MUST READ
Biden Calls J.D. Vance a Trump ‘Clone’ as Democrats Label Him an Extremist
The New York Times
By Nicholas Nehamas
July 15, 2024
Democrats seized on former President Donald J. Trump’s selection of Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate on Monday, calling Mr. Vance an extremist whose views on abortion, tax cuts and the results of the 2020 election would repel many Americans. “A Trump-Vance White House is a corporate C.E.O.’s dream and a worker’s nightmare,” Liz Shuler, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., said in a statement.
POLITICS
Republican social issue demands, labor money cuts anger unions
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
July 15, 2024
Cuts in Labor and Education Department funds, and controversial Republican “social issue” demands dominated the discussion, and angered unions and Democrats, as House members crafted the money bill for the two departments, plus the Health and Human Services Department, for the fiscal year starting October 1.“Adequate funding for worker protections, job training, public health and education is essential to the well-being of all working families, but the allocations for FY2025 contained in this bill are grossly inadequate, reflecting a dangerous disregard for our nation’s needs,” Jody Calemine, the AFL-CIO’s new Legislative Director, wrote lawmakers.
Biden to extend overtime protections to one million workers
Labor Tribune
By Staff
July 15, 2024
In an executive action announced July 1, President Joe Biden extended overtime protections to one million workers and has pledged to continue to further expand the safeguards if reelected. The new overtime protections stem from a rule finalized in April in a section of the Fair Labor Standards Act based on an updated Department of Labor (DOL) calculation. Now, workers making less than $43,888 a year are eligible for extra pay when they work long hours, putting more money in their pockets. Additionally, the Biden administration has vowed to further extend these protections to another three million workers by increasing the overtime threshold to $58,656 next year.
Unions urge lawmakers to resist ‘latest weapon’ to overturn workforce measures
McKnights Senior Living
By Kathleen Steele Gaivin
By July 15, 2024
Led by the Service Employees International Union, National Nurses United and the AFL-CIO, dozens of labor unions last week issued a letter urging Congress to resist Republican efforts to use the Congressional Review Act to overturn some workforce rules enacted by the Department of Labor and other US agencies. “Plainly, the CRA has become the latest weapon in a war on workers waged by special interests,” the organizations said, citing resolutions, “some of which already passed the Congress, [that] carry a threat of permanently undermining critical gains for working people across the country.”
ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND CLIMATE
Rhode Island has consistently shown leadership in enacting laws that address climate change
Boston Globe
By Patrick Crowley
July 15, 2024
Over the last few years, Rhode Island has consistently demonstrated national leadership in addressing the impacts of climate change through legislative action. Thanks to the energy and activism of many Rhode Islanders, the state’s elected officials at both the state and municipal level have started to erect the scaffolding around the groundbreaking 2021 Act on Climate. Therefore, I take exception to the views expressed in a commentary by Bill Ibelle published in The Boston Globe. He writes that our leaders have “failed to take meaningful action” and that there seems to be “no sense of urgency” to act. I disagree. In 2022, Rhode Island enacted an offshore wind procurement law committing the state to issue requests for proposals on developing up to 1,000 megawatts of offshore wind.
ORGANIZING
Salt Lake Tribune journalists launch campaign to unionize
Axios
By Kim Bojórquez
July 15, 2024
Salt Lake Tribune staff members announced in a letter Monday their intent to unionize. The big picture: The Tribune is the latest newsroom in the U.S. to seek unionization, following in the footsteps of major publications like the Los Angeles Times, the Texas Tribune, and more. Why it matters: Since the pandemic, a record number of journalists have joined unions over concerns about layoffs, wages, representation among editorial staff, and new leadership.
Workers at Jewish Family Services win their union
Labor Tribune
By Tim Rowden
July 15, 2024
Workers at Jewish Family Services (JFS) have voted overwhelmingly to join Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 6400 Missouri-Kansas, which includes the recently merged CWA 6355 and CWA 6400, as Jewish Family Services Workers United. After months of organizing, and despite sustained union avoidance tactics resulting in numerous Unfair Labor Practice charges against JFS management, the professional and non-professional bargaining units voted nine-to-seven and six-to-four to join CWA.
