Today's AFL-CIO press clips
MUST READ
AFL-CIO Union President part of 33rd Biennial WI State Convention
WXOW
By Roger Staffaroni
Sept. 16, 2024
National AFL - CIO Union President Liz Shuler was in La Crosse for the 33rd Biennial Convention at the La Crosse Center on Monday. This year's theme was "Union Power". Shuler addressed the delegates about the strength of Wisconsin's union work. She told the audience that labor was growing in Wisconsin and was on a rise that hasn't been seen in a generation.
POLITICS
Kamala Harris to join Oprah in Michigan for "Unite for America" livestream event
CBS News
By Staff
Sept. 16, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris will join Oprah Winfrey for a livestream event that will be filmed at an undisclosed location in Michigan, according to campaign staff. The "Unite for America" livestream is scheduled for Thursday from 8 to 10 p.m. This will be Harris' third visit to Michigan since entering the presidential race. During her most recent visit, Harris spoke with labor union leaders and workers in Detroit. During the event, Harris touted her record of putting workers first and showed her support for union members throughout the speech. Oprah, who is hosting Thursday's livestream, gave a speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention and endorsed Harris. According to the event page, 140 different grassroots organizations will be featured on the stream.
Kamala Harris, Oprah Winfrey to hold livestream rally from Michigan
The Detroit News
By Craig Mauger
Sept. 16, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris and talk show host Oprah Winfrey will be somewhere in Michigan Thursday night to participate in a virtual rally, according to the Democratic nominee's campaign. The Harris team announced the visit over the weekend, describing it as a "livestream event in collaboration with more than 140 grassroots groups."
President Biden announces $1.3 billion investment into HBCUs during Philadelphia visit
CBS News
By Eva Andersen and Adam Fox
Sept. 16, 2024
President Biden announced an additional $1.3 billion investment in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) during his speech at the 2024 HBCU Week Conference in Philadelphia. Hundreds of attendees cheered as Mr. Biden took the stage at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where he highlighted his administration's efforts to support HBCUs. "In just four years, working with HBCU leaders, we're making the most significant investment in Black America ever in American history," Mr. Biden said.
Union leaders present higher education agenda for Kamala Harris
Metro Philadelphia
By Jack Tomczuk
Sept. 16, 2024
National labor leaders from unions representing university faculty and staff gathered Monday at the Community College of Philadelphia’s campus to lay out their recommended higher education platform for the next president. The groups are strongly backing the Democratic Party ticket – Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz – but the work of the newly formed coalition, called Labor for Higher Ed, “becomes even more important” if former President Donald Trump wins in November, said American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.
Biden Celebrates Investments in Black Colleges While Promoting Harris
The New York Times
By Zach Montague
Sept. 16, 2024
President Biden took the stage at an event for historically Black colleges and universities on Monday to promote a list investments and grants made to many of those schools under his watch, including a new $1.3 billion round of federal investments aimed in part at giving historically Black schools a competitive edge in research. The president’s appearance at the conference in Philadelphia helped underscore a pledge to support historically Black institutions that he has returned to throughout his term, both in symbolic gestures such as addressing graduates at Howard University and Morehouse College, as well as more concrete measures such as boosting federal investment.
ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND CLIMATE
The Case for Public Nuclear Power
The Nation
By Fred Stafford
Sept. 12, 2024
TVA’s chief financial officer John Thomas recently claimed that its debt limit “doesn’t inhibit our ability” to start new nuclear projects. But three different nuclear consultants I spoke to doubted that assertion. The leaders from IBEW and IFPTE did too, but they expressed sympathy for TVA management: Calling for more debt isn’t exactly a popular political position. “They don’t want to ruffle feathers,” Biggs suggested.
ORGANIZING
Arapahoe County facilities workers latest to unionize under 2022 state law
Colorado Newsline
By Lindsey Toomer
Sept. 16, 2024
Workers with Arapahoe County’s Facilities and Fleet Management department voted to unionize Friday, acting on a new Colorado law that allows county workers to organize. Workers voted 30-15 in favor of forming a union with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Colorado local. An additional five “yes” votes were contested because workers filled out both sides of a dual-sided ballot, one in English and the other in Spanish.
Anchorage Daily News management declines to recognize nascent employee union
Alaska Public Media
By Claire Stremple
Sept. 16, 2024
Anchorage Daily News owner Ryan Binkley declined to recognize a nascent newsroom union on Thursday. Newsroom staff announced their intention to unionize earlier in the week. 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
More than 30,000 Boeing unionized Machinist aircraft workers out on strike
People’s World
By Tim Wheeler
Sept. 16, 2024
At midnight, Friday, September 13, workers stood on picket lines at every gate of Boeing’s giant aircraft plant on Logan Avenue in Renton, Wash., holding up their picket signs and chanting “Strike, Strike, Strike.” Mostly youthful members of International Association of Machinists (IAM) District 751, they were among the 33,000 Boeing workers who voted a day earlier by a resounding 94.6% to reject the proposed contract and by 96% to go on strike—far more than the two-thirds majority needed to approve a walkout.
AT&T reaches deal with union telecom workers, ending southeast strike
WABE
By Marlon Hyde
Sept. 16, 2024
AT&T has reached a tentative contract deal with southeast union members, ending the 30-day strike — the region’s longest-ever telecommunications strike. Thousands of Southeast telecom workers with the Communications Workers of America Union returned to work Monday. This new contract covers more than 17,000 workers across nine states. The five-year agreement includes more affordable healthcare services, a nearly 20% raise across the board and an additional wage boost of 3% for wire technicians and utility operations.
