Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
GOP Seizes on Biden Exit to Make Play for Working-Class Scranton
Bloomberg Government
By Jonathan Tamari
Oct. 9, 2024
His allies pointed to other local businesses that have been depleted by private equity firms. “He had this great opportunity,” but sold it to “the chop shops of the business world,” said a statement from Maurice Cobb, secretary-treasurer of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, which supports Cartwright.
Trump is falsely blaming Harris for high prices. His plans will cause huge inflation (Opinion)
The Guardian
By Steven Greenhouse
Oct. 9, 2024
As the presidential campaign enters the home stretch, one of Donald Trump’s most dishonest – and effective – attacks is that Kamala Harris is to blame for inflation. That attack makes no sense. Several things caused a surge in inflation, but the US vice-president wasn’t one of them. Blame inflation on the pandemic or on Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, but don’t blame it on Harris. Blaming her for inflation makes as much sense as blaming her for the leak in your roof. In seeking to blame Harris for inflation, Trump is absurdly trying to turn her – a vice-president who, like other veeps, has very little power – into some all-powerful economic tsar who somehow controls everything from egg prices to gasoline prices. Any American who is truly concerned about inflation should be much more worried about Trump than about Harris. She is far more serious about fighting inflation and helping households cope with the high cost of living.
Project 2025 would erode labor rights and roll back child labor laws
KALW
By Rose Aguilar
Oct. 9, 2024
On this edition of Your Call, we’re continuing our series on Project 2025 by discussing what the rightwing roadmap means for workers, labor rights, and the right to unionize. Donald Trump says he's pro-worker, but during his first four years as president, he was anti-worker and anti-union. The National Labor Board Relations members he appointed "made it more difficult for unions to win representation at nonunion workplaces" and the Trump Supreme Court "issued a devastating ruling against public sector unions" that made it "easier for government employees nationwide to not pay union dues even if their workplace is unionized," according to CNN. A second Trump administration stands to be even worse. Project 2025 includes provisions to cut overtime pay for millions of workers and suggests that Congress should consider getting rid of public sector unions altogether. It would also roll back workplace safety laws, including those that protect children.
Wis Politics
By Staff
Oct. 9, 2024
President Joe Biden in Milwaukee announced an additional $43 million for drinking water upgrades and lead pipe replacements in Wisconsin while knocking Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson for opposing his infrastructure initiatives. The money is part of $2.6 billion in national funding as part of Biden’s “Investing in America agenda,” which includes the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. He knocked Johnson, R-Oshkosh, for voting against the law and calling it a “radical agenda.”
United Auto Workers talk presidential candidates
WZMQ
By Sophia Murphy
Oct. 9, 2024
Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow talked with United Auto Workers (UAW) in Lansing this morning. Senator Stabenow was joined by Deleware Senator Chris Coons, former Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly, and UAW and Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council leaders. The group discussed the Harris Walz plan to bring more jobs and manufacturing to the U.S.
Hotel Workers Knock on a Million Doors, Targeting Latinos, to Keep Arizona Blue for Kamala Harris
Capital & Main
By Gabriel Thompson
Oct. 9, 2024
Maria Romero became a U.S. citizen in 2016 to vote against Donald Trump, offended by his characterization of Mexicans as criminals and rapists. Adversity motivates her, she said. Now, the hotel housekeeper is pounding the scorching Phoenix pavement, pushing back against growing support among Latinos for Trump, who now leads polling in the key swing state Biden won in the last presidential election.
ORGANIZING
Workers at Hyatt Regency announce union campaign
WIVB
By Aidan Joly
Oct. 9, 2024
Workers at a downtown Buffalo hotel have announced a union effort, they said in a news conference Wednesday. The group of workers are employed at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo, located in Fountain Plaza. Workers claim that they have been quietly working on a union effort for months and that when they went public to management over the summer, they were met by union-busting efforts.
