Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Trump and Harris, with divided labor records, grapple for PA’s union voters
Public Source
By Robert Forrant
Sept. 11, 2024
The AFL-CIO, the largest umbrella organization for U.S. unions, gave Harris a lifetime score of 98% on her Senate voting record. Walz got a 93% rating for his votes from the AFL-CIO when he served in the House of Representatives. He belonged to the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union, while working as a high school teacher.
How resounding was Kamala Harris’s debate win? Let’s look at the polls.
The Washington Post
By Aaron Blake
Sept. 11, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris turned in one of the more resounding debate performances in recent decades on Tuesday night — to the point where Donald Trump’s allies have struggled to locate a silver lining. Precisely how much the debate could impact the race is an open question, as my colleague Dan Balz notes; we’re a very polarized country, and we don’t generally see big and sudden shifts in polls anymore. But small margins can matter greatly in our increasingly tight elections, and Harris clearly helped her cause.
At the debate, Harris made climate change a pocketbook issue
NPR
By Michael Copley
Sept. 11, 2024
Harris said the costs of inaction on global warming are already having an impact: homeowners nationwide face soaring insurance costs — or the loss of coverage altogether — as extreme weather like storms and wildfires becomes more extreme. Climate change is “very real,” Harris said. “You ask anyone who lives in a state who has experienced these extreme weather occurrences who now is either being denied home insurance or it’s being jacked up; you ask anybody who has been the victim of what that means in terms of losing their home, having nowhere to go.”
During Tuesday's debate, Harris was in command; Trump was incoherent
NPR
By Staff
Sept. 11, 2024
Going into Tuesday night's debate, much of the focus was on Harris. It would be her first-ever general election presidential debate, with an opponent who had been on the stage many times. Questions swirled about whether she would be able to parry attacks from Trump, respond to criticism that she's light on policy and, perhaps most importantly, whether she could appear "presidential." According to NPR's senior political editor Domenico Montanaro, the answer to all those questions was yes. Despite a nervous start, he writes, "Harris was calm, in command and in control and looked to the future, distinguishing herself from both Biden and Trump.
TSA officers help make air travel safe. Workers deserve protections from Congress. (Opinion)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Debra Kluewer
Sept. 11, 2024
As the Vice President for the American Federation of Government Employees Local 777, which represents Transportation Security Officers at airports across Wisconsin and Illinois, I work on behalf of the hundreds of transportation security officers who ensure that our passengers fly safely in and out of airports in those states. We take pride in on our work, and with over six million passengers flying in and out of Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport in 2023 alone, there's a lot of work to take pride in.
Broadway World
By A.A. Cristi
Sept. 10, 2024
The Arts, Entertainment, and Media Industries (AEMI) coalition within the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) has unveiled its Reimagining Federal Support for the Arts and Public Media policy agenda that lays out how the federal government can take an updated approach to supporting the nonprofit arts and public media. In addition to its ongoing push for increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CBP), the AEMI calls for policies to strengthen labor protections, ensure a greater worker voice in grantmaking, and modernize grantmaking guidelines.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
U.S. inflation reaches 3-year low as Federal Reserve prepares to cut interest rates
Spectrum News
By Associated Press
Sept. 11, 2024
The post-pandemic spike in U.S. inflation eased further last month as year-over-year price increases reached a three-year low, clearing the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next week. Wednesday's report from the Labor Department showed that consumer prices rose 2.5% in August from a year earlier. It was the fifth straight annual drop and the smallest such increase since February 2021. From July to August, prices rose just 0.2%.
ORGANIZING
“I Know My Worth”: What it Takes to Unionize the Service Industry
Workday Magazine
By Amie Stager
Sept. 11, 2024
Mariam Karkache has worked as a barista for over six years at different establishments in Minneapolis, Minn. Her current job as a barista lead at Café Cerés at the Linden Hills location became her first unionized position on August 3, when 30 workers across four locations voted 88% in favor of joining UNITE HERE Local 17. “We were all so happy to finally get to that moment and be a part of labor history,” says Karkache, who started working at Café Cerés a year and a half ago. She says after working in the restaurant industry for 10 years, she has seen how workers experience exploitation and a lack of protections around safety and harassment.
NEGOTIATIONS & STRIKES
Public workers walk out in show of force
The Stand
By Staff
Sept. 11, 2024
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler joined the workers at UW, sharing a message of solidarity from the more than 13 million union workers who make up the AFL-CIO. “We are stronger together,” said Shuler.
Boeing strike appears increasingly likely, as union votes on contract
The Washington Post
By Lauren Kaori Gurley and Lori Aratani
Sept. 12, 2024
More than 33,000 union workers will start voting Thursday on measures that could bring Boeing airplane production to a halt with a massive strike at the embattled aerospace giant early Friday morning. The work stoppage would begin if members, mostly in Washington, reject a deal reached by Boeing and union leadership this past weekend hailed by both parties for its historic gains for workers, including 25 percent pay raises over four years. Despite the strong gains won in the contract, aggrieved rank-and-file union members, who build the company’s flagship planes, are eager to seize a rare opportunity to claw back lost ground over more than a decade of pay that has failed to keep up with the cost of living. Jon Holden, president of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751, told the Seattle Times on Tuesday that he expected his members to vote down the deal and strike.
