POLITICS
U.S. House GOP spending cuts a preview of Project 2025, lead Dem appropriator says
Michigan Advance
By Lia Chien
July 25, 2024
Fred Redmond, the secretary-treasurer of AFL-CIO, a national labor coalition, highlighted the elimination of $900 million for youth job training programs, saying it took away a program “at the exact moment that young people are looking for good, stable jobs.”
With Speech to Teachers, Harris Waded into a Fiery Education Debate
The New York Times
By Dana Goldstein
July 25, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris addressed a very friendly crowd this morning at the American Federation of Teachers convention in Houston. She has been a longtime ally of teachers’ unions, even when their positions have divided the Democratic coalition. In 2019, as a U.S. senator considering a presidential run, Ms. Harris supported the teacher strike in Los Angeles, which stood in opposition to fellow Democrats who had sought to expand charter school options in the city. Later on, Ms. Harris rolled out her failed 2020 primary run with a proposal to vastly raise teacher pay, thrilling the unions. In her first days as the presumptive Democratic nominee, she has focused on teachers. At a Wisconsin rally on Tuesday, she was introduced by an educator whose student debt was erased by the Biden administration’s public service loan forgiveness program. The A.F.T. is led by Randi Weingarten, a power player in Democratic politics. On Sunday, shortly after President Biden withdrew from the campaign, the A.F.T. executive council became one of the first labor groups to endorse the vice president.
Construction workers union endorses Harris
The Hill
By Miranda Nazzaro
July 25, 2024
The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) voted unanimously to endorse Vice President Harris’s presidential run, becoming the latest labor organization to throw its support behind the likely Democratic presidential nominee. The major construction workers union joins the more than half-dozen national labor organizations to endorse Harris.
Harris Rallies Teachers Union With Dire Warnings About Trump
The New York Times
By Erica L. Green
July 25, 2024
Ms. Harris also indicated that under her administration, she would not backtrack from the unapologetic pro-union stance that has been central to the Biden administration. “The fact is: Unions helped build America’s middle class,” she said. “And when unions are strong, America is strong.” Randi Weingarten, the president of the A.F.T., said that the union usually does not endorse a candidate until after its convention, but that the executive council responsible for endorsements thought it was a “no-brainer” to do it within hours after Mr. Biden announced he was dropping out, which took place during the convention.
Harris tells teachers union she’s ready to fight for country’s future — ‘bring it on’
AP
By Josh Boak
July 25, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris told Republicans to “bring it on” in what she described as a “fight for our most fundamental freedoms” as she spoke to the American Federation of Teachers on Thursday. The American Federation of Teachers was the first labor union to formally endorse Harris, and its president Randi Weingarten said she “has electrified this race.”
‘He tries and fails to play man of the people’: Union leaders slam Trump and Vance, boost Harris
Spectrum News 1
By Joseph Konig
July 25, 2024
“I've never seen energy like this, this time in an election cycle. The workers in Michigan are not going backwards,” Bieber said on the DNC call. “I'm the president of Michigan AFL-CIO now, but I came up through the United Auto Workers. Trump was devastating to the auto industry and auto workers here in Michigan, they are not going to go backwards.”
Kamala Harris seeks to bolster pro-labor stance in speech to teachers’ union
The Guardian
By Michael Sainato
July 25, 2024
Kamala Harris sought to bolster her pro-labor credentials on Thursday days into her run for the presidency, telling a convention of one of the US’s biggest unions: “When unions are strong, America is strong.” Addressing the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) convention today in Houston, Texas – her fourth event in four days across four states – the vice-president said: “Donald Trump and his extreme allies want to take our nation back to failed trickle-down economic policies, back to union-busting, back to tax breaks for billionaires.” The presidential hopeful continued her attack on Project 2025, a rightwing thinkthank’s blueprint for a future Trump administration, calling it a “plan to return America to a dark past”. “They even want to eliminate the Department of Education,” she told the enthusiastic crowd.
ORGANIZING
Microsoft’s World of Warcraft Workers Vote to Unionize
The New York Times
By John Yoon
July 25, 2024
More than 500 workers in the team behind World of Warcraft, one of the most popular video games in the world, have voted to unionize, the Communications Workers of America said on Wednesday. The move expands the ranks of organized labor at Microsoft, which acquired the video game giant Activision Blizzard — whose subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment produces World of Warcraft — for $69 billion last year. To satisfy the regulators overseeing the mega-acquisition, Microsoft promised to remain neutral on unionizing efforts, an unusually permissive policy in the tech industry. An arbitrator determined on Wednesday that a majority of the World of Warcraft workers, including designers, engineers, artists and quality testers, supported the C.W.A., the union said in a statement.
NEGOTIATIONS & STRIKES
Video game performers announce strike, citing artificial intelligence concerns
NBC News
By Kalhan Rosenblatt
July 25, 2024
Hollywood video game performers have voted to go on strike beginning Friday, citing concerns over artificial intelligence protections in a proposed new contract. The future of generative AI — and how it can be used to replace labor — was a crucial sticking point for actors and writers during last year’s Hollywood strikes. While the actors and writers unions came to a deal with studios in the fall, negotiations between video game actors and major game developers have gone on more than a year and a half, according to their union, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA.
