JOINING TOGETHER
Union advocates rally in New York to support striking Alabama coalminers
The Guardian
By Lauren Aratani
July 28, 2021
Coal miners and union advocates from across the country rallied in New York on Wednesday morning in support of Alabama miners who are four months into a strike against their employer, Warrior Met Coal. Dressed in camouflage T-shirts with the slogan “We Are Everywhere”, members of the United Mine Workers Association (UMWA) gathered in midtown Manhattan in front of the headquarters of BlackRock, a hedge fund that is Warrior Met Coal’s largest investor. Fellow coal miners from Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia were in attendance at the rally, along with representatives from other labor unions like the AFL-CIO and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
Symphony, musicians union finalize contract
Nashville Post
By Staff Reports
July 28, 2021
Following mass layoffs due to the coronavirus pandemic — cuts that forced maestro Giancarlo Guererro to temporarily put down his conductor’s baton — the Nashville Symphony and the Nashville Musicians Association union have announced a new three-year contract for the orchestra musicians. The Nashville Musicians Association, Local 257, of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, AFL-CIO, was founded in 1902. Led by President Dave Pomeroy, it is the third largest AFM local in the United States, and has more than 2,200 members.
IN THE STATES
Indiana Democratic Party continues American Jobs Plan Tour
WANE
July 28, 2021
The Indiana Democratic Party continued the American Jobs Plan tour on Wednesday. The tour is an effort by the party to show “why Indiana needs the Jobs Plan and a revitalized infrastructure system. It also allows Hoosiers to hear more about the plan. Mayor Tom Henry, Phil GiaQuinta, the Indiana House Minority Leader, Brett Voorhies, the President of the IN AFL-CIO, Amanda Meier, the Greater Allen County UAW CAP Council Chair, and Lloyd Osborne, the President of the Hoosier Heartland Area Labor Federation were all in attendance.
VOTING RIGHTS
Democrats craft revised voting rights bill, seeking to keep hopes alive in the Senate
Boston Globe
By Mike DeBonis
July 28, 2021
Senate Democrats are preparing to release a revised voting rights bill as soon as this week, hoping to keep the legislation alive a month after Republicans blocked the consideration of a previous, more sweeping proposal. Several key senators huddled inside majority leader Charles Schumer’s office on Wednesday to hash out the details of the bill, which is expected to at least partially incorporate a framework assembled by Senator Joe Manchin III, the West Virginia Democrat who expressed qualms about the previous bill.
They emerged saying a new product could be released in a matter of days.
POLITICS
Buy American: Biden to increase the share of US-made parts for government purchases
USA Today
By Maureen Groppe
July 28, 2021
Products the federal government buys would need a higher share of U.S. parts to qualify as "made in America" under new rules the Biden administration proposed Wednesday. Promoting the changes in Pennsylvania, President Joe Biden said the new policy would strengthen American manufacturing and crucial supply chains and make companies more inclined to hire and invest in their future. "In recent years, Buy American has become a hollow promise," Biden said after touring a Mack Trucks facility and meeting with United Auto Workers members. "My administration is going to make Buy American a reality."
Biden proposes strengthening Buy American rules to boost US manufacturing
CNN
By Jason Hoffman, Kate Sullivan and Maegan Vazquez
July 28, 2021
President Joe Biden on Wednesday proposed strengthening the federal government’s Buy American rules in an attempt to boost US manufacturing. The new proposal would require that goods purchased with taxpayer money contain 75% of US-made content, up from the current 55%, according to a fact sheet provided by the White House.
NLRB
U.S. Senate approves union lawyers to NLRB, giving Democrats control
SRN News
By Daniel Wiessner and David Shepardson
July 28, 2021
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed union lawyers Gwynne Wilcox and David Prouty to seats on the National Labor Relations Board, paving the way for a Democratic majority that is likely to reverse a series of employer-friendly Trump-era decisions. The Democrat-led Senate voted 52-47 to approve the nomination of Wilcox, a partner at Levy Ratner in New York, and 53-46 to confirm Prouty, the general counsel of New York City service worker union SEIU 32BJ.