Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
POLITICS
What a landmark sweatshop case tells us about Julie Su’s approach to labor
The 19th News
April 10, 2023
In 1995, dozens of garment workers, most of them women, were freed from a California sweatshop. The lawyer who is now Biden’s nominee to head the Labor Department took their case. That lawyer, Julie Su, was nominated last month to head the U.S. Labor Department, tasked with enforcing laws involving workers, workplaces and labor unions. Jaknang, 64, described Su as a “kind and hard-working woman” who empowered her to fight for justice at a vulnerable time. This early episode in Su’s career, supporters say, illustrates something important about Su: that the daughter of Chinese immigrants has cultivated a passion for advocating for the nation’s most vulnerable workers, including those who are low-wage, who are immigrants and whose English is limited.
JOINING TOGETHER
Rutgers University faculty members are striking over a contract dispute
NPR
By Ayana Archie and Joe Hernandez
April 10, 2023
Three faculty unions representing around 9,000 workers at Rutgers University, the state university of New Jersey, went on strike Monday morning. The three labor organizations — the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, which represents part-time lecturers; the AAUP-AFT, which represents full-time faculty, graduate workers, postdoctoral associates and counselors; and the AAUP-BHSNJ, which represents faculty in the health and sciences departments — announced the strike on Sunday. It is the first time Rutgers University faculty has ever gone on strike throughout the institution's 250-year history, according to WHYY. The unions said they had been trying to renegotiate a contract for at least a year but that the university was blocking their attempts.
Little Village
By Isaac Hamlet
April 10, 2023
Following a unanimous vote of 13 in favor, and with support from management, the Englert Theatre’s stagehands are in the process of joining IATSE. “We started making a concerted effort a year ago; we signed authorization cards in the summer and the union approached the theater at the end of August to let them know that we were seeking representation,” said Justin Comer, a production technician at the Englert who also delivers copies of Little Village.
Registered nurses rally outside Mission Hospital to highlight safety concerns
ABC 13 News
By Kristy Kepley-Steward & Madison Smith
April 10, 2023
Registered nurses at Mission Hospital rallied Monday morning to highlight their patient safety concerns, including a reported increase in workplace violence, broken equipment and unsafe staffing. According to the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), whenever nurses have an unsafe staffing assignment that may lead to negative patient outcomes, the RNs document it in an Assignment Despite Objection (ADO) form and submit it to hospital management. In a recent ADO, a nurse reported that more than 25 patients had to wait in the waiting room for an entire day before being seen by a nurse.
CIVIL, HUMAN, AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS
AFSCME highlights voices from 1968 Memphis sanitation strike, says issues persist today
Waste Dive
By Megan Quinn
April 10, 2023
A new podcast from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees tells the story of the strike. The I AM Story recognizes the legacy of strikers from AFSCME Local 1733, who marked their protest with signs reading “I AM A MAN.” The podcast also honors the role of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a key supporter of the movement, who was assassinated while in Memphis to help the striking workers. AFSCME, a union that represents 1.4 million public service workers, still includes sanitation workers today. The five-episode series, which features interviews with workers who led the strike, is meant to connect the civil rights struggles of the era with today’s labor and racial justice movement. AFSCME President Lee Saunders talked with Waste Dive about the legacy of the 1968 strike and how the waste industry can apply its lessons to today’s operations. The industry has made major health and safety gains in the 55 years since the strike, he said, but racial inequities — as well as pay and safety issues — are still concerns for workers in unions across the country.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Black unemployment rate hits record low 5 percent
The Washington Post
By Lauren Kaori Gurley, Abha Bhattarai and Naomi Nix
April 7, 2023
“This is a victory,” said William Spriggs, chief economist for the AFL-CIO and a professor at Howard University. “It’s not only that Black unemployment is low. It’s also that, for the first time, a higher share of Black people are working than White people.”