Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
ORGANIZING
More than 400 lab professionals at LabCorp win a union
The Stand
By Staff
May 7, 2024
The lab professionals employed by the medical lab services company, LabCorp of America, held a union election from March 1-3 where 434 workers voted to join together in a union with the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP), a local affiliate of the 1.7 million-member AFT. These healthcare professionals work at labs within seven Legacy Health facilities in Oregon and Washington, including Emanuel and Good Samaritan in Portland, and Salmon Creek (WA).
The case for a faculty union at Ohio University
The Athens News
By Miles Layton
May 7, 2024
A union is organizing for the Ohio University faculty, so the Athens News sat down with Julie White to learn more about the United Academics of Ohio University. A key organizer for the union, White said 70% of the faculty has endorsed the formation of a union to address demands for better pay and an equitable teaching workload. “If we’re talking about faculty, there are instructional faculty and then there are tenure track faculty. Our instructional faculty carry heavier teaching loads and are really under compensated. Our tenure track faculty, pretty much at every rank, although it’s less the case with our assistant professors, we are below the average in the state of Ohio,” White said. “In several cases, the comparison seems to indicate over the last five years that we are the lowest paid at those ranks as well.”
Trade union reaches recognition agreement with Brightline West train maker
News 3 LV
By Matthew Seeman
May 7, 2024
The company tapped to manufacture the trains for Brightline West's high-speed rail project will recognize any potential unionization effort from workers. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, or IAM, announced Tuesday that it reached a voluntary recognition agreement with Siemens Mobility. According to IAM, the agreement will allow future employees to get information about union representation. If a majority of workers petition to join IAM, Siemens will recognize the union and begin collective bargaining immediately.
Introducing the Smith College Libraries Workers Union
Massachusetts Daily Collegian
By Annika Singh
May 5, 2024
On April 9, library workers at Smith College voted unanimously in favor of unionizing with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 153. The new union is known as the Smith College Libraries Workers Union (SCLWU). A month before the election, workers at Smith College Libraries (SCL) announced their union by delivering a letter to the college’s President and Board of Trustees where they asked that the union be voluntarily recognized.
In Labor’s Mission to Organize the South, Another Domino Could Soon Fall
In These Times
By Mindy Isser
May 7, 2024
Late last month, workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted overwhelmingly to join the United Auto Workers (UAW). This was the first time workers at a foreign car maker’s plant have unionized in the U.S. South, the least unionized region in the country. The UAW’s win could have major implications for workers across the South, who are governed by labor laws that weaken unions and result in lower wages. Next up, workers at a Mercedes-Benz facility in Vance, Alabama will vote on whether to join the UAW starting May 13, and the outcome could help determine whether the union’s success in Tennessee will have a domino effect on other workplaces in the region.
Norman Natural Grocers workers attempt to unionize
KGOU
By Hannah France
May 7, 2024
As the labor movement in Oklahoma experiences a recent revival, some grocery workers are now attempting to unionize in Norman. Ahead of this week’s union election, members of the community are showing support. Last week, about two dozen people picketed in front of the Natural Grocers on Main Street in Norman. They weren’t workers on strike — they were former employees, customers, and other supporters of the workers’ unionization efforts.
JOINING TOGETHER
Pilots with Breeze Airways to hold informational picket for first collective bargaining agreement
WAVY
By Madie MacDonald
May 7, 2024
Pilots with Breeze Airways are expected to hold an informational picket at Norfolk International Airport on Tuesday. The picket follows more than a year and a half of negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement, according to officials. “Our airline is on track for a profitable quarter, but our pilots are experiencing unilateral pay cuts and worsening work rules without protections,” said Capt. Alexander Kluge, Breeze Airways ALPA Master Executive Council chair. “Breeze pilots have a long-term stake in their airline and want to collaborate with management to ensure its success today and in the future. Now is the time for management to stop profiting off the backs of all labor and invest in its pilots.” According to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), Breeze Airways pilots joined ALPA, which represents more than 77,000 pilots at 41 airlines, in 2022.
Spokane Kroger, Albertsons workers ratify contract
Supermarket News
By Mark Hamstra
May 7, 2024
Grocery workers in Eastern Washington state have ratified a new, three-year contract that includes wage increases and other benefit improvements, and no increases to health care premiums or deductibles. The contract, which covers workers at Kroger- and Albertsons-owned stores in the Spokane area, was the first to be negotiated by United Food and Commercial Workers 3000, which was formed in 2022 by the merger of UFCW Local 1439 and UFCW Local 21. UFCW Local 3000 now represents 50,000 workers across much of Washington, northeast Oregon, and northern Idaho.
We don’t want a strike but we’re ready, says IATSE propmaster
KCRW
By Danielle Chiriguayo
May 6, 2024
Everyone was relieved when the Hollywood strikes ended in November 2023, but more than six months later, production is not back to normal, though it’s better now versus in January. Overall production was down 9% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to 2023, according to Film LA, the office that tracks production and issues permits. TV production, which is the main problem, has dropped 16%. Shows are shooting out-of-state for tax purposes, some series have been canceled, and less money exists for new pilots. Then there’s the threat of another strike — this time with International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the union representing behind-the-scenes workers, like cinematographers, editors, hair and makeup artists, costume designers, grips, and gaffers. IATSE is asking for higher pay, better health and retirement benefits, and stronger AI protections.
