Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
JOINING TOGETHER
Alaska Airlines flight attendants to stage informational picket at SEA Airport
KING 5
By KING 5 Staff
Dec. 19, 2023
Alaska Airlines flight attendants are staging an informational picket at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) Tuesday at noon as the union works on negotiating a new contract with the company. The union representing Alaska flight attendants, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said the company was unable to agree to their initial proposals, saying they were not "economically feasible."
Nurses’ strike ends at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
New York Amsterdam News
By Karen Juanita Carrillo
Dec. 19, 2023
The nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH), members of the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 4-200, have ratified a new three-year contract with the New Brunswick, N.J., health facility. The new contract saw votes in favor from 88% of union members, which won’t expire until January 30, 2026. The hospital’s 1,700 nurses are expected to be back on the job by January 1, 2024. “Your Union Bargaining Committee is proud to inform you that the union and the hospital have come to an agreement that addresses enforceable safe staffing standards, reasonable wage increases, and many other enhancements that will improve benefits for nurses to levels greater than existed when we commenced our labor strike,” USW Local 4-200 announced to its members on its website.
CNBC
By Gili Malinsky
Dec. 19, 2023
Workers made their voices heard in 2023. Between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, there were 393 strikes in the U.S. involving more than 500,000 workers, according to Johnnie Kallas, a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and director of the university’s Labor Action Tracker. This year saw more work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers than any year since 2013, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And they made significant gains. In the first quarter of 2023 alone, union-represented workers saw an average 7% wage hike in the first year of their contracts, according to Bloomberg Law. That’s the biggest wage hike in a single quarter since 2007.
Local 1363 Machinist Union at Valley Ford Truck goes on strike
Cleveland 19
By Brian Koster
Dec. 19, 2023
Twenty-four mechanics and other members of Local 1363 of the Machinists Union went on strike at Valley Ford Truck on Canal Road in Valley View Monday. According to a press release from the Cleveland Chapter of the AFL-CIO, the Company gave its “Last, Best, and Final Offer.” Workers are striking over a reduction in retirement benefits and fair pay for work performed. There is also an active unfair labor practice charge against the Company.
The Newest Union Members Are Undergrads
The New York Times
By Alan Blinder
Dec. 19, 2023
Resident assistants, known as R.A.s, are on the march, part of a wave of unionization by undergraduates who work in places like dining halls and libraries, and attend schools like Harvard, the University of Oregon and Western Washington University. This year alone, around 20,000 undergraduates, many of them at California State University, the largest four-year public university system in the country, have cast ballots in union elections or secured the opportunity to vote.
Minneapolis teachers union files for mediation
Star Tribune
By Mara Klecker
Dec. 19, 2023
The teachers chapter of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers on Tuesday requested state mediation in its contract negotiations with Minneapolis Public Schools. The Minneapolis teachers union has met with district leaders in several livestreamed negotiation sessions that the district called "extremely productive" for the next contract. The current contract expired in June.