Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
GOP resists Biden and AFL-CIO-backed plan to raise disabled workers’ pay
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
Dec. 5, 2024
And pay for the disabled is on a sliding scale. The more severely disabled you are, compared to a “normal” worker at the same task, the less you earn. The rock-bottom minimum wage for the most severely disabled is 25 cents an hour. Democratic President Joe Biden, Acting Labor Secretary, Julie Su and AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler all say that’s way too low.
Trump taps Chavez-DeRemer for labor secretary
Northwest Labor Press
By Don McIntosh
Dec. 5, 2024
“Lori Chavez-DeRemer has built a pro-labor record in Congress,” said a statement attributed to AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. The statement praised Chavez-DeRemer for cosponsoring the PRO Act and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, which would guarantee union rights for state and local public employees and overturn the Supreme Court’s Janus decision. But the statement also cast doubt on her ability to protect workers rights: “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 AND ECONOMY
Vox Media Layoffs Leave Thrillist Essentially Shuttered, Eater ‘Blindsided’
The Wrap
By JD Knapp
Dec. 5, 2024
A new round of layoffs at Vox Media on Thursday left Thrillist essentially shuttered, according to the company’s union. Many staffers at fellow Vox site Eater were also impacted. “Today, we were blindsided by news from Vox Media management that many of our colleagues at Thrillist and Eater would lose their jobs. We are devastated to lose writers and editors who produce invaluable work each and every day, and disgusted by Vox Media’s short-sighted decision making,” the Vox Media Union and Writers Guild of America East said in a joint statement. “As always, it is the workers who bear the brunt of management’s poor choices, and this close to holidays, their callousness is especially galling.”
ORGANIZING
Philly Whole Foods workers petition for union recognition
People’s World
By Bradley Crowe and Cameron Harrison
Dec. 5, 2024
In a first for Whole Foods under Amazon’s ownership, employees at a Philadelphia store have launched a unionization campaign to address mounting workplace issues, including understaffing, low wages, heightened productivity demands, and diminished benefits. On November 22, workers formally submitted a petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to begin the unionization process for the store, which employs around 300 people. The workers are organizing with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1776, which represents employees in sectors such as retail, grocery, food processing, and healthcare.
One of Denver’s oldest nonprofits may unionize — even though employees like their jobs
Denverite
By Kyle Harris
Dec. 5, 2024
Anti-hunger advocates at Metro Caring are the latest Denver nonprofit workers to try to start a union. But it’s a different story from unionization efforts at other local organizations. Most unions form when things are unstable in an organization. Organizer Eve Hemingway, Metro Caring’s urban agriculture coordinator, told Denverite the unionization effort comes at a time when many workers are fairly happy.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting workers finalize first-ever union contract
WESA
By Zach Hirsch
Dec. 5, 2024
After nearly two years of negotiations, Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting Corporation and its unionized employees have reached an agreement. “Pittsburgh is a union town, and we are proud to serve it as a unionized station,” workers said in a press release. “We believe this is a strong first contract that rewards the dedicated professionals at WESA and WYEP with immediate wage increases, while also helping to shape the stations' direction for years to come.”
Danbury firefighters get 2.85 percent raises, city residency stipend in new union contract
News Times
By Michael Gagne
Dec. 5, 2024
The city’s firefighters union has a new contract, giving firefighters a new 2.85 percent annual general wage increase that starts in the current fiscal year and continues over the next three years. The City Council approved funding for the city’s new four-year pact with the Local 801, International Association of Fire Fighters, AFL-CIO union Tuesday night. The vote was unanimous, with Democratic City Council member Jeffrey Tomchik, who is a city firefighter, abstaining.
‘A historic day’: Workers at WESA, WYEP approve first union contract
Pittsburgh Union Progress
By Andrew Goldstein
Dec. 5, 2024
Workers at two Pittsburgh radio stations this week voted overwhelmingly to approve their first union contract after nearly two years of negotiations. Radio hosts, music directors, reporters, editors, digital content staff and other content creators at WESA-FM and WYEP-FM, both under the Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting Corp. banner, ratified the three-year contract, 21-3, on Wednesday. “This is a historic day for PCBC, for those of us who work here, and for the community we serve,” the union’s six-member bargaining committee said in a news release. “Pittsburgh is a union town, and we are proud to serve it as a unionized station. We’re proud as well of this contract, which underscores the value our members offer to the station and the region as a whole.”
Strike at Milk-Bone Buffalo plant continues through holidays
Spectrum News
By Brianne Roesser
Dec. 5, 2024
Milk-Bone workers have been on strike for more than a month as they negotiate for affordable health insurance costs. Some 175 members of the BCTGM Local Union 36G are picketing around the clock, even as the weather turns. Joe Mahoney, a processor at the facility, said the union was offered a plan that increased insurance premiums by 50%. “I mean, no person should have to make that kind of sacrifice and have to just come up with ridiculous amounts of money to cover the costs of medical care while you have a corporation making billions of dollars,” said Mahoney.
