Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
POLITICS
Republican extremists get what they deserve (Audio)
No Lie Podcast
By Brian Tyler COhen
April 9, 2023
33 minutes in: We always say there is no industry off limits for forming a union. That the freedom to come together collectively is enshrined in our labor laws. In fact not many people realize that that is the baseline that we start from. That people should be able to form unions. It is not the opposite that we should fight to prove we are worthy of forming a union. It is that we should form it and the law should be proactive to help workers to form unions.
JOINING TOGETHER
Registered nurses rally outside Mission Hospital to highlight safety concerns
KAKE
By Kristy Kepley-Steward and Madison Smith
April 11, 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. “HCA is at it again with prioritizing profits over patient care,” said Hannah Drummond, RN in the emergency department at Mission Hospital, in a press release. “As an emergency room nurse, it is unacceptable to have patients waiting more than 12 hours to receive care. Instead of increasing staffing in the Emergency Department to reduce wait times, HCA cut staff and sent nurses home. This is unconscionable. HCA doesn’t value our patients and the community we serve.” 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.
DPAC performers set the stage for a potential strike of touring Broadway shows
The News & Observer
By Colleen Hammond
April 11, 2023
The pre-show hustle outside the Durham Performing Arts Center will look slightly different Tuesday as actors and stage managers gather to demand a new union contract. On Tuesday morning, the Actors’ Equity Association announced that union performers and stage managers would be leafleting outside DPAC before the evening performance of “Beetlejuice — The Musical.” Stars from the national touring show are expected to greet audience members to educate them on the negotiation struggles the union has faced for years. According to a statement from Actors’ Equity, one of the key issues is increasing union members’ per diem needed to cover daily expenses like food and housing, both of which have been impacted by inflation since theaters reopened post-lockdown.
Twin Cities Cub grocery workers ‘overwhelmingly’ approve new union contract
Sahan Journal
By Alfonzo Galvan
April 11, 2023
Cub grocery store workers in the Twin Cities voted Tuesday to approve a new union contract after nearly going on strike last week. The vote took place at 12 locations around the Western Metro, and UFCW Local 663 members counted and tallied votes after polls closed at 5 p.m., according to a news release from the union. The contract was “overwhelmingly” approved by members of UFCW Local 663, and includes average raises of $2.50 to $3.50 an hour by the spring of 2024, and the creation of a landmark safety committee.
RAISING WAGES
LA City Council motion seeks to raise minimum wage for tourism workers to $25 an hour
ABC7
By City News Service
April 11, 2023
Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price announced Monday he will introduce a motion this week that would raise the minimum wage to $25 an hour for tourism workers and fix loopholes in current policies in an effort to keep workers healthy and housed. Price, along with SEIU United Service Workers West and Unite Here Local 11, the unions representing tourism workers, will hold a news conference at 9 a.m. Wednesday to discuss the motion. More than 100 tourism workers, specifically hotel and Los Angeles International Airport workers who would be impacted by the proposal, are expected to join the councilman and speak to the difficulty of surviving on the current wage.