Union ratifies new contract with Alabama coal mine
AL.com
By William Thornton
May 7, 2024
United Mine Workers of America has announced a new five-year contract at Oak Grove metallurgical coal mine and Concord Preparation Plant in Jefferson County. The UMWA’s local unions, 2133 and 8982 ratified a new collective bargaining agreement at the facility operated by Crimson Oak Grove Resources.
Washington public works employees' new contract includes one-time $6,000 payment
WCBU
By Steve Stein
May 7, 2024
The city of Washington and its public works employees' union have a new three-year contract agreement. The City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve the contract, which was ratified previously by union members. The contract went into effect May 1 and will continue through April 30, 2027. "It took only one bargaining session to get the contract done," said City Administrator Jim Snider. Members of Local 231 of the Laborers' International Union of North America will receive 3% pay increases each year of the contract and a one-time payment of $6,000 "to offset the impact of the generational inflation spike over the last two years," Snider said.
Breeze Airways pilots gather at Norfolk International Airport to picket for collective bargaining
13 News Now
By Christopher Collette
May 7, 2024
Breeze Airways pilots are picketing to send a clear message to the airline management.
According to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the pilots have been negotiating with Breeze Airways over collective bargaining. The ALPA said that even after profitable quarters, pilots are still experiencing unilateral pay cuts without protections. Also on Tuesday, flight attendants for Breeze Airways voted to join the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA) in an election certified by the National Mediation Board, according to the AFA.
NLRB
Apple interrogation of NYC worker about union drive was illegal, U.S. labor board rules
CNBC
By Reuters
May 7, 2024
The manager of an Apple Inc
retail store in Manhattan violated U.S. labor law by asking an employee whether he supported a union campaign, a federal labor board has ruled in its first decision involving the tech giant. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in a single-page ruling late on Monday said the manager’s questioning of the worker, who had raised concerns about pay at a group meeting, amounted to unlawful interrogation and upheld a decision by an administrative judge.
SPANISH LANGUAGE
La agricultura y estos otros son los trabajos más peligrosos en EE.UU. (Video)
Telemundo
May 6, 2024
Video oficial de Noticias Telemundo. Según un reporte a partir de datos de 2022, el mayor número de muertes se produjo en el campo, los bosques, la caza, la pesca, la minería, las canteras y la extracción de gas y petróleo. Casi 5,500 empleados murieron ese año en sus puestos de trabajo.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Union makes Letter Carriers Protection Act a top legislative priority
People’s World
By Press Associates
May 7, 2024
Slowing down the U.S. mail, especially first-class letters, Social Security checks, holiday and birthday cards, pension payments—and probably mail-in ballots this fall—is one offense laid at the feet of Trumpite Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, because it’s actually occurred. But pulling U.S. Postal Service police away from pursuing thieves and protecting Letter Carriers from theft, injury and even murder, and sending the cops to protect buildings instead, is quite another. And that action’s compounded because U.S. attorneys don’t treat thefts and injuries as a top priority. The Letter Carriers (NALC) want to change that scenario. So they’ve put the bipartisan Protect Our Letter Carriers Act, HR7629, atop their legislative priority list for the rest of this Congress. “We are here to send a very clear message: Enough is enough is enough,” new NALC President Brian Renfroe said in days before another “Enough is enough!” rally on April 30 in Baltimore. It featured local NALC and other union leaders and Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., one of the legislation’s 58 co-sponsors.
Lack of staff, unsafe conditions threaten Oregon’s behavioral health workforce
Oregon Capital Chronicle
By Porter Clements
May 7, 2024
Every year about this time, Oregon labor unions honor colleagues who have lost their lives on the job. This year is especially poignant for members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or Oregon AFSCME, with the death late last year of Haley Rogers, a 26-year-old mental health worker. She was stabbed to death on the job by a resident while working an overnight shift alone at a 10-bed behavioral health treatment facility in Gresham. Her death was preventable, and we must ensure that nothing like it happens again.
Ryan will equip worksites with Narcan as more construction companies address mental health
Star Tribune
By Dee DePass
May 6, 2024
Developer Ryan Cos. will distribute the drug naloxone at 100 construction sites and train 2,000 employees on overdose-response techniques as part of enhanced mental health services for employees, officials announced Monday. The drug, better known by the brand name Narcan, will also be placed in 17 Minneapolis-based Ryan corporate offices by the end of summer, officials said. The U.S. Department of Labor recently reported the construction sector has one of the highest rates of opioid abuse in the nation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted overdose deaths among construction workers increased nine times from 2011 to 2018.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Annual 'Stamp Out Hunger' food drive happening this Saturday
KTVO
By Southeast Iowa - Northeast Missouri
May 7, 2024
You may have received a blue bag in the mail, and that means the annual National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is coming up. The nationwide drive will be held on Saturday, May 11.
All you have to do is simply leave your donation of non-perishable food items in a bag next to your mailbox.