The Weekly Download

“The moment the Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost was named the next pope, my office neighbor—a historian of the Soviet Union—knocked hard on my door. “THE NEXT POPE IS FROM CHICAGO!,” he proclaimed before even entering my office. His voice carried that mixture of relief and optimism usually reserved for the birth of a child. The hope that filled the air that Spring day felt like a reprieve from a storm of President Trump’s executive orders that had seemed to flood my office over the previous three months. These orders called for punishing the poor and stateless; breaking commitments to education, research, and humanitarian aid; and intimidating those who protested. In a moment when all three branches of the U.S. government were aligning under the authority of an autocratic ethno-nationalist party, we hoped that perhaps another authoritarian—perhaps this one with different values and a greater commitment to human rights—might check the power of a democratically elected dictator.”

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Chris Griswold from American Compass, a leading pro-union conservative policy expert who has been working with Sen. Josh Hawley and others on legislation that, if enacted, may very well benefit workers, worker power, and unions. Watch now to learn more about how support for unions fits with a larger politically conservative ideology, whether there is broader support for unions in the conservative movement than might be obvious to those of us who are not a part of that movement, and legislation that is currently pending that is the product of some of our guest’s policy work and advocacy.”

“Imagine you get a letter from your manager a week before you are set to teach classes, removing you from teaching duties but saying you’ll get paid anyway. This odd experience has happened to around 137 graduate students at Columbia University in New York City who teach core curriculum, language, and writing classes. They are members of Student Workers of Columbia (SWC), Auto Workers Local 2710. Getting paid to not teach might sound pretty good, but in fact the university is hiring adjuncts with no union contract to do the work of union members.”

“A small but essential federal agency plans to get rid of its judges who help resolve government workplace disputes, a move unions say will consolidate more power among President Donald Trump’s political appointees and weaken the collective-bargaining system. The Federal Labor Relations Authority has told Congress it will eliminate its administrative law judges as part of a reorganization scheme to comply with the Trump administration’s cost-cutting orders. The judges conduct hearings involving unlawful firings and union contract violations, and issue decisions that can be reviewed by the authority’s three presidentially appointed members. Unions are concerned because the three judges serve as subject-matter experts who are insulated from political meddling to protect their neutrality. With the judges gone, the review of unfair labor practice cases would be left solely to the president’s appointees.”

“Tacoma and Pierce County officials are now facing a lawsuit after being accused by labor rights organizations of illegally keeping a worker's bill of rights off the November ballot. The lawsuit was filed by local union UFCW 367, Tacoma for All and the Democratic Socialists of America on Tuesday. Organizers say they are asking the courts to put the initiative on the ballot in November…They accuse city and county leaders of using a loophole and dragging their feet to prevent it from going before the voters in November.”

“Nearly 1,000 registered nurses at a Pittsburgh hospital will vote on joining a union starting Aug. 19, according to a decision from that region’s National Labor Relations Board office earlier this month. The vote, which runs through August 23, will determine whether nurses at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Magee-Womens Hospital join SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania. The campaign galvanized significant local support, including an effort by local officials to gather complaints about union busting from residents. The scheduling of the election is the latest confirmation that, so far as the National Labor Relations Board is concerned, union elections cannot be halted by the board’s lack of quorum.”

“More than 160 workers at video game company Blizzard Entertainment have voted to unionize. The workers, who produce in-house cinematics, animation, trailers, promotional videos and other narrative content, are just the latest batch in the video game industry to unionize, with more than 6,000 having organized across the U.S. and Canada. A wave of organizing in the industry has been driven in recent years by such issues as crunch-time hours before a product releases, job insecurity and workplace harassment. The newly unionized workers are largely based in Irvine, where Blizzard Entertainment’s campus is located. They will join Communications Workers of America Local 9510 in Orange County.”

“Workers within Blizzard's Story and Franchise Development (SFD) team have unionized to become the latest cohort of Microsoft employees to organize following the company's merger with Activision Blizzard. SFD is Blizzard's in-house cinematic, animation, and narrative team. It produces trailers, promotional videos, in-game cutscenes, and other narrative content and has now become the first studio of its kind to form a union in the North American game industry. Parent company Microsoft has recognized the union, which coalesced after the team voted in favor of union representation with Communications Workers of America (CWA) either by signing a union authorization card or advocating for union representation via an online portal. Those SFD employees who pushed for union representation will become members of CWA Local 9510 in Orange County, Calif.”

