Today's AFL-CIO press clips
MUST READ
More Black and Latina women are leading unions — and transforming how they work
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Claire Savage
Oct. 12, 2024
Momentum for Black and Latina women rising into labor union leadership has picked up in the last five years. But the work began long before that by “our foremothers who laid this foundation and have been pushing and kicking those doors open for decades,” according to Liz Shuler, who in June 2022 became the first woman to lead the AFL-CIO, a federation of 60 national and international labor unions. “The #MeToo movement, I think, has really emboldened women across the board, including in labor, to say, ‘You know what? I’m not going to be sitting on the sidelines,’” Shuler said. The pandemic also put a spotlight on essential workers such as nurses, service workers, and care workers, who are predominantly women and minorities.
POLITICS
In Michigan, Walz Assails Trump’s Record on Manufacturing
The New York Times
By Kellen Browning
Oct. 11, 2024
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota took the stage in a Detroit suburb on Friday to offer a sharp rebuttal to former President Donald J. Trump, who had positioned himself as a savior of the auto industry at an appearance in Detroit a day earlier. Speaking to about 100 people inside a community college’s fabrication shop in Warren, Mich., Mr. Walz argued that the Trump economic agenda would be harmful to blue-collar workers and manufacturing in the state, a key battleground for the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee and his running mate, and Mr. Trump.
Pamela’s pancakes, reproductive rights and diapers: Obama kicks Trump, then praises Harris
Pittsburgh Union Progress
By Steve Mellon
Oct. 11, 2024
Harris, Obama said, “is as prepared for the job as any nominee for president has ever been.” He cited her middle-class upbringing (he mentioned her teenage stint at McDonald’s to give it some cred), her years as a prosecutor and state attorney general, then a U.S. senator and vice president. He acknowledged that many people are struggling, especially with higher prices since the pandemic, and mentioned the ways in which Harris will help everyday Americans if she becomes president.
Walz rallies with UAW members, meets with Black men in Macomb County
WXYZ Detroit
By Darren Cunningham
Oct. 11, 2024
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz visited Macomb County on Friday. He made stops in Warren and Utica. "When Vice President Harris and I are elected, we'll have your backs just like you had our backs every step of the way," he told a cheering crowd of United Auto Workers members. In the morning, the Minnesota governor spoke to the union members at Macomb Community College in Warren.
Trump and Harris Both Like a Child Tax Credit, but With Different Aims
The New York Times
By Jason DeParle
Oct. 14, 2024
Ms. Harris would expand the tax cuts and add a large anti-poverty plan, sending checks to millions of parents with low pay or no jobs. That would turn a tax cut into an income guarantee, in a landmark expansion of the safety net.
Hotel workers campaign among Latino voters in Arizona
People’w World
By Gabriel Thompson
Oct. 11, 2024
“Hello, housekeeping!” she called, breaking into a laugh upon realizing her mistake. The 57-year-old is a member of UNITE HERE, the hospitality union, and had taken a leave of absence from her job at a nearby Hilton to go door-to-door to keep Arizona blue. “I like to step back and wait, so they think I’ve left,” she said. “Then they open the door and here I am.”
AFL-CIO backs Rosen and Klobuchar in critical Nevada election canvassing effort
NBC 3
By News 3 Staff
Oct. 13, 2024
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar joined Jacky Rosen at a local canvass launch this morning with the members of the Nevada state chapter of AFL-CIO. Rosen and Klobuchar are ranked among the most bipartisan senators in the nation. They worked together in the Senate on legislation that supports Nevada workers and the right of organized labor.
Harris Steps Up a Major Push for Black Voters
The New York Times
By Erica L. Green and Nicholas Nehamas
Oct. 14, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris made a sweeping push on Monday to energize Black voters, among whom she faces slipping support, unveiling a plan to bolster the finances of Black men, appearing in interviews with two Black media outlets and releasing a pair of ads in battleground states targeted to that crucial voting group. Taken together, Ms. Harris’s blitz put forward a broad argument that her administration would deliver meaningful policy changes for Black Americans and that former President Donald J. Trump was making empty promises that contradict his history of racist remarks. “There is a very big difference between Donald Trump and how I will be president of the United States,” she said, citing his false claims about Haitian immigrants in Ohio and detailing her plans to cut taxes for the middle class during an appearance on The Shade Room, a digital entertainment publication with more than 29 million followers on Instagram.
Obama pays tribute to Lilly Ledbetter: ‘This grandmother from Alabama kept on fighting’
AL.com
By William Thornton
Oct. 13, 2024
Former President Barack Obama on Sunday paid tribute to Alabama’s Lilly Ledbetter following her death Saturday. The nation’s 44th president released a statement on the social platform X. The two shared a personal connection, as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first bill Obama signed into law after taking office in 2009. “Lilly Ledbetter never set out to be a trailblazer or a household name,” Obama stated.