JOINING TOGETHER
Jersey City Workers, Labor Unions Protest Unsafe Conditions
TAPinto New Jersey
By Al Sullivan
July 15, 2024
The rally came one day after the NJ Department of Labor issued Stop Work Orders against Jersey-City based contractor Euro-Concrete and two of its labor brokers, Yolo Construction of North Bergen and MJSS Construction of Newark. The NJDOL cited improper classification, unpaid wages/late wages, failure to pay overtime rate, and record keeping. Outside the scope of the Stop Work Order, Euro has also been cited for an OSHA violation after a worker fall in November 2023, and they and one of their subcontractors, MJSS, are currently under investigation for four additional incidents. LIUNA Vice President and Eastern Regional Manager Mike Hellstrom called the actions of Euro Concrete and its labor brokers both horrific and predictable. “As long as project owners, developers, contractors, and politicians allow wage theft, worker intimidation, exploitation and unsafe and hostile work environments, bad actors and crooked contractors will take advantage,” Hellstrom said. “Some may say that our union sounds like a broken record bringing up these incidents again and again as they happen, but the thing that is really broken is the construction industry in Jersey City and Hudson County.”
NEGOTIATIONS & STRIKES
Minneapolis park board, workers resume negotiations(Video)
CBS News
By Marielle Mohs
July 15, 2024
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board met on Monday with striking workers to resume contract negotiations. The park board said it received a counterproposal from the union which will cost $800,000 extra this year. Park workers said they're still waiting to hear the board's reaction to that offer. "We remain committed to serious negotiations at the bargaining table and addressing proposals in good faith," said AJ Lange, LIUNA Local 363 business manager. "If the park board is genuinely interested in resuming talks, we expect them to reach out through proper channels, as we have done. We will focus our efforts on productive negotiations."
Patient actors at Thomas Jefferson University who unionized this year hold rally for new contract
Philly Voice
By Michaela Althouse
July 15, 2024
Agroup of workers at Thomas Jefferson University who are paid to simulate patients for medical students celebrated a victory earlier this year when they won a union election. But six months later, they say they're struggling to be taken seriously in bargaining sessions. Known as standardized patients, these actors are assigned medical conditions and memorize traits about their characters, including eating and exercise habits, sexual preferences and hobbies. Sometimes, they're even asked to act angry or make it more difficult for students to get the necessary info. After the exam, they give feedback to the students.
Union reaches tentative agreement with Altice/Optimum in West Virginia
The Register-Herald
By Staff
July 15, 2024
Members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) employed by Universal Cable Holdings, LLC, part of Altice USA, Inc., have reached a tentative agreement with their employer for a new contract covering CWA-represented employees working under the Optimum brand in West Virginia. The new agreement includes 7.69% compounded wage increase over the 3-year contract as well as new minimum salaries for technicians, resulting in an average wage increase of 10.6% in the highest populated technician title. A ratification vote is being scheduled.
Civic News Company Writers Unanimously Ratify New 2.5-Year Contract
Deadline
By Katie Campione
July 15, 2024
The writers at Civic News Company have a new deal. The 29-member bargaining unit, which is represented by the WGA East, unanimously voted to ratify their second contract since unionizing. The 2.5-year contract includes “major improvements” to paid sick leave, salary minimums and short-term disability, the guild says. “We’re proud to see our members at Chalkbeat, Votebeat and Healthbeat win a strong new contract. These members create essential news resources across vital topics, and they deserve union protections that reflect how important their work is,” WGAE President Lisa Takeuchi Cullen said in a statement.
