Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
MUST READ
AFL-CIO: The fights for climate justice and racial justice are intertwined
People’s World
By Blake Skylar
April 30, 2024
“Thinking about movements coming together in the same room today made me think of Dr. King and what he said,” remarked AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond, the highest-ranking African-American leader in the labor movement. “During his days, a term like environmental justice didn’t really exist, but he understood how interconnected these challenges were. Structural racism, economic injustice, and underinvestment in Black and brown communities. He told us in 1967 that the cities were gasping in polluted air and enduring contaminated water. What’s equally important is that he knew the solution, how important it was to stand together in solidarity. Organized labor can be one of the most powerful interests to do away with this evil that confronts our nation that we refer to as discrimination. “That’s the unique thing about this,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler agreed. “It’s the urgency of the crisis. Many of you know I grew up in Portland, Oregon. When I was a kid in the summer the temperatures were around the 70s and 80s, nobody had air conditioning. Maybe we’d get into the 90s once in a while, but that was a rare day. Fast forward to today, and things have changed. Now it’s not unusual to have temperatures in the 100s for weeks at a time.
These are the most dangerous jobs in America
CBS News
By Khristopher J. Brooks
April 30, 2024
Fatalities are on the rise, in part, because some employees are afraid of potential retaliation if they highlight dangerous conditions at their job, resulting in many workers operating in an unsafe environment, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement. Employee overdosing on drugs while at work, deadly violence against co-workers and suicides have also contributed to the jump in workplace deaths, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
INTERNATIONAL
Workers and activists across Europe and Asia hold May Day rallies to call for greater labor rights
AP
By Hyung-Jin Kim
May 1, 2024
Workers, activists and others across Europe and Asia took to the streets on Wednesday to mark May Day with protests over rising prices and government labor policies and calls for greater labor rights. May Day, which falls on May 1, is observed in many countries to celebrate workers’ rights. May Day events have also given many an opportunity to air general economic grievances or political demands.
POLITICS
Building trades leader hammers Trump for his ‘anti-union record’ ahead of Saginaw rally
Michigan Advance
By Ken Coleman
April 30, 2024
A major union leader and three Detroit Democrats blasted former President Donald Trump, the likely 2024 GOP nominee, for “his anti-union record” one day before he’s set to return to the state to campaign. During a Tuesday news conference in Detroit, Pat Devlin, secretary/treasurer of the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council, said Democratic President Joe Biden is the “most pro-union president in American history” during the gathering that included his membership. “Under Donald Trump, Michigan lost over 200,000 jobs,” Devlin said. “Trump’s trade policies shuttered factories and actually incentivized companies to move operations overseas.”
ORGANIZING
Hagerstown Community College faculty announce intention to unionize
Tri-State Alert
By Staff
April 30, 2024
Faculty at Hagerstown Community College have declared their intention to unionize and affiliate with American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Maryland. Earlier today, faculty members and AFT Maryland officials filed unionization cards with the Maryland Public Employees Labor Relations Board. Once certified, the faculty will be a part of the United Academics of Maryland- Hagerstown, affiliated with the AFT Maryland, AFT, AAUP and AFL-CIO. This effort continues AFT’s engagement with organizing higher education workers. The organizing has taken off since AFT and AAUP affiliated in 2022. Many longtime faculty members are excited about a chance to collaborate with administrators to demonstrate their knowledge and move Hagerstown Community College forward.
Second Hopewell Health Centers location in Athens to hold union election
Athens County Independent
By Dani Kington
April 30, 2024
About 50 Hopewell Health Centers employees will decide next month whether to form a union. “The way that Hopewell is structured and run right now — the way that it’s ballooned into this behemoth with the profit motive being the core thing that upper management and administration is concerned with — the bottom line is that it affects us and it affects our clients,” said Elise Westenbarger, a case manager at Hopewell. She’s one of 51 employees who will vote May 22 on union representation with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Ohio Council 8. An “overwhelming majority” of eligible employees signed cards to file for a union election, said AFSCME organizer Namita Waghray. About 50 Hopewell Health Centers employees will decide next month whether to form a union. An “overwhelming majority” of eligible employees signed cards to file for a union election, said AFSCME organizer Namita Waghray.
JOINING TOGETHER
Volkswagen Accepts Union's Landslide Victory At Tennessee Plant
HuffPost
By Dave Jamieson
April 30, 2024
Federal officials have officially certified the United Auto Workers’ recent election victory at Volkswagen of America’s Tennessee plant, making the facility the first unionized, foreign-owned auto plant in the South. The UAW and the German-owned company said Tuesday that they were “jointly committed to a strong and successful future” at the SUV plant in Chattanooga. “Both sides are now focused on collective bargaining and entering negotiations in the spirit of working together to reach a fair agreement and build world-class automobiles together,” they said in a joint statement.
Boeing fire fighters, supporters picket at company gates
The Stand
By Staff
April 30, 2024
Nearly 200 Boeing fire fighters and their supporters conducted informational pickets outside company gates Monday in Renton and Everett. The more than 120 fire fighters who protect Boeing employees and facilities in Washington state — members of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local I-66 — are struggling to get a fair contract from the Arlington, Virginia-based company.
