Today's AFL-CIO press clips
MUST READ
Trump’s Labor secretary pick is surprisingly pro-union. It doesn’t mean his administration will be
CNN
By Chris Isidore
Nov. 23, 2024
“Lori Chavez-DeRemer has built a pro-labor record in Congress,” the AFL-CIO, the nation’s major federation of unions, said in a statement Friday. “But Donald Trump is the President-elect of the United States — not Rep. Chavez-DeRemer — and it remains to be seen what she will be permitted to do as Secretary of Labor in an administration with a dramatically anti-worker agenda.” Specifically, the AFL-CIO and others in the labor movement are concerned that moves by the Biden administration to help unions and working Americans will be rolled back. Those rules include limitations on what employers can say at mandatory meetings with workers when there is an impending election to unionize, as well as a rule that will allow about 4 million salaried workers to qualify for overtime pay. Another rule in the works would protect the health and safety of workers exposed to high heat.
POLITICS
Unions Note Chavez-DeRemer's Record, 'But Donald Trump Is the President-Elect'
Common Dreams
By Jessica Corbett
Nov. 23, 2024
Amid a flurry of Friday night announcements about key roles in the next Trump administration, one stood out to union leaders and other advocates for working people: Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer, an Oregon Republican, for labor secretary. Chavez-DeRemer, who lost her reelection bid to Democrat Janelle Bynum earlier this month, "has built a pro-labor record in Congress, including as one of only three Republicans to co-sponsor the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act and one of eight Republicans to co-sponsor the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act," said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler in a statement. "But Donald Trump is the president-elect of the United States—not Rep. Chavez-DeRemer—and it remains to be seen what she will be permitted to do as secretary of labor in an administration with a dramatically anti-worker agenda," she stressed. "Despite having distanced himself from Project 2025 during his campaign, President-elect Trump has put forward several Cabinet nominees with strong ties to Project 2025. That 900-page document has proposals that would strip overtime pay, eliminate the right to organize, and weaken health and safety standards." "You can stand with working people, or you can stand with Project 2025, but you can't stand with both."
What to know about Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump’s pick for labor secretary
AP
By Bill Barrow
Nov. 23, 2024
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler praised Chavez-DeRemer’s “pro-labor record in Congress,” but said “it remains to be seen what she will be permitted to do as Secretary of Labor in an administration with a dramatically anti-worker agenda.”
Trump’s Labor Pick Signals Potential Opening to Unions
The Wall Street Journal
By Lauren Weber and Paul Kiernan
Nov. 24, 2024
The AFL-CIO was more guarded, acknowledging her “pro-labor record,” but adding, “Donald Trump is the President-elect of the United States—not Rep. Chavez-DeRemer—and it remains to be seen what she will be permitted to do as Secretary of Labor in an administration with a dramatically anti-worker agenda.”
Labor Secretary Pick Is Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon
The New York Times
By Michael M. Grynbaum and Danielle Kaye
Nov. 22, 2024
Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a first-term Republican representative from Oregon who narrowly lost her House seat this month, was chosen on Friday to serve as labor secretary in the coming Trump administration.
Labor unions prepare for battle against Trump’s federal workforce plans (Column)
The Washington Post
By Joe Davidson
Nov. 22, 2024
Donald Trump will enter his second presidential term in January eager and ready to slash the federal workforce. The potential consequences are massive. Federal unions will be a favorite target, as they were previously. In 2018, Trump issued three executive orders that nearly blew away the ability of federal employees — notably, not just union members — to be fully represented by labor organizations, particularly in grievance procedures. President Joe Biden revoked those orders shortly after taking office. Beyond what Trump did before, what he might do next has union leaders ready for a fight.Trump has also pledged to resurrect Schedule F, a rule that would strip job protections from many career federal employees in policy roles.
