Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List.
Shakespeare Theatre Company Stagehands Are Unionizing: “The production staff at Shakespeare Theatre Company has filed for union recognition, citing labor issues including low wages compared to other regional theaters and unfair treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shakespeare’s production employees were in talks with with IATSE Local 22, the union that represents the D.C. region’s stagehands, before the pandemic. Organizers want the bargaining unit to represent about 50 full-time and part-time production staffers, per Arancibia, though he says Shakespeare is arguing that the part-time staff would not qualify. (‘We believe that all STC employees who share in our long-term commitment to theater in the District should and will have access to the vote,’ Proudfoot-Ginder says.) A hearing with the National Labor Review Board to determine who qualifies for the bargaining unit is scheduled for June 10 and a vote will follow shortly after that. The crew members’ main goal is to create a collective bargaining unit and negotiate a contract that protects the backstage workers as much as the actors and increases pay raises across the staff, according to assistant stage operations supervisor Rob Garner.”
Tourism Workers Come Out of Pandemic Swinging: “The industry was decimated when COVID hit, causing conventions and leisure travel to disappear overnight. But the hotel workers and stagehands who make concerts and other major events possible have come out of the pandemic swinging with complaints about pay, hours and conditions in a very public way. They’re capitalizing on a tight labor market to make new demands and drawing energy from a younger, more diverse base, as well as their allies in elected office. The goal is two-fold. The unions want to improve the conditions of people who are the backbone of tourism. They also see this moment of rising inflation and high labor demand as an opportunity to create a more visible and influential workforce, which San Diego has always lacked.”
Firefighters in Yakima Save Puppy from Ducting: “The Yakima Firefighters IAFF Local 469's Engine 95 responded to a call from a humane society on June 1 that reported a puppy was stuck in the ducting. The humane society had been fostering puppies when one fell into a floor vent, getting stuck in the building ducts. Engine 95 responded and removed the basement ducting to free the puppy.”
Microsoft Tries Collaborating with Unions to Avoid ‘Public Disputes’: “‘We know labor and management can be true partners in a company’s success, and it’s important for companies to respect workers’ rights.’ AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said in a statement. ‘Microsoft’s collaborative approach to working with its employees who seek to organize is a best practice that we look forward to seeing implemented at Microsoft and other companies.’”
It’s Official: Steelworkers Union Says Yes to Arconic Deal: “Union workers at the Arconic plant in Massena have a new contract. The United Steelworkers Union announced that the union membership has approved a four year deal with the company. The newly ratified agreement covers workers in Massena, as well as those at Arconic facilities in Davenport, Iowa; Alcoa, Tennessee; and Lafayette, Indiana. In Massena, 125 workers are covered by the new deal. Across the country, the total is 3,400.”
Vox Media Union Takes Next Step Toward Potential Strike: “A union at Vox Media has taken the next step toward a potential strike against management as the expiration date for the group’s current contract draws near and negotiations for a successor agreement continue. The governing council at the Writers Guild of America, East, which represents around 350 editorial and video staffers at the Polygon, The Verge and Eater publisher, voted unanimously on Wednesday to authorize a strike for members at the company to start at 12 a.m. ET on June 13, as soon as the union’s first contract expires. ‘The council of the Writers Guild of America, East takes strike authorization votes very seriously. Almost every one of us has experienced the stress of a work stoppage,’ WGA East president Michael Winship said in a statement. ‘But we also fully understand the issues our members are fighting for at the bargaining table—from fair pay increases to successorship language protecting workers if their employing company is sold. Therefore, unanimously, we have voted to authorize a strike should the company not agree to a fair contract by June 13 at 12:00am ET.’”
Missouri Representatives Work to Save 1,000 GKN Jobs: “GKN Aerospace announced in February it will shut down its factory in Hazelwood by the end of 2023. Some area lawmakers are trying to save those jobs. 1,000 jobs are at stake, and GKN Aerospace said those layoffs are starting soon. When leaders announced the closure, they said the company would start reducing positions in mid-2022 and would be completely closed by the end of 2023. Congresswoman Cori Bush from St. Louis and Congressman Emanuel Cleaver from Kansas City have asked GKN leaders what they can do to prevent the plant’s closure. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers responded to the letter from representatives Bush and Cleaver saying it will ‘work to educate elected officials on Capitol Hill on the importance of keeping the facility open and maintaining this highly skilled workforce.’ The union said its members currently produce aircraft parts for a wide variety of U.S. Department of Defense platforms, and many of the members are U.S. military veterans.”
Labor Leaders Hail Bus Maker Pact to Hire More Women, Minority Workers: “One of the nation’s largest bus manufacturers has agreed to hire and promote more women and racial minorities, a deal that worker advocates say is a model for ensuring that federal funds to replace diesel buses with battery-powered buses boosts workers in struggling communities. The deal, announced Thursday at events in California and Alabama, is in response to a lawsuit over a $500 million contract New Flyer won in 2013 to supply buses to the LA Metro transit agency. But its effects will ripple through the country to communities where the company has plants and potentially to other cities and states, where it could serve as a template for public-sector infrastructure contracting, labor officials say.”
Organized Labor Is Making a Comeback Nationwide. Will It Spread to North Dakota and Minnesota?: “After decades of attrition, the labor movement appears to be making a comeback throughout the United States. Motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic, droves of workers have sought to unionize their workplaces. Huge national corporations, including a trio with operations in the Fargo-Moorhead area, have also felt the reverberations of this trend. Bernie Burnham, the president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, has been closely monitoring the recent string of positive union news. Ask her about the success of unions, be it at Starbucks, Amazon or Target, and the word ‘exciting’ comes up frequently. ‘People have just realized there’s a better way to work and that they all deserve much better pay, respect, benefits and all those things that unions can bring to them,’ Burnham said. Landis Larson, Burnham’s North Dakota counterpart, agreed that the pandemic led employees to realize that their employers weren’t looking after them as well as they ought to be. ‘I think people are realizing the usefulness that a union has in their workplace,’ Larson said.”