Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Harris campaign website now outlines policy platform
The Washington Post
By Niha Masih
Sept. 9, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign posted a list of her policy positions on her website Sunday, as the latest polls show her locked in a tight race with former president Donald Trump. Titled “A New Way Forward,” the page outlines her agenda on the economy as well as immigration and foreign policy. On each issue, the campaign contrasts her positions with the agenda of Project 2025, the far-right policy proposal that Democrats have warned could form the blueprint for a second Trump presidency, even as the Republican nominee has distanced himself from it. Harris and Trump will face off in their first debate Tuesday.
Machinists’ OK of Harris emphasizes importance of High Court
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
Sept. 9, 2024
As expected, the Machinists’ convention officially endorsed the Democratic ticket of Vice President Kamala Harris for president and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for vice president. What was unexpected was the emphasis the union put on the president’s key role in selecting Supreme Court justices. In its statement, IAM broke ground among all unions by emphasizing the next president—Harris or Republican nominee Donald Trump—will have a chance to change the political orientation of the court.
Spectrum News
By Maddie Gannon
Sept. 9, 2024
President Joe Biden on Monday marked the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act with a ceremony on the White House South Lawn, referring to the landmark civil rights law as proof that Washington can work together to “ensure the American dream is available to all of us.” “We gotta get back to those days,” the president added.
Tim Walz is a dream pick for the Labor Movement
Labor Tribune
By Timothy Noah
Sept. 9, 2024
Walz has a strong Labor record to match. In a July 29 letter urging Harris to choose Walz, 26 Minnesota Labor leaders noted that Walz enacted paid family and medical leave for all families, provided unemployment insurance to hourly school workers, expanded the collective bargaining rights of Minnesotans, provided free school meals to every Minnesota student, appointed a Labor lawyer to lead the state Department of Labor and Industry, signed a tough law against wage theft by corporations and developers, and made it illegal for employers to force working people to attend anti-union meetings. The centerpiece of Walz’s Labor policy is … a law he signed in May 2023 that the news website Minnesota Reformer described as potentially “the most significant worker protection bill in state history.”
Trump Steps Up Threats to Imprison Those He Sees as Foes
The New York Times
By Charlie Savage, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan and Michael Gold
Sept. 9, 2024
Donald J. Trump has long used strongman-style threats to prosecute people he vilifies as a campaign tactic, dating back to encouraging his 2016 rallygoers to chant “lock her up” about Hillary Clinton. And during his term as president, he repeatedly pressed the Justice Department to open investigations into his political adversaries. But as November nears, the former president has escalated his vows to use the raw power of the state to impose and maintain control and to intimidate and punish anyone he perceives as working against him.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
Approval of labor unions nears record high: Gallup
The Hill
By Miranda Nazzaro
Sept. 9, 2024
Seven in 10 Americans say they approve of labor unions, just shy of the record-high approval rating for organized labor, according to a new Gallup poll. The survey, released Monday, found 70 percent of Americans approve of labor unions, while 23 percent disapprove and 7 percent have no opinion. This is 1 point shy of the 71 percent reading in 2022, which marked the highest approval rating since 1965.
ORGANIZING
This Pennsylvania battery plant just voted to unionize—here’s why it matters
Fast Company
By Capital and Main
Sept. 9, 2024
Workers at a Pittsburgh-area battery storage plant voted 88 to 39 last Thursday to be represented by the United Steelworkers union, in an effort to improve “green” jobs they said were dangerous and inflexible. Workers at zinc battery company Eos Energy Enterprises in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, approved creating a bargaining unit that includes the plant’s approximately 160 production and maintenance workers.