Mersen in Columbia joins CWA union to address better worker wages, safety concerns
The Daily Herald
By Jay Powell
Oct. 9, 2024
Workers at the Columbia graphite-giant Mersen plant have chosen to join the industrial division of the Communications Workers of America, following a vote Monday by the National Labor Relations Board. Mersen, a French multinational conglomerate specializing in electrical power and advanced materials, employs 60 workers at the Columbia plant. The company held a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 11, 2023, drawing locally-elected officials and hundreds of supporters in the business community.
UNLV, UNR graduate student workers calling for union support
Fox 5 Las Vegas
By Kimberly Nolan
Oct. 9, 2024
UNLV graduate student workers are calling on fellow students to unionize. They are gathering signatures from grad assistants at both UNLV and UNR to join the UAW’s non-auto jobs union. Graduate students are paid for their research and classroom mentoring work, but say they want to be bale to collectively bargain with universities. “Pay is a top priority,” said Krista Diamond, a UNLV Phd. student. “The cost of living is going up in Las Vegas and Reno., So our stipends being raised regularly to meet the cost of living is a major concern for graduate students.”
NEGOTIATIONS & STRIKES
Boeing halts talks, withdraws pay offer to union as strike drags on
Reuters
By Shivani Tanna and David Shepardson
Oct. 9, 2024
Talks between Boeing (BA.N), and its key manufacturing union broke down, and no negotiations are currently planned as the financially damaging strike heads into a fourth week. The company withdrew its pay offer to around 33,000 U.S. factory workers on Tuesday, saying the union had not considered its proposals seriously after two days of talks. The breakdown compounds financial and production problems at Boeing, one of the two primary global commercial planemakers.
Negotiations break down between Boeing, striking machinists
The Washington Post
By Lori Aratani
Oct. 9, 2024
Talks between Boeing and the union representing 33,000 striking machinists have broken down with the two sides blaming each other for refusing to compromise, leaving little hope that the walkout now entering its fourth week will be resolved anytime soon.
Textron Aviation to continue negotiations with workers to end strike
Aero Time
By Goda Labanauskaitė
Oct. 9, 2024
Textron Aviation and Local 774 (District 70), representing striking workers in Wichita, Kansas, have decided to resume negotiations after three weeks of the current strike. The company released a new statement on October 8, 2024, saying that fresh negotiations will start on October 10, 2024. The strike will continue during the negotiations. “We value our long-standing relationship with Union leaders and members and remain committed to collaborating and agreeing upon a contract that acknowledges employees’ contributions, setting us all up for long-term success,” said Maggie Topping, Textron’s Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Communications.
SMART-MD members ratify labor contract with Norfolk Southern
Progressive Railroading
By Staff
Oct. 8, 2024
Norfolk Southern Railway yesterday announced that its employees who are members of the International association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Mechanical Department (SMART-MD) have voted to ratify a new labor agreement with the Class I. The SMART-MD's ratification follows successful ratification votes by the American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA), the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen Division/TCU (BRC) and the Transportation Communications Union (TCU). In addition to ATDA, BRC, SMART-MD, and TCU, NS has reached similar tentative agreements, which are still subject to ratification, with the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division; the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division; the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers–Transportation Division Yardmasters; the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Blacksmiths; and the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers.
Pittsburgh Union Progress
By Steve Mellon
Oct. 9, 2024
Santa is following a family tradition. He’s a union page designer and copy editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a newspaper from which he and about 30 of his Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh colleagues are on strike. His message, commemorating the strike’s two-year anniversary, was part of a four-minute video in which several strikers spoke of their reasons for walking off the job and their determination to see the action through to the end. After a short rally in front of the Post-Gazette newsroom, the billboard truck roamed the Pittsburgh area, spreading its message of solidarity to neighborhoods on the North Shore, Oakland, the South Side, Squirrel Hill, Lawrenceville, even to Oakdale.
Mission nurses reach new contract agreement with HCA
WLOS
By Dean Hensley
Oct. 9, 2024
A little over a month after Mission Health registered nurses voted to authorize a strike, they announced on Oct. 9 that they have ratified a new three-year contract with HCA. According to a news release, the contract will improve patient safety and nurse retention. Nurses, who are represented by National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), said in the release that the newly-ratified agreement with HCA will improve patient care and working conditions at the hospital.
