POLITICS
PRO Act drive revs up as faith groups back legislation
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
July 22, 2021
“This PRO Act Week of Action is another full-court press. America’s labor movement is showing up in every corner of our country to demand a fix to our outdated labor laws that are nearly 100 years old,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “Our members and all working people are committed to making the PRO Act the law of the land this year.”
LABOR AND ECONOMY
What’s the Price of an Uncleaned Hotel Room?
The New York Times
By Concepción de León
July 22, 2021
The labor shortage in the hospitality industry has been widely reported, as has the lengths to which hotel owners are going to hire new employees, including offering higher wages, cash bonuses and free hotel rooms. But at the same time, nearly half of the more than one million jobs cut in the lodging industry during the pandemic have yet to be recovered, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the recovery has been uneven, with resort markets bouncing back more quickly than cities, which rely on business travel and large conventions or conferences that have not yet returned.
JOINING TOGETHER
Striking Frito-Lay Workers Demand Better Hours
The New York Times
By Michael Levenson
July 22, 2021
Andy Sanchez, executive secretary-treasurer of the Kansas State AFL-CIO, said he had heard from striking workers on Thursday that the union had reached a “tentative agreement” with Frito-Lay that was scheduled for a vote by the membership on Friday.
“It just remains to be seen whether it will pass or not,” he said.
Some Frito-Lay strikers return to work as company makes contract offer
WIBW
By Sarah Motter and Kimberly Donahue
July 21, 2021
After three days of contract negotiations between the Bakery Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) local 218 union and Frito-Lay, a tentative contract agreement has been reached. Mark McCarter, a union steward for local 218, said Frito-Lay made a contract offer after three days of contract negotiations with union representatives. Jason Davis, an International Representative for BCTGM said he thinks the offer “addresses some of the concerns with the company when it comes to overtime and days off and hopefully at the end of the day it’ll be the membership that will decide if it’s enough for them”.
IN THE STATES
Labor stages rally in downtown Grand Forks
Knox Radio
By Doug Barrett
July 22, 2021
Labor leaders and supporters worked the rally lines outside the Federal Building in Grand Forks this afternoon to urge passage of the so-called PRO Act legislation. The measure is designed to reform labor laws while protecting workers who organize unions. The downtown Federal Building also houses the offices of U.S. Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer. Northern Valley Labor Council President Mark Froemke says it’s not just a union thing. “Since the Wagner Act was passed in 1935 the laws protecting working men and women in this country have been chipped away…chipped away…and there is nothing fairly resembling a balance playing field for workers.”
Bloomington City Council forwards COVID-19 community investment fund, supports federal union act
Indiana Daily Student
By Cate Charron
July 21, 2021
The council unanimously passed a resolution urging the U.S. Congress and President Joe Biden’s administration to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which includes protections for workers related to unions and their employers. Jerry Sutherlin, Southern Indiana Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO president, said this act intends to make it easier for workers to create unions and stand up for themselves against their employers. The act, if passed, can overturn state right-to-work laws, which make it more difficult for workers to join or create a union, and make it difficult for corporations to fight against unions.
ND and MN AFL-CIO Talk about the PRO-Act. (Video)
July 20, 2021
Landis Larson, ND AFL-CIO and Brad Lehto, MN AFL-CIO are on Afternoons Live with Tyler Axness to discuss the PRO-act and an up coming press conference.
Some Hawaii workers rally in support of movement to protect rights of labor unions
Hawaii News Now
By Casey Lund
July 22, 2021
Hawaii’s union workers held a rally Thursday morning in Downtown Honolulu. They’re building support for a national movement to protect the rights of labor unions to organize. The Hawaii State AFL-CIO, its local union affiliates, and Oahu County Democrats gathered at the Prince Jonah Kuhio Federal Building on Ala Moana Boulevard. Part of Thursday’s effort is to thank U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz as well as U.S. Reps. Kai Kahele and Ed Case for co-sponsoring the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. The measure is a sweeping labor rights bill that those groups say “will reform our woefully inadequate labor laws and change the power dynamics in America in order to give working people a real say in our future.”
Union members ask Capito to support the PRO Act as she calls it ‘over the top’
WV Metro News
By MetroNews Staff
July 22, 2021
West Virginia union leaders and members stood outside of U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito’s office in Charleston on Thursday, pushing the senator to support the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. The act is awaiting consideration from the U.S. Senate after being passed in the House in March. Event organizers said the labor rights bill will ‘reform inadequate labor laws and empower workers to exercise their freedom to organize and bargain,’ in a statement. Andy Walters, the Secretary and Treasurer of the West Virginia AFL-CIO said on Thursday it empowers West Virginia workers. “The PRO Act allows workers to be empowered in the workplace and allows them to form a union and level the playing field between the corporate CEOs and the billionaires and the people that work for them,” Walters said.