Today's coronavirus update
INFRASTRUCTURE
U.S. Secretary of Labor, USW president to tour Region in support of infrastructure bill
NWI Times
By Joseph S. Pete
August 25, 2021
U.S. Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh and United Steelworkers President Tom Conway will visit the USW Local 6787 union hall in Chesterton and other local industrial sites Monday to stump for the infrastructure bill in Congress now. The union is hitting the road for a "We Supply America" bus tour to highlight the benefits of investment in roads and bridges, including supporting good-paying steelworker jobs. The nationwide tour will highlight contributions union workers make in different industries. “We need a national infrastructure that keeps us safe, that is modern, that keeps our supply chains stocked with the materials we need, and that keeps the country moving in the right direction,” USW International President Tom Conway said. “As a union, we have the skilled workforce to accomplish all these goals.”
JOINING TOGETHER
The Future of The Labor Movement After Richard Trumka (Audio)
NPR
By Don Gonyea
August 14, 2021
NPR's Don Gonyea speaks with author and former New York Times labor reporter, Steven Greenhouse, about the labor movement's direction after the death of Richard Trumka, the former head of the AFL-CIO.
NY Times Lawyers Accidentally Send Private Strategy Memo to Staff Union
The Daily Beast
By Maxwell Tani
August 12, 2021
The New York Times is engaged in a contentious back and forth with several hundred of the paper’s technology and product staffers who announced a unionization drive earlier this year. So it was likely a bit embarrassing when the law firm representing the paper’s management accidentally sent a private strategy memo to representatives for the newly unionized staff.
AFL-CIO joins striking Nabisco workers on picket line
KOIN
By KOIN 6 News Staff
August 14, 2021
Striking workers at the Nabisco Bakery in Northeast Portland held a rally Saturday to highlight their demands for a fair contract. Bakery workers, who walked off the job on Tuesday, were joined by members of other unions, including the AFL-CIO on Saturday. They want a better contract amid the fear their jobs will be moved out of the country.
IN THE STATES
I was a journalist from Coal Country. This is the Rich Trumka I knew
Pennsylvania Capital-Star
By Mark O’Keefe
August 15, 2021
It was quite a journey for Richard Trumka, who was born in the coal fields of Pennsylvania and made his way to the halls of power in our nation’s capital. The son of a coal miner, Trumka grew up in Nemacolin, an isolated, rural hamlet in southwestern Pennsylvania with about 1,000 people. From those humble origins, Trumka became president of the United Mine Workers of America and later the AFL-CIO, a federation of 56 unions with 12.5 million members. Trumka died last week, and many labor and political leaders praised him as one of the best labor leaders in the nation’s history.
Judge Rules NCDOL Must Create COVID-19 Worker Protections
Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights Under Law
By Natasha Mundkur
August 10, 2021
Superior Court Judge G. Bryan Collins ruled on Monday that the North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL) must consider implementing rules that would protect workers from contracting COVID-19. The ruling punctuates a 10-month effort by civil rights groups to have COVID-19 workplace safety standards in place. In October 2020, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, North Carolina Justice Center and Southern Poverty Law Center, petitioned NCDOL to issue COVID-19 workplace standards on behalf of the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, N.C. State AFL-CIO, Western North Carolina Workers’ Center, the N.C. State Conference of the NAACP, Fight for $15 and a Union, and the Hispanic Liaison of Chatham County.
COVID cancels Labor Day events in county
The Telegraph
By The Telegraph
August 13, 2021
The Greater Madison County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO has announced it will not hold its Labor Day parades and picnics this year. B. Dean Webb of the AFL-CIO said COVID-19 concerns have prompted the Wood River/East Alton Labor Day parade, picnic and charity softball Tournament for Aug. 28 to be canceled, as well as the Granite City Labor Day parade and picnic that had been planned for Sept. 6.
Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO Labor Day Picnic cancelled due to COVID-19
WDSU
By Gabbii King
August 14, 2021
Due to the delta variant and the mayor’s decision to place further restrictions on the city, the Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO Labor Day Picnic has been canceled. Robert "Tiger" Hammond, President of the Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO, announced the cancellation today. The event is one of many in a wave of cancellations as COVID-19 continues to spread across Louisiana.