SAG-AFTRA Calls Strike Against Major Video Game Companies After Nearly 2 Years Of Contract Talks
Deadline
By Katie Campione and Dominic Patten
July 25, 2024
SAG-AFTRA is going on strike again. This time, the union is calling a work stoppage against the major video game companies after nearly two years of trying to renegotiate its Interactive Media Agreement. The decision to hit the picket lines comes 10 months after the union’s initial strike authorization vote. The strike goes into effect July 26 at 12:01 a.m. The 10 companies facing the strike are Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Epic Games, Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Take 2 Productions Inc., VoiceWorks Productions Inc., and WB Games Inc.
Minneapolis park board, striking workers to return to bargaining table
CBS News
By Pauleen Le and Kirsten Mitchell
July 25, 2024
For the first time in weeks, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and its striking workers will be back at the bargaining table. On Wednesday evening, striking workers showed up to to the park board meeting to call for a return to the table, which was voted down. On Thursday morning they delivered a no-confidence petition to the board, and will return to the table in the afternoon. The union has been on strike for 22 days, and voted down the most recent park board contract offer. The union says the remaining issue that needs to be resolved in the new contract isn't about pay. Earlier this week, LIUNA Local 363 said its members were ready to accept the latest pay offer even though it was less than what they originally wanted. "It's just about three union-busting, anti-worker language that they want to insert into the contract," said AJ Lange, LIUNA Local 363 business manager. "We're feeling good, feeling hopeful. Ready to get back to work."
Video game actors are going on strike after contract talks fail over AI terms
Los Angeles Times
By Christi Carras
July 25, 2024
Video game performers are going on strike for the second time in a decade. Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director and chief negotiator of performers union SAG-AFTRA, called a strike Thursday on behalf of thousands of video game actors covered by the Interactive Media Agreement. The strike takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The announcement came days after SAG-AFTRA’s national board granted Crabtree-Ireland the authority to initiate a walkout and nearly a year after union members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike.
UAW Local 282 ends strike at Lear plant after reaching tentative deal (Video)
KSDK
By ksdk.com
July 25, 2024
Lear Seating Assembly plant workers in Wentzville put an end to their four-day strike. The union says it reached a tentative deal with Lear.
SAG-AFTRA Calls Strike Against Major Video Game Studios
The Hollywood Reporter
By Erik Hayden
July 25, 2024
For close to two years, SAG-AFTRA has been in talks with major video game companies on a new contract agreement that would cover voice and performance capture workers on titles from Disney Character Voices, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros. Games, Insomniac Games and more. Now, at an impasse over artificial intelligence concerns, the union’s chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland has called a strike. “We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse AI to the detriment of our members. Enough is enough,” stated SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher. “When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate.”
Postdoc Researchers at OHSU Vote to Authorize Strike, if Necessary
Willamette Week
By Anthony Effinger
July 25, 2024
Unionized researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have voted to authorize a strike if they don’t get increases in wages and benefits that they’ve been seeking for nine months. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees represents about 250 researchers in a year-old union called PostDoc Workers United, who have completed doctorate degrees and are doing research in their field at OHSU. The vote means that the union can give OHSU a 10-day notice and then strike. The vote comes at OHSU pursues a merger with Legacy Health.
Cincinnati Metro, ATU Local 627 agree to new three-year labor contract
Mass Transit
By Staff
July 25, 2024
Cincinnati Metro and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 627 have successfully negotiated and approved a new three-year labor contract. The new agreement offers increased wages and benefits for Cincinnati Metro's dedicated fixed-route union staff, which includes bus operators, maintenance workers and associated support staff. "[Cincinnati] Metro’s operators and mechanics are the backbone of our system, which serves the community every day," said Darryl Haley, general manager and CEO of Cincinnati Metro. "This new contract recognizes the dedication and hard work of our team members and helps continued efforts to attract the very best as we build our talent in this fiercely competitive labor market.”
SPORTS UNIONIZATION
W.N.B.A.’s Popularity Booms, but Money for Players Hasn’t Kept Pace
The New York Times
By Tania Ganguli
July 25, 2024
Allisha Gray is a 29-year-old guard for the Atlanta Dream. She is six feet tall, speaks with a central Georgia drawl and smiles as if she’s keeping the best secret. During the W.N.B.A.’s All-Star weekend, she jumped into a whole new tax bracket. Her salary this year is $185,000, but she earned an additional $115,150 on Friday by winning the league’s 3-point contest and skills competition. The W.N.B.A. awards $2,575 to each winner in its skills competition, but most of Gray’s windfall came courtesy of a deal announced the day before between the players’ union and the insurance company Aflac, which agreed to pay $55,000 per winner.
STATE LEGISLATION
Blue States Line Up To Ban Anti-Union ‘Captive Audience’ Meetings
HuffPost
By Dave Jamieson
July 25, 2024
A growing number of states are moving to bar employers from holding mandatory anti-union meetings at work, a move labor advocates hope will give employees more confidence to vote “union yes.” Tim Drea, the president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, said it made “a lot of sense” for the state labor federation to get behind the bill. While Drea has an obvious stake in opposing anti-union captive audience meetings, he said workers shouldn’t be forced to listen to political talk either.