JOINING TOGETHER
Thousands of Culinary Union members to picket on Las Vegas Strip on Thursday
Nevada Public Radio
By Kristen DeSilva and Rick Andrews
Oct. 11, 2023
For the first time in nearly two decades, thousands of hospitality workers will picket on the Las Vegas Strip as negotiations continue for a new 5-year union contract. On Thursday, members of the Culinary and Bartenders Union will picket in front of eight different casinos run by MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment Corporation. Union officials say contracts covering 43,000 workers have expired, and there is now an active labor dispute with 18 casino properties across the Las Vegas Strip. Bargaining talks have been underway since April, but no agreement for a new contract has been reached.
SAG-AFTRA, studio negotiations hit snag as actors’ strike goes on
Los Angeles Times
By Meg James and Wendy Lee
Oct. 11, 2023
Negotiations between actors union SAG-AFTRA and the Hollywood studios hit a snag Wednesday over issues including the union’s demand that cast members receive a share of the revenue generated by streaming shows, according to sources close to the talks who were not authorized to comment. Wednesday’s breakdown came amid rising tensions over a lack of compromises more than a week after the sides resumed talks in hopes of ending a months-long actors’ strike that has crippled Hollywood’s production economy and publicity machine.
City of Moline approves three-year labor agreement with public employee union
WQAD
By Maddie Franz
Oct. 11, 2023
The City of Moline successfully ended negotiations with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1132, coming to a three-year labor agreement to improve pay and benefits Wednesday. All 142 members of Local 1132 will receive wage increases each of the three years, paid parental leave for childbirth and adoption and healthcare premium limits. Moline is the first city in the area to offer paid parental leave, according to a press release.
Nurse unions fight for standardized staff-to-patient ratios
News Channel 20
By Caroleina Hassett
Oct. 11, 2023
Before lawmakers return for their fall veto session in the next couple of weeks, nurses unions are pushing for an act that would limit the staff-to-patient ratios in hospitals, however, this does not come without some conflict. “We are seeing our patients suffer, and we are seeing them die, and we have been sounding the alarm for decades," said Michelle Mahon, assistant director of nursing practice for National Nurses United.”
U.A.W. Expands Strike to Ford Plant in Kentucky
The New York Times
By Neal E. Boudette
Oct. 11, 2023
The United Automobile Workers union expanded its strike against Ford Motor on Wednesday evening, calling on 8,700 workers to walk off the job at a critical plant in Kentucky. The plant makes some of Ford’s most profitable offerings, including the Super Duty version of its F-Series trucks and the Ford Expedition, a full-size sport utility vehicle.
IN THE STATES
The new head of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO ascends at a golden moment for unions
Boston Globe
By Yvonne Abraham
Oct. 11, 2023
This is quite a moment for labor in this country. As Chrissy Lynch ascends to lead the Massachusetts AFL-CIO this week, a Gallup poll shows a whopping 71 percent of Americans approve of unions. You have to go way back to 1965 to find that kind of support. Lynch points out that young people — the future of the economy — are even more enthusiastic. “It gives me a lot of hope,” Lynch said in an interview shortly before she was elected president of the AFL-CIO on Wednesday afternoon. “Seeing it play out with the auto workers, seeing labor organizing happening in sectors where we have never seen it before … it is everywhere.”
4 takeaways from Josh Stein’s first campaign rally as Democratic candidate for NC governor
The News & Observer
By Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan
Oct. 10, 2023
The North Carolina State AFL-CIO, which is the state’s largest group of unions, endorsed Stein in June. State AFL-CIO President MaryBe McMillan said at the time that they were endorsing Stein because he “has always fought to protect working people. He has always had our back, and in his battle to lead North Carolina toward a better future for all, we will have his.” McMillan was also at the event Tuesday, with Stein thanking her as he took the stage.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Work Shouldn’t Result in a Death Sentence, but for too Many, it is
Insider NJ
By Bob Hennelly
Oct. 11, 2023
It took over a 110 years, but this week the Greenwich Village site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire where 146 mostly young immigrant women garment workers lost their lives will be the scene of the dedication of a permanent memorial of the mass casualty event that inspired a national movement for workplace safety that still resonates today. On March 25, 1911, the Triangle workers had to jump several stories to their deaths because the factory owners, who were staunchly anti-union, had locked the exits. The factory owners had resisted signing a union contract, unlike other garment factory owners who settled with the garment workers after their 1909 general strike when 20,000 garment workers, mostly women, took to the streets. They won a double digit pay raise and the recognition of their union.