MUST READ
Senate confirms Calif. labor secretary Su to DOL's No. 2 spot
Reuters
By Daniel Wiessner
July 13, 2021
Liz Shuler, the secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, in a tweet on Tuesday called Su "a fierce leader who will ensure the @USDOL can deliver on its mission and improve the lives of working people across the nation."
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Daily on Energy: Labor to pressure Biden to deliver unionized clean energy workforce
Yahoo! News
By Josh Siegel and Abby Smith
July 8, 2021
Labor leaders want to see President Joe Biden’s aggressive climate policies include strong protections for workers to guarantee that the clean energy jobs created would carry the same benefits that unionized fossil fuel jobs do. The AFL-CIO, the country’s biggest labor group, is throwing its support behind those policies, but it is promising to keep the pressure on Biden to fulfill his promise of a unionized clean energy workforce. He’ll be starting from a low baseline. “The pattern that we’ve seen is the family-supporting union jobs are in the traditional sector” such as fossil fuels, said Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO’s secretary-treasurer, in a virtual event yesterday hosted by the Center for American Progress.
JOINING TOGETHER
Great Lakes Brewing Company Workers Take Steps to Unionize with United Steelworkers
Scene
By Sam Allard
July 12, 2021
Production workers for Great Lakes Brewing Company, the oldest and largest craft brewery in Ohio, signed union cards at the United Steelworkers union hall Sunday in a declaration of their intent to unionize. An internal organizing committee had been working through the ebbs and flows of the pandemic to build support for a union. And after talking with a number of local chapters, the committee voted to affiliate with USW for its rich history in Northeast Ohio, its democratic processes and its abundance of resources for local workers.
Hartford Courant
By Daniela Altimari
July 13, 2021
Sal Luciano, president of the AFL-CIO in Connecticut, said unionized state employees have made numerous concessions over the years. “With the concessions we’ve had six years of zeroes in the last 11 years,” Luciano said, referring to years without pay increases.
Working in DC to Present WORKING, A MUSICAL and More This Labor Day
Broadway World
By Chloe Rabinowitz
July 13, 2021
This Labor Day, Working in DC will host a public celebration of the dignity of work through the lens of history, labor, justice, and the arts. Presented in collaboration with The Labor Heritage Foundation and hosted by the AFL-CIO, the performances will take place outdoors on Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC. The headliner event of this 3 weekend-long celebration is Working, A Musical - a joyful musical highlighting workers in America - based on the acclaimed literature of Studs Terkel with music by some of Broadway's best known composers (Stephen Schwartz, Micki Grant, Lin-Manuel Miranda) .
IN THE STATES
Mills vetoes bill that would give wronged workers more access to court system
Maine Beacon
By Evan Popp
July 13, 2021
After Mills’ veto Monday, other organizations, such as the Maine AFL-CIO, also criticized the governor’s decision. “If a worker steals from their boss you can bet they will suffer consequences, but employers too often get away with stealing from workers,” the group wrote on Twitter. “Without this bill, more Maine workers will find they have no recourse when they are stolen from or abused in the workplace.”