Today's AFL-CIO press clips
POLITICS
Unions brace themselves as Trump prepares to defang Labor board (Opinion)
Labor Tribune
By Michael Arria
Dec. 30, 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.
For Workers, Strikes and Organizing Scored Gains; Storm Clouds Loom
LA Progressive
By Jenny Brown
Dec. 30, 2024
Union workers broke open the cookie jar in 2024, after years of stagnant wages and rising prices. With strikes and the threat of strikes, workers did more than forestall concessions: They gained ground. Union workers in the private sector saw 6 percent real wage rises for the year.
Former President Jimmy Carter made many visits to Wisconsin. Here are some of those moments. (Photos)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Staff
Dec. 30, 2024
Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter shook hands with supporters in 1976 after arriving in Eau Claire to address the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Convention.
US Labor Department's loaded agenda includes contractors, work visas, extreme heat
Reuters
By Daniel Wiessner
Dec. 30, 2024
The U.S. Department of Labor is expected to move quickly to undo the Biden administration’s signature labor policies soon after Republican President-elect Donald Trump takes office, and could play a key role in Trump's efforts to pare back the number of immigrant workers. Trump's appointees to the agency are also expected to revive a number of regulations from his first term that were opposed by unions and worker advocates and rescinded during the Biden administration.
Thousands of people in Connecticut could see Social Security boost in the new year
Fox61
By Emma Wulfhorst
Dec. 30, 2024
Last week, both chambers of Congress passed federal legislation to restore full Social Security benefits for public service workers. This means increased benefits for retirees. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a supporter of the bill, says this measure is about basic justice, calling passage of this social security reform “a monumental victory.”
ORGANIZING
South Jersey cannabis dispensary workers opt to unionize
NJ Biz
By Kimberly Redmond
Dec. 30, 2024
Employees at a cannabis dispensary in South Jersey are the latest group of workers in New Jersey’s industry to unionize. According to United Food and Commercial Workers Local 360, staffers at Flower & Flame in Blackwood recently voted to organize as members of the union. UFCW Local 360 represents hundreds of thousands of cannabis industry workers in dispensaries, labs, manufacturing, processing, delivery and grow facilities across the U.S.
Unions for Both Workers and Tenants Gained Power in Denver in 2024
Westword
By Catie Cheshire
Dec. 30, 2024
The past year was a big one for unionization in Denver, and the trend seems likely to continue in 2025 as city employees exercise their new collective bargaining rights and organizers predict that more employees — and tenants — will elect to form unions. According to Brian Winkler, organizer and executive vice president of the Communications Workers of America Local 7777, 2024 was by far the busiest year in his twelve years of organizing. Since 2016, the CWA chapter Winkler works for in Denver has seen annual rises in organizing leads, which represent workers who are interested in possibly unionizing their workplaces. Over the last five years, those leads have quadrupled.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools staff set to strike over contract dispute
The Columbus Dispatch
By Cole Behrens
Dec. 30, 2024
About 30 staff members at the Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools are set to strike next week amid a contract dispute over pay. The 29 members of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE) at Eastland-Fairfield submitted their notice of intent to strike to the Ohio State Employment Relations Board earlier this month, with the strike and picketing set to begin Jan. 7.Another three dozen secretaries and aides may also strike in support.
Nearly 5,000 health care workers at 14 Providence facilities to strike Jan. 10
KGW
By Luisa Anderson
Dec. 30, 2024
Nearly 5,000 doctors and other health care workers at 14 Providence Health facilities around Oregon are scheduled to strike at 6 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. On Monday, the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) — the union representing the workers — gave a 10-day notice to Providence Health and Services management about the intent to go on strike. It will be the first doctors' strike in Oregon's history and the largest nurses' and health care workers' strike, according to ONA.
Hundreds of Perryville IKEA employees remain on strike, public invited to picket
WBAL
By Katarina Hein
Dec. 30, 2024
As of Monday, around 320 employees at the IKEA Distribution Center in Perryville remain on strike after rejecting the company’s latest contract proposal on Saturday. The workers, members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Local Lodge 460, are demanding fair wages, seniority protections and contract adjustments to address cost-of-living concerns. The strike began at midnight on Friday, November 15, following an overwhelming vote against the Swedish furniture company’s proposed contract. Workers expressed frustration over terms they felt failed to reflect their contributions and longstanding service.
Nearly 5,000 Providence health workers across Oregon plan open-ended strike
The Bulletin
By Kristine de Leon
Dec. 30, 2024
Roughly 5,000 nurses, hospitalists and other frontline health workers at Providence hospitals and clinics throughout Oregon are set to go on an open-ended strike starting Jan. 10. The strike could hobble one of Oregon’s largest health care systems, and its impact could ripple across the region as patients seek care elsewhere. The announcement came Monday morning from the Oregon Nurses Association, which represents nurses and other health care professionals at the Catholic nonprofit health system. Health workers are required to give 10 days notice before beginning a strike.
Nationwide Hotel Worker Strikes Have Come to an End
Travel Market Report
By Briana Bonfiglio
Dec. 30, 2024
Since Labor Day 2024, hotel guests in several U.S. cities were met with striking hotel workers chanting on picket lines as they checked into their rooms. That all came to an end last week when Hilton hotel workers in San Francisco, the final place where strikes continued, voted to approve a new union contract. Ninety-nine percent of the workers, part of the UNITE HERE Local 2 union, approved the agreement after 93 days on strike.
Oregon Providence health care workers announce strike
OPB
By OPB staff
Dec. 30, 2024
Nearly 5,000 health care workers at Providence hospitals and clinics in Oregon are planning to go on strike. The workers include doctors, nurses and other frontline staff members. The Oregon Nurses Association announced Monday morning that the union could not come to an agreement with Providence, and an open-ended strike is set to begin on Jan. 10. At most of the locations, workers voted to authorize the proposed strike in October and November. Nurses at Providence Seaside and Providence Medford gave their authorizations earlier this month.
Ski patrol union files new charge against Vail, company adding Park City Mountain staff
KPCW
By Connor Thomas
Dec. 30, 2024
Park City’s ski patrol union walked out days ago. Signs on the picket lines call it a ULP, or “unfair labor practice,” strike. The Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association has filed four ULP charges against Vail Resorts with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this month. So it’s not your ordinary strike, and that’s intentional, said union business manager Quinn Graves. “One of the benefits of a ULP strike is that no one who is striking right now can be permanently replaced,” she told KPCW. In the United States, employers can permanently replace workers striking for other reasons.
IN THE STATES
Missouri Women in Trades re-elects officers (Photo)
Labor Tribune
By Staff
Dec. 30, 2024
Members of Missouri Women in Trades (MOWIT) met Dec. 7 for their annual retreat and planning session at the Golden Hoosier and re-elected officers to serve an additional one-year term. The officers include Norma West (left), of Stagehands Local 6, who will serve as treasurer; Dawn Fleming (fourth from left), of Carpenters Local 97, who will serve as president; and Kailyn Jordan (right), a legal advocate, who will serve as vice president. Elizabeth “Eli” Knight (not shown), a client development/diversity coordinator at Icon Mechanical, will serve as secretary. Celebrating another successful year of helping women enter and succeed in the union building trades are (from left) (West); Danyeal Crittenden, of Laborers Local 42; Diana Wilhold, of the Construction Forum; (Fleming); Maggie Burke, of the Keyway Reentry Program; Beth Barton, MOWIT founder; Patti Green, MOWIT outreach coordinator; Maggie Farrell, of the Missouri AFL-CIO’s Missouri Works Initiative; and (Jordan).