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.
Black Labor Leaders Say United Front Needed in November to Save Democracy: “Verrett and Saunders were expanding on similar sentiments expressed at the CBTU convention last Thursday by Fred Redmond, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO and the highest-ranking Black trade unionist in the U.S. ‘Whether we like it or not, this election comes down to us: Black people and the labor movement,’ Redmond had said. The upcoming election determines ‘the future of this country and the future of our labor movement.’ What’s at stake in the 2024 election, according to Redmond, is the continued ability for the working class to fight for ‘worker’s rights, voting rights, civil rights, healthcare, water rights, the right to live and have a good-paying union job.’”
Biden's Dealmaker: How Julie Su Helped Broker a Union Contract in Hostile South: “Acting Labor Department Secretary Julie Su just helped secure a labor contract for more than 15,000 newly unionized workers at a school bus manufacturer in Georgia—a region typically hostile to unionization. Why it matters: The contract at Blue Bird Corp., ratified last week, shows how the administration's pro-labor stance, along with the money pouring in from its signature legislation, is changing how some U.S. businesses operate. The big picture: Su's been actively involved in several key labor negotiations over the past few years—from West Coast port workers to health care employees at Kaiser Permanente to the UAW's talks last year.”
Staff at Coolidge Corner Theatre Seek to Form Union: “Staff at the Coolidge Corner Theatre have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board, a crucial first step to form a union at the Brookline cinema. The petition, which organizers filed Wednesday, lays the groundwork for the theater’s roughly 40 eligible employees to join United Autoworkers Local 1596, creating a collective bargaining for the movie house’s floor supervisors, box office, and concessions workers, among others. ‘We really just want all of us to get what we deserve for what we do for the place that we love,’ said Andrew Schlehuber, a floor supervisor who helped organize the union drive. ‘We want to have a more transparent, more equitable workplace where we recognize every single person’s contribution to the theater’s success.’”
Progressives Urge Biden Administration to Crack Down on 'Union-Busting' Industry: “Every year, U.S. employers spend millions of dollars on outside consultants who specialize in breaking up union campaigns. Because much of that work is cloaked in secrecy, progressive groups are urging the Biden administration to crack down and make it more transparent. A paper released Wednesday recommends that the Labor Department force employers and their consultants to make greater financial disclosures related to anti-union spending so workers can better understand who’s being paid to lobby them. The authors write that the firms are ‘deploying increasingly aggressive tactics to dissuade employees from unionizing.’”
House Democratic Caucus Staff Say ‘Union YES!’: “Earlier this month the Washington Public Employees Association/UFCW Local 365 filed for representation on behalf of the Washington State Legislature’s House Democratic Caucus staff. Legislative staff were prohibited from forming or joining a union until a 2022 law that went into effect on May 1 of this year. WPEA has actively supported legislative staff’s right to collectively bargain, an effort that goes back to a 2011 bill proposed by former staff-turned-member Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (D-West Seattle).”
CVS Pharmacists at Two Rhode Island Stores Vote to Join New Union: “Pharmacists at two CVS stores in Rhode Island voted last week to join The Pharmacy Guild, the new union backed by IAM Healthcare, which is part of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The pharmacists at the CVS stores in Wakefield and Westerly, who had previously petitioned for union representation, became the second and third CVS locations to vote to join the union, following a CVS Omnicare location in Las Vegas. The votes are pending approval by the National Labor Relations Board.”
American Folk Art Museum Workers Move to Join Union: “Staff at New York City’s American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) are organizing for fair wages, benefits, and sustainable working conditions. On June 6, workers across the Upper Manhattan museum’s departments including curators, retail staff, educators, and information technology personnel will vote on whether to unionize with Local 2110 UAW. ‘Our objective is to make AFAM a democratic institution committed to its employees; a museum that invests in professional development and continuously strives to create a healthier work culture,’ workers wrote in a post published to the newly formed Instagram account @afam_union last week.”
‘People Are Just Much More Willing to Fight’: More Health Care Workers in Clark County Push to Join Union: “Unionization efforts across the health care field continue to increase in Clark County and beyond as workers steadily organize to secure more workplace protections. Health care workers say they hope to secure better working conditions, pay equity, safe staffing and protection from workplace violence, especially in the wake of the pandemic when many nurses said they felt overworked and undervalued. ‘It’s one of the best opportunities for us to have a voice that can directly result in change. That to me is a big reason why I’m in favor of people unionizing,’ said David Watson, a hospice social worker at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center. ‘I think it’s a way to make various systems better and have ripple effects for the community.’”
How Women Are Changing Labor Unions: “Across the country, labor is having a moment: Historic United Auto Workers wins (and some losses) in the union-resistant South, Amazon factory organizing, Hollywood’s SAG-AFTRA strike and Starbucks workers’ union fight have dominated headlines this year. ‘I am riding that wave and loving every minute of it,’ Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest federation of union workers, tells Women Rule. As waves of labor activism sweep the country, women of color are leading union growth, while union women in construction and manufacturing are raising labor and safety standards for all workers. Within unions—spaces once largely dominated by white men—leaders say they are pushing women of all races and men of color to take on leadership roles and incentivizing women to join previously male-dominated industries.”
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Maps Strategy for 2024 and Beyond: “‘Staying neutral means staying silent. It means risking the rights of workers and the civil rights of all. It means the continuation of unemployment and poor wages while the powerful continue to get richer.’ That’s the warning from Fred Redmond, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO and the highest-ranking Black trade unionist in the country. Redmond was speaking to over 1,200 Black, Latino/a, Asian, Arab, Indigenous, and white delegates and guests at the 53rd International Convention of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) that filled the Houston Marriott Marquis Hotel convention center on Thursday morning.”