Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Petitions for union representation doubled under Biden’s presidency, first increase since 1970s
AP News
By Josh Boak
Oct. 15, 2024
There has been a doubling of petitions by workers to have union representation during President Joe Biden’s administration, according to figures released Tuesday by the National Labor Relations Board. There were 3,286 petitions filed with the government in fiscal 2024, up from 1,638 in 2021. This marks the first increase in unionization petitions during a presidential term since Gerald Ford’s administration, which ended 48 years ago. During Trump’s presidency, union petitions declined 22%. President Joe Biden said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press that the increase showed that his administration has done more for workers than his predecessor, Donald Trump, the current Republican nominee who is vying to return to the White House in November’s election.
How Unions Are Shaping the 2024 Presidential Race: A Georgia Perspective (Listen)
AJC
Oct. 14, 2024
The AJC's Bill Nigut and Tia Mitchell explore unions' role in the 2024 presidential race, AP's election night process, and GA state Fed president Yvonne Brooks interview on 2024 election.
Harris and Trump campaigns scramble to turn out Georgia voters
AJC
By Michelle Baruchman
Oct. 15, 2024
As early voting begins in Georgia Tuesday, campaign staff, volunteers and advocates will fan out across the state, intensifying their push to get voters to the polls. The presidential race in Georgia between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is essentially tied, according to multiple state surveys. So, at this point, it’s less about persuasion than turnout. Democrat Joe Biden won the state by fewer than 12,000 votes four years ago. The bulk of the efforts come from a standard campaign playbook — phone banks, door knocking and rallies. But for both Democrats and Republicans, some of that electoral outreach looks a little different this cycle.
Walz to unveil Harris’ plan for rural voters as campaign looks to cut into Trump’s edge
AP News
By Zeke Miller
Oct. 15, 2024
Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday will unveil his ticket’s plans to improve the lives of rural voters, as Vice President Kamala Harris looks to cut into former President Donald Trump’s support. The Harris-Walz plan includes a focus on improving rural health care, such as plans to recruit 10,000 new health care professionals in rural and tribal areas through scholarships, loan forgiveness and new grant programs, as well as economic and agricultural policy priorities. The plan was detailed to The Associated Press by a senior campaign official on the condition of anonymity ahead of its official release on Tuesday.
North American Building Trade Union Holds Day of Action in Wausau
WSAU
By Mike Leischner
Oct. 15, 2024
The North American Building Trade Union leadership was in Wausau on Tuesday for a Day of Action ahead of the November 5th election. NABTU Political Lead Nick Webber says that means connecting union members with candidates to understand better how legislation impacts local jobs and tell the union story from the inside out. “We have the responsibility as union members to tell that story to other union members. Allowing them to understand that this job they may be working on is a result of legislation- that’s why you’re working here- maybe in your hometown,” said Webber. “Also being able to have that conversation with members of the community, I think that’s a very good thing.”
Biden Takes On Campaign Duty in Pennsylvania, Celebrating Unions
The New York Times
By Zach Montague and Zolan Kanno-Youngs
Oct. 15, 2024
Across town, Mr. Biden joined a dinner held by the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee at the local sheet metal workers’ union hall, where he revved up attendees with a punchy speech and unleashed a long list of attacks against former President Donald J. Trump.
Democrats thought their Senate hopes were dead. They were just in Nebraska. (Opinion)
The Washington Post
By David Von Drehle
Oct. 15, 2024
In fine Nebraska style, Osborn doesn’t fit the mold, even if this is a state known to send the occasional Democrat to Washington. But he’d like to become the mold. “I want to pave the way for nurses, teachers, plumbers, carpenters and other working people to run for office. I want to show that you don’t have to be a self-funding crypto billionaire to run.”
Union election petitions have doubled since Biden took office, NLRB says
Reuters
By Daniel Wiessner
Oct. 15, 2024
Unions filed twice as many petitions seeking to hold elections over the last year than they did in 2021, the National Labor Relations Board said on Tuesday, due in part to a nationwide surge in organizing in industries that have long been union-free. The NLRB said it had received 3,286 election petitions in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, a 27% increase from last year and more than double the 1,638 petitions filed in fiscal year 2021, when Democratic President Joe Biden took office.