Creative Arts Emmys: ‘Ripley’ VFX Supervisor Urges Support for VFX Workers in Union Effort
Variety
By Carolyn Giardina
Sept. 9, 2024
“Ripley” VFX supervisor John Bowers urged the television community to support VFX unionization Sunday on stage at L.A.’s Peacock Theater, as he and his team accepted an Emmy for the Netflix miniseries. He asserted that Hollywood is heavily unionized but there is still no broad union for visual effects artists, who don’t have standard protections in areas from wages and working conditions to health care. How to achieve these protections has long been a dilemma in the community. In 2023, the first groups such as the in-house VFX workers at Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Pictures, began to vote to unionize under IATSE. “Progress is happening, and people are working behind the scenes, and I’m cheering them on, and I wanted everyone else in the room to support that as well,” Bowers continued backstage. “I actually spoke to one of the organizers from IATSE on Friday. They are continuing to work behind the scenes to bring VFX workers under the same roof, under the same umbrella, as are many other categories awarded here tonight.”
NEGOTIATIONS & STRIKES
'Best contract we've negotiated': Union, Boeing reach tentative deal amid strike threat
USA Today
By Allison Lampert, David Shepardson Surbhi Misra, Utkarsh Shetti and Anshuman Tripathy
Sept. 9, 2024
Boeing said on Sunday it has reached a tentative agreement with a union representing more than 32,000 workers in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, in a deal that could help avert a possible crippling strike as early as Sept. 13. If approved, the proposed four-year contract, which includes a general wage increase of 25% and commitment to build the next commercial airplane in the Seattle area, is an important win for new Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took over last month with a mandate to turn around quality at the planemaker, an issue that a deal with labor could help.
10,000 Hotel Workers Struck on Labor Day Weekend, More Could Follow
Labor Notes
By Natascha Elena Uhlmann
Sept. 9, 2024
More than 10,000 hotel workers across nine cities went out on a rolling strike Labor Day weekend after contract talks with the Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott hotel chains stalled. They are members of UNITE HERE. “We came to the decision to go on strike because of all the success other unions have had,” said Christian Carbajal, a market attendant who has worked at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront for 15 years. “[It’s frustrating] that we have to go this far to be given a fair wage” to live in one of the most expensive areas in the country, he said. “I thought about how hard I work. There are days I have to run to finish up a room, when my supervisor tells me there are people at the front desk waiting,” said Daniela Campusano, a room attendant at Hilton’s Hampton Inn & Homewood Suites Boston Seaport who has worked in the industry for over 20 years. “And they are not taking that into account,” she said in Spanish. While workers in Boston, Greenwich, Honolulu, Kauai, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Baltimore are back on the job, workers at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront have opted to remain on strike indefinitely.
San Francisco Opera Orchestra reached contract agreement ‘moments’ before season opener
San Francisco Chronicle
By Aidin Vaziri
Sept. 9, 2024
The San Francisco Opera Orchestra and its management reached a short-term contract extension just before the season-opening performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball).” The ensemble revealed that the agreement was finalized “in the moments leading up to the performance” on Friday, Sept. 6. The announcement came via a social media post the following day.
JTRAN strike negotiations continue as union and MV Transportation seek resolution
WAPT
By Crystal Tisme
Sept. 9, 2024
JTRAN workers and MV Transportation returned to negotiations on Monday in hopes of ending a weeklong strike over safety policies in Jackson. “I think the issues here are serious, I think MV needs to take it serious, I think the city of Jackson also needs to take it seriously,” said Kenneth Kirk, International Secretary-Treasurer for ATU, the union that represents JTRAN employees. Kirk emphasized the gravity of the situation. “To both sides, I want to underscore the importance of our ridership, the importance of the people that depend on them each and every day and so I want to encourage resolution to their varying sides," said Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba.
Hawaii nurses union seeks injunction to stop lockout at Kapi‘olani
Star Advertiser
By Allison Schaefers
Sept. 8, 2024
The Hawaii Nurses’ Association/Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 50 is seeking an injunction to stop Kapi‘olani Medical Center from locking unionized nurses out of the hospital following a planned one-day strike, the union’s second this year. HNA/OPEIU Local 50 on Friday filed an unfair labor charge against Hawai‘i Pacific Health and Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women and Children with the National Labor Relations Board asking for injunctive relief to stop the hospital from locking out its unionized nurses. HNA President Rose Agas-Yuu, who has worked as a Kapi‘olani nurse for the past 32 years, said in a statement that the new unfair labor practice charge was the seventh filed against Kapi‘olani in the past several months.
