Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
SUPREME COURT
AFL-CIO’s Shuler: Supreme Court’s decision will not stop workers from exercising our right to strike
Labor Tribune
June 12, 2023
“The court unnecessarily gave the employer another bite at the apple,” Shuler said. “The court recognized that for nearly a century, federal law has protected workers’ right to strike in order to improve workers’ wages, hours and working conditions. “Unfortunately, the court then relied on unfounded allegations in the employer’s complaint that the union intended to damage the cement trucks when it called the strike.
JOINING TOGETHER
Deadline
By Sean Piccoli
June 12, 2023
The head of the country’s largest labor union joined striking Writers Guild film and television writers at a rally on Monday outside the New York City offices of streaming giant Amazon and said the writers’ cause has the support of workers from across unionized labor. “You are fighting for all of us,” Liz Shuler, president of the 12.5-million member AFL-CIO, told about 200 people in a block-long picket line facing Amazon’s East Coast headquarters in the Manhattan’s Hudson Yards development. “Can you hear us, Jeff Bezos?” Shuler said, referencing Amazon’s CEO, from her spot on the curb in a towering glass and steel office park where Amazon’s corporate neighbors include Warner Bros Discovery, Wells Fargo and BlackRock.
Strip club dancers in Oregon city unionize, demand safer work environments
KHQA
By Frances Lin
June 12, 2023
As part of the growing industry in town, dancers at a strip club in Northwest Portland are now unionizing. In an online petition, dancers at Magic Tavern said some employees were fired because they brought up safety concerns. The dancers are being represented by Actors' Equity Association, the labor union that represented the country's only unionized dancers in Los Angeles. "We’re joining their union because we’ll be able to bargain our contract and protect us and make sure that the club owners are held responsible," said Daphne.
Rochester's buses will keep rolling under new labor contract
Post Bulletin
By Jeff Kiger
June 12, 2023
The wheels on Rochester’s city buses will keep going round and round, after union members vote to approve a new contract on Sunday. Members of the Local 1005 of the Amalgamated Transit Worker Union voted Sunday evening to approve a new contract with Transdev, the firm that Rochester contracts with to manage the buses and the Zumbro Independent Passenger Service (ZIPS). “The members passed it with 91% approval,” said ATU representative Adam Buzbee. “We are pleased that it's over and now we can proceed with our new contract. We look forward to continuing the service we provide.”
Western Washington University student workers vote to unionize
My Northwest
By Bill Kaczaraba
June 12, 2023
Student workers at Western Washington University (WWU) are trying to start a union with a vote overwhelmingly in favor to unionize. By an 805-19 vote Monday, Educational Student Employees at WWU decided to enter into a contract with Western Academic – UAW. The workers represent tutors, teaching assistants, research assistants, and others who do instructional work.
‘Over the moon’: Bellingham REI becomes first Washington state store to unionize
The Bellingham Herald
By Rachel Showalter
June 12, 2023
Bellingham REI employees voted on Friday, June 9, in an overwhelming majority (40-12), to form a union and join UFCW Local 3000. The store’s employees announced on May 1 that the workers filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), citing the need for reliable scheduling and fair treatment as the main reasons for unionization. “I feel over the moon,” said Bellingham REI sales specialist Johnny Cook, in a release announcing the vote. “This process has brought me closer to my coworkers, it’s given me a sense of pride and joy in the way that I work, and it is just so exciting to me to see everyone hugging each other and everyone celebrating. I feel like as a workforce we’re going to be stronger together.”
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Highschoolers invited to a trade camp week at Hiland Dairy
KMTV
By KMTV Staff
June 12, 2023
A week-long summer camp could lead to a lifetime of good wages. It's called trade camp week. Nebraska Center for Workforce Development teamed up with local businesses. A group of high schoolers went on a field trip Friday to learn more about jobs available at Hiland Dairy. The whole purpose of the five-day program is to expose young people to occupations that don't require college classes. The students graduate at the end of the week. The AFL-CIO, Omaha Federation of Labor, OPS, and the United Way are partners in the program.
St. Louis BUD program graduates 29th class of pre-apprentices
Labor Tribune
June 12, 2023
Seventeen Pre-Apprentices recently graduated from the Building Union Diversity (BUD) program, opening doors to good-paying union construction careers in the St. Louis area. Taking part in the May 26 ceremony at the IBEW Local 1 union hall in St. Louis were (front row from left) Missouri AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Merri Berry, graduates Tamike Meredith, Breyonna Breeland, Eric Brooks, Bao-Phuc Tran, Avaugna Tate, Dion Woodard II, Rian Echoles, Trevor Jackson, Naeem Farr and BUD Program Coordinator Aurora Bihler, and (back row from left) Missouri AFL-CIO President Jake Hummel, Deandre Hunt, Gerardo Luna, Brandon Wade, Anne Blankenship, DaRon Johnson, Fen Hackfeld, Moshe Holmes and Missouri Works Initiative Director of Operations Amy Phillips. Graduate Cari Mulvihill was not present for the photo. The six-week program was created in 2014 by the St. Louis Building & Construction Trades Council as a recruitment tool to encourage more minorities and women to get into the union building trades. Today, the award-winning program is run by the Missouri AFL-CIO’s Missouri Works Initiative and boasts a 92 percent graduation rate.