POLITICS
Lawrence: Biden speaks to NATO and AFL-CIO after Trump read a teleprompter full of lies (Video)
MSNBC
July 10, 2024
After two weeks of public discussions about the viability of the Biden-Harris campaign, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell analyzes Joe Biden’s campaign speech in which he delivered remarks to union leaders and celebrated the economic success of his administration – versus Donald Trump’s campaign speech where he lied about everything, including President Biden’s economic policy.
The U.S. has a plan to protect workers from heat. Here’s who it would protect
The Washington Post
By Anna Phillips, Nicolás Rivero and Niko Kommenda
July 11, 2024
On any given day in the warmest months, millions of workers nationwide labor in heat that is increasingly hazardous to their health. Last week, the Biden administration proposed a rule that, for the first time, would protect such workers, whether their jobs are indoors or outdoors. The proposal sets out two heat index triggers that would apply nationally. One, at 80 degrees, would require employers to offer drinking water, rest breaks as needed and a plan for new workers to gradually increase their workload so their bodies adjust to the temperature. More protections would kick in at 90 degrees, including monitoring for signs of heat illness and mandatory 15-minute breaks every two hours.
ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND CLIMATE
Biden unveils $1.7 billion to boost EV production at U.S. auto factories
The Washington Post
By Maxine Joselow
July 11, 2024
The Energy Department on Thursday unveiled $1.7 billion for retooling 11 auto factories to make electric vehicles and their components, with a focus on facilities that have shuttered or could close without federal help. The president met Wednesday with the executive council of the AFL-CIO, the country’s largest federation of trade unions, although that invitation was extended before his disastrous debate performance last month. “Building a clean energy economy can and should be a win-win for union autoworkers and automakers,” Biden said in a statement Thursday. “This investment will create thousands of good-paying, union manufacturing jobs and retain even more — from Lansing, Michigan to Fort Valley, Georgia — by helping auto companies retool, reboot and rehire in the same factories and communities.”
Biden administration giving $1.7B to auto industry to bolster US EV production
The Hill
By Rachel Frazin
July 11, 2024
The Biden administration will dole out $1.7 billion to automotive companies to bolster their efforts to manufacture electric cars, trucks and motorcycles. The funds, which will cover 11 projects, are expected to help companies transition their facilities to electric vehicle manufacturing or to help them expand existing electric vehicle operations.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Victor Valley to Palmdale high-speed rail project gains traction
Daily Press
By Rene Ray De La Cruz
July 10, 2024
High Desert representatives have given their support to a new high-speed rail project that would connect Palmdale and the Victor Valley. On Tuesday, Victorville Mayor Elizabeth Becerra, who also serves as a High Desert Corridor Joint Powers Agency Board Member, was at the Metrolink Palmdale Transportation Center. Becerra, along with her fellow board members, signed "landmark agreements" with union labor representatives.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
4 Ways Unions Make Our Economy and Democracy Stronger
Center for American Progress
By Sarah Nadeau
July 11, 2024
Unions are a critical force in American society, ensuring that everyday Americans can earn decent pay and benefits and have a voice in our democracy. Study after study has shown that unions make our economy and democracy stronger by boosting wages for workers, reducing wage inequality, increasing voter turnout for union and nonunion voters alike, and providing a counterbalance to wealthy interest groups. This is part of a historical tradition of unions playing a powerful role for American workers: Unions helped create the 40-hour workweek, child labor laws, and improvements in health insurance. At their height in 1945, unions represented one-third of all U.S. workers.
JOINING TOGETHER
Film and TV crews protest long hours, overnight shifts. ‘We are dying to entertain people’
Los Angeles Times
By Christi Carras
July 11, 2024
“No one should be put in unsafe circumstances while trying to earn a living,” said Sean Miller, a spokesperson for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union, which represents film crews. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates labor contracts on behalf of the major studios, said in a statement that “the safety and well-being of our employees has always been our top priority, which is why we have a long history of collaborating with our union partners to improve the protections in place for workers on longer shifts, as seen in recent agreements.” IATSE and AMPTP reached a tentative agreement entitling hourly employees to triple pay whenever a workday exceeds 15 hours and on-call employees to double pay on the seventh consecutive workday.
