Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
The Nation
By Sasha Abramsky
Dec. 6, 2024
For three weeks, I have torn my hair out as Trump nominated one ill-qualified and/or maleficent nominee after the next. But one of the nominations stands out for its relative good sense: Lori Chavez-DeRemer, erstwhile GOP representative from Oregon and daughter of a Teamsters member, for labor secretary.
Trump Will Lower American Workers’ Standard of Living
Jacobin
By Robert Davis
Dec. 6, 2024
“Just using history as an example, Donald Trump is catastrophic for workers,” Steve Smith, a spokesperson for the AFL-CIO, told Jacobin. “His administration will attack workers on a number of fronts.”
How Black Federal Workers Could Be Disproportionately Impacted by Cuts to Government Jobs (Audio)
CNN
By Victor Blackwell
Dec. 7, 2024
Federal work has historically been a ladder to the middle class for millions of Americans of all races, but especially Black people. Many of those government employees were watching closely this week as the co-leaders of the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency" or "DOGE" visited Capitol Hill to pitch their plans. Everett Kelley, the National President of the American Federation of Government Employees, joins Victor to react.
AFGE president seeks meeting with Trump as federal workers face uncertain job futures
WJLA
By Michelle Marsh
Dec. 6, 2024
Many federal workers say they are on edge as President-elect Donald Trump continues to call for a reduction of the government workforce and a return to in-person on a full-time basis. Everett Kelley is the National President of the American Federation of Government Employees. It’s the largest union representing federal and DC government employees. He tells 7News anchor Michelle Marsh in an exclusive video there’s a feeling of uncertainty hanging over government workers, uncertain they'll have jobs next year. “That could be devastating to the local economy,” Kelley said.
Unions Brace Themselves as Trump Prepares to Defang Labor Board
Truthout
By Michael Arria
Dec. 8, 2024
In November, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) sided with Amazon workers in ruling that it is illegal to force workers to attend mandatory anti-union propaganda sessions, upending a doctrine of U.S. labor law that has existed since 1948. The anti-union propaganda sessions, which are formally referred to as “captive audience meetings” are a controversial practice that has long been used to deter unionization drives. “These coercive meetings are well-known union-busting tools, and the practice has no place in America’s workplaces or in our democracy,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement celebrating the NLRB’s role in ending the practice.
Federal employees scramble to insulate themselves from Trump’s purge
The Washington Post
By Lisa Rein and Jeff Stein
Dec. 8, 2024
“There is shock and there is actual fear, and there is self censure in the sense that people are scared about retaliation,” said Jesus Soriano, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403, which represents more than 1,000 scientists and administrators at the National Science Foundation.
Most federal workers are not in D.C. See where they live.
The Washington Post
By N. Kirkpatrick and Hanna Zakharenko
Dec. 6, 2024
With the inauguration just weeks away, federal workers in Washington are bracing to see if President-elect Donald Trump and his administration fulfill his promise to relocate 100,000 federal jobs out of the region. While the nation’s capital and its surrounding suburbs may symbolize the federal bureaucracy that Trump wishes to dismantle, most of the federal workforce — more than 85 percent — works elsewhere.
INTERNATIONAL
IATSE, Canadian Producers Reach Tentative Deal for Film Set Trailers, Craft Services
The Hollywood Reporter
By Etan Vlessing
Dec. 6, 2024
IATSE and the Canadian Media Producers Association, representing indie producers, have reached a tentative deal for film set trailers and craft service workers in Ontario, a key production hub for Hollywood. The new deal adds to a stable labor environment for American and local producers that shoot in Canada over a year after the Hollywood actors and writers strikes. The agreement, which replaces one that expires on Dec. 31, 2024, and follows recent negotiations, awaits ratification by members of IATSE Local 411. “Local 411 is happy to have reached a tentative agreement that meaningfully addresses many of our members’ priorities,” Anne Paynter, business agent, IATSE Local 411, said in a statement.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Culinary Union workers strike enters 22nd day with senator's support
KSNV
By News 3 Staff
Dec. 6, 2024
On the 22nd day of the Culinary Union's longest strike in over two decades, hospitality workers at Virgin Las Vegas were joined on the picket line by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a vocal advocate for working families. "We welcome Senator Catherine Cortez Masto to the Virgin Las Vegas strike line. She is a leader and a fighter, and we are proud that she's come out this evening to support strikers and walk the picket line," said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. "We know that she has our backs and will continue to stand with workers until every Virgin Las Vegas worker has a fair contract."
