Michael Gillis

On January 24, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen passed a bill requiring any development project totaling at least $1 million and receiving any form of city funding or tax incentives to pay workers the prevailing wage, the usual hourly compensation and benefits paid to a majority of workers in the area. Board Bill 88, sponsored by Alderman Sarah Wood Martin, also applies to housing projects that include more than 20 units. 

While the labor movement was busy helping to elect pro-worker candidates in important elections in Kentucky and Virginia this week, union members themselves were on the ballot, and they were elected to local offices across the country at an impressive rate. This result was especially pronounced in the battleground states in the Great Lakes region where an energized union-candidates program helped carry union members to victory.

Last week, the Massachusetts legislature overrode Governor Charlie Baker’s veto of a key collective bargaining bill and passed the strongest response to the Janus vs. AFSCME U.S. Supreme Court Decision to date. The new law will allow unions to charge non-member employees for representation in arbitration cases and other disputes and is one of the most comprehensive state legislative responses to the Court’s Janus decision which unfairly prohibited those fees.

Right in the heart of tourist season on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, visitors and residents alike now will be driven around the island by union bus drivers who just won their first contract.

After Delaware Gov. John Carney signed a bill to expand collective bargaining rights for public employees in June, workers have begun organizing at state agencies. Employees of the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles voted last week to join Laborers (LIUNA) Local 1029, establishing a union there for the first time.

Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1253 member Tina Riley never had any desire to get involved in politics until she was recruited to run for the Maine Legislature in 2015.