Oklahoma City Apple store workers reach tentative contract with Apple
KGOU
By Hannah France and Nyk Daniels
Sept. 9, 2024
Following a strike authorization last month, union-represented workers at the Oklahoma City Apple store in Penn Square Mall have reached a tentative labor contract with the tech giant. Nearly two years after voting to unionize, employees represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) announced the agreement on Friday afternoon.
Amidst Southeast district strike, western communications workers reject new agreement
ABC4
By Perrin Moore
Sept. 9. 2024
AT&T Southeast workers of the Communications Workers of America District 3 continue to strike against what they allege to be unfair labor practices, now stretching into what is the second-longest strike in their history. According to CWA District 3 President Bill Johnson who presides over CWA members in the Lowcountry at Local 3704, District 3 is remaining resolute on the picket line. He said the unfair labor practices strike for his district is still in effect, and calls AT&T's latest proposal a "very bad deal."
IN THE STATES
Women increasingly taking leading roles in building trades
Labor Tribune
By Robert Kelly
Sept. 9, 2024
A growing number of women are taking leadership roles in the union building trades. Former Missouri State Sen. Gina Walsh, deputy director of the International Association of Heat & Frost Insulators Union Labor Management and Cooperative Trust (LMCT), has been an active member of Insulators Local 1 since completing its apprenticeship program more than 30 years ago. “It truly was a man’s world,” she said of the period when she entered the trades. But Walsh said she felt welcomed and supported by almost all the men who worked with her on construction projects right from the start of her ground-breaking career. “We need to educate women that those jobs are now open to them,” she said. “If we don’t educate them, then they don’t know about all the great opportunities they have in construction.”
Spectacular turnout at the St. Louis Labor Council’s 2nd Annual Labor Festival
Labor Tribune
By Sheri Gassaway
Sept. 9, 2024
Excitement, unity and solidarity were in the air at the St. Louis Labor Council’s 2nd Annual Labor Festival. The Aug. 25 event, held to celebrate Labor Day, was at the Knights of Columbus Park at 50 Rue St. Francois in Florissant. It featured food and drinks, a live band, bounce houses, facepainting and cornhole. Wildly popular was the tug-a-war tournament in which Sprinkler Fitters Local 268 won the men’s division and IBEW Local 1 won the women’s division. Dave Meinell, festival organizer, said he was thrilled with the turnout of the event, especially given how hot it was. He noted this year’s event went more smoothly than last year’s.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Culminating long campaign, New York enacts Retail Worker Safety Act
People’s World
By Press Associates
Sept. 9, 2024
Culminating a long campaign led by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., signed the Retail Worker Safety Act on September 4. The bill signing occurred at the New York City Central Labor Council headquarters. The law mandates retailers must create and train workers in “violence prevention,” including how to respond to crisis situations, such as active shooters. They must also provide safety devices on the job, such as under-the-counter “panic buttons” cashiers can push to alert security to menaces. The law is needed because, in recent years, assaults and shootings directed at workers in their stores have been on the rise. The increase is most noticeable at round-the-clock convenience stores and—at groceries which shoppers of color patronize. An RWDSU survey last year found four out of every five workers worried about active shooters, while two-thirds “experienced verbal harassment or intimidating conduct from a customer, co-worker, or manager within the last year.” But only 7 percent of retailers improved safety on the job after such incidents.
LABOR LEADERSHIP
Why Sara Nelson is one of Fast Company’s 10 most innovative people of the last 10 years
Fast Company
By Morgan Clendaniel
Sept. 9, 2024
Ten years ago, when Sara Nelson was elected president of the Association of Flight Attendants—the union that represents airline workers at United, Frontier, Alaska, and other airlines—the picture for the U.S. labor movement was grim. “We were clearly failing the working class,” says Nelson. Stories of striking autoworkers and organizing Starbucks baristas were not yet dominating national news. “We were still in a place where the narrative was that the labor movement was outmoded, that it was something for the past,” she says. “We couldn’t yet awaken people to their power of withholding their labor.”