MUST READ
AFL-CIO: 'Optimistic' we 'will ultimately get what we need' from Biden, Democrats
Just the News
By Nicholas Ballasy
July 7, 2021
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler expressed optimism that the Biden administration and the Democrat-led Congress will be able to deliver on passage of $4 trillion in new federal spending that President Biden has proposed related to physical infrastructure and new social safety net programs. "We are optimistic that we will ultimately get what we need," Shuler said during an online discussion of unionization in the green economy envisaged by Democrats. "We support the American Jobs Plan. We support the American Families Plan. All of those elements are essential so we believe we will get them eventually. We're lobbying very hard for that." Shuler said the AFL-CIO supports the infrastructure deal the White House reached with a bipartisan group of senators. "We think it has a lot of sorely needed investment," she said. "We need to get this across the finish line."
POLITICS
America Magazine
By Kevin Clarke
July 1, 2021
Like most other states, Oregon does not have specific standards for shutting down farm worksites because of heat. In a statement released on June 30, Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, Oregon’s largest Latino farmworker union, pointed out that the state’s agricultural workers have endured wildfire smoke, a winter storm and now a devastating heat wave. “Workers should not have to decide between their health and a paycheck,” P.C.U.N. said.
TRANSPORTATION
Federal Watchdog to Study Freight Rail Safety Following Motherboard Investigation
Vice
By Aaron Gordon
July 7, 2021
"With safety as our focus, frontline railroaders across crafts and the unions that represent these workers look forward to providing their perspective to GAO’s examination of PSR," said Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department, a labor organization consisting of 33 transportation unions. "We are hopeful that by examining the alarming practices and conditions rail employees experience daily, the GAO will shed light on this out-of-control business model.”
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Business Insider
By Juliana Kaplan and Andy Kiersz
July 7, 2021
Ahead of Wednesday's data release, Insider spoke to Dr. William Spriggs, an economics professor at Howard University and chief economist at the AFL-CIO, and he offered three reasons America is seeing so many people say, "I quit." Spriggs told Insider that the number of people retiring is a "huge factor" in the current labor market, as the pandemic looks to have accelerated the end of workers' careers, especially in certain industries. "I think a lot of people who were 59 or 60 last year" got enough support so they were prepared to retire in 2021. This created a loop where now-empty roles need to be backfilled, and none of the firms hiring had expected they've have to make up for so many retirees.
JOINING TOGETHER
The Topeka Capital-Journal
By India Yarborough
July 7, 2021
Community support is rolling in for Frito-Lay workers on strike in Topeka. Going into the second day of the first strike outside Topeka's Frito-Lay plant in nearly 50 years, a local relief fund had been set up to cover some union members' utility bills, as area businesses showed support for those on the front line. Members of Local 218 of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers Union went on strike Monday after about 400 members voted down over the weekend a recent contract offer from Frito-Lay. The strike will last for an indefinite amount of time, and workers participating in the boycott are going without pay until it concludes.
IN THE STATES
The Center Square
By Joe Mueller
July 7, 2021
Several organizations lobbied against the legislation, including the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys (MATA), the American Association of Retired Persons of Missouri, the AFL-CIO, and VOYCE, a long-term care ombudsman program. “The bill will block Missourians’ access to justice by taking away their right to hold wrongdoers accountable in cases that aren’t strictly related to COVID because the language is written so broadly,” MATA wrote in opposition to the bill.
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
The Clean Economy Revolution Will Be Unionized
Center for American Progress
By Rita Cliffton, Malkie Wall, Sam Ricketts, Kevin Lee, Jessica Eckdish, and Karla Walter
July 7, 2021
In Maine, there is also growing support for clean energy and ambitious climate policies among labor unions in the state.45 Maine’s Green New Deal—which passed with the backing of the Maine AFL-CIO in June 201946—creates strategies necessary to the creation of clean energy jobs and a robust clean energy economy in the state and requires opportunities for training and retraining workers and the development of registered apprenticeship programs.