Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
POLITICS
Harris' emphasis on maternal health care is paying dividends with Black women voters
CBS News
By Stephanie Armour
Sept. 26, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris is seeing a surge of support from Black women voters galvanized in part by her work on health care issues such as maternal mortality, reproductive rights and gun control. The enthusiasm may be key for Democratic turnout at the polls in critical battleground states.
Harris offers more detail on her price-gouging ban
Axios
By Emily Peck
Sept. 26, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris offered some clarity to what her anti-price gouging proposal means, in an 82-page economic policy paper that her 2024 campaign released Wednesday. The paper, titled "A New Way Forward for the Middle Class," says that Harris will "call on Congress to pass the first-ever federal ban on price gouging." "The bill will set rules of the road to make clear that big corporations can't unfairly exploit consumers during times of crisis to run up excessive corporate profits on food and groceries."
TRANSPORTATION
Biden Administration Presses Big Railroads to Offer More Paid Sick Days
BNN Bloomberg
By Josh Eidelson and Kiel Porter
Sept. 25, 2024
The AFL-CIO welcomed the additional push Wednesday. “Pressuring these rail companies to provide sick days has been an all-hands effort, from the workers and their unions to these federal agencies,” Greg Regan, the head of the union federation’s transportation trades department, said in an emailed statement. “Sick or injured railroaders should not be forced to work on miles-long freight trains that travel through populated communities.”
Union wants federal investigation into Brightline, claims company opposes unionization
The Palm Beach Post
By Chris Persaud
Sept. 26, 2024
The union trying to represent more than 100 Brightline workers wants the federal government to investigate the private passenger train and halt federal aid for the railway because it claims the company has violated a presidential order by opposing its employees' efforts to join the union, and for claiming rail law doesn't apply to it. By arguing in legal filings that its workers' unionizing efforts are not governed by the federal board in charge of rail labor matters, the Transport Workers Union of America claims Brightline is saying it is not a train operator and therefore wrongly accepted more than $36 million in federal money meant for railways. That claim was sent in an open letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
NEGOTIATIONS & STRIKES
Boeing and union negotiators set to meet for contract talks 2 weeks into worker strike
AP News
By Staff
Sept. 26, 2024
The union representing Boeing’s striking factory workers in the Pacific Northwest says it expects to resume negotiations with the company on Friday. A regional district of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said the two sides would meet alongside federal mediators. They last held formal negotiations more than a week ago, when two days of mediated sessions broke off.
Transit drivers union in contract dispute with Butte-Silver Bow County
KXLF
By Meagan Thompson
Sep. 35, 2024
Recently Butte-Silver Bow County machinists from the Local 88 union said that they were on the brink of a strike when their contract got sent to the state for mediation. Now, members of the local transit union say that they are in a similar situation with Butte-Silver Bow. "Right now we’ve been in a labor dispute with the city. We went into negotiations back in June, had a tentative agreement, last best and final offer from the city that the drivers all voted on and ratified," says Mark Varcoe, a transit driver and the president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 381.
Omni Providence workers ratify new union contract
ABC6
By Gino DeAngelis
Sept. 26, 2024
UNITE HERE Local 26 said workers at the Omni Providence Hotel ratified a new union contract on Sept. 24. The union said that negotiations on a new contract began after the previous expired on Jan. 31, and that workers voted to authorize a strike on Aug. 7. The new contract includes wage increases and more affordable healthcare.
Thousands more US hotel workers continue to strike: What travelers can expect
USA Today
By Kathleen Wong
Sept. 25, 2024
Thousands more hotel workers in the U.S. have gone on strike this week as negotiations between the UNITE HERE labor union and major hotel chains over pandemic-related cuts remain very far apart. Approximately 2,000 workers at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu – the biggest Hilton in the world and the largest hotel property in Hawaii – went on strike yesterday for an indefinite amount of time, according to the labor union. This past Sunday, about 1,500 San Francisco-based workers from the Grand Hyatt San Francisco, Hilton San Francisco Union Square and the Westin St. Francis, a Marriott property, also went on strike.
Apple Store workers in Oklahoma City ratify first union contract
Retail Insight Network
By Jangoulun Singsit
Sept. 25, 2024
US retail workers at the Oklahoma City Apple store in Penn Square Mall have successfully ratified their first collectively bargained contract. The union workers are part of Communications Workers of America (CWA), operating as Apple Retail Union-CWA Local 6016. The ratified three-year contract promises up to an 11.5% wage increase up to 2027, alongside provisions for worker involvement in scheduling and guaranteed paid time off for voting.
