LABOR AND ECONOMY
Labor market grew 353,000 in January, soaring past expectations
The Washington Post
By Lauren Kaori Gurley
Feb. 2, 2024
The U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs in January, a shockingly strong pickup, even as higher interest rates continue to ripple through the economy. The unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent, and has now been below 4 percent for two years, the longest stretch of unemployment since the 1960s.
ORGANIZING
Smith College student dining workers vote for union
Daily Hampshire Gazette
By James Pentland
Feb. 3, 2024
Dining workers at Smith College voted overwhelmingly Thursday in favor of organizing as United Smith Student Workers (USSW), a new union affiliated with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 153. “I am so excited that my co-workers and I are joining the wave of undergraduate workers unionizing to fight for a better workplace and a better campus,” Sasha Rtishchev, a sophomore on the organizing committee who works at the Dawes dining hall, said in a statement.
JOINING TOGETHER
Fox 5 Vegas
By Matt Kling
Feb. 2, 2024
The Culinary Union early Friday announced that they reached tentative agreement with both Sahara Las Vegas and El Cortez on new 5-year contracts covering 850 hospitality workers between the 2 properties. “Congratulations to workers on winning the BEST CONTRACT EVER!” the union wrote in a social media post. The union initially set 5:00 A.M. deadline Friday morning for workers at those properties as well as other downtown and Strip properties without a deal. However, the union revealed that the strike deadline has been pushed back to Monday morning at 5:00 A.M. for 8 resorts without deals.
Sign that strikes are back in fashion: Workers walk out at Vogue magazine
Northwest Labor Press
By Don Mcintosh
Feb. 2, 2024
The NewsGuild organized the strike to protest what they say is Condé Nast’s bad faith bargaining in negotiations over layoffs. The company is proposing to lay off 94 members, nearly 20% of the bargaining unit. In January management reduced its own proposal for severance pay, a classic case of “regressive bargaining” that violates the requirement under federal law to bargain in good faith.
McLaren Support Staff Hold Informational Picket Over Working Without Contract
WSGW
By News Desk
Feb. 2, 2024
Auxiliary staff at McLaren Bay Region Hospital held an informational picket Thursday in front of the hospital. UNITE HERE Local 24 representing around 300 support staff says they have been working without a contract for more than a year and want to see better staff-to-patient ratios and better pay. The union says the hospital is in a staffing crisis, which is affecting patient safety and preventing them from getting the care they need and deserve.
Union reaches deal with 4 hotel-casinos, 3 others still poised to strike at start of Super Bowl week
AP
By Staff
Feb. 3, 2024
A union representing hospitality workers has reached a tentative agreement with four hotel-casinos in downtown Las Vegas as employees at three other properties remained poised to strike Monday when the city kicks off Super Bowl week. By Saturday morning, the Culinary Workers Union had announced it had reached a tentative five-year contract with Binion’s, Four Queens, Fremont and Main Street that covers about 1,000 workers.
RTC and union come to tentative agreement, drivers avoid strike in Las Vegas
KTNV Las Vegas
By Jarah Wright
Feb. 3, 2024
A potential bus strike has been avoided in Southern Nevada. On Saturday, Transdev and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1637, a union for Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada bus drivers, announced they have reached a tentative agreement on their collective bargaining agreement.
STATE LEGISLATION
Virginia House of Delegates Passes Bill to Raise Minimum Wage to $15 by 2026
Blue Virginia
By Staff
Feb. 2, 2024
The Virginia AFL-CIO today celebrated the advancement of Delegate Jeion Ward’s bill to raise the state minimum wage as it successfully passed the House floor by a vote of 51-49. Virginia’s minimum wage has incrementally increased from $7.25 per hour to $12 per hour over the last three years. HB1 builds on the progress started in 2020 by raising the minimum wage to $13.50 by 2025 and $15 per hour by 2026.
“No one who works a full-time job should struggle to make ends meet, but wages have not kept up with inflation,” said Virginia AFL-CIO President Doris Crouse-Mays. “We commend the House of Delegates for standing with workers and passing our union sister Delegate Ward’s legislation. The governor has said he wants to address the cost of living, so he can start by signing this bill and giving Virginia’s minimum wage workers a raise.”
Designers of Kansas worker compensation reform bill urge Legislature to stick to script
KAKE
By Kansas Reflector
Feb. 3, 2024
Four business attorneys and four labor lawyers presented the Kansas Legislature a compromise package of changes to the workers’ compensation system that would curb unwarranted claims and administrative costs while raising the cap on financial awards to injured workers and index the maximum payout to inflation. Worker interests during negotiations were represented by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations or AFL-CIO, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association.
IN THE STATES
Must Read Alaska Show: Joelle Hall of AFL-CIO
Must Read Alaska
By Suzanne Downing
Feb. 2, 2024
Joelle Hall, president of the AFL-CIO in Alaska, explained today on the Must Read Alaska Show that Joey Merrick, Business Manager for Laborers’ Local 341 has started a company to invest in the Alaska LNG project. The company, Alaska Gasline & LNG, is working with two firms — a labor insurance and investment company and an asset management business — to take control of the long-awaited LNG project. Join host John Quick to hear the discussion with Hall. In this episode, Hall opens up about her journey to Alaska, her experiences in the U.S. Army, and her ascent to leading the state’s largest union federation.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
When snow and ice hit, union members were the first to respond
Northwest Labor Press
By Mallory Gruben
Feb. 2, 2024
Michael Faulkner’s Jan. 13 work shift was a race against the clock and the cold. Faulkner, a bridge maintenance specialist with Multnomah County, usually repairs damaged roads or broken mechanical parts on bridges. But when winter weather rolls in — like the snow and ice storm that hit the Portland area mid-January — his duties shift to clearing bridge decks for drivers and keeping drawbridges working.
CIVIL, HUMAN, AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Joe Madison, Legendary Radio Host and Civil Rights Champion, Dies at 74
BET
By Madison J. Gray
Feb. 2, 2024
A legendary voice is no longer. Civil rights activist and SiriusXM talk show host Joe Madison, who was among the most influential commentators on race and politics in the country, has died according to an announcement released by his family on his website. He was 74. Known as the “Black Eagle,” Madison traversed between a broadcast career and social activism. He also garnered a reputation for bringing contemporary issues, particularly those impacting the African American community, to the forefront. Since 2007, his morning drive show on SiriusXM’s Urban View sported an audience of some reported 26 million listeners each day. In 2022, Madison signed a multi-year deal to stay with the network.
RETIREMENT SECURITY
Bill in Congress could lead to cuts in Social Security
Northwest Labor Press
By Mallory Gruben and Don Mcintosh
Feb. 2, 2024
The committee vote came a day after the AFL-CIO delivered a letter to all members of Congress urging a “no” vote. “(The bill) would set the stage for the kind of fiscal brinksmanship that demands cuts to workers’ Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits as the price of preventing government shutdowns,” said AFL-CIO Government Affairs Director William Samuel in the letter. “The lack of transparency and accountability in such a process raises significant doubts about the intentions behind the approach, such as substantial benefit cuts in Social Security and other federal programs. We share the White House’s characterization of this commission as a potential ‘death panel’ for Social Security.”