Today's AFL-CIO press clips
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Tribune Chronicle
By Daniel Newman
June 1, 2024
At Trumbull Energy Center, a more than $1 billion natural gas-fired power plant that’s under construction in Lordstown, Loney said, “We’ll probably have 50 or 60 fitters out there” in the next few months. Another large project, but one that’s still in the wings, is an expected manufacturing plant at the former Republic Steel site in Trumbull County. Kimberly-Clark, a Fortune 200 company that makes consumer products under brands like Kleenex, Cottonelle, Huggies, Kotex and Depends, purchased 560 acres at the site in December for $9.9 million from the Western Reserve Port Authority. The demand for carpenters, electricians, pipefitters, operators and other trades is steady, which is why the unions have expanded their recruitment efforts over the last 10 years. While baby boomers continue to retire, vacant roles are being filled more frequently by young professionals in construction.
ORGANIZING
‘We’re Not Done:’ Pro-Union Mercedes Workers Hope For Revote
WVUA
By WVUA 23 News
May 31, 2024
The United Auto Workers is challenging the results of the recent unionization vote at the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International plant in Vance. The UAW filed an objection to the National Labor Relations Board a week after the vote to unionize failed. The union said Mercedes used “relentless anti-union campaign marked with unlawful discipline, unlawful captive audience meetings, and a general goal of coercing and intimidating employees.”
CNN
By Kevin Liptak
May 31, 2024
Staffers at President Joe Biden’s campaign headquarters in Delaware finalized a union contract last week after collective bargaining negotiations, making Biden the first incumbent to run for reelection with a unionized workforce and underscoring his pro-labor outlook. Officials said the new contract covers wages, time off and severance, among other issues. The unionization effort is affiliated with the Campaign Workers Guild, a non-partisan labor union founded in 2017 to represent workers on campaigns and political committees.
JOINING TOGETHER
Flight attendants for Minneapolis-based Endeavor Air demand better pay from parent company Delta
Star Tribune
By Nick Williams
May 31, 2024
Flight attendants at Endeavor Air, a Minneapolis-based regional carrier, are increasing pressure on parent company Delta Air Lines to end a tiered payment structure and increase their wages to more closely align with what Delta pays its mainline workers. Endeavor Air is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta doing business as Delta Connection. Regional carriers like Endeavor often fly routes to smaller markets on behalf of the major U.S. carriers, like Delta, American and United airlines. So far, Endeavor flight attendants have picketed outside Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Delta headquarters, both in Atlanta, and recently sent a letter addressed to Delta chief executive Ed Bastian demanding wage increases. Endeavor's flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, or AFA-CWA, the nation's largest flight attendant union, are now circulating a petition to gain public support and bring more attention to their wage increase request.
Communications union authorizes leaders to call for strike if Optimum negotiations fail
WOWK
By Jessica Patterson
May 31, 2024
Communications Workers of America union leaders could call for a strike if negotiations with Optimum “fail to reach a fair settlement,” according to the CWA. The CWA says its members voted “overwhelmingly” to give the union leaders the authority to call for a strike if the union and the company cannot reach an agreement. Optimum provides telecommunications services in the area from Altice, USA and its subsidiary Universal Cable Holdings, LLC.
Newark Teachers Union members to vote on ‘groundbreaking’ new contract
People’s World
By Press Associates
May 31, 2024
The 7,000 members of the Newark (N.J.) Teachers Union, AFT Local 481, will vote June 6 on what local President John Abeigon calls a “groundbreaking” tentative contract which gives them the highest starting pay in the U.S. and a big say in running the schools, too. The point of the five-year pact, which sets starting pay at $65,000 a year, and annual raises of 4.5%, with $74,000 as starting pay in its fifth year, 2028, is to make Newark “a destination district” for both new and experienced teachers, Abeigon told both AFT and New Jersey media. AFT President Randi Weingarten, a New York City civics teacher, hailed the Newark tentative agreement as a model for others nationwide, not just for its provisions, but for how Local 481 and the school board’s negotiators collaborated in reaching it. The leading beneficiaries, both Weingarten and the local leaders say, will be the kids. “What a difference local control makes, and a superintendent and union that want to make progress for students, as opposed to erecting obstacles or taking pot shots,” Weingarten said, without naming school districts where such conflicts occur.
