MUST WATCH
AFL-CIO President Shuler on Jobs and the Economy
C-Span
August 31, 2021
New AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler discussed the economy and jobs with the Christian Science Monitor. She also reflected on becoming the first woman to lead the union. The organization’s previous president, Richard Trumka, passed away in August 2021. Other topics discussed included workers' rights legislation and the upcoming midterm elections.
MUST READ
AFL-CIO chief: In pandemic, unions are a source of ‘trusted information’
The Christian Science Monitor
By Linda Feldmann
August 31, 2021
Liz Shuler, new president of America's largest labor federation, says the U.S. economic system is "broken" and that workers need a stronger voice. Liz Shuler hasn’t missed a beat. Following the sudden death of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka earlier this month, Ms. Shuler stepped right into his shoes as the nation’s top labor leader, after 12 years as his deputy. Now, on the eve of Labor Day, President Shuler is carrying on with the 12.5-million-member federation’s goals: passing pro-union legislation, turning around organized labor’s long-declining membership, and improving working conditions – including the safe return to work amid a pandemic.
CORONAVIRUS
New AFL-CIO president: 'Everyone should be vaccinated'
The Detroit News
By Riley Beggin
August 31, 2021
Liz Shuler, the new president of the largest federation of unions in America, said Tuesday that everyone should be vaccinated against COVID-19 and urged AFL-CIO member unions to be a source of "reliable, good information" on vaccines for their members.
POLITICS
Pass needed legislation to end threats and firing of workers trying to organize (Opinion)
The Columbus Dispatch
By Tim Warren
August 31, 2021
The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021 would ensure rights, but it is being blocked by Republicans. This year, the PRO Act passed the House with a vote of 225-206, mostly along party lines. One Democrat opposed the act. Only five Republicans voted for it. The equivalent Senate bill has been languishing since March. Out of 100 Senators, 46 supporters are Democrat or Independent — none are Republican. The PRO Act would put teeth into employers’ accountability for violations, including requiring worker back pay and damages. It prohibits employers from forcing agreements with employees that waives their right to collective bargaining or class-action litigation and “broadens the scope of individuals covered by the fair labor standards.” The PRO Act prohibits replacement of, or discrimination against, workers who participate in strikes and prohibits forced attendance at anti-union meetings designed to scare employees into voting down a union.
WORKPLACE INEQUALITY
How to Make the Building Trades Work for Women
In These Times
By Mindy Isser
August 30, 2021
The building trades unions are some of the most powerful in the labor movement. Because their members are well-paid, their dues are often higher than in other unions, giving them more resources to influence change. They also hold a certain cultural cachet, exemplifying what many people (wrongly) think the working class looks like: white men in hard hats. But this cachet is also part of the problem: These unions have been under fire for how white and male-dominated they are. Only 6% of the construction workforce is Black and, as of 2018, only 3% of workers in the construction industry were women.
AMAZON
‘My nerves are hurting’: California lawmakers take on Amazon’s workplace practices
Los Angeles Times
By Margot Roosevelt
August 31, 2021
California lawmakers are taking aim at Amazon. An Assembly-passed bill is expected to reach the Senate floor this week or next to crack down on the opaque, algorithm-led and harsh warehouse work conditions often attributed to the Seattle technology behemoth. The bill, the first such legislation in the nation, would require warehouses to disclose quotas and work speed metrics to employees and government agencies. It would ban “time off task” penalties that affect health and safety, including bathroom use, and prohibit retaliation against workers who complain.
IN THE STATES
Rockford Labor Day parade canceled due to COVID-19
WREX
By Andrew Carrigan
August 31, 2021
There won't be a Labor Day Parade in Rockford this year. Rockford United Labor, an AFL-CIO representing more than 25,000 union members in the greater Rockford area, announced Tuesday night this year's parade has been canceled. The labor union says the parade was canceled due to the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases along with the increased risk of transmission of COVID-19 variants.
This Labor Day, celebrate accomplishments and recommit to remaining work (Opinion)
Commercial Appeal
By Billy Dycus
August 31, 2021
Working people across the country, including right here in the South, have been taking this sentence and transforming it into action throughout the past year. From the brave employees at Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse who sought to organize their workplace, to their nearby neighbors in Brookwood who have been on strike against Warrior Met Coal since April, workers are standing up to corporate special interests and demanding that they be treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve. In Tennessee, members of the Air Engineering Metal Trades Council who work at Arnold Air Force Base in Tullahoma went on strike just two months ago before securing a new contract that contained fair wages and protected their critically-important health care and disability benefits.
TRANSPORTATION
Mass Transit
August 31, 2021
“Public transportation and high-speed rail systems connect working families to new opportunities and support economic growth in local and regional communities. For millions of working Americans, access to a reliable, safe bus, subway, or rail line can be life changing. Bold investments in these systems—and the good jobs they help create and sustain—are central to the president’s Build Back Better agenda,” said Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD).
JOINING TOGETHER
Fortune CEO Postpones Major Event After Magazine Staffers Plan to Picket It
The Daily Beast
By Maxwell Tani
August 31, 2021
Staffers at the popular business publication Fortune planned to strike outside the magazine’s first in-person conference in years, ultimately forcing its postponement. Their plans allegedly had the support of Biden Cabinet members, according to the magazine’s CEO. The Daily Beast has learned that on Tuesday afternoon, unionized Fortune staffers were set to announce that because of a lack of progress in contract negotiations with magazine management, they plan to picket the Fortune CEO Initiative conference set for Sept. 13-14 at the Park Hyatt in Washington, D.C.