Today's AFL-CIO press clips
MUST READ
AT&T, unions reach agreement to end strike; Alabama workers back on the job Monday
AL.com
By Leada Gore
Sept. 15, 2024
AT&T Southeast and AT&T West and the Union of the Communications Workers of America have reached a tentative agreement that puts an end to the longest telecommunications strike in the south’s history. A release from the CWA said the union reached “strong tentative agreements” with AT&T Southeast and AT&T West to end the 30-day strike in nine states, including Alabama. CWA members will return to work Monday.
POLITICS
Harris and Biden to address Black leaders amid battle for voters of color
The Washington Post
By Maeve Reston
Sept. 14, 2024
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, addressing a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner Saturday night, are expected to highlight the stakes for Black Americans in November’s election and take aim at what they view as an effort by Republicans to tip the scales by rolling back voting rights.
Biden touts administration's lowest Black unemployment rate
WCIV
By The National Desk
Sept. 13, 2024
President Joe Biden celebrated Black Excellence at a White House brunch Friday morning. In a statement, the White House hailed Biden and Harris' efforts to providing education and "securing economic mobility " to more Black Americans.
National Association of Letter Carriers endorses Kamala Harris, cites 'pro-labor' record
The National Desk
By Jackson Walker
Sept. 13, 2024
The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) on Thursday announced its support for Vice President Kamala Harris’s election campaign, saying she will bring much-needed change to the U.S. Postal Service.
ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND CLIMATE
Panelist discuss Louisiana's evolving energy sector and job market
The Acadiana Advocate
By Stephen Marcantel
Sept. 15, 2024
Louisiana stands at the edge of an evolving energy sector through the expansion of renewable and alternative energy sources but must train a workforce for that future, according to a group of panelists organized by progressive think tank the Roosevelt Institute. The first panel at the event held at University of Louisiana included people like Georges Antoun, chief commercial officer for First Solar, Jason Dedon of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 995, Jan Moller, executive director of Invest in Louisiana, and Jonathan Rausch, assistant professor at UL-Lafayette.
ORGANIZING
Anchorage Daily News management declines to recognize nascent employee union
Alaska Beacon
By Claire Stremple
Sept. 14, 2024
Anchorage Daily News owner Ryan Binkley declined to recognize a nascent newsroom union on Thursday. Newsroom staff announced their intention to unionize on Tuesday. They are asking for fair wages, financial transparency and a sustainable workplace environment at the state’s most widely read newspaper. In a letter, Binkley wrote that management believes “employees should have an opportunity to decide whether they wish to be represented by the Anchorage News Guild in a free and fair secret ballot election conducted by the (National Labor Relations Board).” He did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
NEGOTIATIONS & STRIKES
Boeing factory workers strike for first time since 2008 after overwhelmingly rejecting contract
CNBC
By Leslie Josephs
Sept. 13, 2024
Workers in the Seattle area and in Oregon voted 94.6% against a tentative agreement that Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers unveiled Sunday. The workers voted 96% in favor of a strike, far more than the two-thirds vote required for a work stoppage.
Striking Boeing factory workers say they are ready to hold out for a better contract
AP News
By David Koenig, Manuel Valdes and Lindsey Wasson
Sept. 13, 2024
Blue-collar workers from Boeing walked picket lines in the Pacific Northwest instead of building airplanes on Friday after they overwhelmingly rejected a proposed contract that would have raised their wages by 25% over four years. The strike by 33,000 machinists will not disrupt airline flights anytime soon, but it is expected to shut down production of Boeing’s best-selling jetliners, marking yet another setback for a company already dealing with billions of dollars in financial losses and a damaged reputation.
Boeing and union negotiators to resume talks next week amid strike, federal mediators say
Reuters
By Joe Brock and David Shepardson
Sept. 13, 2024
Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab and union negotiators will return to the bargaining table early next week, U.S. federal mediators said on Friday, as the two sides try to end a strike threatening the airplane maker's turnaround. The U.S. Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service late on Friday said it was convening the parties with a federal mediator after speaking to both sides, less than a day after union members voted by a huge majority to reject Boeing's contract offer and went on strike.
CWA slams Microsoft over 'extremely disappointing' layoffs
Game Developer
By Chris Kerr
Sept. 13, 2024
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) has chastised Microsoft for laying off hundreds of video game workers in what it has branded an "extremely disappointing" move. "Microsoft's decision to lay off 650 video game workers is an extremely disappointing move from one of the world's largest and most profitable corporations," reads a CWA statement.