Trump picks Oregon Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead Labor Department
NPR
By Andrea Hsu and Claudia Grisales
Nov. 22, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Republican Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon for the job of labor secretary. If confirmed, Chavez-DeRemer would be coming into a Labor Department facing numerous legal challenges over rules and regulations issued under Biden.
Trump's transition team turns to Project 2025 after disavowing it during the campaign
NBC News
By Allan Smith and Vaughn Hillyard
Nov. 22, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump and his allies disavowed the conservative Project 2025 during the election, seeing the conservative transition plan and policy blueprint as a liability after Democrats used it to attack his campaign. Some close to Trump even suggested those tied to the effort would be shut out of a potential administration. “They made themselves nuclear,” Howard Lutnick, the co-chair of Trump’s transition and his nominee to serve as Commerce Secretary, told CNBC in September. But with the campaign over, Trump’s transition team is turning to Project 2025 to help staff the next administration.
ORGANIZING
Motion Capture Workers at ‘NBA 2K’ Studio Vote to Unionize With IATSE
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
Nov. 22, 2024
Motion-capture workers at the prominent video game company behind NBA 2K and WWE 2K have chosen to unionize with Hollywood crew union IATSE. Fifteen workers at 2K’s motion capture studio in Petaluma, California voted to unionize with IATSE in a National Labor Relations Board election that took place on Friday morning, while six voted against unionizing. All 21 workers that are in the proposed bargaining unit at the gaming studio — including stage technicians, engineers, animators and recording and audio specialists — took part in the vote.
Whole Foods workers in Philadelphia are trying to form a union
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Ariana Perez-Castells
Nov. 22, 2024
Workers at the Whole Foods in Spring Garden are taking steps to unionize, frustrated by the working conditions and wages that leave them feeling they can’t even afford to shop in the store where they work. They join a wave of organizing efforts by pockets of workers at large retail companies, including Whole Foods parent company Amazon, where distribution-center workers have called for better working conditions and some have initiated unionizing campaigns in recent years.
‘A long time coming’: Pitt grad workers vote heavily in favor of forming union
Pittsburgh Union Progress
By Andrew Goldstein
Nov. 22, 2024
Graduate workers at the University of Pittsburgh announced Friday that they voted overwhelmingly to form a union almost a year after making their efforts public. More than 97% of the votes cast in the election that took place over several days this week came back in favor of unionization, meaning the university’s roughly 2,100 graduate workers will join the ranks of the United Steelworkers.
Casa Bonita Cast and Crew Members Unanimously Vote to Unionize With Actors’ Equity, IATSE
The Hollywood Reporter
By Lexy Perez
Nov. 22, 2024
Onstage and backstage workers at the Casa Bonita immersive restaurant, owned by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, have voted unanimously to unionize with Actors’ Equity Association and IATSE Local 7, it was announced Friday. “Today, we are proud that we stood as a group and said clearly: We want to make Casa Bonita better,” the workers leading the unionization effort said in a statement. “We love Casa Bonita, and already give our all to providing our guests with an unforgettable experience. When it is a safer, fairer place to work, we will be able to better focus on doing our jobs knowing we are protected, respected and valued. We knew that the best way to make that happen was as unionized workers, and this landslide vote confirms that we will. We are eager to take our place at the bargaining table soon.”
Baltimore nurses picket Catholic bishops conference
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
Nov. 22, 2024
Short-staffing, low pay and the resulting revolving door of registered nurses joining and then leaving Ascension Health Care’s St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore led RNs there to take their case to the ultimate authority over the Ascension chain: The nation’s Catholic bishops. So when the prelates came to their annual conference on November 20, this year at the Marriott Hotel in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, marching nurses, members of National Nurses United, met them while wielding informational picket signs. The St. Agnes nurses demanded the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops push Ascension’s bosses into bargaining in good faith. NNU nurses recently won first contracts at two other Ascension hospitals, one in anti-union Texas. The bishops had no recorded reply, news reports show.
