Today's AFL-CIO press clips
MUST READ
Boeing workers vote overwhelmingly to strike, in defeat for troubled company
The Washington Post
By Rachel Lerman, Lori Aratani and Ian Duncan
Sept. 13, 2024
Boeing workers picketed outside the company’s plants in Washington state early Friday morning after voting overwhelmingly to strike. Tens of thousands of machinists voted Thursday to reject a proposed deal between the company and the union that would have significantly boosted pay and benefits even as it fell short of other union demands. Some 96 percent of members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 voted in favor of the strike — far more than the two-thirds needed to launch the work stoppage.
POLITICS
Exclusive: Harris campaign launches first post-debate ad highlighting "different visions"
Axios
By Erin Doherty
Sept. 12, 2024
The Harris campaign on Wednesday is launching its first ad following the presidential debate, highlighting what it calls "two very different visions" for the country and Vice President Harris' plan to create a "new way forward." Why it matters: It's the latest effort by the Harris campaign to contrast her campaign centered around an optimistic and forward-looking vision for the nation with what it sees as former President Trump's backward-looking one.
Capital & Main
By Jeremy Lindenfeld
Sept. 12, 2024
In Tuesday’s debate, former President Donald Trump criticized the Affordable Care Act, labeling it “lousy” and saying he’d like to replace it, though he admitted he only had “concepts of a plan” in mind. Newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey underscored the degree to which the now broadly popular legislation has helped people gain health insurance across the country.
Harris pushes for labor reforms, union support
Richmond Free Press
By Julianne Malveaux
Sept. 12, 2024
In an election year, Labor Day kicks off the official campaign season, and Vice President Kamala Harris kicked hers off with a bang. She had rallies in Detroit, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh, all major cities in battleground states. Joined by local elected officials in each place, vice presidential nominee Tim Walz in Milwaukee, and President Biden in Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh, flanked by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, teachers' union leaders Becky Pringle (National Education Association) and Randi Weingarten (American Federation of Teachers), Harris gave a rousing speech that reminded us that we have organized labor to thank for the eight-hour workday, pensions, paid vacations and health care, worker benefits that have now become standard.
Harris rides post-debate momentum into North Carolina with raucous rallies and large crowds
NBC News
By Natasha Korecki
Sept. 12, 2024
Riding high on momentum two days after the presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris was greeted by a deafening crowd here Thursday, eager to see the Democratic nominee push to the next phase of her campaign. Harris told supporters it was time to turn the page from Donald Trump while again challenging the former president to a second debate, which she did earlier in the day at her rally in Charlotte. “We owe it to the voters. Because here’s the thing: In this election, what’s at stake could not be more important,” she said.
LABOR AND TECHNOLOGY
Entry-Level Staffers Are Most Susceptible to Disruption by AI, Animation Guild Says
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
Sept. 12, 2024
Days away from the resumption of contract negotiations that will help determine how animation firms can use generative artificial intelligence in the next few years, the Animation Guild has released a report detailing the threat that the technology poses to its members. “Critical Crossroads: The Impact of Generative AI and the Importance of Protecting the Animation Workforce,” produced by the union’s member task force dedicated to AI, finds that generative AI applications and programs create outputs “that can target most of the job categories of TAG members, spanning from design to production, animation to scriptwriting.” Currently, 3D models, full-color 3D sets, blue sky concepts and full-color renderings are all work that can be produced with the technology in its current state.
NEGOTIATIONS & STRIKES
33,000 Boeing union members begin strike
CNN
By Chris Isidore and Vanessa Yurkevich
Sept. 13, 2024
About 33,000 union members at Boeing have started to walk off the job on Friday after they overwhelmingly rejected a proposed four-year contract with the troubled aircraft manufacturer. The strike, the first at the company in 16 years, will virtually stop commercial airplane production at one of America’s biggest manufacturing giants and its largest exporter, dealing a potential blow to the US economy. Depending on the length of the strike, it could cause problems for nearly 10,000 Boeing (BA) suppliers, which can be found in all 50 US states.
Boeing Workers Walk Off the Job in First Strike Since 2008
The New York Times
By Niraj Chokshi
Sept. 13, 2024
A vast majority of the 33,000 workers governed by the contract are represented by District 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Members of that union, Boeing’s largest, mostly work on commercial airplanes in the Seattle area. The dispute also involves workers in the Portland, Ore., area who are represented by the union’s smaller District W24. The union represents about a fifth of the company’s more than 170,000 employees worldwide. “This is about respect. This is about addressing the past, and this is about fighting for our future,” said Jon Holden, the president of District 751.
Hundreds more Boston hotel workers go on strike
NBC Boston
By Kaitlin McKinley Becker
Sept. 12, 2024
More than 400 more Boston hotel workers went on strike Thursday morning to protest what they say are arduous workloads and wages that aren't enough to afford the cost of living. UNITE HERE Local 26 says hotel workers including room attendants, housepersons, front desk agents, doorpersons, bellpersons, cooks, dishwashers, banquet servers, engineers and others from Moxy Boston Downtown, The Newbury Boston, W Boston Hotel, and The Dagny.