LABOR AND TECHNOLOGY
The AI Revolution Is Coming for Your Non-Union Job
Time
By Molly Kinder, Mark Muro, and Xavier De Souza Briggs
Oct. 10, 2024
During this election cycle, we’ve heard a lot from the presidential candidates about the struggles of America’s workers and their families. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump each want to claim the mantle as the country’s pro-worker candidate. Accordingly, union leaders took the stage not only at the Democratic National Convention, as usual, but at the Republican convention too. At the VP debate, J.D. Vance and Tim Walz offered competing views on how best to support workers. Surprisingly, one economic issue the candidates have yet to address is one in which millions of voters have a great deal at stake: the looming impact of new generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technologies on work and livelihoods.
NEGOTIATIONS & STRIKES
Boston hotel strike expands as Omni workers join picket lines
CBS News
By Penny Kmitt
Oct. 14, 2024
The hotel workers strike in Boston expanded Monday. Union members at the Omni Parker House and the Omni Boston Seaport hotels walked off the job, joining workers who went on strike earlier this month at the Hilton Boston Park Plaza and Hilton at Logan Airport. The union, UNITE HERE Local 26, launched a series of three-day temporary strikes at hotels in Boston in September. This time, the union said workers at the four hotels will not go back to work until they have new contracts with Omni and Hilton.
Fired dancers, protesters picket Dallas Black Dance Theatre’s season opener
The Dallas Morning News
By Elizabeth Myong
Oct. 12, 2024
At Moody Performance Hall on Friday night, two different worlds played out at Dallas Black Dance Theatre’s first performance of the season, DanceAfrica. A giant inflatable rat named Scabby loomed over protesters as they chanted “Join our picket! Tear up your ticket!” outside. Meanwhile, onstage newly hired dancers joyfully leapt in the piece “Kati Yaki na Groove.”
Union, hospital reach an agreement
Rio Rancho Observer
By Michaela Helean
Oct. 14, 2024
“This contract represents basic respect for hospital professionals who work tirelessly for their patients. It shouldn’t have been so hard to get to this place, and the workers’ tenacity and the public’s support for their current or future caregivers moved the needle and resulted in this contract,” Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, the parent union of the UHPNM, said. “We need hospitals to work collaboratively with their front-line workers and respect their input. When that happens, workers and patients are better off."
Molson Coors, union machinists reach agreement to end strike at Milwaukee brewery
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Ricardo Torres
Oct. 14, 2024
The machinists are back to work at Molson Coors Beverage Co. after about seven days of being on strike. The conflict between the brewery and the 43 union members of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Lodge 66 ended last week, according to Molson Coors. “We are pleased to have reached a 3-year agreement with the machinists represented by IAM Lodge 66 at our Milwaukee Brewery," Adam Collins, Molson Coors’ chief communications officer said in a statement.
Boston Hilton hotel worker strikes poised to stretch through holiday weekend
NBC Boston
By Isabel Hart
Oct. 11, 2024
The strikes by hotel workers at two Hilton hotel properties in Boston have entered their sixth day, and are poised to continue into the holiday weekend. Almost 600 workers at the Hilton Boston Park Plaza in Back Bay and the Hilton Boston Logan Airport began what they called an indefinite strike on Sunday, Oct. 6. Picketers have been outside the hotels since.
HCA and nurses union reach contract deal in the midst of disaster response
Carolina Public Press
By Jane Winik Sartwell
Oct. 11, 2024
At a hospital without running water, Asheville’s Mission Hospital and its union of nurses have come to a long-awaited agreement, ratifying a new three-year contract just two weeks after Tropical Storm Helene devastated the city. The nurses union began negotiating with HCA on a new contract more than six months ago. Nurses have been working under an expired contract at Mission Hospital since early July. In early September, 97% of the 1,600 unionized nurses in Asheville voted to authorize a strike, should it become necessary. Though the union staged pickets over the summer, a strike never materialized.
Culinary Union reaches tentative 4-year deal with Eataly at Park MGM on the Strip
KLAS 8
By Greg Haas
Oct. 11, 2024
The Culinary Union announced a tentative agreement with Eataly Las Vegas on a four-year contract — the union’s first with a restaurant since launching a campaign on Labor Day in September 2023 to organize 10,000 non-union restaurant workers in Las Vegas. It will be the first union contract for Eataly, which opened in December 2018 at Park MGM Casino on the Strip. The contract will bring raises averaging $10 an hour for cooks and $3 for fountain workers, according to the union. The contract will cover 130 workers.
