Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Harris to tout economic agenda in N.H. as debate nears
The Washington Post
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Sept. 4, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris is traveling to New Hampshire on Wednesday to lay out another plank of her economic agenda, pitching small-business relief in a Democratic-leaning state ahead of her critical debate next week against Donald Trump. Harris plans to visit a local brewery in North Hampton that benefited from President Joe Biden’s pandemic-era relief bill and other policies, an effort to highlight the Biden administration’s record of small-business growth while also laying out plans to bolster the economy by supporting entrepreneurs in the future.
Here’s what Harris is proposing for the economy
CNN
By Tami Luhby and Katie Lobosco
Sept. 4, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris is adding tax relief for small businesses to her economic policy platform aimed at helping middle-class and working Americans. Harris unveiled Wednesday a proposal to massively increase the existing small business tax deduction for startup costs and cut the red tape that impedes small businesses’ formation and growth. Her goal: 25 million new small business applications by the end of her first term, up from the record 19 million received under the Biden administration as of mid-August.
Harris' debate plan: Goad Trump, call out lies, create social media moments
Reuters
By Jeff Mason and Nandita Bose
Sept. 4, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris is preparing for her highly anticipated Sept. 10 debate with Donald Trump by focusing on ways to unnerve the Republican candidate and draw attention to his frequent falsehoods on policies and recent history, all with an eye toward social media, aides and advisers say. Harris, the Democratic nominee, last appeared on a debate stage in 2020 against then-Vice President Mike Pence, a night heavy on policy discussions and punctuated by Harris' rebuke of Pence's interruptions, yet probably remembered by most American voters for the fly that photobombed the event.
Poll: Half of Gen Z voters support Harris, one-third back Trump
NBC News
By Stephanie Perry and Marc Trussler
Sept. 4, 2024
Harris is backed by 60% of young voters who say they’re almost certain that they will cast a ballot in the presidential election. That figure pulls in line with the 60% of 18- to 29-year-olds won by Joe Biden in the 2020 election against Trump, according to NBC News exit poll results.
Kamala Harris heads into Trump debate with lead, rising enthusiasm
USA Today
By Susan Page, Sudiksha Kochi and Savannah Kuchar
Sept. 4, 2024
"I very happy to see the amazing thing that President Biden did, which was to say, 'You know what, I'll step aside and let some young blood in, because that's the direction the country needs to go,'" said Tracy Vega, 60, of Sacramento, a Republican-turned-Democrat who was among those surveyed. "Like a juggernaut, the Harris-Walz campaign has just taken off in the last few weeks. I think that what you're seeing is the hope." The poll of 1,000 likely voters, taken by landline and cell phone August 25-28, after the Democratic National Convention in Chicago had ended, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Harris to propose smaller hike in capital gains tax than Biden, senior aide says
Reuters
By Nandita Bose and Andrea Shalal
Sept. 4, 2024
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris will propose a smaller increase in the top capital gains tax rate than the 39.6% rate proposed by President Joe Biden, a senior aide said on Wednesday. Vice President Harris arrived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Wednesday afternoon for a campaign event where she will make the announcement and also unveil a $50,000 tax deduction for new small businesses as she works to win over independent voters and Republicans skeptical of former President Donald Trump. Harris's proposal to reduce the top rate eyed by Biden suggests she wants to appeal to a broader base of voters even as she sticks with most of Biden's plans to strengthen the middle class.
Fischer, Osborn tout labor endorsements in U.S. Senate campaigns
Nebraska Public Media
By Brian Beach
Sept. 3, 2024
Meanwhile, Osborn shared his campaign’s endorsements from 23 labor unions, including the Nebraska AFL-CIO, United Auto Workers and Communications Workers of America. Osborn was the former union president of BCTGM Local 50, one of the organizations that endorsed Osborn's campaign.
Acting US labor secretary encourages Boeing and workers to reach 'fair contract'
Reuters
By Allison Lampert
Sept. 4, 2024
Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su on Wednesday encouraged Boeing and more than 30,000 of the planemaker’s factory workers to bridge a divide in negotiations and reach a fair contract, as a vote on a new deal looms on Sept. 12. Boeing’s Seattle-area workers, who produce the planemaker’s strongest-selling 737 commercial jet, are voting next week on their first new contract in 16 years, with the two sides still tackling demands such as job security.