UAW-represented tool and die workers at Ford Rouge avert strike with tentative contract
Detroit Free Press
By Reuters
Sept. 26, 2024
The UAW said its members representing Ford Motor Co.'s tool and die unit in the River Rouge complex reached a tentative agreement with the company, a day ahead of its strike deadline. Ford's Rouge complex, which employs about 6,000 in Dearborn, has more than 500 workers in the tool and die unit, according to a union official. The union members will review the details of the agreement and hold a ratification vote in the coming days, the union said. "If ratified, the agreement will set a new standard for the skilled trades at Ford," the union added.
Roaring Fork Transportation Agency union bus drivers threaten to strike over wages, benefits
Denver 7
By Jessica Crawford
Sept. 26, 2024
Colorado's second-largest transit system is at odds with some of its union bus drivers. Amalgamated Transit Union Local (ATU) 1774 is threatening to strike due to concerns about wages and benefits at the Roaring Fork Transportation Agency (RFTA). The union filed a notice of intent to strike on Sept. 10 and is awaiting a decision from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) on whether it will be permitted to strike. If the strike is denied, the parties will be ordered to arbitrate.
School bus driver union and company strike deal
The Jamestown Press
By Staff
Sept. 26, 2024
Students in Jamestown will not need to find alternative modes of transportation to school following an agreement between First Student and the union that represents bus drivers. The contract between the Cincinnati based transportation company and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 618 was finalized Friday “following two days of intense bargaining,” according to the union. The sides began negotiating in the spring but a stalemate in the summer led to the union voting overwhelmingly Aug. 6 to authorize a strike if necessary.
CVS pharmacy workers rally in Newport Beach for higher wages, call for boycott
Los Angeles Times
By Eric Licas
Sept. 26, 2024
UFCW represents CVS workers across Southern California, including 29 at the Newport Beach location and 26 at two locations in Huntington Beach, according to UFCW spokeswoman Jenna Thompson. The company’s last agreement with the union expired on June 30. Last week, union members at stores in Orange County, the South Bay and the Long Beach area voted on whether or not to authorize strikes. The results will be aggregated, and have not yet been publicized, Thompson said. Both sides are scheduled to resume bargaining on Oct. 16.
JOINING TOGETHER
D.C. Council to tackle fate of endangered buses, unionized drivers
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
Sept. 26, 2024
Under pressure from workers, riders, and its unionized drivers, the D.C. City Council will tackle the fate of the endangered DC Circulator buses at a “virtual” Zoom hearing at 1 pm on September 26. Supportive Council member Charles Allen, D-6th Ward, told the crowd of more than 100 people three days before the hearing that pro-corporate Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Department of Transportation and a rep from the D.C. area’s Metro system will be grilled about the looming shutdown of the buses and sudden firings, scheduled for October 1, of its drivers.
LABOR LEADERSHIP
Labor Movement celebrates extraordinary life and legacy of Bill Lucy
The Crusader
By Sharon Fountain
Sept. 26, 2024
Upon his passing, Bill Lucy was remembered as a giant in the labor movement by those who worked closely with him. AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond released a joint statement, saying, “Our movement has lost an icon. Bill Lucy’s leadership was unmatched, from his role in writing the powerful words ‘I Am A Man’ during the Memphis strike to founding the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. His vision bridged generations and backgrounds, showing the strength of unity across the labor movement.”
The Tennessee Tribune
By AFSCME
Sept. 26, 2024
William “Bill” Lucy, who served as secretary-treasurer of AFSCME for nearly four decades and was one of the most respected and revered Black labor leaders in the world, died at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 90 years old. Lucy was a heavyweight of the American labor movement in the second half of the 20th century and a fierce defender of civil and human rights. In 1968, he traveled to his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, to help resolve the sanitation workers’ strike, marching shoulder to shoulder with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as the workers sought the city’s recognition of their union, AFSCME Local 1733. He was the co-founder and longtime leader of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) and a co-founder of the Free South Africa Movement(FSAM) that launched the successful anti-apartheid campaign in the United States.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Local prison union calls for prison reform following alleged inmate assault
We are Iowa
By Connor O’Neal
Sept. 25, 2024
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 61 said there needs to be change after it claims an inmate assaulted two correctional officers Monday at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. AFSCME Council 61, who represent some correctional officers, is calling on the state to hire more staff, provide updated safety equipment and better training programs.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
Unions recognize ‘Banned Books Week’ with a mountainous giveaway in Missoula
Montana Public Radio
By Montana Public Radio
Sept. 26, 2024
Six-year-old Evie Mill carried a stack of books half her height as she wound between mountains of novels and picture books in the gymnasium at Missoula’s Cold Springs Elementary. She showed off her haul. “I have these ‘Descendants’ books, and then I have this other ‘Descendents’ book, and then a couple princess books,” Evie said. Some of her stack belonged to her brother, 10-year-old Lucas. He said he loves stories about Greek myths. “Reading keeps me occupied for long periods of time,” Lucas said.