Trump Escalates Threats to Political Opponents He Deems the ‘Enemy’
The New York Times
By Lisa Lerer and Michael Gold
Oct. 15, 2024
Never before has a presidential nominee — let alone a former president — openly suggested turning the military on American citizens simply because they oppose his candidacy. As he escalates his threats of political retribution, Mr. Trump is offering voters the choice of a very different, and far less democratic, form of American government.
Trump sidesteps question on committing to peaceful transfer of power
The Washington Post
By Meryl Kornfield
Oct. 15, 2024
Former president Donald Trump did not directly respond to a question about whether he would respect and encourage a peaceful transfer of power after the election, and he falsely claimed that “you had a peaceful transfer of power” in 2021 when a violent mob assaulted the U.S. Capitol.
Trump Completely Trashes Autoworkers in Disastrously Bad Interview
The New Republic
By Hafiz Rashid
Oct. 15, 2024
While being interviewed by Bloomberg News editor in chief John Micklethwait, Trump spoke about how auto factories in the United States aren’t really building cars. The former president may have handed an easy campaign ad for the Harris campaign to use not only in Michigan but also in Ohio, which is home to several auto industry plants. Already, Kamala Harris’s campaign has seized on Trump’s remarks, posting video of the comments on X with the caption, “Trump belittles auto workers, saying they just assemble parts ‘out of a box’ and says children could do their jobs: ‘We could have our child do it.’”
ORGANIZING
Union Elections Surge In A Hopeful Sign For Labor
HuffPost
By Dave Jamieson
Oct. 15, 2024
More U.S. workers appear to be turning to unions in hopes of improving their jobs. On Tuesday, federal officials reported a 29% jump in union election petitions during the most recent fiscal year, rising from 2,593 in 2023 to 3,286 in 2024. The increase is part of a yearslong trend at the National Labor Relations Board, the agency that oversees private sector union elections and enforces collective bargaining rights. The NLRB said the number of petitions it’s received has more than doubled since 2021, when the board was reshaped following President Joe Biden’s victory over former President Donald Trump.
Bert Nash employees take steps to unionize
The Lawrence Times
By Tricia Masenthin
Oct. 15, 2024
Citing burnout, high turnover and a desire for a guaranteed seat at the table, clinical and office staff at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center announced Tuesday they’ve begun the process of forming a union. Bert Nash employees said in a news release from International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 304 they want to provide effective and quality services to the community members they serve and that “Our working conditions are your healing conditions.” “Rather than prioritizing clinical outcomes, the executive team prioritizes productivity,” the news release read. “Administration requires staff to maintain large caseloads that are unrealistic for the level of care being offered. This results in staff experiencing burnout and struggling to keep up with all that is necessary for the provision of quality services.”
NEGOTIATIONS & STRIKES
SAG-AFTRA and Video Game Companies to Resume Talks Amid Strike
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
Oct. 15, 2024
More than two months into SAG-AFTRA‘s strike against video game companies, the union and the bargaining group representing employers have set a return to the bargaining table. The negotiations will continue on Oct. 23, the parties said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The companies included in the employer negotiating group include Activision Productions Inc., Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., WB Games Inc, Take 2 Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC and Formosa Interactive LLC.
Boeing strike enters second month as factory workers rally in Seattle
Reuters
By Joe Brock
Oct. 15, 2024
Boeing (BA.N) factory workers will hold a large rally in Seattle on Tuesday to demand a better wage deal, mounting pressure on new CEO Kelly Ortberg to end a bitter strike that has plunged the planemaker further into financial crisis. Around 33,000 unionized West Coast workers, most in Washington state, have been on strike since Sept. 13, demanding a 40% wage increase spread over four years and halting production of Boeing's best-selling 737 MAX and its 767 and 777 widebodies.