Walz rouses a Milwaukee union crowd with a Labor Day message to get out the vote for Harris
Ohio Capital Journal
By Erik Gunn
Sept. 4, 2024
In a high-energy campaign speech at this city’s annual Labor Fest, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota vowed Monday that he and Vice President Kamala Harris would lead an administration that puts workers first, contrasting their policies with those of the Republican ticket led by former President Donald Trump. “You know that unions and organized labor are more popular today than at any time in our lifetimes. Any time,” Walz said. “And you know why? Because it’s union halls where the purest form of democracy is practiced.” Wisconsin Democrats and union members gave Walz a noisily enthusiastic greeting as he all but bounded on to the stage, and he responded with an equally exuberant address that ended with an admonition for union members and their allies to get out and work for the Democratic Harris-Walz ticket between now and Election Day Nov. 5.
LCLAA to campaign among Latinos against GOP’s Project 2025
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
Sept. 4, 2024
Labor’s Council for Latin American Advancement, the AFL-CIO constituency group for Latino workers and their families, will campaign among Latinos, alerting them to the specific dangers they face from Project 2025, the monstrous radical right Republican platform crafted for that party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump. LCLAA, the Service Employees, and five other organizations will send out hundreds of volunteers to publicize the damage from the project, which is the real Republican platform. LCLAA also put together a 15-page bilingual primer for Latino voters on the project’s threats. The “Defendiendo Nuestro Futuro” or “Defending Our Future” campaign will feature door-to-door canvassing, focusing on labor rights, environmental issues, education and health care access, LCLAA says.
ORGANIZING
Workers at General Motors joint venture battery plant in Tennessee unionize and will get pay raise
AP News
By Staff
Sept. 4, 2024
About 1,000 workers at a General Motors joint venture electric vehicle battery plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, will get big pay raises now that they have joined the United Auto Workers union. GM and LG Energy Solution of Korea, which jointly run the plant, agreed to recognize the union after a majority of workers signed cards saying they wanted to join, the UAW said Wednesday. Both sides will bargain over local contract provisions, but worker pay and other details will fall under the UAW national contract negotiated last fall, the union said in a prepared statement. Starting pay which was $20 per hour will rise to a minimum of $27.72. Over three years, minimum production worker pay will rise to $30.88, the contract says.
UAW wins union recognition at Ultium battery cell plant in Tennessee
Detroit Free Press
By Nora Eckert and David Shepardson
Sept. 4, 2024
The United Auto Workers said Wednesday that a battery manufacturing joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution has agreed to recognize the union at a Tennessee plant. The UAW said a majority of the workers at the Ultium Cells facility signed cards to join the UAW and the company had agreed to recognize their union after workers at an Ohio Ultium plant overwhelmingly voted to join the union in 2022 and won a new contract earlier this year with significant wage hikes. The companies did not immediately comment.
The Stand
By Staff
Sept. 3, 2024
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 46 has been assisting workers at Auto-Chlor as they seek to form a union for over two years. Throughout the process it is alleged that the employer engaged in certain illegal acts including discrimination, mistreatment, interrogation, threats, surveillance, maintaining unlawful work rules, and denying its employees union representation when requested. As a consequence of the employers’ anti-worker actions, the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board is undertaking litigation seeking prosecution of Auto-Chlor management related to unlawful treatment of employees.
Apothecarium Dispensary Workers File to Unionize in Maryland
Cannabis Business Times
By Tony Lange
Sept. 4, 2024
Cannabis workers at The Apothecarium Dispensary of Salisbury, Md., filed to form a union with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW Local 27. A vast majority of workers in the bargaining unit have signed union cards to show their support for unionizing their workplace. Apothecarium dispensaries throughout Maryland are seeing a wave of union organizing and workers taking back their power. Workers at The Apothecarium Dispensary of Cumberland, Md., unanimously voted, 25-0, to form a union with Local 27 on Aug. 9. Not to be left out, workers at The Apothecarium Dispensary of Burtonsville, Md., have filed to form a union with UFCW Local 400 and are conducting their union election in the coming weeks.
How to unionize your workplace: Lawrence union leaders share tips
The Lawrence Times
By Cuyler Dunn
Sept. 2, 2024
Happy Labor Day! The holiday is rooted in the late 19th-century labor movement and honors the sacrifices of workers fighting for fair wages and conditions. In honor of the holiday, we reached out to some local union leaders and organizers to find out how to go about unionizing a workplace in Lawrence. Seamus Albritton is president of the International Association of Firefighters in Lawrence, IAFF Local 1596. He started his career in fire service in 2013 with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical and became a union representative in 2017.