For Pitt grad workers, Tuesday starts with a rally, ends with a ‘huge win’
Pittsburgh Union Progress
By Steve Mellon
Sept. 11, 2024
A new semester is underway at Pitt, and life on the Oakland campus is settling into familiar patterns. For the grad student workers, that means a continuation of their efforts to organize a union under the banner of the United Steelworkers. The problem, they said, is that the university is dragging its feet. The grad workers’ rally was an effort to draw attention to what they called Pitt’s “union-busting” tactics.
State workers walk out across Washington to call for wage increases
The Chronicle
By Jayati Ramakrishnan
Sept. 11, 2024
State employees around Washington walked out of their jobs Tuesday afternoon, amid stalled contract negotiations in which they've been bargaining for wage increases and improved conditions to address what they describe as widespread staffing shortages. The nearly 50,000 public workers from the Washington Federation of State Employees, represented by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 28, have been negotiating a new contract with the state's Office of Financial Management since April.
Jackson City Council poised to take action on JTRAN strike. Bus services still down
Clarion Ledger
By Charlie Drape
Sept. 10, 2024
Just under a week has passed and the City of Jackson still is without bus services. Last week, workers with the The ATU, or Amalgamated Transit Union, went on strike against MV Transportation, the third-party company the city hired to manage the bus system. Following months of negotiations — with the first threat of a strike back in May — union bus drivers protested outside of JTRAN headquarters on Sept. 4, demanding a safer work environment with better employee benefits and citing on-the-job issues such as safety, security concerns, contract negotiations and wrongful terminations.
Sacramento hotel workers are considering a strike. It’s about more than money
The Sacramento Bee
By Annika Merrilees
Sept. 11, 2024
About 140 workers at the Sheraton Grand Hotel will decide Wednesday whether to authorize their union to call a strike. Workers, including housekeepers, attendants, cooks and servers, are demanding higher wages and a reversal of pandemic-era staffing reductions. If the vote passes, a strike wouldn’t occur immediately, but union negotiators would have the power to call a strike if contract talks are unsuccessful.
JOINING TOGETHER
Health care rally focuses on caregiver wages, ICU closure at Santa Paula Hospital
VC Star
By Tom Kisken
Sept. 11, 2024
Health care workers and their supporters protested at a rally in front of the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura before a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. Ventura County in-home caregivers want more pay. Santa Paula Hospital nurses are protesting planned closures of the birthing and intensive care units. Workers from the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United and in-home supportive services workers from SEIU Local 2015 marched with signs that read "Some cuts don't heal" and wore T-shirts with "We are the future of care" printed on them.
IN THE STATES
Spectrum News 1
By Cody Thompson
Sep. 10, 2024
The 59th Biennial Convention of the International Association of Fire Fighters will be in Cleveland in 2028 after the city secured the bid last month. According to a release from the association, which has more than 350,000 members, Cleveland was chosen as the host city by around 4,000 fire fighters from the U.S. and Canada. “Our city has a rich tradition of honoring and supporting fire fighters, and we are proud to be selected as the host for this distinguished event,” Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said in the release. “This achievement is a testament to the commitment, hard work and dedication of our local fire fighters, represented by Local 93 President Jake Konys, and the collaboration with IAFF General President Edward Kelly and Destination Cleveland. We look forward to welcoming fire fighters from across the country and highlighting the important work they do to keep our communities safe. We are excited to showcase everything our city has to offer.”
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
New York, California Take Lead to Shape Workplace Violence Laws
Bloomberg Law
By Tre'Vaughn Howard and Chris Marr
Sept. 11, 2024
Union leaders who backed the New York law hope to see other states follow its lead in passing workplace violence laws targeting high-risk industries such as retail, said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. “Retail workers feel particularly vulnerable, because anyone can come in off the streets,” he said. “And in many retail establishments there are fewer and fewer people working. A lot of employers are under-staffing, and workers can feel like they are on their own.”
New York governor signs Retail Worker Safety Act into law
Safety + Health Magazine
By Staff
Sept. 10, 2024
“The preventative measures this law provides will help stop violence and harassment before it starts,” RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum said in a press release, “but even more importantly, will more safely assist workers in getting help quickly in the event of an emergency. The provisions in this bill can help to save lives.”
CIVIL, HUMAN, & WOMEN’S RIGHTS
$60k donation from construction union advances MLK monument project
Moody on the Market
By MoodyOnTheMarket.com
Sept. 11, 2024
The Twin Cities’ unique dual monuments to Martin Luther King, Jr. are being advanced by a gig donation from a West Michigan construction workers union. The West Michigan Chapter of LIUNA – the Laborers’ International Union of North America, Local 355, has donated $60,000 to the Unified Civic Monuments Project (UCMP). Local 355’s Business Manager, Arlander Washington, said, “At LiUNA Local 355, we are immensely proud to support this initiative. In a world where division often defines us, coming together to erect monuments to honor the Champion of Civil Rights, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stands as a powerful, inspiring testament to the strong ties which binds peoples of all backgrounds in marshaling reconciliation to achieve a shared goal. His legacy still stands.”
UNION BUSTING
Workers say Pa. plant eligible for $2 billion in public funds is union busting
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Kalena Thomhave
Sept. 11, 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 Thursday, they cast their votes 88 to 39 to be represented by the United Steelworkers union, testing whether reality in Turtle Creek matches the talk about the Inflation Reduction Act’s good jobs. In the runup to Thursday’s election, the union filed six unfair labor practice charges against Eos with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging among other things that the company retaliated against workers who supported the union effort through firings and disciplinary changes. The charges are pending.