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Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips

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POLITICS

Don't all workers deserve a 'good day?' Pass the PRO Act (Opinion)

The Hill

By Michael Felsen

July 30, 2021

This is why the PRO (Protecting the Right to Organize) Act, is so desperately needed in this moment. The bill, passed by the House with bipartisan support on March 9 and discussed in a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing last week, is a long-overdue reworking of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935. The NLRA’s over-arching purpose, as originally enacted, was to encourage collective bargaining by granting employees the right to form or join unions and to engage in protected, concerted activities to improve working conditions. Those rights have been seriously compromised by a combination of federal and state laws, administrative and judicial decisions, and a decades-long corporate/employer campaign to undermine unionization in this country. 

PAYWATCH/CEO PAY

Indiana CEOs make 258 times as much as workers

NWI Times

By Joseph S. Pete

August 1, 2021

Indiana CEOs of S&P 500 companies make 258 times as much as workers, according to AFL-CIO's new 2020 Executive Paywatch. The annual study meant to shine a spotlight on growing inequality found the average S&P 500 CEO in the Hoosier State makes $13.4 million, as compared to the average worker pay of $52,210. The study further found the average Russell 3000 CEO in Indiana made $5.6 million, or 108 times as much as the average worker in Indiana. Nationally, the average S&P 500 CEO's pay grew by more than $700,000 last year. The average CEO made $15.5 million in 2020, or 299 times as much as the average worker. “Working people bore the brunt of COVID-19 and its impact on the U.S. economy,” Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler said. “Last year, the unemployment rate peaked at 14.7% in April, with a record 41 million layoffs in the United States. While many of those jobs have come back, there was a net loss of 9 million jobs in 2020.”

JOINING TOGETHER

Guggenheim Museum Curators Move to Join a Union

The New York Times

By Colin Moynihan

July 30, 2021

For decades there were no unions at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, but now its curators, conservators, editors and other employees are aiming to form the second in just over two years, organizing with a local connected to the United Auto Workers. Workers in similar jobs are already part of collective bargaining units at institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and the New Museum of Contemporary Art. On Friday, the Technical, Office and Professional Union, Local 2110, U.A.W. filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board asking for it to authorize a vote by the Guggenheim employees on the union, said Maida Rosenstein, the local’s president.

A Thousand Coal Miners Are Still On Strike After 4 Months

HuffPost

By Dave Jamieson

July 30, 2021

Many of the striking workers bussed from Alabama to Manhattan this week to hold a rally Wednesday outside the offices of the investment firm BlackRock. It was an attempt to pressure Warrior Met’s largest shareholder into supporting a contract proposal that would put an end to the strike and get the miners back to work. BlackRock has said it believes in “sustainable investing,” which the firm defines as “investing in progress.” UMWA President Cecil Roberts said in a statement that the miners were “simply following the money, and demanding that those who created that wealth, the miners, get their fair share of it.”

Fred Meyer, Washington warehouse workers reach contract agreement to avert strike

The Oregonian

By Jamie Goldberg 

August 1, 2021

Fred Meyer and union warehouse workers based in Puyallup, Washington, reached a tentative agreement to avert a strike that could have affected stores across the Northwest. The Teamsters Local 117, which represents the warehouse workers, said Friday the agreement on a four-year contract has the full recommendation of its bargaining committee. The union did not describe the terms of the agreement but said members were set to vote on the contract this week.

 

CORONAVIRUS

Disney will require employees to be fully vaccinated

Nexstar Media Wire

By Nexstar Media Wire

July 30, 2021

The Walt Disney Company has joined other large companies in requiring employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The company said in a statement Friday that it will be requiring all salaried and non-union hourly employees in the U.S. who work on site to be fully vaccinated. The statement said employees who aren’t already vaccinated will have 60 days to do so and that those still working from home will need to show proof of vaccination before returning. Disney said it was discussing the vaccine requirements with the union, and added that all new hires will be required to be fully vaccinated before starting work at the company.