Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Why workers and employers both need paid family leave (Opinion)
Labor Tribune
By David McCall
Feb. 12, 2024
Workers across the country need the same peace of mind while recovering from surgery or sickness. They need time to care for ill loved ones, bond with infants, or welcome other new family members without risking their jobs or forfeiting the income needed to keep their households afloat. And they need to be empowered to escape domestic violence, ensure family stability during a service member’s deployment, or confront other emergencies without throwing themselves at the mercy of employers.
ORGANIZING
REI workers win union election at Castleton store
Indy Star
By Binghui Huang
Feb. 11, 2024
REI employees at a Castleton store voted Friday to join the United Food and Commercial Workers, making it the ninth unionized location for the national chain, according to UFCW. Organizers at the store said they are looking for more stability in scheduling, more hours for part-time and full-time employees and better work-life balance to spend weekends with family and friends.
Foxes Boxes union bakery celebrates one-year anniversary
Labor Tribune
By Elizabeth Donald
Feb. 12, 2024
A year after opening, Foxes Boxes, the first union bakery on the Illinois side celebrated with a vendor fair and plenty of treats. Owner Tanya Fox has kept up her handmade, from-scratch menu and won a couple of regional awards in her first year. “It’s been a bit tough but we are still here,” she said. The summer was difficult as regular diners went on vacation and got out of their routine, but they made it up with the farmers’ markets in the area,” Fox said. Being the only union bakery in the area certainly helped, she said. Foxes Boxes won an award for their catering business this year, and a lot of their catering customers said they chose them because they are a union shop. In addition, state representative candidate Nick Raftopoulos held a meet-and-greet at Foxes Boxes recently to hear residents’ concerns, and told Fox he chose them because they are union. Kim Bartholomew, president of UNITE HERE Local 74, which represents the workers at Foxes Boxes, said the response has been really positive. “I think a union place like this is needed in the area,” she said. “I think they’ve done an awesome job here.” And the local does its best to remind other unions to patronize the bakery. “We certainly use them all the time,” Bartholomew said.
JOINING TOGETHER
Flight attendants from 4 unions say they will picket multiple airlines Tuesday in global protest
KERA News
By Bill Zeeble
Feb. 12, 2024
Flight attendant unions representing more than 100,000 flight attendants say picketing scheduled for Tuesday will be the largest action by attendants in aviation history. More than two-thirds of U.S. flight attendants are currently in contract negotiations.
Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Centric reach tentative labor agreement with hotel workers union
Long Beach Business Journal
By Brandon Richardson
Feb. 12, 2024
A tentative contract agreement has been reached between five Southern California hotels, including two in Long Beach, and the union representing workers. Unite Here Local 11, which represents more than 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona, announced Friday a tentative agreement with the Hyatt Regency Long Beach and Hyatt Centric The Pike Long Beach. Sofitel, Hyatt Shay in Culver City and Hyatt Andaz in West Hollywood also reached tentative agreements with the union. Friday’s announcement comes after more than seven months of work actions and demands for higher pay and improved benefits.
Philly’s UArts Faculty Reach Hard-Won Contract Agreement
Hyperallergic
By Elaine Velie
Feb. 12, 2024
Faculty at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts (UArts) won a tentative union contract last week, a day after the collective announced a vote to authorize a strike. Professors have until Wednesday, February 14, to ratify the agreement, the first since they unionized in 2020. The contract was hard-won: The bargaining team met with UArts administration more than 70 times since the start of negotiations in March 2021.
Union helps ex-Adda workers secure compensation package
Trib Live
By Ryan Deto
Feb. 12, 2024
Nearly 30 workers at a recently closed Pittsburgh coffee chain will receive compensation packages of one month’s pay and other benefits, a labor union announced Monday. Adda Coffee & Tea House abruptly closed all four of its locations in January, claiming it had been running at a loss since the business started in 2016. That left dozens of baristas and kitchen workers without jobs. Workers who were starting to organize a labor union before the closures continued their efforts despite losing their jobs, a critical factor in helping them secure a compensation package, said Wendell Young, president of United Food and Commercial Workers union 1776, which helped the former Adda’s employees.
STATE LEGISLATION
N.J. Family Leave Act change could expand job protection for workers at small companies
WHYY
By David Matthau
Feb. 12, 2024
Eric Richard, the legislative director for the New Jersey AFL-CIO, said modifying the Family Leave Act to cover employees in smaller companies is a matter of fairness. “Every employee pays for this benefit, there’s a payroll deduction that comes out of every worker’s paycheck that funds the paid family leave program,” he said. Richard said it makes no sense that approximately 1.5 million workers in smaller companies in the Garden State are afraid to take advantage of family leave “because they have no job protection, employers are allowed to fire those people.”
Labor Unions take another step forward as the right-to-work law repeal starts Tuesday
WILX
By Justin Kent
Feb. 12, 2024
Tuesday, Feb. 13 will be the first day of the right-to-work repeal. Originally enacted in 2012 by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, the law allowed union workers to opt out of paying dues and fees but still receive union representation. Now all members of a union can be required to pay for the cost of representation at the bargaining table. Something that Ron Bieber the President of Michigan AFL-CIO said this repeal will make for stronger unions and in turn a stronger economy. Biber said, “If we want to make Michigan a place where people want to come and raise a family and build their careers for the long haul, it is critical that we have got these strong workplace protections.”
IN THE STATES
Minnesota Is Headed for a Workers vs. Bosses Showdown That’s 10 Years in the Making
Workday Magazine
By Amie Stager
Feb. 12, 2024
This spring, thousands of workers across Minnesota will have expired contracts all at the same time. Among them are healthcare workers, janitors, security officers, airport workers, construction workers, educators, education support professionals, and public workers. Organizers within Minnesota’s labor movement are making use of this unique moment to exert joint pressure on employers across sectors to meet workers’ demands. Over the past decade, unions and community groups in Minnesota have been creating partnerships with a shared analysis of power, and holding employers and leaders accountable, all while building an alignment strategy that they say grows their organizations and wins more for their members. It’s culminating in a joint escalation, with a deadline of March 2 kicking off a week of action.These unions and community groups have coordinated specific demands addressing various community needs under the four tenets of dignified work, good schools, stable housing, and a livable planet. The unions and groups include SEIU Local 26, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos En La Lucha (CTUL), Inquilinxs Unidxs Por Justicia, SEIU Local 284, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59 (MFT), SPFE, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, Laborers Local 363, and ATU Local 1005. Allied unions and groups standing in solidarity include Minnesota AFL CIO, Minneapolis Uber and Lyft Association, Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, UNITE HERE Local 17, Wildcat Cabaret, AFSCME Local 3800, and CWA 7250.