Our latest roundup of worker wins includes numerous examples of working people organizing, bargaining and mobilizing for a better life.
Striking UAW Members at GE Aerospace Secure Tentative Agreement: After two weeks of walking the picket line, UAW Local 647 members have secured a tentative agreement with GE Aerospace that addresses workers’ core issues. The new tentative deal would cover more than 600 workers across GE’s Erlanger, Kentucky, and Evendale, Ohio, facilities. Members staged this powerful work stoppage to ensure that their new contract contained improved language around job security, health care costs and work-life balance. “After 31 years at GE, I was tired of their corporate greed,” said Don Luknis, a strike captain. “I’m proud of our teamwork to keep each other going along the way. UAW Local 647 is a stronger union now than the day we walked out on strike against this corporate giant. One day longer, one day stronger!” “I’m so proud of how UAW Local 647 stuck together,” said Local 647 President Brian Strunk. “Our members held strong and had the courage to fight for more. Our bargaining team delivered on our members’ main demands: strong job security, more time off the job to spend with families, and money to offset the health care cost increase. My message to my entire UAW family: Continue to do the right thing, speak the truth, stand in unity, and you will prosper!”
Delaware DOJ Workers Form Union with AFSCME Council 81: Professionals at the Delaware Department of Justice (DOJ) who perform a number of duties to support the state’s attorneys voted with near unanimity to join AFSCME Council 81. The bargaining unit includes nearly 200 staff at the department, including clerks, code enforcement officers, maintenance workers, accountants, administrative assistants and others. Their union election was certified at the end of August, and workers are now focused on negotiating a contract with provisions around higher pay, better training and increased promotion opportunities. “We’re considered the backbone of the department,” said Monica Walker, a legal assistant in Delaware’s Special Victims Unit. “We make sure all the paperwork, files, copies and videos are ready, and that our attorneys are fully prepared for their court cases.” “We work for the largest law firm in the state, and we want to be compensated fairly,” added paralegal Liz Ghione. “We want to be a part of the conversation and have a seat at the table.”
Park City Mountain Bike Patrol Vote to Join CWA: Summer bike patrollers at Park City Mountain in Utah have voted to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA) to secure year-round union representation. Many bike patrollers are already members of the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association (PCPSPA), United Mountain Workers-CWA Local 7781, during winter operations, but despite performing a lot of the same essential duties during the warmer month, they didn’t have the same union protections. This victory is the first step to ensuring patrollers receive the fair compensation and respect they deserve, regardless of the time of year. “We have a livable wage in the winter after the successful negotiations last season,” said Joe Kim, a business manager for PCPSPA and a member of the resort’s trail crew. “And we are using similar skill sets. So we are looking for a wage that is more in line with the skill sets we are employing every day.”
UFCW Members Reach Tentative Agreement with California Grocers: United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 8-Golden State announced that the union has secured a tentative agreement with The Raley’s Companies, covering 6,000 workers at supermarkets across Central and Northern California. Members work at Raley’s locations as well as Bel Air and Nob Hill stores, which are two other retail banners under the grocery holding company. The new deal includes victories such as $4 per hour in wage increases over the lifetime of the contract, ratification bonuses, retirement security, improved scheduling and more. “This agreement is the direct result of members remaining united throughout the process,” UFCW Local 8-Golden State President Jacques Loveall said in a statement. “Our members don’t just keep these stores running, they’re the heart of their communities. This agreement honors their dedication and ensures they’re treated with the respect they deserve.”
Florida Nurses Decisively Vote to Join NNU: Registered nurses at HCA Florida Fort Walton–Destin Hospital voted last week to join the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), marking yet another victory for medical professionals at HCA Healthcare hospitals. HCA Healthcare is the largest for-profit operator of medical facilities in the country. Based on Medicare cost reports, the corporation’s Florida-based hospitals made nearly $15 billion in profits, including $616 million at Fort Walton-Destin Hospital from 2019 to 2023. Nurses cite concerns around unsafe staffing levels, broken equipment and workplace violence as core motivators for forming a union. “I am absolutely overwhelmed and elated that we are now part of National Nurses United,” said Paige Campbell, a registered nurse in the emergency department. “We now have the opportunity to make real changes at our hospital so we can provide the highest quality of care to each and every one of our patients. We know that with a seat at the bargaining table, management must address our concerns. And while we rejoice in this victory, we know in the end, it is our patients who will be the biggest winners.” “We are so proud to welcome the hundreds of nurses at Fort Walton-Destin Hospital to our NNU family,” said Marissa Lee, a registered nurse in Kissimmee, Florida, who is also an NNU vice president. “Now when nurses stand up to advocate for better patient care, they are not standing alone. They are standing with 10,000 other HCA nurses and more than 225,000 registered nurses across the country.”
Children’s Animation Workers Secure Voluntary Union Recognition: Writers at Fred Rogers Productions and Spiffy Pictures, who make possible multiple beloved public access children's animation programs, have won voluntary recognition for their union with the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE). These newly minted members work on shows like “Alma’s Way,” “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” and “Carl the Collector.” They will now work under the contract provisions reached between WGAE and PBS in 2024, which included coverage of PBS Kids’ animation for the first time, but didn’t cover writers at outside production companies. This exciting development will now ensure that Fred Rogers Productions and Spiffy Pictures workers’ contributions to PBS Kids are compensated with union-quality benefits and wages. In a press release, WGAE President Lisa Takeuchi Cullen said, “PBS KIDS writers have been a bedrock in educating children around the world, and we are glad they can work under a Writers Guild contract that provides them with fair pay, pension and health coverage and residuals. All animation writers deserve union protections just like their colleagues in live action television.”