MUST READ
Trump rails against wind energy in fundraising pitch to oil executives
The Washington Post
By Maxine Joselow and Josh Dawsey
April 17, 2024
“In a whole new industry like offshore wind, we’re seeing the beginnings of workers coming together and collectively organizing,” said Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the country’s largest federation of labor unions. “These are all things that would be at risk if there were a second Trump administration. So we think it couldn’t be more dire.”
POLITICS
Biden vows to block US Steel acquisition by a Japanese company and promises tariffs on Chinese steel
Boston Globe
By Chris Megerian and Will Weissert
April 17, 2024
President Biden promised cheering unionized steelworkers on Wednesday that his administration would block the acquisition of US Steel by a Japanese company, and he called for a tripling of tariffs on Chinese steel, seeking to use trade policy to win over working-class votes in Pennsylvania, an election-year battleground. Biden said during a visit to the headquarters of the United Steelworkers union that US Steel “has been an iconic American company for more than a century, and it should remain totally American.” “American-owned, American operated by American union steelworkers — the best in the world — and that’s going to happen I promise you,” the Democratic president said.
President Biden visits Pittsburgh, promises U.S. Steel will remain an American company
CBS News
By Mike Darnay and Madeline Bartos
April 17, 2024
President Joe Biden visited Pittsburgh on Wednesday to meet with steelworkers and call for the tripling of tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum imports. Biden spoke at the United Steelworkers headquarters to announce new actions he says will protect the U.S. steel and shipbuilding industry from China's unfair practices.
Biden, in Pennsylvania, speaks to the United Steelworkers.
The New York Times
By Chris Cameron
April 17, 2024
President Biden is keeping his campaign focused on Pennsylvania, a swing state that is crucial to his re-election hopes, spoke on Wednesday at the United Steelworkers headquarters in Pittsburgh. Former President Donald J. Trump, his Republican opponent, will get a short reprieve from his felony criminal trial in New York with a scheduled break. Mr. Biden has hammered Mr. Trump during his appearances in Pennsylvania so far. Visiting his hometown, Scranton, on Tuesday, Mr. Biden portrayed Mr. Trump as cozy with billionaires and plutocrats, while emphasizing that his own proposals would raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy and use the revenue to help working families.
APPRENTICESHIPS
Harris County Follows Biden’s Bold Investment in Union Apprenticeships
Progress Texas
By Reagan Stone
April 17, 2024
Harris County Commissioners recently approved a $9.1 million contract aimed at doubling the enrollment of union apprenticeship programs along the Texas Gulf Coast. This decision will not only increase the enrollment capacity in local apprenticeships within the building and construction trades, but also introduces two new, innovative training programs in the entertainment and transportation industries — one designed to train stagehands to work in Houston’s live events industry, and one to train mechanics to work on the new electrified fleet of buses that will soon be hitting Houston’s streets. These investments signal a commitment by Harris County leaders to create opportunities for homegrown, high-quality paid training programs and deem union proud jobs are being reinvented for the 21st century. Jay Malone, Political and Communications Director at the Texas Gulf Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, said, “Union apprentices offer young Texans a future most of us think is permanently relegated to the past — jobs that pay enough to support a family with pensions, job security, and a real voice on the job. For years, low-road developers have stolen that future from us by putting their profits ahead of the interests of their workers and community.”
ORGANIZING
‘The fairy dust fades away’: Why the people who play Disneyland’s costumed characters are unionizing
Los Angeles Times
By Christi Carras
April 17, 2024
Hefner, 28, belongs to Magic United, a bargaining unit of about 1,700 employees in the characters and parades departments at Anaheim’s Disneyland Resort. In addition to the actors who portray everyone from Mickey and Minnie Mouse to Cinderella and Prince Charming in the parks and nearby hotels, Magic United includes hosts, trainers, leads and other workers who support them. In February, the workers announced their intent to unionize under the Actors’ Equity Assn., which already represents actors, dancers and singers at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.
‘Victories would be nothing less than an earthquake’: can UAW win in the south?
The Guardian
By Steven Greenhouse
April 17, 2024
The United Auto Workers (UAW) has launched an ambitious campaign to unionize 13 non-union automakers across the US, and the first big test begins this Wednesday when 4,300 Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, start voting on whether to unionize. Many VW workers are predicting victory. “We’re going to win,” said Lisa Elliott, a quality control worker at VW. “We have the momentum. I know this will be a historic event.”
VW Workers in Tennessee Start Vote on U.A.W., Testing Union Ambitions
The New York Times
By Neal E. Boudette
April 17, 2024
Last fall the United Automobile Workers union won big pay increases from the Detroit automakers, and the impact rippled quickly through the nonunion auto plants scattered across the South. Afterward, Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen, Nissan, Hyundai and Tesla raised wages for their own hourly workers in the United States, none of whom are unionized. On production lines in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and elsewhere, those pay increases have been referred to as the “U.A.W. bump.” Now 4,300 workers at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., will test whether the union can achieve an even greater bump. On Wednesday, they began voting on whether to join the U.A.W., and the prospects of a union victory appear high. About 70 percent of the workers pledged to vote yes before the union asked for a vote, according to the U.A.W.
