Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
MUST READ
Microsoft Agrees to Remain Neutral in Union Campaigns
The New York Times
By Noam Scheiber
Dec. 12, 2023
Punctuating a year of major gains for organized labor, Microsoft has announced that it will stay neutral if any group of U.S.-based workers seeks to unionize. Roughly 100,000 workers would be eligible to unionize under the framework, which was disclosed Monday by Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, and the A.F.L.-C.I.O. president, Liz Shuler, during a forum at the labor federation’s headquarters in Washington.
CIVIL, HUMAN, AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Lawsuit alleges forced prison labor scheme involving private employers
The Washington Post
By Aaron Gregg
Dec. 12, 2023
Ten current and former Alabama prisoners say they were forced to participate in work programs that raised money for the state while providing cheap labor to public- and private-sector employers, including franchisees of Burger King, McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The plaintiffs, who also include several labor unions and the criminal justice nonprofit Woods Foundation, say the system amounts to a “modern-day form of slavery” comparable to convict-leasing programs that existed after the Civil War. They accused more than two dozen defendants ― including state officials, government agencies and private employers ― of violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, among other charges.
Prisoners Sue Alabama, Calling Prison Labor System a ‘Form of Slavery’
The New York Times
By Michael Levenson
Dec. 12, 2023
A group of current and former prisoners sued the state of Alabama on Tuesday, saying that the state’s system of prison labor is a “modern-day form of slavery” that forces them to work, often for little or no money, for the benefit of government agencies and private businesses. In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, the 10 plaintiffs, who are all Black, say the state regularly denies incarcerated people parole so that they can be “leased” out to produce hundreds of millions of dollars in profits for local and state agencies and businesses every year.
JOINING TOGETHER
Student workers at UC Santa Barbara dining halls vote to create Student Labor Union Thursday
KEYT
By Andrew Gillies
Dec. 12, 2023
A supermajority of student dining hall workers at UC Santa Barbara signed authorization cards to create the Student Dining Labor Union last Thursday. This is the first undergraduate dining hall workers union on any University of California campus and the new union will join UAW Local 2865, the existing union for UC student workers, detailed Jasmine Rebollar, a current student dining hall worker and third-year student at UC Santa Barbara studying Aquatic Biology.
University of Chicago unions join forces in fight for a fair contract
Chicago Reader
By Pascal Sabino
Dec. 12, 2023
As the University of Chicago negotiates with labor groups representing nearly 6,000 workers, graduate student workers joined in solidarity with the university medical center’s nurses Monday, December 4, to demand the school to settle on a fair deal with workers. Nurses at the rally, represented by National Nurses United, called on the university to address staffing shortages and training plans that threaten their safety, as well as the quality of care delivered to patients. UChicago Medicine’s previous contract with nurses expired November 25, and workers want a new agreement that will protect both nurses and patients as hospital conditions continue to change.
Brainerd-area grocery store workers vote to authorize strike in days leading up to Christmas
CBS News Minnesota
By Aki Nace
Dec. 12, 2023
Roughly 650 grocery workers in the Brainerd area announced their intentions to go on strike in the days leading up to Christmas due to what they call unfair labor practices. Union members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 663 say they've been without a contract since Dec. 3, and have been subject to "interrogation, surveillance, and intimidation" from their employers.
Watsonville Community Hospital reaches tentative agreement with nurses union
Santa Cruz Sentinel
By Nick Sestanovich
Dec. 12, 2023
A tentative agreement has been reached between Watsonville Community Hospital and California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, the union representing its nurses. The previous contract had expired in May and was extended to Oct. 15, with the nurses unions and hospital commencing team beginning negotiations in July. The unions emphasized that a new contract prioritize retention and recruitment, patient safety and staffing protections, and maintaining health care benefits. After feeling that no significant movement was being made on the contract, nurses held an informational picket Nov. 13.
IN THE STATES
Compact
By Alex Hogan
Dec. 8, 2023
For nearly seven decades, the United Steelworkers Hall Local 1190 on South Third Street in Steubenville, Ohio, was more than just a place to file grievances and vote on contracts. The two-story brick building was central to the communal life of generations of steelworkers and their families. It was where they held wedding receptions; where their kids got Christmas gift bags; and where, sometimes, families first learned that their husband or son was not coming home from the mill. The union hall was also one of the only public venues in town where second- and third-generation immigrants, as well as black steelworkers, could mingle as part of one union family. At one point, Steubenville was home to some 30,000 steelworkers and an equally strong labor movement. But that was decades ago. With the local manufacturing economy destroyed, the steelworker hall is largely an artifact of the past, just another empty building on another empty block.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
AFL-CIO receives Generous Donation for Adopt A Family
KQ2
By Kevion Long
Dec. 12, 2023
The AFL CIO has participated in the Adopt a Family program for 40 years. This year was a little different after receiving a $10,000 donation from a gentleman who wanted to accommodate all of the senior citizen's that are in the Adopt a Family program. This donation also gave Adopt a Family $2,800 worth of gift certificates to help provide these senior citizens with the gifts they need. AFL-CIO Executive Director spoke about how much receiving this donation will mean to these senior citizens in need.
Local union celebrates its next chapter with new building
13 WHAM
By WHAM
Dec.12, 2023
Rochester workers are coming together to celebrate a new home for a local union. AFSCME Council 66 cut the ribbon on its new union hall in the former Diplomat party house on Lyell Avenue in Gates on Tuesday. The union represents many local workers from the Rochester and Webster school districts, along with sanitation employees and workers for the Town of Chili. The new space will be used for training, membership meetings, and business events. "We can put on a lot of different events that would be beneficial to the labor movement in this county," said Mike Rivera, the president of AFSCME Local 1635. "I think it’s a major accomplishment to show what Council 66 can do and what we are going to be able to do in the future.”