JOINING TOGETHER
One year after walking out, workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette remain on strike
WESA
By Jillian Forstadt
Oct. 18, 2023
It’s been one year since journalists and editors at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette walked off the job over wages and health care, joining members of their sister unions who had gone on strike two weeks prior. In the 365 days since, the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh — which represents the paper’s newsroom employees — has remained on strike, and bargaining sessions with Post-Gazette management have brought little progress. Since the strike began, newsroom employees on the picket line have received support from their parent union, The NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA). At a rally marking one year since the strike began earlier this month, recently appointed CWA president Claude Cummings Jr. pledged to “unite our union and our country around this fight.” Cummings has led the organization only since July, but he’s a longtime member of the union’s executive board. He said union leadership, himself included, could have done more during the past year to pressure company officials.
UAW strike ramps up as Kentucky facility walks off job
NPR
By Jacob Munoz
Oct. 18, 2023
The United Auto Workers strike now includes one of the largest and most profitable Ford plants. At the Kentucky facility, 8,700 workers walked off the job. Ford says it will have a huge impact.
Milkbone plant machinists go on strike
WGRZ
By WGRZ Staff
Oct. 18, 2023
Machinists at Buffalo's Milkbone plant are now on the picket line. Contract negotiations between the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and the JM Smucker Company, which owns the plant, broke down over the weekend. Workers tell 2 On Your Side, it's all about fair wages and keeping up with inflation. "I did reach out to the company yesterday and told the company we are willing and able to continue bargaining any time any place and that offer still stands," said Rick Darn, IAM Representative.
85,000 Kaiser Permanente workers begin voting on ‘landmark’ new pact
People’s World
By Press Associates
Oct. 18, 2023
Some 85,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers, members of a 12-union-local coalition who had to stage a three-day strike in early October over bosses’ then-refusal to budge in talks, began voting on Oct. 18 on what bargainers called a “landmark” new contract. “Good news to hear positive developments in collective bargaining with Kaiser Permanente, especially when it involves addressing staffing shortfalls and concerns and protecting jobs,” said Tamara Rubyn, president/business manager of OPEIU Local 29.
IN THE STATES
New report shows North Dakota as deadliest state to work
Grand Forks Herald
By C.S. Hagen
Oct. 18, 2023
Once again, North Dakota has been ranked the most dangerous state in the nation for workers, taking the top spot for the most work-related fatalities per capita. Typically, the AFL-CIO compiles annual reports about worker safety, but the latest report by Atticus, a law firm that focuses on workplace safety, reflected what the AFL-CIO reports every year, Landis Larson, AFL-CIO president, said. North Dakota is an unsafe state to work and has always ranked in the top five most dangerous states, he said. “Your odds are higher” that a worker will die from a random accident while on the job in North Dakota, Larson said.