Five years after failed vote, Pitt grad students unionize
Public Source
By Maddy Franklin
Nov. 22, 2024
Throughout the week, more than 1,000 graduate student workers at the University of Pittsburgh made their way to a nondescript ballroom in the O’Hara Student Center to vote on whether to unionize. Supporters sought everything from more transparency on the part of university administration to pay equity, better vacation time and health insurance. The line outside the ballroom stretched, at times, down the stairs of the center. “People are so excited … I’ve never seen engineers this excited,” said Lauren Wewer, a materials science and engineering Ph.D. student and organizer at Pitt. On Friday, organizers announced the results: a 1033-28 vote to unionize with the United Steelworkers [USW]. The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board had not yet confirmed the vote count as of mid-afternoon.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel workers go on strike
NBC Bay Area
By Bay City News and Christie Smith
Nov. 24, 2024
About 500 workers at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel went on strike Sunday morning, union officials said. The San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel workers joined workers at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco, Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Marriott Union Square, Palace Hotel and Westin St. Francis, where workers represented by Unite Here Local 2 are already on strike.
PBS Strike Averted As Union and Member Stations Reach Tentative Deal
The Hollywood Reporter
By Katie Kilkenny
Nov. 22, 2024
A writers’ strike at PBS was narrowly averted on Thursday night as the Writers Guild of America East and member stations reached a deal. The three stations involved in the negotiations — Boston-based WGBH, Tri-State-area station THIRTEEN and greater L.A.’s PBS SoCal — announced the tentative deal on Friday morning, with the union confirming the provisional agreement just a few hours later. “THIRTEEN, GBH, and PBS SoCal are pleased to have reached an agreement with WGA East. We look forward to continuing our work to deliver trusted public media to our audiences,” a spokesperson for the employer group stated on Friday morning.
CTU turns up heat as negotiations with Chicago Public Schools drag on; raises remain sticking point
ABC 7
By Sarah Schulte
Nov. 22, 2024
Rhetoric is heating up between both sides in negotiations over a new Chicago Teachers Union contract. The sides are still far apart on raises for union teachers. But that's not the only sticking point. Without a contract since June, the Chicago Teachers Union is turning up the heat, rallying Thursday night and sending letters to Mayor Brandon Johnson and his new handpicked school board to directly intervene in negotiations.
‘It shows the power of organizing’: Point Park full-time faculty ratify new contract with university
Pittsburgh Union Progress
By Andrew Goldstein
Nov. 22, 2024
Full-time faculty members at Point Park University this week ratified a three-year contract that they say provides them with annual wage increases, improved benefits and stronger job protections. The approximately 110 full-time faculty members, professors who are represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, approved the deal, 72-3, in a ratification vote on Wednesday at the university’s Downtown campus.
Culinary Union strike at Virgin Las Vegas leads to 57 arrests in peaceful protest
KSNV
By News 3 Staff
Nov. 22, 2024
In a significant escalation of the Culinary Union's first open-ended strike in 22 years, 57 union members and striking workers from Virgin Las Vegas were arrested yesterday during a peaceful act of civil disobedience. The demonstration, which drew hundreds of participants, has maintained continuous picket lines at every entrance and exit along Harmon Avenue and Paradise Road since the strike began on November 15, 2024.
WGA Reaches Tentative Deal With PBS, Avoiding Impending Work Stoppage
Deadline
By Katie Campione
Nov. 22, 2024
The Writers Guild of America has a tentative three-year deal with PBS member stations. The union announced the new Public Television Freelance Agreement Friday, hours after the current contract expiration, which could have led to a strike if the parties hadn’t been able to hammer out a new one in time. Earlier this week, the 94-member bargaining unit authorized a strike. Now, the unit will vote to ratify the new agreement. More specific deal points are expected in the coming days, prior to that vote.