Transport Workers Union ratified a new contract with SEPTA
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Thomas Fitzgerald
Dec. 6, 2024
Transport Workers Union Local 234, SEPTA’s largest bargaining unit, and two smaller locals representing bus, trolley, and train operators and mechanics in the suburbs ratified a one-year tentative contract agreement Friday with the regional transit agency. TWU members will get a 5% across-the-board wage increase, as well as a 5% monthly boost in pension benefits for members who retire during the next year. The two suburban locals approved agreements with similar terms.
Railroad bargaining group announces deal with dispatchers’ union
Trains.com
By Trains Staff
Dec. 6, 2024
The National Carriers Conference Committee, the negotiating arm of the organization representing Class I railroads in labor matters, has reached a tentative agreement for a new contract with the American Train Dispatchers Association. It is the fifth such agreement reached by the national group since the latest round of national bargaining, building on several agreements reached by individual railroads before national bargaining began. The NCCC has previously announced agreements with the National Conference of Firemen & Oilers; the Transportation Communications Union; Brotherhood of Railway Carmen; and International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Mechanical Department. All are subject to ratification by union members.
New labor contract with Santa Rosa firefighters headed to council on Tuesday
The Press Democrat
By Paulina Pineda
Dec. 7, 2024
Santa Rosa firefighters and city officials have reached an agreement on a new labor contract that includes a 12% pay hike over three years and other benefits for rank-and-file fire personnel. The raises along with other incentive pay will get firefighters closer to what peers at comparable agencies in the Bay Area earn, boosting the department’s efforts to recruit local job applicants and retain workers, a labor representative said. Firefighters, represented by Santa Rosa Firefighters Local 1401, were the lone holdout after the city approved new contracts with up to 15% wage increases over three years with its other bargaining units in the summer.
Workers go on strike at NYC's iconic Strand Books, ask owners to pay more than minimum wage
Gothamist
By David Brand and Ramsey Khalifeh
Dec. 8, 2024
The store’s 110 unionized workers went on strike in the middle of the busy holiday season, leaving the shop’s “18 miles of books” to be run by a skeleton staff made up of a mix of store managers, part time non-union workers and other non-union administrative staff, according to labor organizers. The union wants their base pay to increase from $16 an hour, which is minimum wage in New York City, to $18 an hour in the first year of the contract. The workers voted to authorize a strike late last month. Aaron Eisenberg, political director of the regional chapter of the United Auto Workers, which represents the workers, said the Strand’s current base pay isn’t enough to survive in the city.
Strand employees go on strike during busy holiday season for bookstore
NBC New York
By Staff
Dec. 8, 2024
Workers began picketing outside Strand Bookstore around 10 a.m. in what's believed to be the first employee strike in nearly three decades at the popular bookshop. UAW Local 2179, which represents the bookstore workers, says they are demanding a fair contract and a living wage. Many of the workers out on the picket line said that even though the holiday season is one of the store's busiest times, many of its employees are struggling to live in New York on what they make.
Pittsburgh Union Progress
By Helen Fallon
Dec. 8, 2024
Last month CBCLT employees announced that the 5-year-old nonprofit’s board of directors voted unanimously to recognize voluntarily the formation of the CBCLT staff union, according to a news release. It will be the first nonprofit to unionize with IUPAT DC57, which is based in Carnegie.
IN THE STATES
‘We were demonized’: labor unions win big in ruling on Wisconsin’s Act 10
The Guardian
By Michael Sainato
Dec. 8, 2024
“There was a pretty drastic change for me,” he said. “I went from having full collective bargaining rights, the ability to have a say in my working conditions and contract and a grievance procedure to immediately that stuff was gone,” said Gruber, who is currently president of AFSCME Local 1215 and a plaintiff in the lawsuit against Act 10. Gruber argued the impacts of the law have been drastic on public sector workers in Wisconsin, from stripping workers of their rights to deteriorating working conditions and compensation.
APPRENTICESHIPS & TRAINING
IBEW receives approval for training center at Liberty Twp. facility
Journal-News
By Sue Kiesewetter
Dec. 8, 2024
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers plans to expand its facility by adding a training center at its Liberty Twp. property. A preliminary plan for the 22-acre site at 4300 Millikin Road that includes a 20,000 square-foot technical training center and 13-single family homes that will be constructed in the future was approved by the township.