Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
POLITICS
Biden Orders US Contractors to Reveal Salary Ranges in Job Ads
Bloomberg Law
By Riddhi Setty
Jan. 29, 2024
The Biden administration plans to require companies with federal government contracts to disclose expected salary ranges in job postings, as part of a broader effort to boost race and gender pay equity. US contractors, as well as federal agencies, will also be prohibited from using a job applicant’s compensation history to set their starting pay. “These new actions adopt commonsense policies that will help pay millions of workers fairly, close gender and racial wage gaps, and yield tangible benefits for the federal government and federal contractors,” President Joe Biden said in a statement coinciding with the 15th anniversary of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. That law overturned a US Supreme Court decision that restricted when workers could file pay discrimination complaints.
ORGANIZING
Ocean Spray workers in Wisconsin Rapids will have union vote this week
Wisconsin Pubic Radio
By Joe Schulz
Jan. 29, 2024
Workers at an Ocean Spray plant in Wisconsin Rapids will vote this week on whether to unionize. He said the organization effort came after cuts to employees’ performance bonuses and increases to mandatory overtime caused by short-staffing. The employee said workers want to have a voice in decision-making in part because they enjoy their jobs. “We just want to have some structure so that we can have a decent work-life balance,” he told WPR. “When we put in an honest day’s work, we want to be rewarded for it.” Ocean Spray did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. About 94 workers at the plant will vote Thursday and Friday. If the vote is successful, they will be represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 965. The union local primarily represents utilities and manufacturing workers in south central and central Wisconsin.
At Meta’s Cambridge office, cafeteria workers fight to maintain union rights
Boston Globe
By Katie Johnston
Jan. 29, 2024
Outside the shiny Cambridge offices of the social-media behemoth Meta, in the heart of high-tech Kendall Square, an old-fashioned worker dispute is brewing. When Meta’s cafeteria workers joined the union Unite Here Local 26 in the summer of 2022, they thought their troubles were over, or at least alleviated. Wages went up by $4 an hour for many of the two dozen employees. Jobs felt more secure. But last month, when a new contractor started operating the tech giant’s dining facility, it announced it was throwing out the existing union contract and planned to negotiate a new one from scratch. The new employer, the Israeli food service provider Yarzin Sella, stopped contributing to the workers’ pension plans and instituted a new attendance policy that penalized workers for being late or missing shifts.
Brown prepared to voluntarily recognize postdoc union pending signature validation
The Brown Daily Herald
By Grace Hu
Jan. 28, 2024
The University will recognize the Brown Postdoc Labor Organization — the first dedicated union on campus for postdoctoral researchers and Dean’s Faculty Fellows — provided the signatories in BPLO’s petition for unionization are validated by federal mediators. BPLO filed a representation petition with the National Labor Relations board Dec. 28, roughly three weeks after they announced their intention to unionize. In administering the petition, organizers seek to demonstrate that they have enough support to form a union, according to Caroline Keroack, a postdoctoral research associate and BPLO organizer.
JOINING TOGETHER
Sports Illustrated union files labor grievance over mass layoffs
The Washington Post
By Ben Strauss
Jan. 29, 2024
The union representing the staff of Sports Illustrated filed an unfair labor practice charge against the magazine’s publisher, alleging it engaged in illegal union-busting tactics when it sent layoff notices to all of the unionized staff, according to a copy of the complaint reviewed by The Washington Post. According to the complaint, the NewsGuild alleges Arena fired employees because of their “support of the Union engagement in Union activities and/or engagement in other protected activities.”
The Onion Union Authorizes Unfair Labor Practice Strike Against Parent Company G/O Media
The Wrap
By Natalie Korach
Jan. 29, 2024
The Onion Union has authorized an Unfair Labor Practice strike, if parent company G/O Media refuses a new bargaining agreement prior to their current contact expiring on Jan. 31. The strike authorized in conjunction with The Writers Guild of America East, was approved by 97% of The Onion Union membership voting yes. Additionally, The WGAE’s Online Media Council members unanimously approved the strike. If a ULP strike is officially called on Jan. 31, pickets in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City will begin on Feb. 1.
