are expected to answer about 15 calls per day. The workload increases to 20 calls per day during open enrollment for ACA coverage from November to January 15; this year a record-breaking 16.3 million people signed up for health care plans on the exchange. Preston says callers grappling with terminal illnesses and angry at a cumbersome signup process often vent their frustration on the worker on the other end of the line. Sometimes their comments are outright racist. “You sound like you are Southern,” callers tell her. “I don’t want a Black person. I want an American voice. I don’t want no Indian.” No wonder 10,000 workers toiling at call centers across nine states, mainly Black women, want to unionize with the Communications Workers (CWA).