SAG-AFTRA, Video Game Companies to Hold Contract Talks for First Time Since Actors Strike Called
Variety
By Jennifer Maas
Oct. 15, 2024
Amid the ongoing actors strike against major video game publishers, SAG-AFTRA‘s negotiating committee and the bargaining group for the companies have agreed to return to the table on Oct. 23 to continue talks. The strike began July 26 following months of stalled negotiations on the terms of a new Interactive Media Agreement between the parties. The last in-person bargaining session with the negotiating committees took place Nov. 14-16, 2023.
Local United Public Workers unit ratifies temporary hazard pay settlement with Kaua‘i County
Kaua’i Now
By Staff
Oct. 15, 2024
United Public Workers AFSCME, Local 646, AFL-CIO on Monday announced the successful ratification by its members of a temporary hazard pay settlement agreement with Kaua‘i County. The agreement provides compensation to employees — including Līhuʻe Airport custodians and Kaua‘i County refuse transfer station workers — who served the island community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Workers Unionize at NIAD, Richmond’s Progressive Art Studio
KQED
By Nastia Voynovskaya
Oct. 15, 2024
The employees of NIAD Art Center, a Richmond studio serving artists with disabilities, announced Tuesday morning that they will form a union. NIAD Unidad will be affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 57, Cultural Workers United, a union representing museum, library and zoo workers. AFSCME Council 57 also represents workers at sister studios Creative Growth in Oakland and Creativity Explored in San Francisco, both of which unionized this year.
University Medical Center nurses announce one-day strike
WWNO
By Safura Syed
Oct. 15, 2024
Newly unionized nurses at University Medical Center announced Monday (Oct. 14) that they will hold a one-day strike on Oct. 25 after seven months of negotiations with their employer, LCMC Health, which have thus far not produced a collective bargaining agreement. The nurses’ union, which is a part of the National Nurses Organizing Committee, claimed stalling by LCMC is to blame for the slow pace of negotiations. And in a press release, the union, which represents over 600 nurses, said hospital management has not fully engaged with nurses’ concerns over workplace safety.
Nearly All Frontier Pilots Vote to Strike
Airline Geeks
By Ryan Ewing
Oct. 15, 2024
Pilots at Frontier Airlines, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), have overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike if necessary. The vote, which concluded on Tuesday, saw a 97% participation rate of the carrier’s 2,200 pilots, with 99% casting ballots in favor of strike authorization. The pilots’ collective bargaining agreement became amendable in January 2024, and the union and airline have been engaged in mediation since then. However, negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement have not yet resulted in a contract that aligns with industry standards, the union said.
AFSCME picket at Glasgow protests low wages and short staffing
The Highlander
By Mamata Elangovan
Oct. 15, 2024
An informational picket was held by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299 on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. Beginning at 10 a.m., the group gathered outside of Glasgow Residential Restaurant in support of patient care workers and service workers of the University of California (UC). Danielle Brown, a communications associate for the Local 3299, explained that the purpose of the picket is to inform people in the community what is going on in regards to patient care worker and service worker contract negotiations at the UC system-wide level.
Stanford hospital nurses approve labor deal with 18% pay boost
Becker’s Hospital Review
By Kelly Gooch
Oct. 14, 2024
Registered nurses at Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley in Pleasanton, Calif., part of Stanford Health Care, have approved a new labor contract. The agreement, approved Oct. 9, covers more than 550 nurses at the hospital, according to California Nurses Association/National Nurses United. Under the deal, nurses will see wages increase by 18% over three years, a union spokesperson told Becker's. Other provisions include workplace violence protections and meal- and break-relief for all units for the entire shift.
JOINING TOGETHER
Mail carriers rally in Chicago to demand better pay, improved security
CBS News
By Chris Tye
Oct. 14, 2024
Letter carriers for the United States Postal Service are upset that they have been without a new contract for over 500 days, and on Monday, a group of postal workers gathered in Chicago to talk about the money and the safety they feel they are owed. There are over 200,000 letter carriers in American cities waiting for their union and USPS to hammer out a deal. Where things stand exactly is being kept behind closed doors, but letter carriers want action on a number of items they say are long overdue, and on Monday dozens took to Federal Plaza in the Loop to voice them outside the Clark Street post office in the Loop.