LABOR AND ENTERTAINMENT
San Francisco Symphony’s financial struggles put its chorus at risk
San Francisco Chronicle
By Aidin Vaziri
July 15, 2024
Union members, however, dispute the nonprofit’s financial picture, which is audited and publicly available, stating, “Cutting $800,000 of the Chorus’s roughly $1 million cost won’t cover this. Cutting 80% of their approximately $75 million in expenses across the board would save nearly $60 million, indicating these cuts unreasonably target the Chorus.” Symphony leaders remain hopeful for a positive resolution but maintain that negotiations are ongoing.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
State leaders discuss federal bill to standardize heat-related safety measures among workers
NBC Connecticut
By Dave Peck
July 15, 2024
On a day as hot as Monday, construction workers in Hartford relied on a cooler filled with ice, water and sports drinks to help get them through the heat. “We take like 10 minute breaks, water, just to drink fluids," said Jacob Quiterio, "We have to reset." But some construction union representatives say not every company offers that kind of relief for their employees. “The vast majority of employers are good employers and they will give people that rest, but it’s the employers that look at the people as numbers and not human beings that are going home to the family,” said CT AFL-CIO President Ed Hawthorne. “Those are the ones who need this enforceable OSHA standard.”
A federal heat proposal could be ‘a good step’ for NC workers, advocate says
The News & Observer
By Adam Wagner
July 8, 2024
MaryBe McMillan, the president of the N.C. State AFL-CIO, said a farmworker’s death last year and other recent events make it clear that workers aren’t being adequately protected from extreme heat under North Carolina’s existing regulations. McMillan also pointed to warehouse workers in facilities that don’t have air conditioning and workers on the Tarmac at airports as other examples of workers who are exposed to potentially dangerous levels of heat. “There’s all kinds of workers in various industry sectors who every day are experiencing high degrees of heat and don’t have any opportunity to get relief, and that’s a real problem,” McMillan said.
Miners’ union calls provision in House bill ‘a direct attack’ on coal miners
Safety + Health Magazine
By Staff
July 15, 2024
A legislative attempt to block federal enforcement of a rule intended to protect miners from exposure to silica is “morally reprehensible,” United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts says. The provision is included in the House Appropriation Committee’s Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill – released June 26. The bill was approved with a 31-25 vote during a July 10 markup and advanced to the House floor. The Mine Safety and Health Administration final rule, published April 18 and in effect since June 17, lowers the permissible exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air over an 8-hour-time weighted average. That’s half the previous limit and matches the PEL OSHA established in 2016.
CIVIL, HUMAN, & WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Civil rights groups sound alarm on Project 2025
Kiowa County Press
By Eric Galatas
July 15, 2024
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said Project 2025 also calls for expanding child labor and rolling back workplace protections under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or "OSHA" - designed to prevent accidents, injury and death. "Tell that to a woman who lost her son in a grain silo, that could have been prevented, because he was cleaning it without the proper equipment," said Shuler. "That is OSHA. These fines and these laws are there for a reason."
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Union Solidarity Ride/Poker Run a roaring success
Labor Tribune
By Staff
July 15, 2024
The IBEW Local 1 Electrical Workers Riding Club’s Union Solidarity Ride/Poker Run was a huge success attracting motorcyclists from Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 562, Teamsters, Painters and other regional electrical unions on June 29. The ride took off from the IBEW Local 1 union hall, and stops included Lehmann’s Landing, The Irish Gypsy, Froge’s and the Wood River Moose Lodge.
NJBIZ Conversations: IUOE Local 825 Business Manager Greg Lalevee
NJ BIZ
By Jeffrey Kanige
July 15, 2024
A lot of business leaders worry about finding and hiring qualified employees. The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825 is doing something about the labor shortage. The local embarked on a partnership with Hudson County Community College, funded in part by a grant from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Under the partnership, students simultaneously work as union apprentices while earning an associate’s degree at the college. Local 825 – whose members are largely responsible for the built environment in the New York-New Jersey region – already ran an extensive training program. But as technology plays an increasingly large role in the union’s work – and as projects like the Gateway Program become ever more complex – higher order skills are required. Hence the alliance with the college.