Over 100 hotel workers strike at Seattle Airport hotels for better pay
KOMO
By Alton Worley II and Associated Press
Oct. 12, 2024
Over 100 hotel workers have gathered at the Doubletree Seattle Airport and Seattle Airport Hilton & Conference Center to strike on Saturday. The UNITE HERE union, which represents the striking housekeepers and other hospitality workers, said they are fighting to raise their standards to a level that respects their work and allows them to support their families in 2024. “Hospitality work overall is undervalued, and it’s not a coincidence that it’s disproportionately women and people of color doing the work,” Union President Gwen Mills said.
Bloomington Barnes and Noble employees protest for better working conditions
25 News Now
By Liz Lape
Oct. 11, 2024
Unionized Barnes and Noble employees protested in front of the Bloomington store for seven hours Friday afternoon, hoping to pressure the corporation into accepting their contract negotiations. The store’s employees unionized with the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) in Oct. 2023 and began contract negotiations in March 2023. This is the first protest at a Barnes and Noble in the Midwest. The union is demanding fair wages, healthcare and union benefits, protection from store closures, and improved staffing requirements.
4WWL
By WWL Staff
Oct. 14, 2024
Nurses at University Medical Center in New Orleans have given notice to the hospital regarding their intention to hold a one-day strike on Oct. 25 after management failed to address patient safety concerns during contract negotiations, a union media release stated on Monday. The notice comes after nurses, among the 600 members of the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), over the weekend voted by an overwhelming majority of 98 percent to authorize a strike.
Acting US labour secretary to meet with Boeing and union to end impasse
Al Jazeera
By Staff
Oct. 14, 2024
United States Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su has flown to Seattle to meet with Boeing and the union representing about 33,000 striking workers to nudge both sides back to the bargaining table, Reuters news agency has reported, citing an unnamed source. Her intervention comes days after the planemaker, dealing with a crippling strike now in its fifth week, unveiled plans to cut 17,000 jobs and take a $5bn hit to cover costs related to problems across its various units.
Washington teachers’ union reaches tentative five-year contract agreement
Afro News
By Stephanie Cornish
Oct. 13, 2024
With safety concerns and pay raises on the bargaining table, the Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) and the District of Columbia Public Schools reached a tentative five-year contract agreement on Sept. 30. When preliminary contract negotiations began last September, some teachers criticized Dr. Lewis Ferebee, chancellor of D.C. Public Schools, for not attending the initial meetings with WTU officials. However, Ferebee did make his presence known in subsequent meetings.
Condé Nast Says It Has Reached Deal With New Yorker Union Amid Strike Threat
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
Oct. 14, 2024
It seems The New Yorker Festival may be picket-free this year. The magazine’s union and management at Condé Nast reached a new tentative three-year agreement, the company’s human resources department told staffers on Monday. “This renewal embodies the many policies and practices that make Condé Nast and The New Yorker a great workplace and underpin our award-winning journalism,” Condé Nast chief people officer Stan Duncan said in the message.
JOINING TOGETHER
UAW Stellantis workers protest in the streets from coast to coast
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg and Cameron Harrison
Oct. 11, 2024
Back in the days when Stellantis was Chrysler, there was a sense of camaraderie on the shop floor, veteran Auto Workers say. Not anymore. Not under Stellantis. All they perceive now is corporate greed, satisfying investors, and filling honchos’ pockets with workers’ dollars. Which has sent Stellantis workers, who toil for what was FiatChrysler, out onto the streets from coast to coast, protesting the firm’s plan to renege on the contract it signed last year with the UAW, by refusing to re-open and re-staff the closed Chrysler plant in Belvidere, Ill. Workers at two Stellantis plants, Local 186 members at a Stellantis parts hub in Denver and another local in Los Angeles, already heeded UAW’s solidarity call and passed strike authorization votes. The new Stellantis contract lets UAW strike over such causes.
Business Wire
By Staff
Oct. 11, 2024
Members of UNITE HERE Local 8, the hospitality workers union of the Pacific Northwest, demonstrated outside of the Seattle Hotel Association’s Fall Membership meeting, drawing attention to resort fees tacked onto hotel room rates that can feel deceptive and unfair. Iconic hotels in major U.S. markets like Seattle operated by Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott charge resort fees for services guests might not even want—or didn’t think they’d pay extra for.
SPORTS UNIONIZATION
WNBA and players’ union closing in on opt out date for current collective bargaining agreement
AP News
By Doug Feinberg
Oct. 14, 2024
The WNBA had a record year in terms of growth in viewership and attendance, and with that the players now want a bigger piece of the financial pie. The players union and league have until Nov. 1 to potentially opt out of their current collective bargaining agreement. It is likely that the players will decide to do so before the deadline as they have a list of wants, including increased salaries now that the WNBA has entered a historic 11-year media rights deal with Disney, Amazon Prime and NBC for $200 million a year. Breanna Stewart said there’s been meetings within the players’ union, of which she is a vice president. She hasn’t been able to make as many as she’d like with her team, the New York Liberty, playing in the WNBA Finals right now.
WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Transit union calls for stronger protections for workers
Spectrum News
By Louis Finley
Oct. 11, 2024
“We want to make sure that the attempted murder charges are upheld, and he goes away for the rest of his life and never comes back in the street,” TWU Local 100 president Richard Davis said. Following Davalos’ court appearance, members of the Transit Workers Union Local 100 called for better worker protections. “Our members are being assaulted. We need the MTA to authorize and approve a list of policy changes,” Rapid Transit Operations vice president Canella Gomez said. Union leaders called for two train operators per train because they said it’s no longer safe for workers to be by themselves.
Nurses at one Chattanooga hospital say they're 'overwhelmed' by patient load
News Channel 9
By Ray Collado
Oct. 14, 2024
Nurses at a hospital in Chattanooga are expressing concerns over being overwhelmed and overworked due to a shortage of staff. According to the staff, the current situation often leaves one nurse responsible for up to 30 patients at a time. Erlanger Behavioral Health is a joint partnership with Acadia Healthcare.
EQUAL PAY
CNN
By Steve Almasy
Oct. 14, 2024
Lilly Ledbetter, whose gender pay equity legal fight was the inspiration for the Fair Pay Act of 2009, has died at age 86, according to the team making a film about her life. Ledbetter died of respiratory failure, her family told AL.com. In the 1990s, after 19 years of working for Goodyear, Ledbetter learned she had been making thousands of dollars less each month that other – male – managers. Ledbetter sued Goodyear in 1999 for gender discrimination. She initially won in federal court in 2003 and was awarded $3.8 million in backpay and damages. The decision was later overturned after the tire giant appealed. The AFL-CIO – The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations – described her as a hero. “Lilly Ledbetter simply wanted to be paid the same as her male Goodyear coworkers – and her fight took her to the Supreme Court, Congress, and the White House to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. She was a true hero, and we send our deepest condolences to her family.”
'A True Hero': Pay Equity Crusader Lilly Ledbetter Dies at 86
Common Dreams
By Julia Conley
Oct. 14, 2024
Labor unions and women's advocacy groups on Monday paid tribute to Lilly Ledbetter, the former Goodyear employee whose fight for equal pay made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress, after her death at the age of 86—with economic justice advocates hailing Ledbetter as "an icon." "Lilly Ledbetter simply wanted to be paid the same as her male Goodyear co-workers," said the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) on social media. But to workers who have benefited from the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, added the union, "she was a true hero."
DIVERSITY & EQUITY
Gender equity among trades workers is increasing, but there's a long way to go
WGLT
By Charlie Schlenker
Oct. 10, 2024
Demand for skilled trades workers is on the upswing. Trades people are retiring in record numbers with the exit of the baby boom generation, leaving lots of vacancies. On top of retirements, the 2021 Infrastructure law is expected to create more jobs in the construction sector for years to come. There's a huge untapped resource to fill this need — women. Nationally, women make up just 4.3% of workers in the trades. The Illinois Department of Labor reports the 5% share of women in the construction trades in this state hasn’t budged in two decades. Some unions like the Ironworkers have just 1.2% women in the workforce. Historically, it hasn't been easy for women to enter the trades.
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
AFL-CIO of Northwest Mo to host annual Walk for the Homeless Nov. 1st
KQ2
By Nicole Scott
Oct. 14, 2024
The AFL-CIO of Northwest Missouri is hosting the annual Walk for the Homeless to raise awareness for the St. Joseph, Mo. homeless community on Friday, November 1, 2024. According to the AFL-CIO the walk for 4 p.m. on Friday, November 1st next to the Downtown Health Center located at 6th and Messanie Streets in St. Joseph, Mo. The goal of the annual Walk for the Homeless event is to raise awareness for issues which plague the local homeless community, participants in the event will follow the migratory path typically traveled by homeless individuals in order to access services necessary for their basic needs, according to the AFL-CIO.
UNION BUSTING
Wells Fargo Workers Claim Layoffs Sought to Disrupt Union Effort
Bloomberg Law
By Evan Weinberger
Oct. 11, 2024
Wells Fargo & Co. employees seeking to be the first nonbranch-based workers to unionize say the bank fired members of their proposed bargaining unit and made other changes to working conditions ahead of a scheduled vote. Employees in Wells Fargo’s conduct management intake department started voting Thursday on whether to join the Communications Workers of America’s Wells Fargo Workers United, the first-ever union at a major US bank.
Former Delta Flight Attendant Files Lawsuit Alleging He Was Fired For Supporting Unionization
Simple Flying
By Rytis Beresnevičius
Oct. 14, 2024
A now-fired Delta Air Lines flight attendant who had worked at the carrier’s Seattle base has alleged that the airline not only retaliated against him for his pro-union position but also because he had raised issues about potential cases of sexual harassment from a colleague.