Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
MUST READ
Under new law, Illinois employers can’t force workers to sit through anti-union meetings
Capitol News Illinois
By Hannah Meisel
July 31, 2024
AFL-CIO national President Liz Shuler, the keynote speaker for Wednesday’s state convention, praised the legislation before Pritzker signed it. She admonished “rich and powerful” executives like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, the founder of companies including Tesla, for “stacking the deck against us.” "They want to sit there and hold their captive audience meetings and make us listen to a bunch of their propaganda,” she said.
POLITICS
Autoworkers Union Endorses Kamala Harris for President
The New York Times
By Nicholas Nehamas and Noam Scheiber
July 31, 2024
The United Automobile Workers endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, giving her the support of one of the nation’s most influential unions after it delayed to assess her approach to key issues. The U.A.W.’s endorsement throws the union’s powerful organizing muscle behind Ms. Harris, who faces a tight race against former President Donald J. Trump. The union has about 370,000 members, with large presences in key battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin. “We stand at a crossroads in this country,” the U.A.W.’s president, Shawn Fain, said in a statement, adding, “We can put a billionaire back in office who stands against everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed.”
UAW union endorses Vice President Kamala Harris for president over Trump
CNBC
By Michael Wayland
July 31, 2024
The United Auto Workers on Wednesday endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris over Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump. “Our job in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris to build on her proven track record of delivering for the working class,” Fain said in a statement. “We can put a billionaire back in office who stands against everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed.”
"It's designed to eliminate unions": Project 2025 lays out the GOP plan to undermine organized labor
Salon
By Nicholas Liu
July 31, 2024
While labor advocates seek to revitalize union membership and pressure governments to pass labor-friendly policies as a means to increase workers' bargaining strength, Republicans hoping to regain full control of government in 2024 have plans to "fix" the labor movement by targeting those unions, which they characterize as unaccountable and inefficient. Former President Donald Trump's first administration took measures that labor experts say are tantamount to union-busting, while Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill introduced the Teamwork for Employees and Managers (TEAM) Act in 2022, which would repeal NLRA's Section 8(a)(2) and other rules meant to keep unions independent and capable of bargaining effectively. Section 8(a)(2), which lays out what constitutes unfair labor practice on both ends, expressly prohibits unions that have been "assisted or controlled" by the employer. Although the TEAM Act did not become law, Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's right-wing policy template with fingerprints from over 140 former Trump administration officials, calls for the bill's revival in the next Congress. According to the text of Project 2025, permitting "formal worker–management cooperative organizations," and allowing petitions that decertify a union and trigger a fresh election to be filed at any time, would provide workers with greater choice over how they are represented.
Pa. union heads champion Harris ahead of Trump rally in Pa. capital
CNHI
By Eric Scicchitano
July 31, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign organized counter-programming in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, challenging the platform of former President Donald Trump on labor rights and reproductive freedoms ahead of the Republican nominee’s return to the Keystone State for a rally in Harrisburg. Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Angela Ferritto and Pennsylvania State Building & Construction Trades Council President Rob Bair gathered with workers outside the hall of United Steel Workers Local 1688 to endorse Harris, the Democratic Party’s presumed nominee, for president. “We have an opportunity here to elect a presidential candidate that knows the working class and does the right thing, or we have an alternative that nobody wants. Now, you all heard last week that the North American Building Trades endorsed Vice President Harris. And, I can tell you that the Pennsylvania Building Trades are riding with Vice President Harris,” Bair said.
LABOR AND TECHNOLOGY
Entertainment Industry Backs Bill to Outlaw AI Deepfakes
Variety
By Gene Maddaus
July 31, 2024
The entertainment industry has united in support of a bill to outlaw digital deepfakes and create the first-ever federal right to one’s voice and likeness. A bipartisan group of senators, led by Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, introduced a revised version Wednesday of the No Fakes Act, which would make it illegal to create an AI replica of someone without their consent. The bill has the support of SAG-AFTRA, Disney, the Motion Picture Association — which represents six major studios — as well as the Recording Industry Association of America, the Recording Academy, and the major music labels and talent agencies. “Game over A.I. fraudsters!” said Fran Drescher, the president of SAG-AFTRA, in a statement. “Enshrining protections against unauthorized digital replicas as a federal intellectual property right will keep us all protected in this brave new world. Especially for performers whose livelihoods depend on their likeness and brand, this step forward is a huge win!”
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Fed's Powell puts September rate cut on table as US inflation cools
Reuters
By Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir
July 31, 2024
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday interest rates could be cut as soon as September if the U.S. economy follows its expected path, putting the central bank near the end of a more than two-year battle against inflation but square in the middle of the nation's presidential election campaign. The Fed ended its latest two-day policy meeting with a decision to hold its benchmark interest rate steady in the 5.25%-5.50% range that was set a year ago, but its statement softened the description of inflation and said the risks to employment were now on a par with those of rising prices - neutral language that opens the door for rates to fall after more than two years of tightening credit.
ORGANIZING
Austin workers at video game developer Blizzard Entertainment unionize
LMT Online
By Emily Hernandez
July 31, 2024
It’s been a rough year for video game studios and developers in Central Texas. Following the complete shutdown of Austin’s Arkane Studios in May and subsequent layoffs of 96 employees, staff at another video game developer are taking steps to protect themselves. Sixty quality assurance workers in Austin for Microsoft subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment officially unionized on Wednesday, July 24, according to a news release from Communications Workers of America (CWA). The Austin Blizzard employees work on franchises including Diablo, Hearthstone and other quality assurance support teams.