House cafeteria workers get better pay, protections under union deal
Roll Call
By Justin Papp
April 30, 2024
A little over a year ago, House cafeteria workers with Unite Here Local 23 were contemplating protests and pickets if negotiations with Sodexo turned sour. Now, they’re celebrating a new contract that raises wages and improves working conditions. “It started out, we were all thinking it was going to be tough,” said Rickie Toon, who has worked on the Hill since the 1980s and currently is a cook in the Ford House Office Building. But that quickly changed. Student protesters from Howard University, as well as union members from other locals, gathered outside a bargaining meeting last year, early in the negotiation process. That set the tone for relatively quick talks that delivered the cafeteria workers — who keep Congress fed — a series of wins.
IATSE, US below-the-line workers union, resumes contract talks
KFTV
By Jeremy Kay
April 30, 2024
IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees), the US union which represents some 170,000 below-the-line entertainment industry workers, resumed basic agreement general negotiations on Monday. The talks come after all 13 of IATSE’s West Coast local chapters reached tentative agreements on matters specific to them with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
VW Chattanooga first foreign automaker in South to join UAW after NLRB certifies union vote
Local 3 News
By Local 3 News Staff
April 30, 2024
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has certified the vote by Volkswagen Chattanooga employees to join the UAW. According to the NLRB, a total of 3,613 ballots were counted with 2,628 VW employees voting "yes" and 985 voting "no". The NLRB's ceritification of the vote makes Volkswagen Chattanooga the first foreign automaker in the Southeast to have UAW representation.
Rally with Seattle-area hotel workers on May Day
The Stand
By Staff
April 30, 2024
The Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO is urging all union members and supporters to celebrate May Day — International Workers’ Day — by taking action to support hotel workers. Join members of UNITE HERE Local 8 who will be rallying Wednesday outside of the Westin Seattle and Doubletree Hotel to demand better wages and benefits to match the high cost of living in the Seattle area.
UAW warns of strike authorization vote at Stellantis Warren plant over safety concerns
The Detroit News
By Luke Ramseth
April 30, 2024
United Auto Workers-represented workers at Stellantis NV's Warren Stamping Plant are expected to hold a strike authorization vote Monday over unresolved health and safety concerns at the plant, the union said. About 1,100 UAW Local 869 members at the Warren facility could take the vote, which would allow union leadership to call for a strike at some point in the future. “When it rains, the facility floods because the ceiling is leaking. We have to fight for every single pair of work gloves, while we handle metal and materials to build world class vehicles for Stellantis," Local 869 president Romaine McKinney III said in a statement. "The list goes on, and we’re putting an end to it. Our union grievance procedure gives us the power to stand up for safety on the job, and we intend to take action if necessary.”
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
More Wisconsin workers died on the job in 2022 than any year since 2006
Wisconsin Public Radio
By Joe Schulz
April 30, 2024
More Wisconsinites died at work in 2022 than in any year since 2006, reversing a three-year trend of declining workplace fatalities. That’s according to a new report from the national AFL-CIO that examined workplace fatalities across the country. The report found that Wisconsin had 125 workplace deaths in 2022. The last time the state had 125 workers die on the job was in 2006. The state’s most recent previous highs came in 2013 and 2018, when 114 workers died on the job.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Hawaiian Electric Employees Raise Over $46,000 For Hawai‘i Island United Way
KWXX
By Staff
April 30, 2024
In 2023, Hawaiian Electric employees led a year-long workplace campaign that helped to raise over $46,000 for the Hawai‘i Island United Way. During the campaign; employees, along with retirees and IBEW Local 1260, participated in various fundraising activities including the construction of a cookbook featuring employee recipes, sales of Hawaiian Electric logo merchandise and an online pledge drive. Hawaiian Electric employees from Oʻahu, Maui County and Hawaiʻi Island raised more than $372,000 for the community in 2023.
Letter Carriers Urge Locals to Put Out Non-Perishable Food Donations on May 11
Pasadena Now
By Staff
April 30, 2024
The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) is gearing up for its 32nd annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, scheduled for Saturday, May 11. This nationwide event, the largest one-day food drive in the country, aims to combat hunger by collecting non-perishable food donations from postal customers. Local letter carriers urge Pasadena postal customers to donate to the drive. “Letter carriers travel through the communities daily, often coming face to face with a sad reality for too many, hunger,” said Lawrence D. Brown Jr., President of NALC Branch 24 in Los Angeles. “… With your help, letter carriers and the US Postal Service have collected over 1.9 billion pounds of food in the United States over the 30 years as a national food drive.”
CIVIL, HUMAN, AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Poor People’s Campaign mobilizing massive movement vote for 2024 and beyond
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
April 30, 2024
The Poor People’s Campaign will conduct a mass march on Washington, June 29, and a mass mobilization of “7,000 activists so we can reach 15-18 million people from now through Election Day, to get them to vote, and beyond,” co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, the Rev. William Barber II says. Ties between the massive civil rights and economic justice organization and the labor movement will become even stronger than they are now since the goals of the Poor People’s Campaign and the AFL-CIO are similar. “Workers’ rights, civil rights, and human rights are on the ballot this election,” said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond, reaffirming the federation’s long support for the Poor People’s Campaign. “Voters will decide: Do we want to stay the course and keep on this path toward a more compassionate government or revert to this morally bankrupt nation? “The American labor movement is committed to registering and mobilizing union members and union families around the mass mobilization on June 29. We’re going to elect lawmakers who will advocate for workers and poor people to elect leaders who will put people over profits, protect our democracy, and advance worker and civil and human rights.”