PPS office staff union holds ‘practice picket’
KOIN
By Joyce Ogirri
Jan. 28, 2024
The union representing the Portland Public Schools office workers, educational assistants and para educators held a “practice picket” on Sunday outside Benson High School. The Portland Federation of School Professionals (PFSP) said they have been “fighting for a contract that offers living wages and safe dignified working conditions,” but are now in mediation since they have not been able to secure a new contract.
500 nurses at Chicago area hospital plan third strike since August
CBS News
By Todd Feurer
Jan. 29, 2024
Hundreds of nurses at a hospital in Joliet could be walking off the job again next week. The 500 union nurses at Ascension Saint Joseph in Joliet notified the hospital on Monday they plan to walk off the job for two days on Feb. 8 and 9. The same nurses also went on strike twice last year – in August and November – amid a contract standoff with management. The nurses said they're upset Ascension has implemented the terms of its "last, best and final" contract offer, which the union rejected in December, claiming it failed to deal with their concerns over staffing.
STATE LEGISLATION
Blue Virginia
By Blue Virginia
Jan. 29, 2024
The Virginia AFL-CIO today celebrated the advancement of a bill that would give the freedom to collectively bargain for a contract to public service workers across the Commonwealth. SB 374, patroned by Senator Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax), passed out of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee by a vote of 9-6 this afternoon. The legislation builds on a historic law that has led to a surge of public service workers winning collective bargaining rights in localities that include Fairfax, Richmond, Alexandria, Prince William County and Loudoun County. Senator Boysko’s bill would grant collective bargaining rights to state workers and employees of local governments in every zip code of Virginia.
IN THE STATES
SC labor unions decry remarks from Gov. McMaster: ‘We know we deserve a change’
Live 5 News
By Caitlin Ashbaugh
Jan. 28, 2024
Several South Carolina labor unions gathered on Sunday to denounce anti-union sentiments and support marginalized groups in the workforce. Twenty-six leaders and a handful of members met for a press conference at the Local 1422 International Longshoremen’s Association headquarters, located on Morrison Drive, to stand in unison. “We aren’t able to support ourselves like they were back in the 60s and 70s. Prices are rising, and we cannot keep up. We know we deserve a change,” Party for Socialism and Liberation member Luna Brazzle says. The stand comes days after South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster referred to “pro-union policies” in his State of the State Address.
Is it ‘union busting’? Bill moves to House floor, over worker objections
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Shannon Sollitt
Jan. 27. 2024
Members of a Utah Legislature committee told three rooms of public employees and union members — some in hard hats, neon vests and government-issued uniforms — that a bill they approved Friday would not jeopardize their unions or their membership. Some of those employees, who filled the meeting room and two overflow rooms, could not hide their disdain. “Now he’s calling us stupid?” someone in the crowd muttered after Rep. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, seemed to imply that some unions had too much control over their members.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
How local labor unions are helping members buy homes
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Michaelle Bond
Jan. 29, 2024
Last year was a big one in the Philadelphia region for labor activity, including the formation of new unions. To sell members on the value of a union card, the organizations not only advocate for higher wages and defend workers on the chopping block, they also offer benefits that touch on other aspects of workers’ lives. That includes helping members with the biggest purchase of their lives. And as home ownership has gotten less affordable in recent years, home buying help through unions has gained momentum. Staring down elevated mortgage interest rates and high home prices this fall, “I was honestly looking for just any route of relief,” said Thompson, 32, who works at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ medical center in West Philadelphia. Through Thompson’s membership in the American Federation of Government Employees, she and Prescod got paired with a real estate agent and a lender, who gave them “incredible” service and got them down payment assistance and an exclusive loan with no private mortgage insurance.