City of Portland could be inching toward labor disputes
Northwest Labor Press
By Anna Del Savio
Dec. 5, 2024
Union contracts representing nearly 1,300 City of Portland workers expire Dec. 31, on the eve of the city’s shift to a whole new leadership structure. In the new year, city workers will face a new mayor and 12-member city council, along with a looming budget shortfall. Three groups of City of Portland workers have been in bargaining for more than six months. Two of them have moved to mediation. One has said they may go on strike next year. In October, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler directed city bureaus (except public safety bureaus) to prepare budgets with at least a 5% cut for the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2025.
TAG releases details of its 2024 contract negotiations with AMPTP
Kidscreen
By Ryan Tuchow
Dec. 5, 2024
The Animation Guild (TAG) has shared the complete terms of its tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which could shape relations between animators and studios for the next three years. The 54-page memorandum of agreement (MOA) covers a wide range of issues, including wage minimums, paid sick leave and protections against AI. Animators will also get yearly pay increases of 7% (retroactive to August 2024), 4% (August 2025) and 3.5% (August 2026). If union members vote to ratify the agreement, it will kick in on August 1, 2024 and expire on July 31, 2027. A vote is expected to be called following a series of townhall meetings this month, the third (and seemingly last) of which is scheduled for December 12.
JOINING TOGETHER
UMass union members rally for a better workplace
Massachusetts Daily Collegian
By Bella Astrofsky and Eve Neumann
Dec. 5, 2024
On Dec. 5, faculty, staff and graduate students from various University of Massachusetts Amherst unions gathered in front of the Whitmore Administration Building to rally for better working conditions and higher wages. “The biggest things we are asking for are an increase in starting salaries … you all come to UMass … because we have a world class faculty. And we are having more and more trouble recruiting people and keeping them here at UMass just because the pay is so low compared to our peer institutions,” Eve Weinbaum, vice president of the Massachusetts Society of Professors (MSP), said. MSP is bargaining on Dec. 6 with the university. Along with MSP, the rally was organized by UMass’ five biggest unions – the Professional Staff Union (PSU), the University Staff Association (USA), AFSCME 1776, and the Graduate Employee Organization (GEO).”
STATE LEGISLATION
Wisconsin judge strikes down draconian anti-union law
Northwest Labor Press
By Don McIntosh
Dec. 5, 2024
A Wisconsin judge issued a ruling Dec. 2 that strikes down most of a 2011 state law that stripped public workers of their union rights. Dane County Circuit Court judge Jacob Frost ruled that the law violates the state constitution because it unfairly exempts police officers and firefighters. Known as Act 10, the law was promoted by then-governor Scott Walker and led to massive union demonstrations at the state capital and nationwide. It requires unionized public employees to vote every year whether they still want to be unionized, and they only stay union if a majority of workers vote yes, not just a majority of those voting. It also requires public employee unions to negotiate new contracts every year but bars them from negotiating anything but base wages, and it limits raises to inflation unless voters approve higher increases via a referendum. The law decimated public sector unions, which dropped from 50% to 19% of the public sector workforce.
IN THE STATES
With Florida leading the nation in Obamacare enrollment, GOP changes could hit state hard
The Florida Times-Union
By John Kennedy
Dec. 5, 2024
With Florida leading the nation in people getting health coverage through Obamacare, President-elect Donald Trump and the incoming Republican-controlled Congress’ targeting of the program soon could erase insurance for many in the state. Premium tax credits, which subsidize the cost of coverage for some lower- and middle-income families, are set to expire at the end of 2025 if Congress does nothing. While the GOP’s push to repeal Obamacare seems to be fading as a political talking point, the elimination of these tax credits looks more likely. It would potentially cripple Obamacare and remove coverage for millions of Americans, analysts say.
APPRENTICESHIPS & TRAINING
Arizona apprenticeship program funds more construction classes to train next generation of tradesmen
KGUN
By Andrew Christiansen
Dec. 5, 2024
Lately, second-year electrical apprentice Mikel Moore is putting the hands-on skills she's learned in the classroom to productive use in the workshop. “Basic hand tools, you move on to mechanical benders and you move on to motor controls,” she said. Out in the field, she said, Moore's already getting paid and working with journeymen experts who've shared their knowledge and experience with her. “I really like working with my hands, but I also like using my brain,” Moore said. “We get to learn kind of the backstory as to what we’re doing in the field.”
Celebrating the launch of their careers
Northwest Labor Press
By Anna Del Savio
Dec. 5, 2024
The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades’ Regional Training Center in Portland celebrated more than a dozen new journeymen at a Nov. 16 graduation. The graduates include nine painters who graduated from the apprenticeship program since August 2023 and four traffic control painters who graduated in 2023, plus two more painters expected to complete the program in the next few months. “There’ve been hundreds of apprentices who came through here and journeyed out. You are part of that history now,” Local 10 Business Representative Scott Oldham told graduates. “When you’re making a good name for yourself, you’re making a good name for the union as well.”