NEGOTIATIONS & STRIKES
JTRAN union workers go on strike
WJTV
By Marie Mennefield
Sept. 4, 2024
JTRAN suspended service across Jackson on Wednesday, September 4 due to a strike by union workers. The strikers picketed outside of the main office on Highway 80. Charles Tornes, Jr., president of the local Amalgamated Transit Union, said the strike was due to safety concerns.
“This is what’s taking place because of the unfair practices at JTRAN transportation. And with this unfortunate thing, you know, we have a relationship with passengers. I’ve driven JTRAN buses for years, and I’ve come to know some of these passengers personally, and I know they depend on JTRAN to get to and from, and it’s just a said day because MV won’t come to the bargaining table on these issues that we have a JTRAN,” said Tornes.
SAG-AFTRA Inks Video Game Deal With ‘Last Sentinel’ Maker During Strike Against Major Studios
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
Sept. 4, 2024
As SAG-AFTRA‘s video game strike continues, the AAA developer Lightspeed LA has signed an interim agreement with the labor group that will allow it to continue working with union performers. By signing the pact, the five-year-old developer can finish its work on its first project, the dystopian open-world game Last Sentinel, and work with SAG-AFTRA performers on future titles. Lightspeed LA is a division of Lightspeed Studios, behind Undawn, Titans: Last Stand and Code: To Jin Yong. The union’s interim agreement, reflecting its demands in the ongoing stalemate with major video game developers, requires performers to consent to any use of AI at particular stages and be paid for that usage. Employers must tell an actor either at an audition or job offer if they are seeking to create a “digital replica” of that person, for instance, and get a greenlight from the performer and negotiate pay before that digital replica is used. The agreement also provides for a wage increase of 7 percent effective July 26 and 7.64 percent starting Nov. 7 and a health and retirement contribution rate increase of 17 percent.
Deadline
By Sean Piccoli
Sept. 4, 2024
It felt like a flashback to the summer of 2023 along a crowded stretch of Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon. A brass band played Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” on the sidewalk as pedestrians streamed by, a man with a bullhorn led unison chants, and demonstrators held up picket signs with messages aimed at company bosses. This wasn’t a strike picket, though. Members of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) gathered on the doorstep of the old McGraw-Hill Building to kick off a new round of contract talks on the union’s TV Videotape Agreement, which covers the players on live and taped television programs such as Saturday Night Live and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Local AT&T workers strike for better conditions, say company is bargaining in bad faith
WPTV
By Victor Jorges
Sept. 4, 2024
Some AT&T employees in South Florida are joining the 17,000 others on strike across nine states, including Florida. WPTV News reporter Victor Jorges went out to the area where workers are gathering daily on Jog Rd. and Okeechobee Blvd., near the Turnpike ramp. He met with Johnny Hernandez, the president of the Communications Workers of America, District 3. That is the local group pushing for better conditions. They say it’s their 20th day on strike, and they’re not going to stop showing up until AT&T gives them better working contracts.
Oakland University and professors reach contract agreement, classes will take place as scheduled
WXYZ
By Brett Kast
Sept. 4, 2024
Officials with Oakland University and the school's branch of the American Association of University Professors say the union and school have come to a tentative agreement on a new contract. Full details of the agreement have not yet been released. However, a university spokesperson said the deal is a five-year contract with a 17.8% salary increase over the life of the contract. Oakland University's original offer had a 16% salary increase.
Green collar workers organize for a union at Turtle Creek battery plant
Public Source
By Quinn Glabicki
Sept. 4, 2024
“Vote yes!” Veronica Lattimore called toward a black sedan that blared its horn. She stood on the sidewalk across from the site of her former employer, Eos Energy Enterprises, a battery manufacturer housed within the old Westinghouse Electric factory. She was there with a handful of workers belonging to the United Steelworkers who came to the Turtle Creek facility during the 3 p.m. shift change in a show of solidarity ahead of a union election Thursday. Lattimore wore a blue jumpsuit and held the sign at the corner of the sidewalk facing the factory: “Your Voice, Your Vote!” An organizer handed out yellow papers stamped with the USW logo: “Together we can make Eos a great place to work.”
