MUST READ
Florida social-studies curriculum threatens educators (Opinion)
Orlando Sentinel
By Fred Redmond and Fed Ingram
Aug. 17, 2023
As summer draws to a close, teachers and students and their families are turning their attention to the coming school year. It’s a time of year that we remember as one of anticipation and joy — reuniting with friends, joining teams and clubs, and learning about our nation’s history. But this year, a shadow of fear and division has been cast over back-to-school season. Across the country extremist politicians have ramped up their efforts to ban books, censor curriculum and spread misinformation. The most recent and troubling example of this comes from the state of Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans announced a new social studies and African American curriculum that would downplay the horrors of slavery and emphasize its so-called “benefits” for Black people.
JOINING TOGETHER
Bus driver union gives green light to contract with King County Metro
KUOW
By Dyer Oxley
Aug. 17, 2023
After negotiating for 15 months, King County and its bus drivers have struck a tentative deal. The union that represents King County Metro's drivers approved a contract with the county on Aug. 15. Negotiations initially began in May 2022. The contract still has to be approved by the King County Council. "The contract – which covers maintenance workers, bus drivers, train drivers, and other frontline employees – will provide approximately a 17% wage increase over three years, codifies a number of attraction and retention measures, better pay progression for new, part-time bus operators, and sign-on bonuses,” Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 President Ken Price said in a statement. “These are opportunities that current Transit workers deserve. And they will help us bring more workers into the workforce to meet the needs of our county.”
Over 100 UMD staff and supporters rally for better pay and treatment
WYPR
By Bri Hatch
Aug. 17, 2023
Staff, community members and union leaders occupied the front steps of the University of Maryland administration building in College Park Wednesday to rally for higher pay and better working conditions. Over 100 attendees bore signs reading “One job should be enough” and “Invest in workers” as university staff shared stories of discrimination and disrespect in an environment of high workloads and poor health and safety regulations.
Staffers at Video Game Studio Workinman Interactive File to Unionize Under IATSE in Historic Move
The Hollywood Reporter
By Caitlin Huston
Aug. 17, 2023
Staffers at Workinman Interactive have filed a petition to unionize under the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. The games studio, based in Rochester, New York, works with clients such as Nickelodeon, Disney and Nintendo and creates interactive experiences for museums and other event spaces. Workers are looking to unionize to address challenges across the industry, including “job insecurity, inadequate compensation, and a lack of collective representation,” according to IATSE.
Safe staffing, wage hike in new pact for 8,000 NYC nurses
People’s World
By Press Associates
Aug. 17, 2023
Two big bonuses producing pay parity between public sector and private sector hospital nurses, mandatory safe-staffing ratios at the bedside highlight the new pact between the New York State Nurses Association and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the government agency which runs city’s 11 public hospitals and associated clinics. After the bonuses, of $16,006 per nurse in the pact’s first year and $5,551 in its second, nurses get a 9.25% raise over the last three years of a five-and-a-half-year contract. The pact, unveiled July 31 by a mediator—whose recommendations were binding—cheered NYSNA members the union interviewed. Nurses approved it by a 99%-1% margin. The contract is significant not just because of its numbers but because it implements a key NNU nationwide cause: Safe staffing, reducing the ratio of patients per nurse in key hospital areas such as emergency rooms, intensive care units, and coronary care units.
IN THE STATES
WisDems: Mark one year anniversary of Inflation Reduction Act
Wis Politics
By Staff
Aug. 16, 2023
SCFL President Kevin Gundlach: “Thanks to President Biden’s leadership, we’re in the middle of a manufacturing boom in the United States, and the Inflation Reduction Act is a key part of that. Let’s talk about how many jobs it’s created in Wisconsin. 149,400 jobs—that’s almost 150,000 jobs that have been created in Wisconsin under President Biden’s leadership. That’s from manufacturing and construction to retail and restaurants, and that’s Wisconsinites who are getting back to work in record numbers, and in the industries that have set up our state to succeed for years to come.”
How has Wisconsin changed since the Inflation Reduction Act?
Wisconsin Public Radio
By Corrinne Hess
Aug. 17, 2023
When construction began on the Badger Hollow solar farm in 2019, busloads of out-of-state workers were being dropped off in Iowa County to build the massive project. But work continues on phase two of Badger Hollow and other solar projects across the state. Solar panels are now being erected by in-state, union labor, said Kent Miller, president of the Wisconsin Laborers District Council. Miller says this is possible because of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed one year ago. "There is a lot of talk and chatter about Bidenomics and I can tell you, there is a big Bidenomics boom going on in the Badger State," Miller said.
Labor agreement planned for Nemadji Trail Energy Center
Superior Telegram
By Shelley Nelson
Aug. 17, 2023
Minnesota Power and the Northern Wisconsin Building and Construction Trades Council signed a letter of intent to enter into a project labor agreement for construction of the Nemadji Trail Energy Center in Superior. The letter was signed Thursday, Aug. 17, during the Wisconsin AFL-CIO Building Trades Council conference at Barker’s Island Conference Center.