Disneyland Character Workers File for a Union Election With the NLRB
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
April 17, 2024
The workers who play characters like Goofy and Mickey Mouse and cheer and dance at parades at Disneyland have taken a step forward in their push to unionize with Actors’ Equity. The group of organizers, which is seeking to represent 1,700 employees, filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, Actors’ Equity president Kate Shindle announced at a press conference in Anaheim on Wednesday. According to Shindle, a “supermajority” of eligible employees have signed union authorization cards, supporting the move to be represented by Actors’ Equity in collective bargaining. Beyond performers, the group — which calls itself “Magic United” — also includes workers who help facilitate character performers’ interactions with park patrons and trainers who work with them.
JOINING TOGETHER
Sesame Workshop Writers Authorize Strike, Could Picket NYC Offices
Patch
By Matt Troutman
April 17, 2024
Sesame Street's word of the day is: strike. Or at could be starting April 24, after Sesame Workshop writers unanimously voted Tuesday to authorize a potential strike, union officials said. Writers will start picketing the Workshop's offices along Sesame Street — as the intersection of West 63rd Street and Broadway is officially named — if a deal isn't struck with management, officials said. "No one wants to see a picket line on Sesame Street," said Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, president of Writers Guild of America East, one of two unions that represent writers.
Providence walks from negotiation table; healthcare strike appears imminent
KXLY
By Jordan Smith and Sydney Berger
April 17, 2024
Unfair and illegal negotiation practices: that's what Sacred Heart workers ready to strike are claiming against Providence. Nearly 500 union workers will begin strike starting Monday. Union workers said months of failed negotiations over a new contract have escalated to this point. Workers have been fighting for better pay and benefits since November. Providence responded to union workers' negotiations with lackluster offers, including reduced health and dental benefits. Now, workers said this strike is a last resort.
Graduate Student Workers Vote to Authorize Strike
The Fordham Observer
By Alexa Villatoro
April 17, 2024
Fordham Graduate Student Workers (FGSW) announced its members had approved a 98% vote in favor of authorizing a strike on April 9 after polls had closed. The vote is an effort to pressure the university to meet the union’s demands in ongoing contract negotiations for higher compensation, healthcare benefits, childcare subsidies, and more. The strike authorization vote will allow union leaders to call for a strike at any moment if Fordham does not move closer to meeting FGSW’s demands — both parties have been in negotiations for 19 months. If a strike were to occur, union members would not work until both parties negotiate a satisfactory contract with Fordham.
NLRB
Trader Joe’s and Starbucks are helping Elon Musk undermine the US government (Opinion)
The Guardian
By Steven Greenhouse
April 17, 2024
Elon Musk boasts that he’s a “free speech absolutist”, but that didn’t stop his rocket company, SpaceX, from firing eight workers who had criticized him for making light of reports that SpaceX had settled a sexual harassment claim against him. Not stopping there, SpaceX has moved to put the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the US’s top labor watchdog, out of business. Earlier this year, a day after the board accused SpaceX of illegally retaliating against those workers, SpaceX filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit that seeks to have the labor board – which has successfully overseen relations between business and unions since the 1930s – declared unconstitutional and shut down. In so doing, Musk and SpaceX have joined a broader, rightwing effort that hopes to hobble the federal government’s ability to regulate business. Indeed, SpaceX’s lawsuit could serve as a potent wrecking ball in the right’s push to weaken and perhaps demolish the administrative state – the network of federal agencies that the US Congress created to, among other things, promote workers’ safety on the job, prevent fraud in financial markets, protect workers’ right to unionize, limit environmental hazards, make sure consumer products are safe and administer social security for seniors.
IN THE STATES
Democrats regain full control of state House with two special election wins
Michigan Advance
By Ken Coleman
April 17, 2024
Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber called the wins a victory for “working people.” “After tonight’s election results, Michigan once again has a pro-worker majority in the state House,” Bieber said. “Mai and Peter earned our endorsement because of the commitments they made to continue building on our progress in the fight to make Michigan a workers’ rights state. We are looking forward to partnering with our newest allies in the Capitol to continue delivering for Michigan’s working people.”
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Workers Memorial Day Concert planned
Binghampton.com
By Jim Ehmke
April 17, 2024
Local union workers are planning an event to mourn for the dead and fight for the living. The Broome-Tioga Central Labor Council, a division of the AFL-CIO, is hosting a Workers Memorial Day concert on Sunday April 28 at American Legion Post 1645. The event features music by the Magpies and George Mann. In between there will be updates on various advocacy efforts on behalf of legislation to support workers’ rights.
UNION BUSTING
Governors of six Southern states warn workers against joining UAW union
The Washington Post
By Jeanne Whalen
April 16, 2024
In a high-profile attempt to head off unionization of their states’ auto factories, the governors of six Southern states warned their residents that joining the United Auto Workers would threaten jobs and “the values we live by.” The joint statement from the Republican governors comes just a day before a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., is set to vote on joining the UAW — the first of more than a dozen factories the union is targeting in the South as it attempts to break out of its Midwestern stronghold.