Albany Med and nurses union locked in dispute over staffing, contract negotiations
CBS6
By Emma Quinn
Sept. 12, 2024
Emotions running high for nurses at Albany Medical Center as they continue to fight with hospital leadership over not abiding by the state's safe staffing laws. The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) claims the hospital has canceled bargaining agreements after the state Department of Health (DOH) released their Staffing Deficiency Report roughly three weeks ago.
Workers pressure University of Washington for fair contract, reject paltry wage offer
People’s World
By Glen Olson
Sept. 12, 2024
As an Oct. 1 state budget deadline looms, workers are keeping the pressure on University of Washington administrators to negotiate a fair contract. On the afternoon of Tuesday Sept. 10, Washington Federation of State Employees members brought over 250 members and supporters to a walkout in front of the University of Washington’s President’s office before entering to present their demand for fair negotiations.
Harvard’s Academic Worker Union to Begin Contract Negotiations with the University
The Harvard Crimson
By Aran Sonnad-Joshi and Sheerea X. Yu
Sept. 12, 2024
Harvard Academic Worker-United Auto Workers’s bargaining committee will meet representatives of the University on Thursday to begin negotiating for a contract. The contract will mark the union’s first formal agreement with the University, covering more than 3,000 Harvard faculty across campus. Negotiations are expected to last at least several months. HAW-UAW’s large unit, which voted to unionize in April, represents non-tenure-track faculty — including lecturers, preceptors, and postdocs — across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard Divinity School. HAW-UAW also houses a smaller unit that represents fewer than 100 Harvard Law School clinical workers.
UAW’s rift with Stellantis raises fear that some US auto jobs could vanish
AP News
By Tom Krisher
Sept. 12, 2024
Belvidere, Illinois, is the site of an assembly plant that Stellantis had pledged to reopen under a contract it forged last year with the union. But the company, which reported poor sales and earnings this year, has delayed the reopening given what it calls unfavorable “market conditions.” Stellantis says it will eventually meet its commitment to reopen the plant. Yet no date has been given for the company to restart the factory or to open a new battery plant and a new parts warehouse, both which were also promised in the contract agreement that ended the UAW’s strike against Stellantis last year. At stake are about 2,700 jobs.
Second wave of Boston hotel workers go on strike
Boston Globe
By Stella Tannenbaum
Sept. 12, 2024
About 400 workers at four Boston hotels started a three-day strike Thursday morning, according to a news release by their union. The labor action by workers at The Dagny Boston, Moxy Boston Downtown, The Newbury Boston, and W Boston came amid ongoing negotiations for contracts and marked the second wave of strikes, following an initial three-day strike of employees at other hotels that began over Labor Day weekend. A union spokesperson said the current strike would end at 11 p.m. Saturday.
Negotiations resume as Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel workers strike for 12th day
ABC 10 News
By Dani Miskell
Sept. 12, 2024
The union representing Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel workers are resuming negotiations with hotel officials on Thursday and Friday. Negotiations resumed as the worker strike entered its 12th day. Unite Here Local 30 said it was not allowed to share when their meeting with the hotel began.
Sacramento hotel workers approve strike option, joining national movement
The Sacramento Bee
By Annika Merrilees
Sept. 12, 2024
Workers at the Sheraton Grand Hotel downtown authorized their union to call a strike, should contract negotiations fail. The union is the latest in a series of hotel guilds to push back against yearslong staffing shortages. The vote passed with 97% of workers in favor, the union said Wednesday evening. The vote does not mean that a strike will occur immediately, but gives the union bargaining team the ability to call a strike if the company and the guild fail to agree on a contract.
Hotel workers strike in Boston, Connecticut
Hotel Dive
By Noelle Mateer
Sept. 12, 2024
Workers at four hotels in Boston and one in New Haven, Connecticut, walked off the job Thursday morning, according to hospitality union Unite Here in a release obtained by Hotel Dive.
Boeing workers are voting whether to strike. Here’s what to know.
The Washington Post
By Rachel Lerman, Lori Aratani and Lauren Kaori Gurley
Sept. 12, 2024
Boeing machinists will decide Thursday whether to strike, a move that would threaten the already struggling company and force union and corporate leaders back to the bargaining table. The workers, largely in Washington state, will vote on a proposed deal negotiated between the union and Boeing — and on whether to strike if the deal falls through.
JOINING TOGETHER
Striking Pittsburgh journalists invite supporters to a town hall update
Pittsburgh Union Progress
By Pittsburgh Union Progress
Sept. 12, 2024
News workers who have been on strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette feel closer than ever to getting back to work there, and so some of them are inviting their supporters and other friends to talk about what that near future might look like. “One day soon, we will win this strike. That means returning to work at the Post-Gazette and continuing to provide the essential local news coverage Pittsburgh deserves,” wrote Ed Blazina, who is the first vice president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh that represents journalists.