City of Plattsburgh and AFSCME reach tentative agreement
Press-Republican
By Staff
Sept. 4, 2024
After several rounds of negotiation, the City of Plattsburgh Mayor’s office and AFSCME union leadership have reached a tentative agreement for a 5-year contract renewal. The agreement has been approved by union members and is pending approval by the Common Council. The contract approval will be placed on the September 5th regular meeting agenda. “AFSCME’s members, the work they perform for our City, and their dedication to our future is tangible and profound. Our city staff is the lifeblood of our community,” says Mayor Christopher Rosenquest. “This is the second contract my office has negotiated successfully with this union and I’m proud to say the negotiations were smooth and amicable. This is proof of the excellent relationship we’ve been able to build with this and other unions over the short time I’ve been in office.” says Mayor Rosenquest.
Portland-area Fred Meyer workers end strike but call for boycott
The Oregonian
By Elliot Njus and Kristine de Leon
Sept. 3, 2024
Grocery workers at Portland-area Fred Meyer stores returned to work Tuesday after a six-day strike but called for a boycott of the grocery chain after reaching no deal on a labor contract. Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 walked out last Wednesday, planning to stay off the job until Tuesday morning, during contentious contract negotiations. The labor union said it was picketing the grocer because Fred Meyer officials have refused to address grievances brought by employees and failed to provide union negotiators with data to be used for bargaining.
JOINING TOGETHER
Portland Center Stage Partners with IATSE, Strengthening Commitment to Fair Labor Practices
Broadway World
By A.A. Cristi
Sept. 3, 2024
Portland Center Stage has announced that it has officially entered into an agreement between PCS and IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, to provide representation to our Production Staff, a historic step forward in our ongoing commitment to supporting the arts and the skilled professionals who bring our productions to life.
Writers Guild Members Join Union Boycott of Beverly Hills Hotels
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
Sept. 4, 2024
Around 40 Hollywood writers have joined a hotel union boycott of two Los Angeles hotels, the Cameo Beverly Hills by Hilton and the Beverly Hills Marriott. The Good Place creator Mike Schur, Emily in Paris writer and co-executive producer Grant Sloss, The Simpsons writer and executive producer Ian Maxtone-Graham and Abbott Elementary supervising producer and writer Brittani Nichols are among the scribes that joined the campaign, spearheaded by the major Los Angeles-area hospitality union Unite Here Local 11. One Day at a Time co-showrunner Mike Royce, Halt and Catch Fire writer and executive producer Angelina Burnett and Two Sentence Horror Stories writer Liz Alper also joined the boycott on Labor Day weekend.
Why are nurses protesting at the VA? ‘If you care for veterans, you have to invest’
Miami Herald
By Michelle Marchante
Sept. 4, 2024
Recent announcements of plans to cut 10,000 jobs across the national Veteran Affairs system due to expected budget shortfalls has also raised questions and concerns among employees and lawmakers. “What we see at our VA and across all VAs is a failure to veterans and those of us who care for veterans,” Bill Frogameni, a registered nurse who works at the Miami VA Medical Center and is the director of National Nurses United Miami VA chapter, told the Miami Herald in a phone call ahead of the demonstration. “If you’re going to care for veterans,” he said, “you have to invest in people who care for veterans.”
LABOR LEADERSHIP
Longtime RI AFL-CIO president will retire next month
WPRI
By Ted Nesi
Sept. 3, 2024
George Nee, who has been one of Rhode Island’s most visible union leaders for the past 15 years as president of the state AFL-CIO, announced Tuesday he plans to retire. Nee revealed his decision, effective Oct. 11, in a letter to the state AFL-CIO’s executive board and local union affiliates. “I am grateful and thankful that you have allowed me to be a part of this movement that has brought justice, prosperity, and hope to so many people,” he said.
UNION BUSTING
Workers say Pittsburgh-area battery plant eligible for $2 billion in public funds is union busting
Pennsylvania Capital-Star
By Kalena Thomhave
Sept. 4, 2024
So earlier this year, Upshaw and some of his coworkers began to push for representation by the United Steelworkers union. In early August, they filed a petition to hold a union election; on Sept. 5, they’ll cast their votes and test whether reality in Turtle Creek matches the talk about the Inflation Reduction Act’s good jobs. In an emailed statement, Chad FitzGerald, Eos vice president of strategic partnerships and public affairs, said that the company is “a pro-union company,” adding, “We respect our employees’ right to choose or not choose to have a labor representative.” “I know they’re going to try everything in their power to deter people away from voting for this unit,” Upshaw said shortly after Eos workers filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a union election. Just a week after we spoke, Upshaw and another outspoken union organizer were fired.