“The news industry has undergone a sea-change in the last two decades. Print readership of newspapers has declined sharply, while their digital readership has edged up slowly. Local newspapers have consolidated into ever larger chains controlled by private equity and vulture funds. Newer digital-only media sites have multiplied. Into this changing news landscape has come an influx of new journalists who bridle at the poor working conditions and low pay inflicted by media moguls building their empires on the cheap. Thousands of these media workers are finding a home in the NewsGuild.”

“Two years ago this month, the National Trust for Local News purchased the largest network of daily and weekly newspapers in Maine. More than 150 workers at this news organization are already represented by a union. But many employees are still excluded from the protections of collective bargaining agreements, even though they are part of the same company under common ownership. That means that they see staggering pay disparity and are more vulnerable to layoffs. Today, workers filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to welcome nearly 50 additional people into the News Guild of Maine, Local 31128 of the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America. They are calling on the company to voluntarily recognize their expanded union that will represent all workers at the Maine Trust for Local News.”

“A Texas nurse switched to a better-paying job at a nearby hospital only to wind up with debt collectors at her door demanding she pay her former employer back for a loan she didn’t know she owed. A cargo pilot faced a $20,000 lawsuit over job-training expenses at a commercial airline that had just fired him for refusing to fly a plane under unsafe conditions. After being promised college tuition relief paid for by Chipotle, fast-food workers can get stuck with the tuition bill. These are all examples of how millions of workers across the country are increasingly finding themselves bound by Training Repayment Agreement Provisions (TRAPs), a new form of ‘stay-or-pay’ contract that indebts employees to their bosses. Often inserted into contracts without workers’ knowledge, these restrictive labor covenants turn employer-sponsored job training and education programs into conditional loans that must be paid back — sometimes at a premium — if employees leave before a set date.”

“More than 100 Teamsters are on strike at the multinational Mauser Packaging Solutions plant in Chicago, where workers who recondition steel containers used to transport chemicals are demanding higher pay, safer working conditions, and contract language protecting immigrants. The unfair-labor-practice strike by members of Teamsters Local 705 started June 9 after the union says the company illegally surveilled workers while talking with union representatives. It comes on the heels of Mauser locking out 20 members of Teamsters Local 117 in Seattle in April and eventually closing the plant. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters extended picket lines to Los Angeles and Minnesota in June. Teamsters didn’t report to work, refusing to cross the picket line in support of workers in Chicago.”

“Last week, thousands of AFGE members and allies mobilized around several key issues including illegal terminations of our union contracts, staffing crisis, and the threat of privatization of government services. Events were hosted in cities across the country, with premiere events in Long Beach California and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in participation with the AFL-CIO “It’s Better in a Union” bus tour.”

“More than 300 warehouse workers at United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), represented by Teamsters Local 79, have overwhelmingly ratified a powerful five-year collective bargaining agreement. The first contract delivers up to an $8-per-hour wage increase, Teamsters health care coverage, and participation in the Teamsters Western Conference Pension Plan.”

“Butler Hospital workers have approved a new union contract, putting an end to months of tense bargaining and the longest hospital strike in Rhode Island history. Nurses and other frontline staff at the psychiatric hospital had been on strike and picketing outside the facility daily since May, striving for higher wages and better working conditions. After several rounds of "last" and "final" offers; urging by lawmakers and the governor to stay at the bargaining table and even a prayer vigil, an agreement was reached.”

“We know that unions promote economic equality and build worker power, helping workers to win increases in pay, better benefits, and safer working conditions. But that’s not all unions do. Unions also have powerful effects on people’s lives outside of work. They help foster solidarity, promote civic and political engagement, provide reliable information to working-class communities about how economic policies impact their lives, and serve as a counterweight to corporate power in our democracy. Throughout history, unions have been engines of resistance to entrenched and undemocratic power—mobilizing working people to challenge inequality, defend civil rights, and push back against authoritarianism in all its forms.”