JOINING TOGETHER
SPEEA donates $99,000 towards IAM 751 strike efforts against Boeing Company
Lynnwood Times
By Kienan Briscoe
Oct. 8, 2024
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), IFPTE Local 2001, Boeing’s professional aerospace worker union, will donate $99,000 to the International Association of Machinists District Lodge 751 (IAM) strike fund to assist in their strike efforts against the Boeing Company. The funds will come in installments of $16,500 every two weeks for the next three months, should the strike continue that long, and will be taken from the union’s reserve funds.
Sappi mill workers in Skowhegan say overtime, proposed increase in health care costs prompt rally
Spectrum News
By Susan Cover
Oct. 9, 2024
Sappi paper mill workers rallied in Skowhegan Tuesday to draw attention to concerns about several proposed changes to their union contracts. Justin Shaw, a pipe fitter and president of the United Steelworkers Local 4-9, said the union is in negotiations for a new three-year contract for about 480 workers. “Right now, it’s a work life balance that we’re really struggling with,” he said. The sticking points are the company’s proposal to have workers pick up additional health insurance costs, mandatory 24-hour shifts and a proposed change to their earned time off.
AFSCME Local 3299, nurses picket to demand higher wages, better working conditions
Daily Bruin
By Sam Mulick
Oct. 9, 2024
Union members and nurses rallied Wednesday morning to demand housing support and increased wages ahead of contract negotiations with the UC. The protesters were led by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which represents patient care and service workers at the university, and were joined by the California Nurses Association, which represents registered nurses. The protesters began rallying at 6:30 a.m., said Jacob Niles Creer, a member of the executive board and bargaining team of AFSCME 3299.
IN THE STATES
Maryland state workers push Gov. Moore to spend more on workers, facilities
The Washington Post
By Katie Mettler
Oct. 9, 2024
Two years into Gov. Wes Moore’s administration, which promised to bring back thousands of government jobs, the union for Maryland’s state employees is warning lawmakers that their patience is running out. They need more staffing, more money and critical repairs to the state’s aging hospitals and criminal justice facilities, AFSCME Maryland President Patrick Moran said Wednesday at a news conference in Hagerstown. Further failures to invest, Moran said, will put state employees — and Marylanders — in danger.
Rights Restored: Home Care Workers’ Ability to Unionize Signed Into Law
Great Lakes Weekly
By Clark Bryant
Oct. 9, 2024
Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a two-bill package to restore the ability of home care workers in Michigan to form and join unions. The bill comes a decade after the Republican-controlled legislature stripped a union away from over 40,000 workers in Michigan. The union, a part of SEIU Healthcare Michigan, had been successful in adding home care workers to those covered by minimum wage laws, instituting training to improve care and getting raises for a group of often overlooked workers.
APPRENTICESHIPS & TRAINING
Buffalo Next: Building up the trades with new talent
The Buffalo News
By Matt Glynn
Oct. 9, 2024
The building trades need more construction workers. The Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center is ready to help train new talent. The Buffalo EOC, which is affiliated with the University at Buffalo, is creating a pathway for students to enter apprenticeships with labor unions, through a free, pre-apprenticeship program called Buffalo Build. “We’re trying to provide candidates to the unions that they know are going to be successful,” said Benjamin Hilligas, the center's executive director. “In order to do so, we need the unions’ participation.”
Broadview Hosts Ironworker ‘Olympics’
Village Free Press
By Michael Romain
Oct. 8, 2024
Apprentice ironworkers from across the United States and Canada gathered last week at the Architectural and Ornamental Iron Workers Local 63 Training Center, 1819 Beach St. in Broadview, to showcase their skills in the union’s Outstanding Ironworker Apprenticeship Competition. The event was a homecoming for Eric Dean, the general president of Iron Workers International. Dean started as an apprentice at Local 63 in Broadview. “My dad told me, if I don’t like college, get my [butt] to the hall and I didn’t like college,” Dean said.