JOINING TOGETHER
Minneapolis Institute Of Art Workers Overwhelmingly Approve New Union Contract
Patch
By Minnesota Reformer
March 16, 2023
Workers at the Minneapolis Institute of Art voted by a 95% margin to ratify a new, two-and-a-half year contract on Tuesday, resolving the most contentious labor dispute at the museum in decades. MIA’s 150 unionized curators and other staff will receive $4 per hour raises over the next 16 months in one of the largest economic gains for workers in the museum’s recent history.
Bandcamp’s workers in the USA are unionizing
CDM
By Peter Kirn
March 16, 2023
Bandcamp workers today announced they are unionizing under the name Bandcamp United (BCU). It’s doubly relevant because this workforce represents everyone from engineers to journalists, working at a meeting point between music, tech, and gaming. And they’re asking artists and labels to support them. A supermajority of Bandcamp’s US employees authorized The Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) to represent them through the unionization process, calling on parent Epic Games to administer a fair and immediate election, Bandcamp United says. The OPEIU is an AFL-CIO-affiliated union with its headquarters in NYC; it’s been operating since 1945. Minor league umpires, podiatrists, nurses, and helicopter pilots are all among its members.
Laborers strike at CertainTeed ends with bigger raises
Northwest Labor Press
By Mallory Gruben
March 16, 2023
Members of Laborers Local 737 ratified a new three-year contract with CertainTeed Roofing in a 23-16 vote March 12, ending a strike that began Feb. 22. The strike shut down production at the company’s asphalt roof tile plant at 6350 NW Front Ave. Strikers returned to work March 13 and 14. The new contract provides the unit’s 57 members with annual raises of 6%, 3%, and 2.5%. That’s about 1.5% more overall than the company’s previous final offer, which members rejected in a unanimous 47-0 vote.
LAX catering workers vote to authorize a strike for higher pay
Los Angeles Daily News
By Kevin Smith
March 16, 2023
Employees with Flying Food Group, which provides in-flight meals at Los Angeles International Airport, have voted to authorize a strike as they lobby for higher wages amid rising inflation. With 99% in favor, the 346 catering workers represented by Unite Here Local 11 voted Wednesday, March 15 to authorize a walkout. They allege one employee has endured sexual harassment on the job and also claim the company locked some of the emergency exits at their Inglewood plant last month as workers were preparing to stage a protest for higher wages.
IN THE STATES
Michigan makes history, first state to repeal Right-to-Work (for less) in 60 years
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
March 16, 2023
“Today, our pro-worker Democratic majority in the state House took historic action to undo the devastation caused by decades of attacks on workers’ freedom,” state AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber said after House passage.