POLITICS
Rail unions hail Biden’s two-person crew mandate
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
April 4, 2024
The nation’s rail unions and the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department are hailing the Biden administration’s final rule mandating two-person crews on all but a few of the nation’s freight trains. The rule, strenuously opposed by the nation’s freight railroads, orders a minimum two-person crew—the engineer and the conductor—on all freight trains, especially those miles-long trains the nation’s big Class I railroads run. The unions have lobbied for two-person crews, both at the Transportation Department, the parent agency of the FRA, and on Capitol Hill, for years, but the rail lobby has always blocked congressional action. And it convinced the GOP Trump regime’s FRA to allow one-person crews, as a money-saver.
ORGANIZING
Austin Pets Alive! workers file to become nation’s largest animal shelter union
Yahoo! News
By Sarah Al-Shaikh
April 4, 2024
On Thursday, Austin Pets Alive! (APA) animal shelter employees filed to become the largest animal shelter union in the country, according to a news release. The release said APA employees filed a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) requesting recognition of their union, Austin Pets Allied Workers (APAW). The release said the majority of approximately 200 APA workers signed union cards with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, along with support from the National Veterinary Professionals Union.
Harvard Law School Academic Workers Vote 62-3 To Unionize
The Harvard Crimson
By Aran Sonnad-Joshi and Sheerea X. Yu
April 4, 2024
Harvard Law School clinical workers voted 62-3 on Wednesday in favor of unionizing under Harvard Academic Workers-United Auto Workers. Out of 110 eligible voters in the unit, 80 percent showed up to the polls at Roscoe Pound Hall, despite the rainy weather. After the votes were certified with the National Labor Relations Board Wednesday evening, HAW-UAW Clinical can move forward in negotiations with Harvard. In addition to the 65 official votes cast, 12 workers also voted under challenge.
DreamWorks Animation Production Workers Vote to Join the Animation and Editors Guilds
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
April 4, 2024
DreamWorks Animation production workers are joining their artist and technician colleagues in being represented by the Animation Guild and their editor colleagues in being represented by the Motion Picture Editors Guild. In an election with the National Labor Relations Board, 94 production workers who work on television and feature films at the brand voted to join the two IATSE Locals, while 41 voted against unionization. Of the 160 workers who are now unionized with IATSE as a result of the vote, about a dozen will join the Motion Picture Editors Guild (Local 700) because they work in postproduction, while other production staffers whose roles align more with artists, technical directors and writers will join the Animation Guild (Local 839). The tally of ballots took place on March 26.
KVUE
By John Diaz
April 4, 2024
Employees at Austin Pets Alive! (APA!) have started the process of becoming the largest animal shelter union in the U.S. On Thursday, the animal shelter employees filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board requesting their union, Austin Pets Allied Workers, be recognized. APA! employees said they collected signatures from a majority of approximately 200 of their workers on union cards to take the historic first step.
JOINING TOGETHER
We’re NOT disposable! 1,000 electricians may strike!
The Stand
By Staff
April 4, 2024
The union contract covering more than 1,000 Limited Energy Electricians represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 46 in the Puget Sound area expired on March 31. The union agreed to a 10-day extension while they continue to bargain over wages and quality-of-life issues. But intransigence and dismissive positions by the Puget Sound Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) have increased the possibility of a strike that could begin any time after the extension expires on Wednesday, April 10.
Tillamook bus drivers get 5-year contract
Northwest Labor Press
By Mallory Gruben
April 4, 2024
Workers at Tillamook County Transportation District on Feb. 10 unanimously ratified a five-year contract that raises starting wages about 22% over the life of the contract. The transportation district, also known as “The Wave,” provides public transportation services throughout northwest Oregon. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757 represents 26 workers at the district, including drivers, dispatchers, and vehicle maintenance employees. Tillamook County Transportation District board members signed off on the agreement at a Feb. 21 board meeting. It took effect March 1.
Cafeteria Workers Are Picketing at Meta’s San Francisco Office
Eater San Fransisco
By Paolo Bicchieri
April 4, 2024
About 1,000 cafeteria workers throughout Menlo Park, Sunnyvale, San Francisco, Fremont, and the rest of the country are at the negotiating table with their employers for better pay and working conditions. To raise the stakes, those workers who provide food to Meta — which owns Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp amongst other businesses — will picket on Thursday, April 4 from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. at 250 Howard Street, the San Francisco Meta offices. The sandwich makers, line cooks, baristas, and more seek guaranteed raises, family healthcare, protections against layoffs, gender identity protections, and more. This action comes after food industry workers picketed outside Meta’s headquarters on Wednesday, March 20. Members from the union Unite Here Local 2 are in contract negotiations with Flagship, a company that provides meals, beverages, and cleaning to major tech companies. These actions and negotiations follow the more than 4,500 Unite Here workers who won higher pay rates in their second contracts working for Compass, Guckenheimer, and Sodexo in Google cafeterias.