As Negotiations Continue, Animation Union Looks To Close Gender Gap
KQED
By Keith Mizuguchi
Sept. 16, 2024
“Equal pay for equal paint!” That’s the rallying cry of The Animation Guild as they resume negotiations with Hollywood studios on September 16 for a new three-year contract. In addition to a deal protecting workers against the threat of AI and jobs moving overseas, the union wants pay equity for color designers — a job historically dominated by women.
Contract emerging from AT&T strike could give workers 19.3% wage bump
Alabama Reflector
By Megan Plotka
Sept. 16, 2024
AT&T workers with the Communication Workers of America (CWA) in the Southeast returned to work Monday after a 30-day strike. Approximately 300 AT&T technicians, customer service representatives and other workers in north Alabama were on strike for the past month. There were several picket lines across Huntsville, Athens, Cullman and Decatur manned with diverse workers grilling burgers, waving signs and telling AT&T they wouldn’t work without a fair contract. They joined 17,000 CWA District 3 members on strike across the Southeast. The AT&T Southeast union contract covers workers in Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky and North Carolina. That ended when AT&T and the union made “a strong tentative agreement” on Sunday according to the union’s press release.
San Francisco Symphony Chorus authorizes strike, threatening season opener
San Francisco Chronicle
By Aidin Vaziri
Sept. 16, 2024
As the 2024-25 season begins, members of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus have voted to authorize a strike, potentially disrupting the opening performance of Verdi’s Requiem. The American Guild of Musical Artists, the labor union representing the 32 paid professional singers of the 152-person Chorus, circulated a letter describing the strike as a “last resort” ahead of the concert on Thursday, Sept. 19, which would mark Symphony Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen’s first of the new season.
United Auto Workers on strike at Eaton Aerospace in Jackson
MLive
By Chloe Miller
Sept. 16, 2024
Around 525 United Auto Workers members at Eaton Aerospace in Jackson walked off the job Monday morning, beginning a strike prompted by an expired union employee contract. Around 100 people holding “UAW on Strike” signs were spotted along S. East Avenue and E. Michigan Avenue on Sept. 16. The crowd of UAW Local 475 members began picketing around 11:40 a.m., with many more on the way, UAW Region 1D Director Steve Dawes said.
NLRB
UAW union files unfair labor charges against Stellantis, accuses automaker of violating contract
CNBC
By Michael Wayland
Sept. 16, 2024
The United Auto Workers union on Monday said it had filed federal unfair labor practice charges against Stellantis for allegedly violating contract terms and attempting to move production of the Dodge Durango out of the U.S. The charges are the latest action the union has taken against Stellantis, which has drawn the ire of UAW leaders for production cuts, layoffs and other actions since the two sides reached a new contract last year.
IN THE STATES
Kentucky Lantern
By Berry Craig
Sept. 16, 2024
The Kentucky State AFL-CIO’s opposition to Amendment 2 shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows labor history. Unions have always championed public schools. The Republican-backed amendment, which will be on the Nov. 5 ballot, would change the state Constitution to permit the General Assembly to pass laws letting tax dollars go to private schools. You can bet if voters approve the measure, come January, the GOP supermajority House and Senate will lose no time approving a voucher program in which parents and guardians can use those public funds to send their children to private schools.
States are pushing back with anti-labor laws as union popularity grows, policy experts say
Tennessee Lookout
By Casey Quinlan
Sept. 16, 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. In the face of increased worker organizing and Americans’ higher approval of labor unions in the past few year (hitting levels not seen since the 1960s), many states have introduced bills aimed at stopping payroll deduction for union dues and punishing employers that voluntarily recognize a union through the card check process. In April, several governors in Southern states, including Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, advocated against auto workers voting for a union.
LABOR AND ENTERTAINMENT
Fran Drescher Gives Advice to Aspiring Union Members + Talks ‘Huge Threat’ of AI
Backstage
By Suzy Woltmann
Sept. 16, 2024
SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher isn’t just a “millennial whisperer,” fashion icon, and famed rocker of a red lip; she’s also a fearless advocate for performers’ rights, a self-proclaimed “fierce beast,” and this year’s recipient of the Backstage Vanguard Award. It’s been just under a year since the historic 2023 actors’ strike ended, and Drescher is reflecting on the union’s hard-fought progress, the ongoing challenges faced by performers, and why it’s vital to nurture creativity as a “greater good.”
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
In Michigan, alarms grow over construction worker suicides; more help on way
Bridge Michigan
By Anna Rossow
Sept. 16, 2024
Mental health problems in a male-dominated industry – construction – are often overlooked, and its workers have disproportionately high suicide rates, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The agency says the suicide rate among construction workers is four times more than for adults in the general population. There are over 203,000 construction workers in Michigan, which reported 175 suicides, all men, among them in 2022.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Community Spotlight: the women changing what it means to be a ‘blue collar worker’
WCIA
By Amanda Brennan
Sept. 16, 2024
At the end of September, about 100 women from across Central Illinois will be traveling to New Orleans for the “Tradeswomen Build Nations” conference. They hope to gain even more resources to bridge the gap of women entering the workforce of blue-collar jobs. Mandy Jo Ganieany, Michelle Wayne and Krissy Webber joined WCIA’s Amanda Brennan on First News at Four to discuss their current positions and what they’re excited to learn while in Louisiana. Ganieany is the Director of Organizing at Painters District Council 30, Wayne is a journeywoman electrician at EIU and the treasurer of IBEW 146 and Webber is a roofer with the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers Local 97 in the Champaign area.