Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
LABOR AND ECONOMY
National Nurses Week 2024: RN reflects on the state of the profession, calls for change
USA Today
By Julia Gomez
May 6, 2024
Monday, May 6 kicks off National Nurses Week, and it gives folks an opportunity to show their love and appreciation for the people who take care of the sick, injured and dying. Catherine Kennedy, a registered nurse and the Vice President of National Nurses United, told USA TODAY that there needs to be systemic change on the federal level to give nurses the best chance to care for their patients.
More than ever, ‘Union Wages Buy More’
Forward Kentucky
By Berry Craig
May 6, 2024
This 74-year-old union retiree (American Federation of Teachers) remembers those old Kentucky State AFL-CIO novelty license plates that proclaimed “Union Wages Buy More.” That’s true more than ever today. “Union members in the United States saw record raises, while nonunion workers’ pay barely beat inflation over the past 12 months, latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data shows,” says Thursday’s Team AFL-CIO Daily Brief in a short synopsis headlined “It’s Better in a Union: U.S. Union Members See Record Pay Raises, Outpacing Nonunion Workers.” The brief also cites BLS statistics released on Tuesday that showed “wages of private sector union members have risen 6.3% since March 2023.
ORGANIZING
Retail workers vote to form Florida’s first H&M union
Orlando Weekly
By McKenna Schueler
May 6, 2024
Retail workers at an H&M clothing store in Melbourne overwhelmingly voted to unionize Friday, forming a historic first H&M union in the state of Florida. According to Will Cox, an organizer with the United Food and Commercial Workers, the election was secured by a supermajority of workers at the Melbourne Square Mall store, who voted in favor of unionization on Friday.
JOINING TOGETHER
UAW Local 869 votes to authorize Warren Stamping Plant strike
Click on Detroit
By Rod Meloni
May 6, 2024
e United Auto Workers’ stand-up strike last fall proved costly and highly disruptive, and once the dust settled, many felt we’d seen the last of job actions in the auto world for a while. But there’s one brewing in Warren. In a highly unusual move, Local 869, inside the Warren Stamping Plant, took a strike authorization vote, Monday, May 6. It passed 72%-28%. It’s unknown when the strike will start. The UAW has national and local contracts in every plant, each covering differing parts of the workforce’s issues.
Union workers agree to contract with Case New Holland at Fargo plant
Grand Forks Herald
By Helmut Schmidt
May 6, 2024
Union workers at the Case New Holland plant in Fargo have ratified a new contract. The agreement with the nearly 700 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 2525 was approved the union membership Saturday, Kristina Post of Case New Holland’s North America division said Monday, May 6, in an email to The Forum. “CNH has been notified by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) that on May 4, 2024, its members ratified a new labor contract agreement for our employees working at the Fargo, ND plant,” she said on behalf of CNH.
Condé Nast workers reach labor agreement with publisher, averting Met Gala strike
CBS News
By Megan Cerullo
May 6, 2024
The Condé Nast union said Monday it has reached a tentative labor agreement with the publisher's management just hours ahead of the Met Gala, which is chaired by Anna Wintour, the company's global chief content officer and editorial director. The agreement, which still needs to be ratified by union members, was reached after months of bitter negotiations had failed to yield the first labor contract for employees at the New York media company. Union members had been poised to picket the Met Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Monday evening, "On behalf of the management bargaining committee and leaders throughout the business, we are pleased to come to tentatively agreed terms on a contract with the union," Condé Nast Chief People Officer Stan Duncan said in a statement. "We are happy to have a contract that reflects and supports our core values — our content and journalism; our commitment to diversity and professional development; our industry-leading hiring practices and our competitive wages and benefits."
UAW deal with Daimler Truck ratified as union readies for Mercedes-Benz vote
Detroit Free Press
By Eric D. Lawrence
May 6, 2024
UAW members at Daimler Truck have OK'd a new four-year contract with the company. The union said in a news release Saturday that the vote in favor was 94.5% and will cover more than 7,000 workers who build Freightliner and Western Star trucks and Thomas Built Buses in North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. The union did not provide a breakdown of the total yes and no votes. The agreement, reached late on April 26, averted a strike. The union said the agreement includes raises of more than 25% and the introduction of profit-sharing and cost-of-living adjustments as it ends a tiered wage system at the truck maker.
