Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
MUST READ
MSHA final rule lowers limit for miner exposure to silica
Safety + Health Magazine
By Staff
April 16, 2024
To Cecil Roberts, president of United Mine Workers of America, the rule protects miners both in the short-term and throughout their lives. “Young miners in their 30s and 40s are getting lung diseases that are being exacerbated by silica dust,” Roberts said in a release. “What was thought to be a disease of the past is coming back with a vengeance because miners are cutting more rock than ever before.” In a separate release, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler calls the rule “a definitive step toward safeguarding the health and well-being of our nation’s miners.”
POLITICS
US Antitrust Funding Jump Urged by Unions, Lobbies, Trade Groups
Bloomberg
By Leah Nylen
April 16, 2024
The Justice Department’s antitrust enforcers need more funding to crack down on illegal mergers and conduct, unions, small business and advocacy groups told members of Congress Tuesday ahead of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s expected testimony. In a pair of letters to the leaders of the House and Senate appropriations committees, the groups urged lawmakers to increase the antitrust funding for the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.
Nebraska steamfitter running for U.S. Senate against GOP incumbent is gaining traction
USA Today
By Maya Marchel Hoff
April 15, 2024
In Nebraska’s U.S. Senate race, something extraordinary is happening—Dan Osborn, a nonpartisan candidate, is gaining traction at the polls, attracting national media attention, and, most importantly, securing cross-over voters. A former union president who led a 77-day strike at Kellogg’s in 2021, Osborn was fired from the company last year and is currently an apprentice for a local steamfitter’s union in Omaha. Now, the 48-year-old father of three is spending all of his free time outside his 40-hour workweek campaigning against incumbent GOP Sen. Deb Fischer.
TRANSPORTATION
AFL-CIO urges Norfolk Southern shareholders to vote against activist investor’s proposals
Trains.com
By Bill Stephens
April 16, 2024
The AFL-CIO today became the latest organization to oppose an activist investor’s bid to gain control of Norfolk Southern. “In our view, Ancora’s business plan to reduce Norfolk Southern’s operating ratio while improving safety and service is not realistic. Railway labor unions, shippers, and federal regulators have warned that Ancora’s plans may jeopardize the safety and service improvements that Norfolk Southern has made since the 2023 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio,” the union coalition wrote in a letter to NS shareholders today. Ancora has said that its plan to implement the low-cost Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model at NS will enable it to significantly reduce the railroad’s operating ratio, ultimately to 57% within three years. The Cleveland-based activist investor says its plan does not rely on job cutbacks.
ORGANIZING
Workers at two CVS stores petition to join new union
Supermarket News
By Mark Hamstra
April 16, 2024
Workers at two CVS stores in Rhode Island have filed paperwork to join a new union called the Pharmacy Guild, according to reports. The petition follows another filed last month at a CVS-owned Omnicare facility in Las Vegas, where a union election to certify the Pharmacy Guild is scheduled for next week. The Pharmacy Guild was launched last year by I AM Healthcare, which is a division of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, known as IAM. I AM Healthcare represents more than 10,000 health care professionals, including pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, at hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities.
JOINING TOGETHER
Wichita Ascension nurses approve first-ever union contracts
KAKE
By KAKE News
April 16, 2024
Union-represented registered nurses at two Ascension-owned hospitals in Wichita voted on Monday in favor of ratifying new two-year contracts. “This is a historic day for our union, our patients, our hospitals, and the entire city of Wichita,” said Shelly Rader, RN in the emergency department at St. Francis. “We’ve shown Ascension that nurses won’t back down when it comes to fighting for better patient care and better working conditions. We organized to fight for and win a strong contract, and we’re very excited to announce we’ve done just that now that nurses have approved this contract.” The union said nurses at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis, 96% of nurses voted yes to ratifying their new contract, while 100% of nurses at Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph voted yes to ratifying.
Sesame Workshop Writers Unanimously Authorize Strike, Will Walk Out Friday If No Deal Is Reached
Deadline
By Katie Campione
April 16, 2024
here soon might be a picket line on Sesame Street. Writers at the Sesame Workshop have voted unanimously to authorize a strike against the nonprofit organization, the Writers Guild of America said Tuesday. The guild says there was 100% participation in the strike-authorization vote from the 35-member bargaining unit. The writers are prepared to walk the picket line if a tentative deal isn’t reached by Friday, which is when the current contract expires. The strike would include any and all work for Sesame Street.
California hospital workers hold 1-day strike
Becker’s Hospital Review
By Kelly Gooch
April 16, 2024
Members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers are holding a one-day strike April 16 at MarinHealth Medical Center in Greenbrae, Calif. The union represents more than 100 MarinHealth medical technicians, including MRI technologists, pharmacy technicians, ultrasound technologists and cardiac sonographers, according to an NUHW news release shared with Becker's. Union members, who have been without a new labor contract since October, contend that the 327-bed public district hospital is insisting that they accept a contract with lower wage increases and higher medical costs than it has provided to other hospital workers.
SAG-AFTRA, record labels reach deal over AI protections for artists
The Hill
By Rebecca Klar
April 15, 2024
SAG-AFTRA, a union representing thousands of actors and other media professionals, reached a tentative deal with leading record labels that includes protections for artists from the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the union announced Friday. The agreement with labels — including with Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Disney Music Group — follows protections SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) reached with production studios last year after the unions went on strike. The agreements included landmark AI protections for creators as the technology posed increasingly prevalent threats to the workforce.
NLRB
Union Elections Run Faster After Labor Board Rule, Agency Says
Bloomberg Law
By Robert Iafolla
April 15, 2024
Workers are casting ballots in union elections at a faster rate in the nearly four months after the federal labor board’s new rule shortening deadlines and streamlining procedures took effect. The period between filing a petition with the National Labor Relations Board and balloting in contested elections shrunk from 105 days in fiscal year 2023 to less than 59 days since the election procedure rule became enforceable in late December, the agency said Monday.
IN THE STATES
Ohio Workers Say They Can't Trust Bernie Moreno (Video)
Spectrum News
April 16, 2024
Ohio Workers Say They Can't Trust Bernie Moreno.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
U.S. to Limit Deadly Mining Dust as Black Lung Resurges
The New York Times
By Chris Hamby
April 16, 2024
Federal regulators on Tuesday will issue new protections for miners against a type of dust long known to cause deadly lung ailments — changes recommended by government researchers a half-century ago. Mining companies will have to limit concentrations of airborne silica, a mineral commonly found in rock that can be lethal when ground up and inhaled. The new requirements will affect more than 250,000 miners extracting coal, a variety of metals, and minerals used in products like cement and smartphones. Tuesday’s announcement is the culmination of a tortuous regulatory process that has spanned four presidential administrations.
Dominion Post
By David Beard
April 16, 2024
Miners and mining labor leaders gathered with U.S. Department of Labor Acting Secretary Julie Su on Tuesday to celebrate DOL’s final rule to protect miners from silica dust. “Today we’re making it clear that no job should be a death sentence, that every single worker should come home healthy and safe at the end of the day and at the end of a career,” Su told the crowd gathered at the United Mine Workers of America Region 1-District 2 headquarters.
Finally! Tough new safety rules on silica dust are out to protect miners' lungs
KCRW
By Howard Berkes and Justin Hicks
April 16, 2024
So, for coal mines, the agency says the new regulation will prevent 325 cases of disease and 85 deaths. "This is a critical step to keeping miners safe and healthy not just day to day, but for their full lifetime," said Cecil Roberts, international president of the United Mine Workers of America. "Now, our focus shifts to holding mining companies accountable."