MUST READ
Labor denounces Florida’s new anti-immigrant law for ‘instilling fear and hate’
People’s World
By Press Associates
July 7, 2023
A new and wide-ranging Florida anti-immigrant law, which not only criminalizes migrants but makes those who help them into state-level racketeers, “instills fear and hate,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler says. And workers and their allies will do all they can to oppose it, she adds.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Amid strong jobs market and record-low unemployment, union membership grows
Spectrum News
By Cassie Semyon
July 7, 2023
“Fundamentally, if we're going to have a democracy that shares the benefit of the economy with workers in a way that doesn't just drive inequality, and doesn't just protect the very, very wealthy, we have to have a robust labor movement, and robust collective bargaining. And it's really a fundamental part of what our economy is and what our country is,” said Sweeney.
Against the Odds, the U.S. Economy Chugs Along, as Fears Linger
The New York Times
By Talmon Joseph Smith
July 7, 2023
The U.S. labor market showed signs of continued cooling last month but extended a two-and-a-half-year streak of job growth, the Labor Department said Friday. U.S. employers added 209,000 jobs, seasonally adjusted, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.6 percent from 3.7 percent in May as joblessness remained near lows not seen in more than half a century. June was the 30th consecutive month of job growth, but the gain was down from a revised 306,000 in May and was the lowest since the streak began.
JOINING TOGETHER
SAG-AFTRA prepares for a possible strike as contract talks continue
Los Angeles Times
By Anousha Sakoui
July 7, 2023
SAG-AFTRA is taking steps to prepare for a possible strike even as the union continues down-to-the-wire bargaining with the major studios. Hollywood’s biggest union and the Alliance for Motion Picture and Television Producers have made headway in contract negotiations since both sides agreed to extend the deadline to make a deal to July 12. Despite progress, significant gaps remain between the parties, and it was unclear late Friday whether they can avert a work stoppage next week, said sources with knowledge of the talks who were not authorized to speak publicly.
State reaches tentative contract agreement with AFSCME
WJBD
By WJBD Staff
July 7, 2023
JB Pritzker says he’s pleased to have tentative contract agreement with the state’s largest employee union….AFSCME. Details of the contract won’t be released until AFSCME members review and ratify the deal. Governor Pritzker says it was important to find a balance between what’s good for state workers…and Illinois taxpayers.
San José City Workers Threaten Strike as Negotiations Head to Mediation
KQED
By Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman
July 8, 2023
A coalition of over 4,000 workers for the City of San José are threatening to go on strike if the city does not meet their demands for higher wages, increased paid parental leave and other benefit enhancements. MEF – AFSCME Local 101 and IFPTE Local 21, which represent a wide array of city workers from airport personnel to architects, have been in contract negotiations with the city since mid-March. But the unions declared an impasse late last month, after all parties made their last, best, and final offers, and failed to come to an agreement. The unions’ contracts expired on June 30th.
SAG-AFTRA Preparing Picket Signs As Possible Strike Looms
Deadline
By David Robb
July 7, 2023
SAG-AFTRA is making picket signs in the event of a strike next week. “If a strike becomes necessary, we’re ready,” the guild said in postings on social media Friday. A strike, if it comes to that, would be the actors first against the film and TV industry since 1980, when pre-merger SAG and AFTRA struck to establish contract terms for pay-TV and videocassettes. That walkout lasted more than three months.
IN THE STATES
Backlash brews against Texas law that eliminates mandatory water breaks
NBC News
By Denise Chow
July 7, 2023
Ana Gonzalez, deputy director of politics and policy at the Texas AFL-CIO, a labor federation of 240,000 union members in the state, said the bill “attacks local democracy,” adding that it will have “a huge impact and many unintended consequences to the way we govern at the local level.”
Local leaders, unions welcome North America's Building Trade Union leaders to STL
KSDK
By Sylvester Brown Jr.
July 8, 2023
Sharing the importance of unions in the St. Louis area, the state of Missouri, and nationally was the first order of work recently during the North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) event stop. The tour stop was organized by the Missouri Works Initiative, Missouri AFL-CIO, and Saint Louis Building and Construction Trades Council. They hosted North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) event stop on its national multi-city road tour.