Wednesday's AFL-CIO press clips (none today because of the holiday)
JOINING TOGETHER
MGM workers cast 99 percent of votes for Culinary union contract
Las Vegas Review-Journal
By McKenna Ross
Nov. 21, 2023
Union members at MGM Resorts International voted 99 percent in favor of a new five-year contract with the Strip’s largest employer during a Tuesday vote. Culinary Local 226 held two sessions of ratification votes for the roughly 20,000 members that work at an MGM property on the Strip. It passed fashion to how the Caesars Entertainment workers overwhelmingly approved their contract on Monday with 99 percent in favor.
Medieval Times Buena Park employees end strike and will return to work Wednesday
Los Angeles Times.
By Samantha Masunaga
Nov. 21, 2023
Show performers and stable hands at Medieval Times’ Buena Park castle are ending their nine-month strike and will return to work Wednesday morning without a contract agreement, the union said. On Friday, the union made an “unconditional offer to return to work” — a decision that was “weighed against numerous logistical and legal factors” and not made lightly, it said in a statement. “We felt that it was in our best interest to continue to try to work toward the collective bargaining agreement while returning to work,” said Erin Zapcic, who plays a queen at the Buena Park castle and serves as a union steward. “Our fight’s not over, and just because we’re going back to work doesn’t mean we’re not 1000% committed to getting a collective bargaining agreement that makes Medieval Times as safe and equitable as it possibly can be.”
Unions are the strongest in decades. Nearly a million Americans got double-digit raises as a result
CNN
By Chris Isidore
Nov. 21, 2023
It’s always better for a union to be negotiating with a financially healthy employer rather than a struggling one, said Greg Regan, president of the transportation trades department of the AFL-CIO. “The economy is very strong right now. There’s a huge amount of profits. It’s true with auto industry, true with airlines, true with railroads,” Regan said. “A lot of times the profits soared because of reduced headcounts. In many ways this is a way to reset the labor market.” And these contracts are also a sign that employers could have been paying workers more all along, said Heidi Shierholz, an economist and president of the Economic Policy Institute, a union-supported think tank.
WCPO
By Anna Azallion
Nov. 21, 2023
A group of employees at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center gathered Tuesday afternoon to picket for better working conditions. They held up signs saying, "dignity, fairness, respect." "In order to have the best health care system for the veterans, you have to treat your employees right," said Arnold Scott, the 6th District National Vice President for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). AFGE leaders said that isn't happening. "(They) treat one group of employees one way and then another group another way," Scott said.
LAX concession workers strike amid record Thanksgiving travel
KCRW
By Alexandra Applegate
Nov. 21, 2023
Around 450 food and concession workers at Los Angeles International Airport walked off the job Tuesday as millions of Southern Californians head to the airport for the Thanksgiving holiday. The cashiers, cooks, baristas, and bartenders represented by Unite Here Local 11 are pushing airport concessionaire Areas USA for better benefits and wage increases. The union’s agreement with Areas expired Nov. 19.
Thanksgiving strike? Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport workers walk off job
Fox 10
By Irene Snyder
Nov. 21, 2023
Cashiers, cooks, dishwashers, bartenders, servers and baristas are set to strike on Tuesday. The employees work for SSP America, which is a subcontractor that works with the city of Phoenix and employs more than 400 people at the airport. The hospitality workers' union, Unite Here Local 11, says it doesn't have a fair contract or resolutions to several unfair labor practice allegations against SSP America. The union also says a recent survey of airport workers at Sky Harbor, including SSP America workers, shows more than half expressed worry about eviction due to an inability to afford rent or mortgage payments. Fifty percent also say they have run out of food and haven't been able to afford more.
Medieval Times Workers End Their Strike
HuffPost
By Dave Jamieson
Nov. 21, 2023
Workers at a Medieval Times castle in Southern California have ended their nine-month strike against the dinner theater chain and plan to go back to their jobs Wednesday. The workers’ union said it had submitted an unconditional offer to return to work and that Medieval Times had accepted. The castle’s show cast and knights first walked off the job back in February after accusing the company of committing unfair labor practices, including trying to silence them on social media. Workers at the Buena Park castle have been trying to bargain a first contract since joining the American Guild of Variety Artists more than a year ago.
IN THE STATES
Amid organizing buzz, union membership lags, but leaders still see hope
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
By Mike Moen
Nov. 20, 2023
In a recent University of Minnesota panel discussion, Bernie Burnham—president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO—said the dynamics of organizing have changed, including smaller groups of employees pursuing contracts. “Like in retail, there are a lot of places that use self-checkout,” said Burnham. “So there are less workers in these stores and they’re not going the traditional route, the old-school route of joining these bigger bodies that are the bigger unions.”
LADWP program provides paid training with benefits as solution toward full-time employment
ABC 7
By Phillip Palmer
Nov. 21, 2023
LADWP and IBEW Local 18 are jointly providing an earn-and-learn Utility Pre-Craft Trainee (UPCT) program, which provides extensive training that no other utility in the country provides. "Their future is unlimited. Whatever aspect of the job they want to learn they can. Once the openings come up, they can apply for those jobs and learn them," explained Gus Corona, the business manager for IBEW Local 18.