REI union workers join nationwide demonstration to secure contract
Indiana Public Radio
By Timoria Cunningham
May 31, 2024
Union workers at an Indianapolis REI store join a national demonstration to call on the company to resume the collective bargaining process after several months of what they say amounts to “bad faith bargaining.” In 2019, George Reed started working at the Castleton location of REI. It was a few of the company’s values such as racial equity and LGBTQ+ inclusivity that captivated Reed’s interest in working at REI. He said REI seemed like a company that “cared” for their employees and wanted to implement change. However, almost five years later the retail sales specialist found only one thing to be true – he feels like another number. “It's very disheartening to learn that the company that I've put so much blood, sweat and tears into, could truly care less about me,” Reed said. Now Reed joins other REI union workers in inviting the company to the bargaining table. Reed said a few things the union seeks is consistent scheduling, better employee training and health care for all workers. Reed said that as a full time employee he has to have open availability “Because of that inconsistent scheduling, you're not able to confidently depend on this job,” Reed said.
Fire fighters ratify contract to end Boeing lockout
The Stand
By IAFF
May 31, 2024
IAFF Boeing Fire Fighters Local I-66 members voted to ratify the latest tentative contract offer. The final vote tally announced on Thursday was 86 in favor and 24 opposed. With the contract approved, the fire fighters that protect Boeing Co.’s Washington state facilities expect to return to work Saturday.
IATSE Area Standards Negotiations Pause Without Deal, Bargaining Expected to Continue Later in June
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
June 1, 2024
IATSE and major Hollywood studios and streamers have paused negotiations over the union’s Area Standards Agreement after the two parties did not reach a deal in their previously allotted time. The crew union updated members on Saturday that the two sides did not come to an agreement in their two-week bargaining period, and that additional negotiations dates were expected to be scheduled for later in June. “I want to thank the ASA Negotiating Committee for their thorough work to prepare for these negotiations,” IATSE international president Matthew Loeb said in a statement. “Their contribution helped ensure we have the momentum we need at the table.”
NJ Transit car workers ratify new three-year contract
Trains.com
By Trains Staff
June 2, 2024
NJ Transit car inspectors, mechanics, and coach cleaners have ratified a new three-year agreement with the transit agency, the Transport Workers Union of America announced. Some 80% of members of TWU Local 2001 — which represents 180 workers — voted in favor of the new agreement, which takes effect July 1. The contract includes three years of 3% pay raises, an additional paid sick day (bringing the total to six) and adds Veterans Day as a paid holiday. “I want to congratulate Local 2001 for negotiating a new contract that betters the quality of life for our hardworking New Jersey Transit workers and their families,” Rail Division Director John Feltz said in a press release.
IN THE STATES
OPEIU Local 39: Objects to layoffs at America’s Credit Unions
Wis Business
By Staff
May 31, 2024
America’s Credit Unions (formerly “Credit Union National Association, Inc.”) has informed the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 39 of its intent to eliminate lay off up to 30% of the workforce at its headquarters in Madison. America’s Credit Unions is the result of the merger between Madison’s CUNA and its primary competitor, National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU).
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Local labor activism the focus of new exhibition at Baltimore Museum of Industry
Maryland Daily Record
By Daily Record Staff
May 31, 2024
The Baltimore Museum of Industry is now featuring an exhibit exploring the organized labor movement with “Collective/Action: Labor Activism in 21st Century Baltimore,” which opened to the public in May. Rachel Donaldson, curator of collections and exhibitions at the BMI, said labor activism is still a relevant topic in the Baltimore area today. Apple Store workers in Towson, the first of the tech giant’s retail employees to unionize with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (IAM CORE) in 2022, made history again by voting in favor of authorizing a strike May 11. The first Starbucks in the state to go union is also located in midtown Baltimore.
LABOR LEADERSHIP
American Federation of Teachers president tours Scranton school
Fox56
By Joshua Oculam
May 31, 2024
Today the National President of the American Federation of Teachers union toured an elementary school in Scranton to highlight their new campaign to help kids. A major point of the campaign is literacy, and the Scranton School District is working with the AFT to improve it nationally. “You learn to read by third grade and you read to learn afterwards," said President Randi Weingarten. "And so this notion of reading proficiency, of confidence about reading and about joy of reading is really important. And it is a fundamental piece of learning.”