JOINING TOGETHER
As Delta CEO flies to Paris, workers sweat through grounding
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
July 31, 2024
“Where’s Ed?” The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA posed that question while on informational picket lines. They toil for rabidly anti-union Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian. AFA, the Machinists, and the Teamsters are jointly campaigning to organize Delta’s flight attendants, grounds crews, and ramp agents. There are 20,000 ramp workers alone, and thousands more mechanics and flight attendants, all, right now, unorganized. That’s unlike their colleagues at the nation’s other three biggest air carriers, Southwest, United, and American. The picketing workers suffered from grounded planes and sweltered on picket lines in Atlanta and the Twin Cities on July 24. Later, they toiled to get Delta back on track after a massive Internet/computer shutdown grounded the airline’s entire schedule. Delta took at least four days to recover. Other airlines recovered in less than a day.
NEGOTIATIONS & STRIKES
SAG-AFTRA performers to hold first strike picket outside WB Games
Game Developer
By Chris Kerr
July 31, 2024
SAG-AFTRA video game performers will hold their first strike picket on Thursday, August 1, outside WB Games Inc in Burbank, California. The union called a strike last week in a bid to force major studios to include AI protections in the Interactive Media Agreement that covers performers in the game industry. SAG-AFTRA has spent around 18 months negotiating with studios to secure better working conditions, wage increases, and AI protections–but claimed employers failed to provide the latter.
NLRB
United Auto Workers files lawsuit against Cornell University, citing ‘unfair labor’
WBNG
By WBNG Staff
July 31, 2024
United Auto Workers, or UAW, has filed seven separate unfair labor lawsuits with the National Labor Relations Board against Cornell University. The UAW said it filed the charges of violations of workers’ rights and federal labor laws during ongoing contract negotiations. The agreement, which expired at midnight on June 30, covered more than 1,200 workers. “Our members are the backbone of Cornell, yet the administration thinks it can divide us and intimidate us by distributing union-busting talking points to managers and stomping on our rights,” said UAW Local 2300 President Christine Johnson in a statement on their website. “These unfair labor practice charges are a necessary step to keep Cornell in check. Instead of breaking our union, Cornell should be focused on negotiating a record contract without violating the law.”
STATE LEGISLATION
Pritzker signs law banning forced religious gatherings at work
WSIL
By Carrington Brignac
July 31, 2024
Governor Pritzker signed an act into law on Wednesday that will keep employers from requiring political or religious-themed meetings. Pritzker joined the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) President Liz Shuler and Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea at the Illinois convention for the federation on Wednesday to pass the law. The Freedom of Speech Act, now Law, bans mandatory political and religious meetings, also called "captive audience" meetings, from employment settings.
Illinois makes mandatory anti-union meetings illegal (Audio)
NPR
By Andrea Hsu
July 31, 2024
Illinois is the 8th state to adopt a law making it illegal for employers to hold mandatory religious, political or anti-union meetings, a move aimed at helping workers trying to unionize.
Michigan Supreme Court restores minimum wage and sick leave laws
CBS News
By Staff
July 31, 2024
The Michigan Supreme Court overruled the Legislature on Wednesday, reinstating major changes to the state's minimum wage and paid sick leave laws, a victory for low-wage workers. In a 4-3 decision, the court said Republican lawmakers violated the state constitution. The laws were the result of a 2018 petition drive that collected more than 280,000 signatures. The Legislature had two options: put the proposed laws on the ballot for voters to decide or simply adopt them. GOP lawmakers chose to approve them — but then watered them down after that year's election, before Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took over in 2019. Republican Gov. Rick Snyder signed the rollback legislation before he left office, triggering years of legal challenges that finally reached a climax at the state's highest court.
Gov. Pritzker signs child labor overhaul into law
WGEM
By Max Cotton
July 30, 2024
Illinois has overhauled its child labor laws for the first time in 75 years. Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation Tuesday revamping the state’s child labor laws. An initiative of the Illinois Department of Labor, agency officials argued piecemeal changes over the years have created outdated, conflicting and disjointed provisions in state law. “Were trying to just create a whole new bill, gut and replace it, and allow for an easier new way to manage the bill and understand and so employers and everyone else can understand it. I think right now it just creates a lot of unnecessary misunderstandings for a bill that is very important in protecting the vulnerable,” said state Rep. Barbara Hernandez, D-Aurora, the bill’s House sponsor. The new law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2025. It will ban kids from working in jobs not covered 75 years ago. This includes working in adult entertainment facilities and cannabis shops. It also will limit the number of hours kids 15 and younger can work weekly to 18 hours during school weeks and 40 hours when school is not in session.
Mass. Gov. Healey signs bill requiring employers to post pay ranges for job openings
Mass Live
By John L. Micek
July 31, 2024
Massachusetts employers who employ 25 or more people now will be required to post pay ranges alongside their job openings under a bill that Gov. Maura Healey signed into law on Wednesday. The wage equity bill the Arlington Democrat signed into law also will protect workers’ rights to ask for salary ranges, and it will require employers with 100 or more workers to file wage data reports with the state.
IN THE STATES
Labor unions eye ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity’ for new jobs in Genesee County
The ‘Gander
By Kyle Kaminski
July 31, 2024
Local labor unions are throwing their support behind a forthcoming redevelopment project in Genesee County that’s expected to create thousands of new, high-wage manufacturing jobs. State lawmakers in June approved $250 million in grant funding to support the project—known as the Advanced Manufacturing District of Genesee County—which involves the redevelopment of about 1,200 acres of land in rural Mundy Township into what local officials hope will become a new, $2 billion manufacturing operation that employs at least 2,000 people.