Philly food service workers threaten to strike at Wells Fargo Center
NBC 10 Philadelphia
By David Chang and Leah Uko
April 4, 2024
Hundreds of Philadelphia food service workers are threatening to strike at the Wells Fargo Center. Members of UNITE HERE Philly Local 274 – the union representing around 600 private sector hotel and food service workers at Philadelphia-area stadiums, airports and hotels – voted 92% in favor of authorizing a strike against Aramark’s operations at the Wells Fargo Center. Service workers as well as Philadelphia politicians held a rally on Thursday at 1 p.m. at City Hall to call on Aramark – a food service and facilities services provider headquartered in Philadelphia -- to settle a contract that provides “family-sustaining wages and increased access to healthcare,” according to the union.
Oregon airport TSA security officers ratify new contract, say it improves working conditions
KTVZ
By KTVZ news sources
April 4, 2024
Airport security officers in Oregon are celebrating what they say will be better working conditions, after ratifying a new collective bargaining contract. The American Federation of Government Employees Council 100, representing transportation security officers, has secured a new contract - that includes what it describes as improved language on progressive discipline, new uniform rights, and better leave conditions. Samantha Dollens is the regional AFGE vice president for Oregon, representing TSA officers at six airports. "A lot of the wins make the officers more comfortable," said Dollens, "put more money into their pockets so they're a little less stressed out, and that will reflect when they're working with the traveling public. More comfortable, less stressed out will equal out to better interactions with passengers."
Unions’ picket power now extends to U.S. boardrooms
Semafor
By Liz Hoffman
April 4, 2024
U.S. Steelworkers are fighting a takeover by Japan’s Nippon. Railroad unions have rallied around Norfolk Southern’s CEO in opposing a hedge fund trying to take over its board of directors. Regulators are trying to block the biggest grocery-store merger in U.S. history because it would undercut unionized workers’ ability to successfully strike. The power that unions won last year on the picket line is now being wielded in the boardroom, with support from President Joe Biden, a proud union man who has aimed his corporate regulators toward labor practices he views as unfair. “We saw the collective bargaining wins last year, but now we’re seeing the other playing fields where having a strong labor union can make a difference,” said Sharon Block, a former Biden adviser who now teaches at Harvard.
IN THE STATES
‘We will be silent no more’ – Local union takes the fight to Daimler Freightliner
Salisbury Post
By Chandler Inions
April 4, 2024
As negotiations ramp up between United Automobile Workers and Daimler Freightliner, members of the manufacturers union held a rally at the Local 3520 facility on Tuesday. The room was flooded with red shirts as various members of other UAW chapters from across the Southeast stood in solidarity. The keynote speaker was UAW President Shawn Fain, a fixture in congressional hearings and other labor advocacy platforms. Labor leaders like Ricky McDowell, president and shop chair of the UAW Local 5285, Mount Holly, and North Carolina AFL-CIO President MaryBe McMillan spurred on the excitement in the room.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
37th Annual Philadelphia Building Trades All Star Labor Classic is Sunday, April 14th
Philly Voice
By Mark Lynch, Jr.
April 4, 2024
The 37th All Star Labor Classic, the annual showcase of the Greater Philadelphia region’s best male and female high school basketball players, will be played on Sunday, April 14th at Holy Family University in Northeast Philadelphia. IBEW Local 98 is proud to be one of the “Grand Sponsors” of the event. In addition to the honor of being named an All Star, every participating player receives a $500 college scholarship.
Fox 44 News
By Georgia Power
April 4, 2024
April is designated nationally as Lineworker Appreciation Month – a time to recognize and celebrate the thousands of lineworkers who work around the clock to keep the lights on for electric customers. This month, Georgia Power is highlighting the successful, forward-thinking collaboration between the company and Georgia's technical colleges to recruit, train and employ the next generation of this critical workforce. "For over a hundred years, IBEW Local 84 has worked in coordination with Georgia Power to not only organize workers into the electrical industry, but help provide security on the job and promote safe and reasonable methods of work," said Drew Stover, business manager of IBEW Local 84. "We're proud of our members who help keep the lights on in this state and stand behind them as they maintain and build the critical infrastructure that makes daily life possible."
LABOR LEADERSHIP
Kate Shindle on Why She’s Stepping Down as Actors’ Equity President
The New York Times
By Michael Paulson
April 4, 2024
Kate Shindle, who has served as president of Actors’ Equity Association for nine years, is stepping down after a tenure dominated by the coronavirus pandemic that for a time idled all of the labor union’s members. Shindle, 47, said she expected to remain active in the labor movement, but that she was eager to resume working as an actor. The Equity presidency, leading a union that represents more than 51,000 theater actors and stage managers nationwide, is an unpaid, volunteer position. Because of the time required to manage the crises facing the union’s members, Shindle has worked so little as an actor that she hasn’t even qualified for her own union’s health insurance coverage.