Workers at Stellantis plant near Detroit authorize strike in dispute over health and safety issues
ABC News
By The Associated Press
May 6, 2024
About 1,000 workers at a Stellantis metal stamping plant north of Detroit have voted to authorize a strike over health and safety issues, the United Auto Workers union says. The union didn't immediately answer a question about whether a strike deadline had been set, but Stellantis said in a statement that talks are ongoing and workers are still on the job at the factory in Warren, Michigan. The UAW said grievances have been filed about problems with ventilation fans, ergonomic matting, personal protective equipment, flooding, basement lighting, oil leaks and other issues. “We want members to understand they’re not just a number or just a body on the line," UAW Local 869 President Romaine McKinney III said in a statement. "They will come to work and feel like they have some ownership in that building.”
IN THE STATES
How one stretch of Interstate 20 through Alabama tells the story of American workers
WBUR
By Andrea Hsu and Stephan Bisaha
May 6, 2024
If you want to understand the state of labor in America today, take a drive through Alabama. Not a long drive. Just a 25-mile stretch of I-20, between Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. Here, union hopes have been raised, dashed and dragged out over years. This is the Deep South, after all, where anti-union attitudes are enshrined in state constitutions. A major test of those attitudes comes in a week, when more than 5,000 workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant will begin voting on whether to join the United Auto Workers union. It's the latest expression of deep worker dissatisfaction in a part of the state that's home to two other fiercely-fought labor disputes, all situated right off the same highway.
Missouri AFL-CIO’s Jake Hummel to be honored at Third Annual JeffCo Dems Dinner
Labor Tribune
By Staff
May 6, 2024
Missouri AFL-CIO President Jake Hummel will receive the Labor Advocate of the Year Award at the Third Annual Jefferson County Awards Dinner on May 22. The sold out event will be held at Taytro’s Bar & Catering at 331 N. Creek Drive in Festus.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Iron Workers Local 396’s Katelynn Alexander wins outstanding student welding award
Labor Tribune
By Staff
May 6, 2024
Congratulations to Iron Workers Local 396’s Katelynn Alexander on earning the American Welding Society (AWS) – St. Louis Section Outstanding Welding Student Award. Alexander will graduate with her SMAW 3&4-G and FCAW 3&4-G weld certifications.
Port St. Lucie letter carrier earns national recognition at Heroes of the Year ceremony
TC Palm
By Debra Jean Fetterly
May 5, 2024
Each year, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) highlights the special acts of courage and compassion performed by letter carriers who improve — or save — lives along their routes, by recognizing some of them as NALC’s Heroes of the Year. Brittany Giles, a letter carrier at the Port St. Lucie Post Office and member of West Palm Beach NALC Branch 169, received an honorable mention at a ceremony held March 27 in Washington, D.C. for helping a child who was being bullied at school.
Students learn about the building trades at third annual Build My Future® STL showcase
Labor Tribune
By Staff
May 6, 2024
Some 3,000 students from 80 high schools in St. Louis, Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois attended the third annual Build My Future® STL construction career and industry showcase April 24 and 25 at the St. Charles Family Arena. Students had an opportunity to test their skills with hands-on exhibits and virtual reality simulations designed to introduce them to the building trades and the broader construction industry while learning about high-paying, secure careers in the trades. The two-day event was co-chaired by representatives of the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri and the Francis Howell School District. Participating unions in this year’s event included Bricklayers Local 1, Glaziers Local 513, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1, Tilesetters Local 18, Missouri Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust (LECET), Operating Engineers Local 513, Painters District Council 58, Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 562 and Sheet Metal Workers Local 36, as well as the Carpenters and numerous union contractors and technical schools.
UNION BUSTING
US Presses Germany on Alleged Union-Busting by Mercedes-Benz
Bloomberg
By Josh Eidelson
May 6, 2024
The US government raised concerns with Germany about alleged union-busting in Alabama by Mercedes-Benz Group AG, an unusual move that escalates scrutiny on the automaker’s handling of a high-stakes unionization campaign that heads to a vote next week. Officials recently spoke about allegations by the United Auto Workers against Mercedes that include firing union activists and holding a mandatory meeting at which an executive discouraged unionization, according to a US government official familiar with the discussion. The conversation included commitments that the governments will work together to promote unions and employee rights, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive communications.
Apple Illegally Interrogated NYC Retail Staff, US Labor Board Rules
Bloomberg
By Josh Eidelson
May 6, 2024
Apple Inc. illegally interrogated staff at its World Trade Center store in New York City, the US labor board ruled Monday, marking the latest rebuke of the iPhone maker’s labor practices. A trio of Democratic-appointed labor board members ruled against the company, affirming the findings last year of an administrative law judge. In that decision, the judge concluded that the company violated federal law in 2022 by confiscating union flyers, prohibiting workers from placing them on a table in the break room and “coercively interrogating” employees.