Oshawa Power and workers union reach agreement
Durham Post
By Staff
Sept. 13, 2024
Oshawa Power and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 636 have ratified a new three-year collective agreement, the utility provider announced yesterday. The collective agreement was not set to expire until February 2025 and was negotiated in advance, it said. The new collective agreement provides union members with wage increases, as well as increases in benefits, premiums and allowances. The percentages of increases was not mentioned.
Boeing and striking factory workers to resume mediated talks on Tuesday
The Guardian
By Agence France-Presse
Sept. 15, 2024
Talks between Boeing and striking US factory workers will resume on Tuesday under a federal mediator, the union said, after workers voted overwhelmingly to reject a proposal from the embattled aviation giant. “On Tuesday, the union will meet with federal mediators assigned through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) and Boeing to begin discussions,” a chapter of the machinists union called IAM-District 751, which represents more than 33,000 union members in the Seattle region, said late on Saturday on its website.
AT&T sets tentative agreement with Communications Workers of America
WSPA
By Joanna Johnson
Sept. 15, 2024
AT&T has announced that the company has reached two tentative agreements with the Communications Workers of America, bringing the work stoppage to an end on Monday morning. The first tentative agreement is located in District 9, in the west and covers about 8,400 employees. The second is in District 3, in the southeast and covers about 15,000 employees across nine states. Employees in both districts primarily work as technician, call centers, machine operators and other customer service roles.
Boeing machinists: Strike is a now-or-never moment
The Washington Post
By Lauren Kaori Gurley and Rachel Lerman
Sept. 14, 2024
The 33,000 Boeing workers who walked off the job Friday morning, despite an offer of 25 percent wage gains over four years, join a wave of American union members telling U.S. employers that a good deal just won’t cut it. In an astonishing showing of resistance, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 workers, who build the company’s flagship planes mostly in the Pacific Northwest, voted 96 percent to strike, rejecting a deal hailed by their own union president as “the best contract we’ve negotiated in our history.”
Chattanooga Volkswagen workers rally for fair labor as union talks begin
News Channel 9
By WTVC
Sept. 15, 2024
Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga are now the first Southern autoworkers outside the Big Three to unionize, but their fight for fair labor standards standards is just beginning. Today, UAW President Shawn Fain will rally in Chattanooga with Volkswagen workers as contract negotiations get underway.
Next bargaining session for Mission Hospital nurses set for next month
ABC 13 News
By Marisa Sardonia
Sept. 13, 2024
The fight for better patient care and improved working conditions at Mission Hospital continues as another bargaining session for nurses is set for next month. Union leaders say 97% of the nurses who took part in a recent round of voting authorized the union to call for a strike.
Hawaii News Now
By HNN Staff, Annalisa Burgos and Eddie Dowd
Sept. 14, 2024
Kapiolani Medical Center has locked out its nurses after their one-day strike concluded Saturday morning. About 600 nurses, represented by the Hawaii Nurses Association, attempted to return after the strike ended at 6:59 a.m. But hospital officials said that won’t happen unless the union accepts a deal currently on the table. In a letter to the nurses union issued Friday night, hospital chief executive officer David Underriner said, “Since we did not receive a 10-day notice per Section 8(g) of the National Labor Relations Act, we presume HNA will not be picketing tomorrow after 6:59 a.m.”
JOINING TOGETHER
A strike at Boeing extends a new era of labor activism long in decline at US work places
AP
By Staff
Sept. 13, 2024
Aircraft assembly workers walked off the job at at Boeing factories near Seattle and elsewhere early Friday after union members voted overwhelmingly to go on strike. Organized labor has made itself heard over the past year and the number of actions taken by unions has soared. There were 470 work stoppages (466 strikes and 4 lockouts) involving approximately 539,000 workers last year, according to Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The nearly 500 work stoppages resulted in approximately 24,874,522 strike days.
GE workers hold rally with Louisville union leaders demanding better wages, working conditions
WLKY
By Danielle Goodman
Sept. 14, 2024
General Electric Haier workers in Louisville are making their voices heard. Employees of the company met at the IUE-CWA Local 761 union hall on Poplar Level Road on Saturday. A rally was organized by the union and called for members to stand together and demand fair wages, better working conditions and affordable health care.
IN THE STATES
The Courier
By Angela LaRosa
Sept. 12, 2024
If you ask labor unions across the state, there's a clear choice in the heated Ohio Senate race between incumbent U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and Ohio businessman Bernie Moreno. During a stop in Findlay at the United Steelworkers 207L building Wednesday, the Workers for Sherrod coalition endorsed Brown’s reelection, citing a long record delivering for Ohio workers. “I can confidently say the choice for Senate is crystal clear,” Jeff Krantz, the president of the Ohio State Association of Letter Carriers, said.