POLITICS
Biden Promises to Make Caregiving More Affordable if Re-elected (Video)
The New York Times
By Reuters
April 9, 2024
The president pledged to make adjustments to child care and elderly care support as he laid out proposals for his budget during a speech to caregivers at Union Station in Washington.
8 Ways the Biden Administration Is Improving the Lives of Service Workers
Center for American Progress
By Karla Walter
April 9, 2024
The Biden administration is raising pay, building power, and improving living standards for service workers across the economy—including fast-food cooks, call center workers, teachers, home care workers, and federal employees. The Biden administration has received ongoing attention for its actions to improve the lives of blue collar workers—from walking the picket line with striking autoworkers to ensuring that its signature investments in American industry create good jobs. Pundits and the press often point to actions to expand and raise standards in the construction and manufacturing sectors as central to the Biden administration’s economic agenda. Yet the administration has also taken numerous steps to boost the earnings and wealth of service sector workers, empower them to come together in unions, and hold accountable corporations that violate their rights.
Biden promotes 'care economy' spending in speech to care workers
UPI
By Sheri Walsh
April 9, 2024
President Joe Biden called for increased pay for care workers, and guaranteed paid leave for those who care for family members, in a speech Tuesday at Washington, D.C.'s Union Station. Biden highlighted his administration's investments in what he called the care economy, before a group of caregivers that included representatives from the AFL-CIO, AARP and National Domestic Workers Alliance.
IMMIGRATION
Arizona Labor unions host successful citizenship fair, with more in the works
The Copper Courier
By Sam Ellefson
April 8, 2024
A cohort of labor organizers, immigration lawyers, and their clients gathered at a union hall in central Phoenix on March 30 to help roughly 20 people begin the final leg of their journey to become US citizens. Dozens of union members filled the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) Local 86 hall in Phoenix on Saturday, March 30, for the Arizona AFL-CIO’s inaugural citizenship fair, where nearly two dozen applicants worked with immigration lawyers and union volunteers to fill out applications for naturalization. The Painter’s Union is one of over 50 unions that work with the AFL-CIO to build solidarity among workers across industries.
ORGANIZING
Workers at California non-profit that supports artists with disabilities are unionising
The Art Newspaper
By Anni Irish
April 9, 2024
Workers at the Creative Growth Art Center, one of the largest and oldest organisations in the US supporting artists with disabilities, are forming a union. Their announcement, on 2 April, coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Oakland, California-based non-profit, which was founded by Elias Katz and Florence Ludins-Katz. Creative Growth United (CGU) is forming under the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 57, in affiliation with AFSCME Cultural Workers United.
Student Workers File to Unionize at UC Law San Francisco
KQED
By Sydney Johnson
April 9, 2024
A group of approximately 200 graduate student workers at UC Law San Francisco on Tuesday filed to form a union, according to organizers. The new collective bargaining unit, called United Legal Educators, comes as undergraduate and graduate workers have won collective bargaining rights across the state and country in recent years. “It’s been hard for an isolated law school to come together for student workers and get a unified voice. But, luckily, there’s been a lot of effort in this unionization space,” said Stephen Cosenza, a legal research and writing teaching assistant at UC Law San Francisco. “We saw what was happening at other UCs and felt that momentum on our own campus and ran with it.”
JOINING TOGETHER
Aramark workers strike at Wells Fargo Center
NBC Philadelphia
By Hayden Mitman
April 9, 2024
Cooks, servers bartenders, concession workers, dishwashers, warehouse workers and more of the behind the scenes employees who help present sporting events regularly in South Philadelphia, are hitting the picket lines on Tuesday. Employees of Aramark, who are members of the UNITE HERE Philly Local 274 union -- which claims to represent more than 4,000 hotel and food service workers -- have announced plans to strike in search of, what they called, "family-sustaining wage increases and healthcare coverage." "Our employer Aramark reported $18 billion in revenue in 2023, but many of us can’t afford health insurance," a statement on a website for the union reads. "We’re standing up for health care and family-sustaining wages that adjust for inflation."
Editors Guild Reaches Tentative Agreement on Craft-Specific Issues
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
April 9, 2024
The second-largest West Coast Local of Hollywood’s major crew union has reached a tentative agreement on its craft-specific issues with studios and streamers. The Motion Picture Editors Guild (IATSE Local 700) confirmed the news on Instagram on Sunday. “Our Local 700 Negotiations took place over the course of several days and what we achieved is unanimously supported by our Negotiation Committee,” the Local stated. “Thank you so much to our members, negotiating committee, and those that stood by us in solidarity.”
Statesman employees return to work after strike
Axios Austin
By Nicole Cobler
April 9, 2024
The Austin American-Statesman's usual bylines were noticeably absent from coverage during the eclipse, the CMT Music Awards and Cap10K. Driving the news: The local newspaper's journalists returned to work Tuesday after a four-day strike as contract negotiations with owner Gannett stall. A second Gannett newsroom, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, also timed a strike with the eclipse.
Why it matters: It's the latest maneuver by the Austin NewsGuild, which represents Statesman journalists, to push for a higher wage floor in their contract with Gannett.
Puget Sound-area electricians vote to authorize strike
The Stand
By Staff
April 9, 2024
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 46 announced late Monday that more than 1,000 Limited Energy Electricians in the Puget Sound area have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. The electricians’ contract expired on March 31, but the union agreed to a 10-day extension while continuing to bargain over wages and quality-of-life issues with the Puget Sound Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA). That extension expires on Wednesday, April 10.
'Fed up': Downtown Phoenix hotel workers protest 'unfair' labor practices
AZ Central
By Jose R. Gonzalez
April 9, 2024
A few dozen downtown Phoenix hotel workers walked out Tuesday morning on an approximately two-hour strike, according to labor union officials. Around 6 a.m., Sheraton Phoenix Downtown employees started picket lines there to protest "unfair" labor practices, according to Unite Here Local 11 union spokeswoman Victoria Stahl. Allegations this week accuse managers of interrogation and surveillance tactics, and are in addition to complaints asserting unlawful termination at the Sheraton of two union activists, Rahmat Ullah and Matt Piña, according to a news release from Stahl. "Such management actions can be considered violations of workers’ rights to engage in protected concerted activity," the release stated.
IN THE STATES
Denverite
By Desiree Mathurin
April 9, 2024
Denver voters may have a say in whether almost 7,000 city employees have the right to collective bargaining. If the charter amendment ends up on the ballot. Councilmembers Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, Sarah Parady, Shontel Lewis and Chris Hinds are sponsoring a proposed change to the city’s charter that would give city employees collective bargaining rights.The proposal was presented during the Charter Review Committee on Monday. About 3,000 City and County employees already have the option of collective bargaining, according to Katie Romich, the director of organizing for Communications Workers of America District 7, one of the unions that would be working with employees.
LABOR AND ENTERTAINMENT
Anne Feeney: Pittsburgh’s Hellraiser, Memorial Events Planned for May 1
Labor Notes
By Evan Greer
April 9, 2024
Friends and family of legendary labor singer Anne Feeney have announced the first in-person events celebrating the life and work of “Pittsburgh’s hellraiser,” who passed away following complications from Covid in 2021. The events are fittingly planned to coincide with May Day: a 12 p.m. panel discussion on women in the Pittsburgh labor movement at Heinz History Center, and a memorial concert and gathering at Mr Smalls Theater at 6 p.m.