LABOR AND ECONOMY
Bill Spriggs: An Economist Who Fought For Racial And Economic Equality
Forbes
By Richard McGahey
June 7, 2023
The economics profession and the progressive policy world is dealing with the shocking news that Bill Spriggs, Chief Economist at the AFL-CIO and former chair of the Howard University Economics Department, has passed away at the age of 68. We’ve lost a great economist and a champion for Black equality, and for all working people. At his death, Bill was both teaching at Howard and serving as Chief Economist at the AFL-CIO, combining his work on racial justice with his advocacy for all working people. Right up until his untimely death, he was advocating for racial and economic justice—in written work, Congressional testimony, media appearances, and public advocacy.
JOINING TOGETHER
Workers From South Brunswick Packaging Facility On Strike
Patch
By Sarah Salvadore
June 7, 2023
Workers from a local packaging facility are striking after they’ve been working without a contract since December last year. Members of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2326, Region 9 are on strike at WestRock LLC, located in the Dayton section of South Brunswick after contract negotiations broke down due to disagreement on the healthcare plan. Workers say the company wants to enroll them in a plan that has less coverage than what they are receiving currently.
Amid Writers Strike, Hollywood’s Next Big Question May Be: Is SAG-AFTRA Next?
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
June 7, 2023
Three weeks and two days. Starting Wednesday, that’s how long SAG-AFTRA will have to negotiate a set of agreements that affect a vast swath of union performers working in film and television — about 160,000 members, from actors to dancers to stunt performers — before those current contracts expire June 30. Within this compressed period, and as thousands of the industry’s writers continue to strike following the breakdown of their own negotiations, Hollywood’s largest union is aiming to tackle both present, meat-and-potatoes and future-looking issues, including the threat of generative AI and streaming residuals that many members believe are insufficient.
Two dozen Gannett newsrooms, staged a walkout this week
The Brunswick News
By Lizzy McLellan Ravitch
June 7, 2023
Hundreds of journalists at Gannett, publisher of USA Today and more than 200 local newspapers across the country, walked off the job this week to protest their working conditions and the company’s leadership. Two dozen newsrooms across seven states participated. While it wasn’t a companywide strike, it was the largest work stoppage Gannett has experienced in its history, according to the NewsGuild-CWA, the union that represents about 1,000 Gannett journalists in about 50 bargaining units. The pay and staffing issues the guild raised were relevant to news organizations across the company, regardless of whether they belong to the union.
Ex-Moon Rabbit Workers Will Get Their Union After Wharf Hotel Agrees To Recognize Bargaining Unit
DCist
By Amanda Michelle Gomez
June 7, 2023
D.C.’s Wharf InterContinental Hotel has agreed to voluntarily recognize its employees’ union after cards are checked, which will include workers from the now-shuttered Moon Rabbit restaurant, according to their bargaining agent UNITE HERE Local 25. The move comes roughly two months after the employees announced their union drive and just a day before a scheduled election through the National Labor Relations Board.
AFL-CIO: Wisconsin café workers ratify first union contract at Colectivo Coffee
Wis Business
By Staff
June 7, 2023
Stephanie Bloomingdale, President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, released the following statement congratulating the workers of Colectivo Coffee on ratifying their first union contract: “Congratulations to the workers of Colectivo Coffee who have just ratified their first ever union contract with the IBEW Local 494 and IBEW Local 1220,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. “It has taken years of organizing, hard work, and steadfast solidarity to secure this landmark collective bargaining agreement at one of Wisconsin’s most iconic coffee shops. Our community can continue to enjoy Colectivo Coffee knowing that the workers have a union voice and a collective say in their working conditions.”
Workers at Barnes & Noble in Manhattan's Union Square vote to unionize, continuing trend
Spectrum News
By Associated Press
June 7, 2023
Workers at the Barnes & Noble in Manhattan's Union Square, one of the retail chain's signature stores and home to its corporate offices, have voted to unionize. They join employees at a handful of other Barnes & Noble stores in the Northeast who have affiliated with unions in recent weeks, following a wave of union activity over the past few years at independent booksellers. The Union Square employees are now part of the the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which also represents workers at McNally Jackson, Greenlight Bookstore and other independents. In an announcement Wednesday, the RWDSU cited issues at the Union Square store ranging from workplace harassment to “unstable scheduling practices” and “favoritism by management.”
Food service workers at Loyola New Orleans win union, with student support
National Catholic Reporter
By Katie Collins Scott
June 7, 2023
After a monthslong campaign garnering support from Loyola students and faculty and the Catholic Labor Network, on April 28 food service workers at the Jesuit school won union representation with the local affiliate of Unite Here, a labor union representing 300,000 people in food service, transportation and hotel industries. Contract negotiations are expected to begin soon.
IN THE STATES
‘The best state for workers’: what are Minnesota’s new labor laws?
The Guardian
By Steven Greenhouse
June 7, 2023
Bernie Burnham, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, heaped praise on the new laws, calling them “some of the most sweeping pro-labor legislation in state history” and saying they “will improve the lives of workers in every corner of our state”. Burnham added: “Minnesota has a strong labor movement, and we worked hard to advance our legislative priorities.”
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
40% of healthcare workers experienced workplace violence in the last two years
Healthcare Finance
By Jeff Lagasse
June 7, 2023
A new survey from Premier has found that 40% of healthcare workers have experienced at least one incident of workplace violence within the past two years, with the violence occuring most frequently among nursing staff at the hands of men between 35-65. And a National Nurses United survey done in November 2020 shows that, of 15,000 registered nurses nationwide who responded, 20% reported they were facing increased workplace violence.
VOTING RIGHTS
Activist's fight against segregation evolved into political action to push for voting rights
WRAL
By Gary Fields
June 7, 2023
Norman Hill was at the AFL-CIO office in Washington, D.C., in August 1965, and recalls cheering when he learned the Voting Rights Act had passed Congress. He then took a moment to remember the people “who were killed, literally, struggling to try to get Blacks registered to vote.” He joined the industrial union arm of the AFL-CIO as its civil rights liaison and legislative representative, becoming involved in raising the minimum wage and working with the labor delegation on the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights marches. He did not anticipate, nearly 50 years after it was signed, the Supreme Court in 2013 striking down as unconstitutional the way states were included on the list of those needing to get advance approval for voting-related changes. The ruling was based on a conclusion that labeling states as discriminators by relying on information half a century old was not supported. Now the country awaits a Supreme Court decision on whether the Voting Rights Act will be reinforced or further eroded. If he could speak to the justices, Hill said he would tell them the ability to cast a ballot is the foundation of the country. “Without the right to vote, the political process — and in fact the democratic reality — was not one that blacks could experience,” he said.