MUST READ
America’s most powerful union leaders have a message for capital
Financial Times
By Rana Foroohar
March 7, 2024
I sat down with four of America’s top union leaders — Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO (the federation of US trade unions); Claude Cummings, president of the Communications Workers of America; Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers; and Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, to talk about what’s happened and where they go from here. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of a conversation that took place on February 21 in Washington, DC. Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO: Seventy-one per cent of the public supports unions generally, and 88 per cent of young people under the age of 30 do. During the pandemic, workers who didn’t have a voice and didn’t have protections came forward and said, “You know what? A union is how we get there.” It was a record year last year, as you mentioned. I think 500,000 workers were on strike; 900,000 got double-digit wage increases through collective-bargaining agreements. We increased private-sector union membership by 200,000. We’re going to have an even better year this year. Several big contracts are up for negotiation. Workers that are fed up; they’re fired up and the economy just isn’t working for them.
POLITICS
VP Harris highlights union apprenticeships, infrastructure investment in Madison visit
Wisconsin Examiner
By Erik Gunn
March 6, 2024
Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale, also part of the entourage that accompanied Harris, called Biden “the most pro-union president in our history” and applauded the executive order. “We in the labor movement are pleased to see President Biden and Vice President Harris are working to improve the lives of working people and especially young people seeking apprenticeships,” Bloomingdale said in an interview after the visit.
In nod to unions, senator’s guest for speech is IBEW electrician from Nevada
Las Vegas Sun
By Casey Harrison
March 7, 2024
Honored in 2022 as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers apprentice of the year, Zavala has worked on projects ranging from solar developments to Las Vegas resorts. Part of the appeal of the job, Zavala said, is that no two days are exactly alike and she can make a personal connection on each of the projects. “It’s always changing and engaging, and you’re constantly being challenged,” Zavala said. “It gets you to think, physically move, and it’s a way to be part of something that’s going to be there long after I’m gone.” Zavala, who is also involved with IBEW Local 357’s political organizing efforts, was selected to join U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address today, highlighting the importance of organized labor to the Democratic coalition in a swing state during a hotly contested presidential election year.
ORGANIZING
Workers at marijuana shop in Buchanan vote to unionize
WSJM
By Staff
March 6, 2024
A marijuana dispensary in Buchanan has unionized. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 951 has announced it’s now representing 17 employees at Zen Leaf on East Front Street. Union Legislative Affairs Director Todd Regis tells us UFCW represents more than 10,000 cannabis workers around the country, making it the largest union to represent them. What could this move mean for the workers at Zen Leaf? “I think this is going to be job protection,” Regis said. “It’s going to allow them the ability to make sure that they have some sort of wage protection. It’s going to allow them to know what their hours and schedules are. It’s going to allow them some dignity at work.”
Six front desk agents unionize at the Omni
Yale News
By Tyson Odermann
March 7, 2024
Six front desk agents joined over 100 fellow unionized workers at the Omni Hotel last Friday in a victorious vote for union representation by the Connecticut hospitality union, Local 217 UNITE HERE. Front desk agents at the Omni petitioned to unionize in late January. The union won by a majority in the vote to unionize on March 1. Although the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale has been unionized for decades, it was not until last Friday that front desk workers entered the union.
JOINING TOGETHER
Grocery workers picket outside multiple Spokane-area stores calling for higher wages
Fox28
By Steffi Roche
March 6, 2024
Many grocery store workers represented by The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)’s Chapter 3000 “info-picketed” outside Kroger-owned Fred Meyer stores and Albertson/Safeway stores. The union members are calling for better wages, increased staffing and safer working conditions.
Workers in Iron Range city walk off job, cite disrespect during contract negotiations
Star Tribune
By Christa Lawler
March 6, 2024
Dozens of city employees here who walked off the job Wednesday morning lined the street in front of the public library at midday, striking as contract negotiations with the city have soured. Passing drivers honked as supporters and members of AFSCME Local 454 waved signs that were concise ("fair contract") and played on political slogans ("make Virginia great again.") This union represents more than 60 workers from departments including the library, engineering, parks and rec, and various city buildings including City Hall. The city had recently offered a contract described as a "last, best, final offer," and though union members say they were unanimous in approving it on Tuesday, the city's negotiating committee had pulled it earlier in the day.
STATE LEGISLATION
Unions back measure protecting employees who skip religious or political work meetings
Shaw Local News Network
By Alex Abbeduto
March 7, 2024
Democrats in the Illinois Senate on Wednesday advanced a measure that would prohibit Illinois companies from requiring employees to attend work-related meetings about politics or religion. Senate Bill 3649, which is backed by organized labor, passed the Senate Labor Committee 11-4. Backers have dubbed it the “Worker Freedom of Speech Act.” Tim Drea, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO labor organization, said the bill would help Illinoisans avoid unnecessary and potentially uncomfortable gatherings in which workers are forced to be a “captive audience” for their employers’ political or religious speech. “They go to work for a paycheck and to make a profit for the employer, period,” Drea said. “Not to be indoctrinated by anyone’s religious or political beliefs.”
Workers convene in Augusta to speak on labor bills
WABI
By Connor Magliozzi
March 7, 2024
“Working people need legislators to stand up for an economy that works for everyone, not just for those who are already well off and at the top. They deserve time to freely engage in collective bargaining to rest and spend time with their families, to have safe working conditions and to earn good wages with quality health care and retirement security,” said President of Maine AFL-CIO, Cynthia Phinney.
IN THE STATES
Offshore wind port can be transformative for working Mainers (Opinion)
Portland Press Herald
By Cynthia Phinney and Jason J. Shedlock
March 7, 2024
Maine took control of the state’s energy and economic future when the Mills administration announced its decision to recommend Sears Island as the site of a new port to support offshore wind. A new offshore wind industry will support good union jobs in the Midcoast and across Maine, creating a path to the middle class for working men and women, helping to bolster our ability to determine our energy and climate future.
UNION BUSTING
YouTube Music Workers Laid Off in Possible Retaliation for Organizing
The Austin Chronicle
By Lina Fisher
March 7, 2024
At last week’s City Council meeting, a group of local unionized Google contractors were preparing to speak on a resolution from Council Member Zo Qadri that would send a formal message from Council in support of their negotiation efforts. As they took the podium, Katie-Marie Marschner got a text from a colleague at the office: The entire team had been laid off, effective immediately. She informed her colleague on the podium (captured in a clip that has since gone viral), and when she got back to the office to pick up her things, she says she was met with hostility from HR, who told her she was trespassing before calling police.