Dallas Black Dancers Fight for Their Union
Labor Notes
By Rosemary Curts
Sept. 12, 2024
Leave it to performing arts unions to make a picket line that grabs attention. The rally outside Dallas Black Dance Theatre included a drummer, line dancing, and spontaneous performances from the unionized dancers. The August 17 picket drew 200 people supporting the entire 10-member primary dance company, who were fired less than three months after they voted to unionize under the American Guild of Musical Artists. Hours before the dancers’ termination, DBDT called auditions for August 17 for scab dancers. Immediately, AGMA issued a “do not work” order for the auditions, something that is reserved for the most egregious cases.
NLRB
Disneyland 'Pirates' performers can join union, NLRB says
Reuters
By Daniel Wiessner
Sept. 12, 2024
The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that a small group of performers who portray "Pirates of the Caribbean" characters in a show at Disneyland can vote on whether to join an existing union of cast members in other productions at the park. The board in a decision issued on Wednesday, opens new tab said the group of about 20 workers in the show Fantasmic! had enough in common with other unionized performers at the California theme park to join them for the purposes of collective bargaining. The decision reversed an NLRB regional director in Los Angeles who ruled last year that the performers could form their own bargaining unit with the American Guild of Variety Artists but not join the larger existing unit. After that decision, the workers voted 13-0 to unionize.
Union files federal labor complaint over Kim’s restaurant closure
Star Tribune
By Louis Krauss
Sept. 12, 2024
A union representing former workers at the recently shuttered Kim’s restaurant has filed a federal labor complaint against the business, alleging the owners refused to negotiate with the union as required before making the decision to close. Unite Here Local 17 filed a complaint on Monday against both the Vestalia Hospitality group and the former Korean-American restaurant in Minneapolis’ Uptown neighborhood, run by award-winning chef Ann Kim. The allegations range from union-busting efforts to refusal to give the union a chance to bargain over the closure of the restaurant last month, said Sheigh Freeberg, secretary-treasurer of Local 17.
IN THE STATES
Philly Council members and activists want to restore funding to enforce labor laws
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Anna Orso and Sean Collins Walsh
Sept. 12, 2024
It was just a few months ago that City Council members voted in favor of a budget deal that slightly cut funding to the city’s Office of Worker Protections, which enforces Philadelphia’s relatively progressive labor laws like banning wage theft. They did so despite a push from the body’s progressive members to increase funding to the office by $2.6 million. Now, a majority of Council members say they agree the office needs more money — and they may press for it as soon as this fall.
States are pushing back with anti-labor laws as union popularity grows, policy experts say
Kentucky Lantern
By Casey Quinlan
Sept. 12, 2024
Growing union organizing across the country has triggered an anti-labor legislative response in some states, but cities and counties are increasingly pushing back, a new report found. The report, released this month by the New York University Wagner Labor Initiative and Local Progress Impact Lab, a group for local elected officials focused on economic and racial justice issues, cites examples of localities all over the U.S. using commissions to document working conditions, creating roles for protecting workers in the heat and educating workers on their labor rights.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
USPS' long-awaited new mail truck makes its debut to rave reviews from carriers
The Washington Post
By David Sharp and Ron Harris
Sept. 12, 2024
Brian Renfroe, president of the National Letter Carriers Association, said union members are enthusiastic about the new vehicles, just as they were when the Grummans marked a leap forward from the previous old-school Jeeps. He credited DeJoy with bringing a sense of urgency to get them into production.
LABOR LEADERSHIP
Actors' Equity President Brooke Shields Addresses The National Press Club (Video)
Broadway World
By Chloe Rabinowitz
Sept. 12, 2024
Shields, who has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theatre, as well as film and screen, plans to use her platform as the head of Equity to advocate for the arts and more arts funding, not only in major cities, but in communities across the United States, as well as improved working conditions for Equity members.
UNION BUSTING
Oxford University Press Lays Off Two Teams
Publishers Weekly
By John Maher
Sept. 12, 2024
Oxford University Press has laid off its U.S./North America design team and U.S. content transformation and standards team, per a release from OUP USA Guild, the union representing OUP employees in the United States. The layoffs, the guild said, include 13 members of its bargaining unit, and come three weeks after the union ratified its first collective bargaining agreement. The guild, which is part of Local 31222 of the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America and represents roughly 150 employees across departments at the press, has filed a grievance in response to the layoffs, per the release. The guild asserts that the layoffs "violate the CBA’s jurisdiction article, which protects historic union work from being relocated out of the unit, and the layoffs article," and demands that "OUP immediately reverse this disastrous decision and reinstate these roles."