Grocery workers, labor unions meet to discuss Albertsons, Kroger merger plans
KDVR
By Heather Willard
July 11, 2024
On Thursday, members and representatives of five UFCW Local chapters, including the UFCW Local 7 that represents Colorado, met virtually to share their concerns, personal experiences and perspectives on a merger proposed by grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons Companies. The meeting comes only days after the companies released a list of stores that would be sold if the proposed merger goes through. In Colorado, that list includes two Albertsons-brand stores and 89 Safeway stores that would be sold to C&S Wholesale Grocers, of New Hampshire.
SANFRAN Symphony Wants To Cut Its Chorus By 80%
Slipped Disc
By Norman Lebrecht
July 11, 2024
Alarming news from AGMA, the union representing chorus singers in San Francisco. We, the members of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, write to you with a deep sense of pride in our collective accomplishments and a sincere concern for the future of our cherished institution. The 32 paid singers of the Chorus are members of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), whose collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of July. The rest of our ensemble is composed of well over 120 unpaid singers who give their time and significant talents to the Symphony Chorus. Given the recent public discussions about the financial challenges faced by the Symphony, we feel compelled to share information, offer our perspective, and seek your support.
eBay Workers Are Playing the Union Card
Jacobin
By Alex N. Press
July 11, 2024
The workers gathered outside an office building in downtown Syracuse, New York, on Wednesday were not happy. Sporting red union T-shirts and holding signs reading “You can’t punish us for being pregnant” and “When we fight, we win,” they were rallying to support a colleague. The building is home to TCGplayer, an eBay subsidiary that is the largest online marketplace for card games, comics, and collectible trading cards (think Pokémon or Magic: The Gathering), and the picket’s attendees were some of its employees, the roughly 250 people whose job is to authenticate, sort, and ship the collectibles.
NEGOTIATIONS & STRIKES
Homecare providers ratify agreement on minimum hourly rate
Vermont Biz
By Tim
July 11, 2024
4802 Vermont Homecare United—the union representing Vermont’s more than 5,000 home care workers, has officially voted to ratify a new agreement with the State of Vermont regarding the minimum hourly rate paid. The two-year agreement went into effect on July 1, 2024, and includes a 5% increase to the minimum base rate each year as well as a retention bonus based on time worked. The union stated that homecare providers are dedicated professionals who provide a wide range of support services that allow a person to live safely in their home and engage in the community. Clients range from Veterans to aging adults, those managing chronic health issues or serious illness or injury, and those with special needs or disabilities.
“We’re Not Conceding Anything”: United Auto Workers, Cornell University Negotiate New Contract
The Corness Daily Sun
By Dorothy France-Miller
July 10, 2024
Cornell University and the United Auto Workers Local 2300 are negotiating the terms for their 2024-2026 contract, which expired on June 30. In their negotiations, they are asking for substantial wage increases and cost-of-living adjustments amid understaffing and inflation. The UAW — a union representing about 400,000 employees across diverse industries, including dining workers, gardeners, custodians and transportation— recently won significant wage and benefit gains for Detroit automakers. Now, the UAW Local 2300 has been tasked with securing similar benefits for service and maintenance workers at Cornell.
Rapid workers reject contract proposal
Wood TV
By Anna Skog
July 10, 2024
Union workers at The Rapid have rejected the latest contract proposal put forth by the metro Grand Rapids bus service. A spokesperson for The Rapid said the most recently proposed contract offered unionized workers a 13% raise in the first year and another 4% for evening and weekend shifts, as well as a new floating holiday. The spokesperson also said the new policy would have required employees to give a day’s notice if they were to miss work instead of the current policy of calling at least an hour before a shift.
In These Times
By Maximillian Alvarez
July 10, 2024
On the morning of Thursday, June 20, unionized nurses at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore held a rally outside the hospital to raise awareness of their efforts to secure a first contract and to show management that they’re not backing down from their core demands for safe staffing and an operational model that puts patients and patient care first. “St. Agnes nurses are calling on Ascension to accept their proposals to improve safe staffing and, subsequently, nurse retention,” a press release from National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) stated. “Nearly 20 percent of nurses at St. Agnes began employment at the hospital after January 1 of this year. Meanwhile, just over a third of nurses have more than four years of experience at the hospital… The Catholic hospital system is one of the largest in the country with 140 hospitals in 19 states and also one of the wealthiest, with cash reserves, an investment company, and a private equity operation worth billions of dollars — and, because of its nonprofit status, is exempt from paying federal taxes.” In this on-the-ground episode, we take you to the NNOC/NNU picket line and speak with Nicki Horvat, an RN in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit at Ascension St. Agnes and member of the bargaining team, about what she and her coworkers are fighting for.
