Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
MUST READ
Two-thirds of Americans support unions: poll
The Hill
By Taylor Giorno
Aug. 29, 2023
More than two-thirds of Americans support unions, according to new polling data the AFL-CIO released Tuesday. Union support is particularly high among young Americans: 88 percent of Americans younger than 30, according to AFL-CIO data. “Do you know how hard it is to get two-thirds of Americans to agree on anything? Let me put it another way: More Americans believe in unions than like chocolate ice cream,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told union organizers and members during the organization’s inaugural “State of the Unions” address.
LABOR AND TECHNOLOGY
Unions Must Be at Forefront of AI Battle, AFL-CIO President Says
Bloomberg Law
By Ian Kullgren
Aug. 29, 2023
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler called on the US labor movement Tuesday to put itself at the front of the effort to stop job loss to artificial intelligence. “We better be damn sure that the benefits and wealth created are shared by all of us,” Shuler said in a pre-Labor Day speech at the labor federation’s headquarters in Washington. “Let it make our lives easier, let it make our jobs better.” “That is not how it feels right now,” she continued. “We feel afraid that technology is going to make us earn less, it’s going to make our jobs worse. It’s going to dehumanize us.” Shuler’s remarks came on the 46th day of tandem strikes by screenwriters and actors, who are at a stalemate with studios over concern that workers would be replaced by AI-generated content. The AFL-CIO represents SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union.
JOINING TOGETHER
Labor leader Shuler touts union support as possible auto strikes loom
Michigan Advance
By Jacob Fischler
Aug. 29, 2023
United Auto Workers at Detroit’s “Big Three” car companies voted overwhelmingly Aug. 25 to authorize a strike if a deal with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis is not reached before their contract expires Sept. 14. Shuler characterized that vote as part of a trend in stronger union activity in the face of “a systematic attack” on labor, including many state laws that make union organizing more difficult and the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed workers in unionized workplaces to opt out of paying union dues. “What’s different about this Labor Day is the awakening happening all across this country,” Shuler said. “It’s up in Detroit, where just a few days ago, 97% of our UAW members said they were ready to walk off the job and push back against the Big Three.”
Two-thirds of Americans support labor unions, AFL-CIO poll says
Spectrum News
By Susan Carpenter and Cassie Semyon
Aug. 29, 2023
“Working people are reclaiming our power. Working people are taking on the companies that have exploited us for a long time now,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said Tuesday during the group’s inaugural state of the unions address, just days before the Labor Day holiday weekend. “The state of the unions is on the rise. It’s on the rise with every strike, with every picket line, every win we deliver for workers all over this country.”
UAW members at Detroit 3 overwhelmingly OK strike
People’s World
By Press Associates
Aug. 29, 2023
By a 97%-3% margin, United Auto Workers members at the Detroit 3 car companies—GM, Ford and Stellantis, formerly FiatChrysler—authorized their board to call a strike against all three when their contracts expire on September 14. And from all indications, the two sides are far apart, with the car companies reporting record profits while also closing U.S. plants. Meanwhile, the union’s 150,000 members at the firms push to gain pay, recoup lost pensions and cost-of-living increases and end the hated two-tier wage system. “As a union, we have to lead the fight for economic justice—not just for ourselves but for the entire working class,” new UAW President Shawn Fain told an early-August rally of members in Warren, Mich.
Labor leader Shuler touts union support as possible auto strikes loom
Idaho Capital Sun
By Jacob Fischler
Aug. 29, 2023
Support for unions is growing amid shifting working conditions and labor disputes around the country, according to Liz Shuler, the president of the largest labor group in the country. In Shuler’s comments Tuesday at the AFL-CIO’s first State of the Unions event in Washington, she cited polling that showed support for unions cut across party lines. The AFL-CIO commissioned a poll by GBAO, a Democratic polling and research firm, that found 91% of Democratic respondents and 52% of Republicans approved of unions, with even higher numbers supporting the right to strike. United Auto Workers at Detroit’s “Big Three” car companies voted overwhelmingly Aug. 25 to authorize a strike if a deal with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis is not reached before their contract expires Sept. 14.
Nurses union to file unfair labor complaint against Oahu care home
Honolulu Star Advertiser
By Nina Wu
Aug. 29, 2023
The Hawaii Nurses Association says it is filing an unfair labor practice charge against the management at Oahu Care Facility, a nursing home in Moiliili. The union said after months of contentious negotiations over a new contract — and a seven-day strike in July — on behalf of the facility’s registered nurses and certified nurse aides, it was hopeful.
Majority of Americans support labor unions, new poll finds. See what else the data shows.
USA Today
By Sara Chernikoff
Aug. 29, 2023
Widespread strikes and contract negotiations brought unions to the forefront of the news this summer, coining the term "summer of strikes." As Labor Day approaches, strike activity remains steady and doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. How does the public feel about labor unions and hot strike summer? More than two-thirds of Americans support unions, according to a recent poll from The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO). That number is even higher for people younger than 30, 88% percent saying they support labor unions.
Cleveland-Cliffs, USW union reach tentative labor agreement
Reuters
By Reuters
Aug. 29, 2023
U.S. steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (CLF.N) said on Tuesday it had reached a tentative agreement with the United Steelworkers (USW) union on a new 3-year labor agreement for its Northshore mining operations. The agreement will cover about 430 workers at Cliff's Northshore Mine in Minnesota and is pending ratification by USW's local union membership, the steel producer said in a statement.
Hundreds of nurses join actors, writers on strike to share one message: 'Flip the script on AI'
ABC7
By Christiane Cordero
Aug. 30, 2023
Hundreds of nurses joined Hollywood writers and actors on the picket lines Tuesday for a solidarity march that focused on their concerns regarding artificial intelligence. Registered nurses with National Nurses United, the nation's largest union of registered nurses, rallied around the Sunset Bronson Studios, many with signs that read, "Flip the script on AI."
PLCB workers ratify a new four-year union contract
WTAJ
By Hayden Thompson
Aug. 29, 2023
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) workers who are members of UFCW Local 1776 have voted to ratify a new four-year union contract with Pennsylvania. “Our hardworking PLCB members have demonstrated their commitment to the Commonwealth, and this contract contains several provisions that signify just how much our members are valued,” UFCW Local 1776 President Wendell Young IV said.
IN THE STATES
Transportation Secretary Buttigieg to visit Indianapolis, Gary, Elkhart
WISH TV
By Gregg Montgomery
Aug. 28, 2023
In Indianapolis on Thursday, Buttigieg will join U.S. Rep. André Carson, a Democrat from Indianapolis, to visit a Sheet Metal Workers apprenticeship facility at 10:30 a.m. The news release from the Department of Transportation did not say where the facility is located, but the local union has a training center at 2828 E. 45th St., which is located between Allisonville Road and Binford Boulevard on the northeast side.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Georgia labor union representatives push for Hyundai to commit to protecting workers
WABE
By Marlon Hyde
Aug. 29, 2023
In a letter to the CEO of Hyundai Motors on August 27, a coalition of labor union members from Alabama and Georgia say they’re deeply concerned with what they say is Hyundai’s track record of violating worker’s rights. Hannah Perkins, an AFL-CIO representative, said that the collation sent the letter to Honda Motor America and their CEO to negotiate a binding community benefits agreement that ensures safe family wage jobs while addressing the needs of local communities. “Especially [in] rural Alabama and Georgia, want to make sure that not only are those good paying jobs, but you know, those are safe jobs,” said Perkins.