PAYWATCH/CEO PAY
AFL-CIO: Executive Paywatch report reveals average Wisconsin CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 2020
Wis Business
July 19, 2021
According to the 2021 edition of the Executive Paywatch report released by the AFL-CIO, the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio at S&P 500 companies in Wisconsin was 188-to-1 in 2020. On average, Wisconsin CEOs made $10,113,252 in total compensation in 2020, down slightly from $10,958,584 in 2019. Results once again show massive CEO-to-worker pay disparity and inequality among S&P 500 companies. Wisconsin’s significant levels of pay inequality showcase the importance of passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a monumental labor law reform bill currently in the hands of the U.S. Senate. The PRO Act will remove barriers to organizing and transform our economic system into one that works for all workers, not just corporate interests and billionaires.
AFL-CIO: S&P 500 companies CEO-to-Employee pay ratio up, averaged $299:$1 in 2020
8 News Now
By Jacque Porter
July 19, 2021
According to the AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler, the average compensation for an S&P 500 CEO in 2020 was $15.5 million. An “Executive Paywatch” website created by the AFL-CIO allows users to see the CEO’s salary and CEO-to-employee pay ratios of many of America’s largest corporations, not just those in the S&P 500, without looking through SEC filings. “On average, in 2020 at S&P 500 companies, CEO pay increased by 5 percent while the disclosed median employee’s pay at those same companies only increased by 1 percent.” said Shuler.
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Biden clean energy plan key to restoring industry job losses, says U.S. official
Reuters
By Reuters
July 19, 2021
The U.S. energy sector lost 10% of its workforce last year due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report unveiled on Monday by U.S. government officials, who said President Joe Biden's clean energy plan was critical to reviving the industry. The U.S. energy workforce, from fossil fuels to solar power, shed 840,000 jobs in 2020 as the global health crisis sapped demand for transportation fuels and slowed new projects, according to the annual U.S. Energy Employment Report.
JOINING TOGETHER
Frito-Lay Workers Are on Strike for Their Lives
Jacobin
By Alex N. Press
July 19, 2021
At the Frito-Lay production plant in Topeka, Kansas, workers are subjected to something called “suicides,” shifts in which they come in for eight hours, are forced to work four more hours, and then are called in four hours early, leaving them only eight hours off between shifts. This is how the company forces overtime to the point that many of those workers say they work twelve hours a day, seven days a week, with some not having had a day off in five months, weekends included.
ORGANIZING
Organizing a Union in the Disorganized World of Small Restaurants
The New York Times
By Priya Krishna
July 19, 2021
Worried about returning to work during a pandemic and galvanized by the racial-justice protests throughout their city, 17 cocktail-room employees at Tattersall Distilling in Minneapolis told the owners during a staff meeting in June 2020 that they intended to form a union. They wanted personal protective equipment, overtime pay and antiracism training. The past year and a half has been a watershed for labor organizing, as the pandemic and a national discourse on racial equity have turned a harsh spotlight on low pay and poor working conditions across the American economy. One of the most surprising places those campaigns have surfaced is independent restaurants, bars and bakeries, where unions are rare.
IN THE STATES
The Tennessee Tribune
July 18, 2021
On Tuesday, July 20th, working families will gather outside the Nashville offices of Senator Bill Hagerty and Senator Marsha Blackburn for an in-person rally in order to urge them to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a sweeping labor rights bill that will reform our woefully inadequate labor laws and empower workers to exercise their freedom to organize and bargain. This rally will be held in conjunction with the AFL-CIO’s nationwide PRO Act week of action, spotlighting in-person rallies at the offices of all 100 U.S. Senators from July 17th-July 25th.
Letter: Workers earn less and are more at risk of injury in 'right to work' states
Inforum
By Steve Walsh
July 16, 2021
Nearly 60 million people say they would join a union today if they could. The problem? Union-busters, Big Business and woefully outdated laws continue to undermine the right to collectively bargain. Look at “right to work” laws, for example. Across the country, anti-worker legislators are relentlessly fighting to pass right to work, which has a more than 70-year track record of lowering wages, reducing benefits and making workplaces more dangerous. That last one is especially important for North Dakota workers, where we have some of the highest rates of workplace injury and death on the job.
Missourians agree ‘right-to-work’ is wrong. The PRO Act will support the will of the people (Opinion)
The Missouri Times
By Jake Hummel
July 19, 2021
But now, we have a chance to put “right-to-work” where it belongs — in the trash bin of history with the poll tax and separate but equal doctrine. Missourians are ready. They proved it by defeating Proposition A in 2018. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act would override these laws and strike a major victory for Missouri workers. The PRO Act was passed by the House last year but was blocked in the Senate. This year, we have another chance to make history. It’s time to pass the PRO Act and end “right-to-work” for good. I am urging all Missouri workers to support the PRO Act and encourage your elected officials to do the same.
Delaware's $15 minimum wage signed: What to know and when it will increase
Delaware Online
By Sarah Gamard
July 19, 2021
Gov. John Carney signed a bill on Monday to increase Delaware's minimum wage from $9.25 to $15 an hour by 2025. Carney signed the bill while flanked by Democratic lawmakers who pushed the bill. "This is a big day, and a happy day for workers across the state of Delaware," Carney said.
PRO act supporters meet in Marquette for rally Monday night
Upper Michigan Source
By Jerry Tudor
July 19, 2021
Monday night, a rally in support of the Michigan Senators who supported the Protecting our Right to Organize or PRO act. Senators Gary Peterson and Debbie Stabenow both supported the PRO act which has already passed the house. Monday night supporters met near Senator Peter’s office off Washington Street in Marquette. The rally was to show support for the act and thank the Senators for their efforts. “I’d like to thank Senator Stabenow and Senator Peters for their continued support on labor issues, they’ve always been strong supporters for us and keep up the good work and talk to the other senators and convince them that we need to pass this act,” said Michael Thibault, Chair of the Upper Peninsula Regional Labor Federation.
AMAZON
How Amazon turned a generation against labor
Harper’s Magazine
By Daniel Brook
July 2021 Issue
By summer, the sweltering temperatures, constant monitoring, and production quotas at the warehouse had begun to conjure what Bowman would later call a “plantation work environment.” One black worker, Darryl Richardson, a fifty-one-year-old who had previously worked at a unionized auto-parts plant, reached out to the RWDSU to inquire about organizing. Within a few months, Darryl and a small band of activists had convinced more than three thousand of their fellow workers to sign cards authorizing the RWDSU to collectively bargain on their behalf. Amazon, however, refused to recognize the union without an election, during which it could mount a fierce vote-no campaign. Still, the organizers were confident they could rally their co-workers to their side, particularly younger employees who were less familiar with unions. If Bessemer were to become a company town once more, organizers figured, why not a union town as well?