IN THE STATES
Judge to consider lawsuit over Mayor Parker's return to office policy for Philadelphia city workers
6ABC
By 6abc Digital Staff
July 11, 2024
A Philadelphia judge will consider the lawsuit brought against the city over Mayor Cherelle Parker's return to office policy. The hearing is being held Thursday in the Court of Common Pleas. Action News will bring you any updates from court when they happen. Parker has ordered all Philadelphia city workers to return to working in the office full-time starting Monday, July 15. It impacts about 20% of the city's workforce that remains on a hybrid schedule. The lawsuit, filed by AFSCME District Council 47, claims the elimination of remote work would "cause substantial harm for city workers and will throw services into chaos."
Act 10 faces another legal challenge. This time, it might stick.
Wisconsin Public Radio
By Beatrice Lawrence
July 10, 2024
A law that drew massive protests and made Wisconsin the center of a national fight over union rights is still being challenged in court 13 years after it took effect. Last week, a Dane County judge ruled that parts of Wisconsin’s Act 10 violate the equal protection guarantees of the state Constitution. The law sharply limits collective bargaining rights for most public employees but provides exemptions for certain public safety employees like police officers and firefighters.
LABOR AND ENTERTAINMENT
CBS Pays $3M-Plus in Settlement With Writers Guild West Over Labor Dispute
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
July 10, 2024
The Writers Guild of America West has negotiated a settlement with CBS over work that occurred after writers rooms were shut down on several shows that has awarded $3.05 million to 24 writers, union leaders informed members on Wednesday. According to a member message, the settlement resulted from an arbitration claim that the union filed for writers on MacGyver, Seal Team and Hawaii 5-0. “Guild members providing writing services on these series were required to continue working even though the studio had declared the [writers] rooms closed and stopped making weekly compensation and benefit contribution payments to the impacted writers,” WGA West president Meredith Stiehm, vp Michele Mulroney and secretary-treasurer Betsy Thomas wrote. The WGA West contended that this practice violated its minimum basic agreement and that staff writers and so-called “Article 14 writers” (scribes who have a “story editor” title or higher) should have been paid weekly and received benefit contributions for that working period.
LABOR HISTORY
National Park Service awarding grant to preserve site of the Ludlow Massacre
KOAA News
By Cassime Joseph
July 10, 2024
The National Park Service is awarding $150,000 in grant money to preserve a historic site near Trinidad. It's called the Ludlow Tent Colony Site, which represents an important event in Colorado's history. The tent colony was the site of the Ludlow Massacre in 1914, where 21 people, including 11 children were killed.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Las Vegas teens find passion, purpose and possibly a career in building trades camp
Las Vegas Sun
By Hillary Davis
July 11, 2024
W ith the smell of soldering flux hanging in the air, Mateo Becerra stressed the importance of good, honest work. Becerra, a 16-year-old student at Liberty High School, had already spent much of his summer helping his uncle lay concrete. This week, he was learning about pipefitting and plumbing, sheet metal, and heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems at Heavy Metal Summer Experience, a camp introducing teens to the building trades. “I’m better with my hands,” Becerra said. “I’m more of a physically minded person, and I’m a fast-paced thinker.” Maybe he’ll make a career in concrete, or as an electrician — he had a circuit-building kit that he enjoyed when he was younger.
Nonprofit Nevada Women in Trades Helps with Life-Changing Opportunities
Las Vegas Weekly
By Shannon Miller
July 11, 2024
Like many who get into the construction trades, Sarah Gutierrez has a family to support. “I was kind of desperate to look for a job. … I had bills stacking up,” she says. The 23-year-old mother of two was working at call centers and in customer service before she decided to make a career switch. She then met Evelyn Pacheco, president of the nonprofit Nevada Women in Trades, a program which helps women break into the construction industry. Pacheco helped Gutierrez introduce herself to several companies hiring sprinkler fitters and helped her with job applications. She got an interview two or three weeks later and learned about an apprenticeship program through UA Local Union 669.