Philly's largest workers union, Mayor Parker agree to 1 year contract
NBC Philadelphia
By Emily Rose Grassi and NBC10 Staff
Nov. 22, 2024
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker was joined by members of the AFSCME District Council 33 union to announce a one year contract extension that avoids a strike. The president of the union, Greg Boulware, explained that this extension brings a raise and is just a stepping stone in the fight to get workers a higher quality of life. The union and the mayor are scheduled to return to the negotiation table in January to work on creating a long-term contract. This meeting comes one week after the city's largest workers union authorized a strike if their demands for better wages were not met. The union represents thousands of city employees from multiple departments, including water, housing, police radio and sanitation.
Parent company for Austin American-Statesman reaches agreement with journalists union
KVUE
By Johann Castro
Nov. 22, 2024
Gannett, the parent company of the Austin American-Statesman, and Austin NewsGuild, the labor union representing that paper's journalists, have reached a deal on a new two-year labor agreement after more than three years of collective bargaining. According to the Statesman, the new contract will result in pay raises over the two-year span of the deal, sets minimum wage levels for new, five-year and 10-year reporters, photographers, producers and planners, and includes a wage increase for those at or over the minimum in each of the contract’s two years.
Philadelphia's largest city workers union reaches agreement to avert strike
6 ABC
By 6abc Digital Staff and Briana Smith
Nov. 22, 2024
After not having a contract since July and weeks of negotiations, Philadelphia's largest city workers union says it has agreed to a one-year agreement to avert a strike. AFSCME District Council 33 President Greg Boulware made the announcement on Friday night during a press conference with Mayor Cherelle Parker. "We signed off on a one-year extension with the city of Philadelphia that provided our members with a raise that would help raise the quality of life for our people, and insist a stepping stone into the direction that we would like to see our membership be in," said Boulware.
Vail Resorts 'unwilling' to meet ski patrol union demands after monthslong negotiations, reps say
KSL
By Collin Leonard
Nov. 23, 2024
Ski patrollers working for Vail Resorts in Park City are "deeply disappointed" with the state of union negotiations, according to union business managers who held their first public protest Saturday since bargaining meetings began in May. Just a day after the first rope drop of the season Friday, union members took to the streets in the driving wind, occupying all corners of the intersection at Park and Empire Avenues. The sky was spitting tiny hail beads at times, similar to the artificial snow sprayed onto the relatively bare slopes surrounding the town.
Point Park faculty union announces ratification of new three-year collective bargaining agreement
WTAE
By Caitlyn Scott
Nov. 23, 2024
Members of the Point Park University full-time faculty union announced the ratification of a new three-year collective bargaining agreement with the university. The agreement, resulting from negotiations involving representatives from the Newspaper Guild and Point Park administration, will now include salary increases for all faculty members, along with protections for nontenure track faculty. The Newspaper Guild released a statement about the decision, saying the union ratified the agreement in a 72-3 vote Wednesday.
AFSCME District Council 33 reaches 1-year contract extension with city of Philadelphia
CBS News
By Jessica MacAulay, Jon Claudio and Kerri Corrado
Nov. 23, 2024
Philadelphia's largest municipal workers' union reached a one-year contract agreement with the city, union officials announced during a press conference Friday evening. "We figured out how to get the yes and that's what I am super proud of," said Mayor Cherelle Parker. AFSCME District Council 33 President Greg Boulware signed off on the one-year extension with the city of Philadelphia. During the press conference, Boulware said the extension provides members with a raise that would help increase their workers' quality of life.
APPRENTICESHIPS & TRAINING
UNITE HERE Chicago Hospitality Institute celebrates culinary apprenticeship program graduation
ABC 7
By ABC7 Chicago Digital Team
Nov. 22, 2024
A local program is setting people up for success in the culinary industry. The UNITE HERE Chicago Hospitality Institute celebrated the graduation of students in its culinary apprenticeship program Thursday night. The program includes many people who might otherwise face barriers to employment. ABC7 was joined in studio Friday by Executive Director Sheryl Morris and cook Darryl Hall, who just graduated.